March is a magical read-aloud month. Women’s History Month, Read-Across America, Pi Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and more fill the month with many read-aloud opportunities. We absolutely cannot forget March Madness, either! While historically a basketball event, we’ve put our own spin on March Madness. March Magic: A Book Bracket Activity.
March Madness is a NCAA basketball tournament that has become a cultural event across the US. Basketball fans have created brackets as a way to predict tournament results. The bracket is typically played with friends, family and coworkers. Each participant tries to predict who will be the two final competing teams.
What does March Madness have to do with a book bracket? School librarians and educators have taken the idea of a bracket and translated it to books. They take a list of books and have students vote for the best book from each category. Eventually, there are two remaining titles that win it all. It’s quite a fun way to build a culture of reading.
No planning necessary. All you need is your Novel Effect app and the listed books. Use our filled in bracket on page one of the PDF below. It has 16 books listed for you. After reading the 4 books listed from each category, choose a winner to move on to the final round. Use #bookbracket and tag us in your social posts so we can see your classroom’s or school’s final favorites!
Use page 2 of the Book Bracket Activity PDF. Write in 16 of your favorite soundscapes from the Novel Effect app. After reading from each category, choose a winner to move on to the final four. Throughout your book tournament, remember to use #bookbracket and tag Novel Effect. We love to see the books you chose and what the final faves are!
Our staff librarian has pulled some of the most requested books to be made into a soundscape. Each week, from March 6-27, a new round of books will be put forward. The winner for that week moves on to the final four. During the week of the 27th, join us for the ultimate showdown. There, you’ll pick our next soundscape!
When voting for which books would make a great soundscape, consider:
Get your students involved in the voting, too! Have them vote on which books should move on and then place the vote. Plus you can vote every day!
To print or download the Novel Effect Book Bracket PDFs click the blue button below. Then select print or download from the options in the upper right corner of the new window that opens. If the PDF doesn’t appear below, try refreshing your browser window.
Download the Novel Effect app to bring stories to life with music and sound that respond to your voice.
