Recently a 5th grade boy was telling me about a great dog book that he had read. He said he really liked dog books and so I pulled a few off the shelf and gave a little book talk. Amazingly, about 5 other boys chimed in with their own reviews about dog books. The discussion was animated and full of enthusiasm for these books. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about all of the books they had read and the good opinions they had about the books. This first period class, with our impromptu book talks set the tone for my day as I realized how important books still are to kids and it’s not all video games and TV watching!