No, David, don’t treat books that way!

Another month, another Lincoln Story League (our local youth services idea swap)…

I shared with my colleagues a Book Care mini-lesson using No, David! by David Shannon. I’ve done this activity for class visits to the public library for younger kids (kindergarten/first grade).

During a discussion on how to take care of books, and after a fun reading of the No, David! book (available as a big book!), the kids and I sort objects that will and will not help David take care of books.

I have two boxes: a box labeled “YES!” and a box labeled “NO!”. I also have a bag with book-helping and book-hurting objects inside (crayon, bookmark, plastic bag, scissors, candy/food, umbrella, marker, library card, etc.). I take out the objects one by one, and the kids say “Yes, David” or “No, David” depending on if the object helps take care of books (example: bookmark = YES, scissors = NO) and I put the object in the corresponding box.

The kids have a blast with this mini-lesson/game! (I got this great idea from one of my former library instructors, former school librarian Janie Schomberg… thanks, Janie!)

I also like to pair this book/activity with another book, The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers. (And, I mention that eating books is probably not a good way to take care of books, haha!)

2 thoughts to “No, David, don’t treat books that way!”

  1. Thank you for sharing this post. I think it’s perfect to show kids of this age the actual objects that will help/harm books. Although I’ve come across the idea before, I’ve never seen it paired with this book, which I think will be perfect. I plan to build this activity into my mini library induction for our Nursery visitors.

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