Early on in my teaching days I realized the importance of having a versatile, well stocked classroom library. Here’s some tips and trick I learned along they way, that will hopefully help you along in the process:

1- Start reading Young Adult fiction.

A few years ago I read a tweet (from YA author John Green?!) that stated we are in the golden era of young adult fiction, and I could not agree more.  On my weekly forays into local Chapters/Indigo store I head straight to the Young Adult fiction section, then move to the Graphic Novels/Manga, and then (if I haven’t already found a whole pile of books to buy) I’ll do a general sweep of the adult Fiction shelves. And I’m not the only one, YA fiction is so popular it actually draws a significant audience of adult readers.

2- Use a Classroom Library Permission Slip

Nothing adds a sense of danger to reading, like having to get a permission slip signed!  But realistically, the books that teens want to read often contain “mature” topics.  Giving parents a heads up on these topics is always a good idea.  Here’s the permission slip I used —> Classroom Library Permission Slip

3- What to buy 

Last year I had a fellow teacher tweet out a request for help on this.  Along with some fellow ELA teachers on Twitter, we crowdsourced this list on GoodReads —> Starting a Classroom Library