No, I do not read every word of every book I booktalk. Last year, I went into a ninth-grade classroom to talk about good books for just a few minutes. A friend of mine who is a travel editor at the Washington Post had assembled a list of recommendations of good books for her 14-year-old son. She had asked everyone she knew for suggestions and came up with an amazing list. Anyway, the top book, recommended by the book editor of the Post (who called it the best nonfiction book ever written), was Endurance by Alfred Lansing, about the Shackleton expedition to the South Pole. My husband is always in the market for good reading material, so I got the book for him. He could not put it down. I have never personally read Endurance, but he read aloud large chunks of it to me.

Armed with a few of the amazing anecdotes from the book, I entered the classroom and told some of the stories. As I don’t work with junior high schoolers often, I was not sure it went all that well. This year the teacher called and wanted me back. She said I read the most wonderful story last year, and the kids were clamoring for my return. I had read no story. I had only told a little bit about one book, but everyone was interested in that book when I left. This experience also taught me that you do not always need a picture to leave students with a lasting image.