Saturday's takeaways

If you follow @thebookshelfexp on Instagram, you will see that I had the honor of setting up at my first ever vendor market this past Saturday. Apart from how gorgeous the weather and autumn view was, there were a few key takeaways from 6 glorious hours of conversations and new connections.

The BIG standout, and most moving component of all the engagements, was the number of people who highlighted the topic of how books ARE for everyone:

That adults not reading middle grade and YA is such a loss of opportunity for understanding and connection. (Does this one sound familiar?!)

That kids and teens assuming they hate reading is due in large part to thinking there isn't a story or writing style out there for them.

That there are so many titles to swim through and discover, how does one even start? Especially when many people have limited 'extra' time in their day, and the same titles get front of the shelf space at book fairs, bookstores, etc.?

I get it.

The bridge that took me from teaching literature in all forms (Pre K through upper elementary and middle grades) to the creation of The Book Shelf is that I was tired of seeing the same book titles seemingly swimming around similar topics. I made a conscious decision, when I began creating and teaching my own literature courses, to become a deep diver in the libraries and book stores that I loved. I didn't want to base a lesson around the 'popular' books or authors just because; the novels I chose to incorporate in my classes were downright meaningful and screaming with endless discussion and writing topics.

And meaningful literature didn't look one way; it included graphic novels, memoirs, dark humor, laugh-out-loud humor, painful experiences, redemption, true human relationships. To find this meaningful and diverse (on many layers) storytelling was a lot of time sitting on a library floor, perusing and gathering titles; reading books that may not have been my personal choice as a reader, but was rich in content with what I knew my students needed; experiencing an immense amount of differing emotions through an immense amount of story variety.

It is a joy, a bit dreamy and very natural to now be doing the exact same deep diving into book choices -- but through the space at The Book Shelf. Engaging this weekend in those topics above just added fuel to the fire of what I already knew; that reading, and connecting others to reading, is so beneficial to who we are as humans in all stages of development.

Those adults missing book-based connection opportunities to the children or students in their lives? What if, instead, they made it a focus to read a YA novel and it drew out discussions that needed to be had with those in their care?

Those kids and teens who, in finding a similar voice or humor in a novel, might not only decide they are readers -- but what if they also found a safe space? Inspiration? A drive to approach an idea in a new way?

And you, dear blog reader. What if you took 10 minutes for yourself, closed your eyes and considered what you need from a book in this small season? What do you want to feel from a story? Thrill, suspense, intrigue? A saga of love, personal growth, history? Or maybe a place amongst pages to just lose yourself and disconnect from daily responsibilities?

Books are for everyone. Take it from the market crowd -- and take it from me.