I shook the hand of an Olympian

This week Tyler McGill came to talk at our school.  He greeted about half the school as they entered the gym and the other half as they left.  Everyone had the opportunity to touch his gold medal.  He talked about setting goals and working hard to achieve them.  He also spoke about what is was like to be at the Olympics and winning a medal.

He let the kids ask question for about 20 minutes.  Most of the kids asked about swimming, training, the Olympic village, and the YouTube video the Olympic swim team made.  One student asked him what was his favorite book—how cool was that!!!  I thought I needed to remember this and think about what I would do with that information if I were a youth services librarian.

Well, I didn’t remember the book but luckily for me some of my students did when I asked the next day.  How cool is that—they paid attention to the answer of that question.  Tyler McGill’s favorite book is Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  We had a nice discussion about the assembly and the book.

So what would I do with that information if I were a youth services librarian?  I could set up an Olympic book display.  Our librarian had one at the beginning of the year.   I decided that I would have local celebrity picks.  We are so fortunate in our area (Champaign-Urbana) to have many local celebrities who could provide a librarian with their favorite childhood book and why.  We have Olympians, pro sport athletes, college athletes, Big Ten Coaches, TV and movie personalities, a former Miss America, authors, and Nobel laureates to name a few.   I could have the books either on the shelf (cover facing) with the who and why or in a display area or both.

Thinking back to the boys and reading discussion earlier this semester, maybe some of the male celebrity picks would encourage some of the boys to pick up the books that were once their favorites.