One of my goals this year was for the Kindle library to reach 500 titles by June. Well, I haven’t quite reached that goal, but I’m happy to report that we’re coming close.
There are now 481 titles in the Kindle library!
The titles aren’t random, either: I’m not collecting books just to collect books. The books in the Kindle library are books that students really read. And many of the titles are directly from student requests.
For example: One perennial favorite author is Walter Dean Myers, who passed away last week. I’m proud that the Kindle library includes seven of his books, including the extremely popular Dope Sick and Monster.
It’s important that the library also include students’ favorites. Here are a few of the most popular books this past year:
One rule I have is that I buy books that students request. If a student wants to read a book, I buy it. This is possibly only because of generous donors. If you’d like to donate, check out the Contribute page (or my students’ Amazon wishlist)!
A big change I might make to next year’s Kindle library is not to display the entire library on every student’s Kindle. It’s a bit overwhelming for students. Plus, the search capability on Kindles (by typing in a title) is not particularly good.
Therefore, I’m thinking of switching things up — either by including only a small fraction of titles (the most popular ones) or by organizing the books into collections (very time-consuming, not easy to do).
There is a clear benefit to loading the Kindles with only the Top 20-30 books. Doing so would mean that more students would read similar books, thereby creating book clubs and reading communities. Sure, I’ll have to purchase more titles of the most popular books, but that’s OK.
After students read 2-3 of the most-popular books, then I can introduce them to the larger Kindle library, where they can browse, figure out their interests, and get really excited that there are so many titles from which to choose.
Which reminds me: I still haven’t put the Kindle library online! What’s wrong with me? My intention last year was to catalog each of the titles on Goodreads so that students (and potential donors!) could see what’s in the Kindle library. I still haven’t done that. Maybe that’s a project that needs to happen this summer.
As always, thank you for your ongoing and generous support, and I look forward to announcing soon that the Kindle library has surpassed the 500 mark!