To highlight the Bookbuzz Secondary books with our Year 7 and 8 students in their library lessons, we take part in a “Save the Book” activity that is easy to do and generates a lot of debate.
I make sure each student has their chosen Bookbuzz Secondary book and then put them into groups. I try to ensure each group has a mixture of students who have chosen different books, but it’s also fine if there is more than one student with the same book. I then explain the rules of the activity.
I ask everyone to imagine the following scenario. Each group is in a hot air balloon together and they’ve all brought along their favourite books for the trip (i.e. their Bookbuzz Secondary books!). However, tragedy has struck and they are overloaded so their balloon is sinking back to the ground! It will crash unless they throw one book over the side of the balloon’s basket (don’t worry, no books are harmed during the activity!).
Each student will have one minute to “sell” their book to the group, explaining why their book must be saved. To help them prepare, everyone is given five minutes to jot down some notes and roughly prepare their speech.
It’s a lot of fun to see the students get involved in defending their book.
The activity is also a great opportunity for students to reflect on their book if they’ve read it already, or to spend the five minutes simply reading the first few pages to get an idea of it if it’s brand new to them. The activity is informal and fun and works really well with almost any age group.
Bookbuzz Secondary will reopen in March 2026. See more or sign up below to receive a reminder when it reopens.
