Author Fan Face-off - a new, book trivia game show airing Monday mornings on YouTube - pits a tweenage superfan against a book author in a Jeopardy-like showdown.
The program was launched this summer by Steve Sheinkin, Newbery Honor winning author of Bomb, and Schodack Faculty Association Member Stacey Rattner, an elementary librarian at Castleton Elementary School. (For the behind-the-scenes on the show, check out "Authors face-off with tween fans" in the latest edition of NYSUT United.)
Here’s how you can use the program to enrich your remote lessons.
1. Have students play along. Assign a featured book, watch the episode and see how students fare against the author. “Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan, got crushed in her episode,” said Sheinkin.
2. Introduce new books and authors. Nearly 25 different authors have competed against students from schools as far flung as Missouri, Toronto and California. Authors scheduled for 2021 include Kwame Alexander, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Trenton Lee Stewart.
3. Encourage readers to dive deeper. Rattner uses episodes to spark interest in new books. “I ask students what questions they would come up with for the episode,” she said.
4. Use the program to start or end a lesson. At about 10 minutes long, the program is a fun way to begin or end a class session.
5. Pitch a student contestant. Contact Rattner and Sheinkin on Twitter @staceybethr or @SteveSheinkin to nominate a student superfan or share a suggestion.