Reading Maps

A reading map is a website that uses a single book as its focus. Using the themes from the book, pages are created that offer recommendations for similar books (read-alikes) and links to other websites. There is usually a summary of the book and information about the author as well. Libraries are creating reading maps to harness the energy of popular books and provide a one-stop source of read-alikes and additional information for their patrons.

For my Readers' Advisory class, I created a reading map for Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford. This nonfiction book deals with the importance of being able to work with your hands and how this is no longer valued in an "information age" to the point that most shop class programs in high school are gone. Using many examples from his own life, including his work as a motorcycle mechanic, Crawford claims that job satisfaction can be easier for a tradesman than a cubicle worker.

After creating summary and author pages, I decided on four themes: Hands, Work, Early, and Ride. Hands refers to working with your hands; Work relates to job satisfaction; Early is for getting kids to work with their hands; and Ride refers to motorcycles. Each theme got its own page with read-alikes and links to websites that feature similar information to the theme. I threw in some of my own pictures as well as those of the book's cover and author and, voila, a reading map.

Reading Soulcraft is the end result. It was not too hard using Wordpress to create the site. It takes a bit of time to do the research, but the results are great. For a popular book in a library and readers asking for something similar, a reading map is a great tool.