The Do’s and Don’ts of Book Care

It is important to encourage library book care at all grade levels, especially elementary. Students need intentional instruction on the do’s and don’ts of book care, but they also need constant modeling and reminding. To prepare and excite students for taking care of library books, I like to become the Book Doctor. The Book Doctor is charged with caring for library books. I even like to use a stethoscope to listen to books’ “heartbeats” to diagnose each as healthy or sick. Students help examine the books and we discuss what should have been done to keep books healthy.

In this lesson, students learn book doctors' responsibilities by reading Penelope Popper: Book Doctor by Toni Buzzeo. In this story Penelope wanted to be a doctor and was always looking for opportunities to practice her doctoring skills. Her friends were tired of having their heartbeats listened to, their blood pressure taken and their reflexes checked. One day she went to visit the school librarian who showed Penelope some books that were "sick" and needed the attention of a book doctor. The librarian taught Penelope how to clean and repair the sick books so that children could read them again.

At the end of the story, students yearn to be book doctors themselves. I have students begin their book doctor training by practicing one of the rules Penelope learns from the librarian: never dog-ear a page; always use a bookmark. CLICK HERE to access a free digital download of book care rules coloring pages and bookmarks from Teachers Pay Teachers. I would also recommend an activity pack from Teachers Pay Teachers that includes 20 picture cards for students to sort (things they should do with their library books and things they shouldn't). I have students sort the picture cards under the correct column. If the picture shows something that they should do with the books it goes under the “Yes we do” column. If it is something they should not do it goes under the “No we don’t” card.