Library Orientation - Book II

Book #2
Penelope Popper, Book Doctor by Toni Buzzeo and Jana Christy
First Grade, Lesson One

This book has a more recent publication date than my other books. It was co-written by a fellow school librarian so you know the book will cover the topic of library book care well.

Penelope dreams of becoming a doctor but most of her classmates don’t like it when Penelope practices patient care on them. On a visit to the library she is told there are many different types of doctors, including a book doctor. Penelope is excited to become Ms. Brisco’s first resident. As Penelope discovers damaged books she learns how to care for them in the Book Hospital. All of the repair procedures she learns to perform comes in handy one day when the class dictionary falls behind the radiator. Can she save her patient?

Although this book is a little lengthy for my wiggly first graders they do a pretty good job listening to it. After we are done with the story I do the “Yes/No” activity on the SMART Board. I have two categories posted on the screen; Yes and No. I have a bunch of pictures at the bottom of the screen. We discuss each one and I move it into the correct category. 

Don’t have a SMART Board? When I first started teaching and this kind of technology didn’t exist I used two shoe boxes and pictures. I wrapped one in green paper and wrote YES on the top and I wrapped the other in red paper and wrote NO on the top. I found pictures of items, like a dog, a drink, a baby that show things that we don’t want to happen to our library books. I also included pictures of good things. Another option is to include the actual item, like scissors, along with the pictures. Once I had some damaged books I tore one apart and did various things to the book. I put dirty finger prints on a page, on another page I poked holes in it. Once I had a class set of items I could pass out an item to every child in my class. I would then call each child up, we would discuss their item/picture, and they would place it in the correct box.

I purchased the book from Upstart. You can find some lessons HERE