June
29
Tags
Book Pushing by Mary Lou Shuster
They say confession is good for the soul so I am here to confess to all of you that I am, “gulp”, a book pusher. And I have no shame – I push to adults and children and not just in book venues either, as you will soon see. I do not discriminate. I take every opportunity to push books and even create situations when I can. I know I am incorrigible and I know I cannot stop. It is an addiction and one that cannot be cured by any drug or doctor. I pushed to doctors and nurses for goodness sakes! Here is my story.
It started innocently enough in the most innocent of places; a bookstore and I just wanted to be helpful. As I was perusing the shelves for new and interesting titles that I needed to read, I couldn’t help but notice the boy, (why is it often a boy?) accompanied by his mother, (and why he always with his mom?) head bent, eyes down, looking like a bookstore was the last place he wanted to be. The mother kept pulling random titles off the shelf and saying, “What about this one?” in a desperate attempt to find something, anything, her son would read. Then there was the inevitable line, “We have to get something, and you are required to read such and such for such and such.” You fill in the blanks.
I couldn’t help it; I was drawn to the scene. It was if my mouth and body were operating by themselves. As if someone else was speaking, I heard myself say, “Perhaps I can help, I’m a teacher . . ..” The mom looked at me with such a look of sweet relief it was if I had just saved her from a burning building. The boy still didn’t trust me however and hadn’t lifted his head up. He was probably thinking, “Great, now I have a mom and a teacher, could this day get any better?” But I think I surprised him when my first question was, “Do you have any particular movies or video games you really like?” His eyes looked up as if he couldn’t believe a grown-up person was actually speaking the words “video games” out loud to him. Of course he left with a book and mom thought I was an angel sent from heaven! Book pushing at bookstores became a habit. I actually started lingering (o.k. lurking) around the chapter book section until I could score. The high was incredible. I couldn’t leave until I had connected someone with a book.
But my book pushing didn’t remain in the confines of the bookstores. I began to branch out as opportunities arose. At the osteopath’s one day, we began talking about reading and he confessed to me, in confidence, that he was not a reader and never had been. I knew I had to be his “connection.” He did say he would try to read “something” and at the next appointment he said he had tried to listen to an audio book but it hadn’t worked out so well. The next time I came, I brought him Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, knowing the story was excruciatingly captivating and would also engage a doctor who couldn’t help diagnose the mother. As I handed him the book he told me he couldn’t promise me anything but as he came bursting through the door for our next appointment, the first words out of his mouth were, “I read, I read!’ sounding as excited as a first grader reading their first book! I guess this was waaaay more important than asking how my hip was feeling, which was actually just fine with me because I had hooked another reader outside of my playing field.
Well that darn hip continued to aid me in the book pushing business as I went on to have an operation. As I lay in the bed, waiting for day surgery one morning, the nurse asked me if she could get me anything. I said it would be great if she could give me the book out of my backpack. When I pulled out a second grade chapter book, she looked at me with a strange expression, so I felt the need to explain my job as literacy specialist. (This of course often opens the floodgates for many people to discuss their children. I have an ongoing conversation with my dental hygienist about her son’s reading life!)
She began to talk to me about her second grade son and how hard it had been to leave him that morning because he hated school this year and didn’t want to go. The school told her he needed to see a therapist and she was beside herself because he had loved school last year. As we continued our conversation I discovered she had been in to observe and during “read to self” time he wasn’t really reading but just page turning because the books were too hard. By the end of the conversation we had pretty much figured out he didn’t need a counselor but books he could read. I gave her a list of books and my business card and told her to write to me anytime. Before I went in for surgery she said, “I came into work with such a heavy heart today, and I feel so much better now. I can’t thank you enough. I know I’m supposed to be making you feel better, but you really have made me feel so much better. Thank you so much.” So, the operation didn’t fix the hip by the way, but I’m thinking maybe there is a reason for it . . .
There are many more stories like these – the father who needed a fantasy book for his 13 year old daughter? No problem! The elderly couple who were looking for Maine books for their grandchildren coming to visit from South Dakota? A cinch! The depressed looking tween and irate mother who needed something for the summer reading list? Easy! The eager reader who had read everything? I couldn’t wait to show her the latest and greatest!
Here’s another secret – I bet many Nerdy Book Club members are book pushers too! I would love to hear your funniest or most outrageous book pushing stories. Use the #BookPushing and we can share them!
When Mary Lou Shuster isn’t book pushing she is busy connecting students to books in her job as literacy specialist at Buxton Center Elementary School in Maine. She is a proud member of the Nerdy Book Club, a committee member of nErdcamp Northern New England and can be followed on Twitter @litcoachlou. She also makes her boyfriend, Dominic, listen to her read aloud picture books.
Nerdy Book Club 
I loved your confession and your post! I’m not only a book pusher, I’m a bit of a book voyeur. At book sales, especially those large library ones, I listen in to others talking about books. I watch them caress the spines of their favorites and reminisce with a gleam in their eye. I get a thrill hearing the titles tumble off their lips…you get the picture! Thanks for sharing–I think you’ve just inspired my next blog post!
You just described how I look at books at a sale or at a shop or anywhere! I smell them and caress the covers and spines, leaf through the pages, smell it again, hug it… Ah! Books!
Having watched you “book push” in person many times, I can attest to the fact the fine folks you encounter do not stand a chance…and that is fantastic! I often get mistaken for a employee at any bookstore I frequent. My latest #bookpushing story happened recently when I recommended Sarah Albee’s Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up to a gastroenterologist. Just goes to prove…there’s a book for every reader! Excellent post, Mary Lou!
Susan has joined me many times in book stores, “pushing books”! We are an awesome duo and our customers have no chance of walking away without books! LOL!
Imagine my joy at seeing one of my favorite readers writing a post for one of my favorite blogs. Hello Mary Lou! You are a book pusher and the best kind, an informed one. I share the same sickness. I read a great article the other day by Chris Lehman about how teachers should market themselves as readers the way the Kardashians market themselves…constantly and effectively. You, for sure, have marketed yourself as a book lover.
I miss you Kim but have no doubt that you are also connecting your students with wonderful books!!
The funny thing is that I had the exact same experience in a book store- boy with mom looking for book he ‘must’ read. I also push to my own children’s friends (embarassing my own children of course). I love to talk books!
I do this all the time and I do it unashamedly. I even carry children’s books to the doctor’s office in case there are kids there I can give them out to. Nice to know there are other book pushers out there. No there is no help for us. A student once asked me if there were places to help people like me with book addiction, kind of like AA. I told him there was no hope for people like us. He looked so sad.
I have taken books along with me too . . .like on a plane!!
Great blog! I guess, I’ve done my share of pushing, although I did not know it had a name. Yes, I once got a kid to switch (not really switch, but rather complement) the Harry Potter movies with the actual books. He was reluctant, until I enticed him with death! Ha ha ha, I hinted that someone would die, and that the only reason I knew beforehand was because I had read the book. He was intrigued. Months later I ran into him playing at the park. He recognized me and came up to me with a smile. “You’re the one who tole me to read the Harry Potter books,” he said. I smiled. “Yes!” With an even bigger smile he said: “I read them! It was Dumbledore who died!”
I admit it. I got high! The satisfaction was unparalleled. I got a kid to read! Unfortunately, I find myself unable to push to my own children. They simply know I love to read and write and so they’re on to me.
Haha I absolutely love this post! I’m not a book pusher–I’m not confident enough yet–but I’d like to be!
High fives all around for fellow book pushers!! Woot! Not ashamed to admit it!
Is it strange that I push books to my mother instead of the other way round? I hope not! xP
You are an angel, Mary Lou. An amazing, helpful, loving and caring angel.
Well, I am certainly in this club 😉
And loving every minute of it 🙂
Well it doesn’t seem like much of a problem if people are grateful for it. I’ve done my share of book pushing so my friends don’t even bother looking for books on their own now, they just ask me. I think we all get a little high (okay maybe a huge high) when someone reads a book we’ve recommended “ahem” pushed, which is completely fine.
This made me smile. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Can you recommend a good YA Fantasy that is based in the real world?
You could try the Mara Dyer trilogy by Michelle Hodkin. It’s a wonderful love/friendship/goosebump-inducing read set in the modern world.
Thank you!
Greetings,
Just reading over old comments to my post and saw your question! Although I teach at a K-5 school, I love dystopia . . There is an older series by Scott Westerfeld – the first being The Uglies, then The Pretties, etc. that I just loved. It is a precursor to The Hunger Games and the Divergent series and is just as good! I think it also has a theme running through it – what is beauty? how important is beauty? etc. that is just wonderful for kids of this age to be pondering.
LOL! I had to look-up what I wrote. Dystopia isn’t my thing, but the kids love it. This series has not crossed my path yet. I will add it to my list. Since I made that comment I read the Lunar Chronicles and enjoyed it very much.
*ahem* the preferred nomenclature is “Book Booster” and I agree, there is great joy in promoting a book and having someone trust your insights. Pop over and add your name to the roster of other Book Boosters! Thanks for the reminder people still love to read.
I am the ultimate book pusher because I recruit others to be book pushers. I work as a substitute teacher in several middle schools. I like to ask the students for book recommendations. I tell them I know nothing about the books they read, and ask for recommendations. Often they are reluctant to say anything in front of the class, but one time I had this seventh grader come up to me after class and tell me about this book she read. Her eyes lit-up and she was more animated then I’d ever seen her. The book was Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
This book never popped-up on any of my lists, so I was doubtful, but when a student takes the time to tell me about a book, I read it. It is an excellent book! One of the best I’ve read. I told this to the student when I saw her. I made sure to tell her my favorite part of the book. She very fails to recommend a book to me when she sees me.
I resonated so much with this post! I, too, am a book pusher. I enjoy lurking at Barnes and Noble or at any bookstore for that matter, waiting for that lost look in a kid’s eyes. I have helped grandmothers pick out book gifts for their grandchildren. Sometimes, near the gorillas at the zoo, I ask people if they’ve read The One and Only Ivan. I may start bringing copies of it with me to give away. Thanks so much for sharing your reading life with those around you and keep pushing those books!
Amazing to realise I am not the only one who is a book pusher. I work as a middle school librarian, in New Zealand. My whole day is book pushing, and I love it. Like others though it doesn’t just limit itself to work I too have helped struggling parents in book stores find just the right book for that reluctant reader.
Woo! I’m with you all the way. I currently teach first grade and often have older students come back to me for book recommendations or to show me what they are currently reading. (I’ve also taught 3rd, 7th, and Title 1 reading, so I am well-read when it comes to children’s lit and I try to keep up with new titles coming into our school library–AFTER the avid young readers get them first!) I could relate in so many ways–I help in bookstores AND my dental hygienist talks to be about her daughter! ha ha
Thank goodness for your book pushing. It keeps me reading. You are my go to when my kids need to get out of that “there is nothing to read slump”