Book Brackets at Middle Schools Encourage Reading for March is Reading Month

The Bloomfield Township Public Library and West Bloomfield Library partner with all three Bloomfield middle schools to support our BHS Book of the Year Reading Challenge. The public libraries help to select the books for the March Madness Reading Brackets and provide hundreds of new books to our students each year. 

Bloomfield Hills Middle School students were excited to see the brackets get posted. Sofia Budman (6th grade) shares, "I like that I get introduced to so many books that I have never read!" Tori Guettler (6th grade) adds, "I like how it makes it so easy to find a good book."

The March Madness Book theme takes a page from the excitement of the March basketball tournaments and motivates students to read new books. Books "face-off" in each category, and students are encouraged to not only read the books that interest them, but also vote for the book they think should move on in the bracket. Brady Gold (6th grade) notes, "I like how it fits with the theme of March Madness!" Each school has a unique reading culture, which is represented in the books that are chosen to move forward on the bracket. Arielle Owens (6th grade) says, "I like the bracket because it all comes down to books that other students would recommend."

Students can vote at any time. The Book Challenge goes all the way through March to provide plenty of time to read the books. These books are available in our middle school libraries, at Bloomfield Township Public Library and West Bloomfield Library, and as ebooks on the Sora app. 

Many students have been using the ebook collection on Sora. Families who own a library card at our public libraries can add their cards to increase book access. All of the "Book of the Year" books are available on Sora.