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The Walrus Bookshelf

The Walrus Bookshelf

The Walrus Bookshelf is a program of The Walrus Foundation that encourages Canadian high school students to read.

While our country produces some of the best writers in the world today, one in five Canadian high school graduates complete public education unable to read well enough to handle the basic needs of everyday life. The Walrus Bookshelf helps turn kids into readers and as such gives them a skill for life.

Formerly called Shelf Life: Nights for the Humanities and inaugurated in Toronto in 2000, The Walrus Bookshelf is now a series of literary evenings held each spring in numerous cities across Canada. Managed in conjunction with local public boards of education and sponsored by The Walrus Foundation, in 2006 The Walrus Bookshelf was staged in St. John's, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa Toronto, Mississauga, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria.

The purposes of The Walrus Bookshelf are simple:

  • to help public high school students build their own personal libraries;
  • to reward hard-working teachers with an entertaining and edifying night out, and;
  • to support Canadian writers and book publishers.

How the Program Works

The method of achieving these aims is to host literary evenings across the country in April and May wherein specially invited teacher representatives (up to 100) attend, listen to four authors read (each from their featured book), enjoy live local music, and depart the venue with a box of books earmarked for students at their schools. At each event 2,000 books (4 x 500 copies of each title) for a total of 25,000 books are distributed. Teachers give the books away to students who have shown commitment to reading or who have shown progress as readers over the course of the year and books are awarded in one of three ways:

  • As part of high school award nights;
  • As part of mini-Walrus Bookshelves with the teachers advocating for each book and then the students choose, and;
  • As a private exchange between a student and their teacher

Read the teacher testimonials below for examples of the Bookshelf in action. In the weeks that follow the events all of the books are given to students as gifts. It is a simple formula that works exceptionally well.

The Walrus Bookshelf would not be possible without the enthusiastic support of writers. Featured authors and books this 2006 season were:

Jaci Moriarity's I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes, Rawi Hage's De Niro’s Game, Anne-Marie MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies, James Meek's The People’s Act of Love, Frances Chalifour's After, Lauren Davis's The Radiant City, Debra Dean Madonna’s of Leningrad, Michael Winter's The Big Why, Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing, Linda McQuaig's It’s the Crude Dude, Lloyd Axworthy's Navigating the New World, Lisa Moore's Alligator, John Bemrose's Island Walkers, Greg Hollingshead's Bedlam, Wayne Johnston's Navigator of New York, Bea Gonzalez's The Mapmaker’s Opera, Susan Swan's What Casanova Told Me, Michael Crummy's River Thieves, Mark Kingwell's Catch and Release, George Elliot Clarke's George and Rue, and John Valliant's The Golden Spruce.

Particpating publishers were Random House of Canada, House of Anansi Press, Harper Collins Canada and Penguin Canada. Each of these companies understand the program's impulses and purposes, and have joined us as partners.

In addition to the publishing companies, The Walrus Bookshelf is also indebted to organizers from local school boards. Janice Silver (Halifax), Krista Vokey (St. John's), Jerry Lazare and Diane Fenner (Toronto), Marta Mulhern (Peel), Brian MacKinnon (Winnipeg). Sandra Pace (Regina), Cathy Yusep (Calgary), Dawn Keer (Edmonton), Frank McCormick (Vancouver), and Ken Fletcher (Victoria) have moved mountains to make the program come to life in their jurisdictions.

Finally, to the teachers who participate and the students who gratefully receive books, your encouragement (in person and through hundreds of letters you send) has propelled the program forward.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ken Alexander
Editor, The Walrus


Testimonials:
"Each year we host a school-wide award ceremony where we recognize students for their love of reading. First, students are given a formal invitation to attend a Bookshelf Night, at which time the program and its foundation are explained to the students. In the past, each teacher simply decided on a book for a particular student, provided a personalized bookplate for the copy, and awarded it to the student at the ceremony. A social was held afterwards where students and teachers mingled and chatted about the books. This year, we changed our routine and modeled the "teacher night out" author readings. Instead of the authors, each of the English teachers, as well as the administrators of the school, participated in a public reading where each book was introduced, interesting features were highlighted, and excerpts were read. Following the readings, each student was asked to select a book of choice. It was exciting to see students being delighted to 'get' their book of choice, but also interesting to observe students having to select their second or third choice. They actually had the titles ranked!!! They were certainly engaged!!! Students were also given a book plate and were encouraged to have the plate signed by the teacher who extended to them the invitation to the ceremony. They took great pains to have their books signed by all teachers in attendance. To cap off the evening, a social was held afterwards (food and drinks were graciously provided by the English teachers!) where teachers and students mingled and chatted about the books."

"The students in my classes are not Anglophones. They are often students who have excellent English skills but who have not always been exposed to any English literature. For the most part, they enjoy reading French literature and are very excited to discover that there are many fabulous English books out there they have never even heard about."

"We have a reading program (YM Reads) for 20 minutes each day-- the entire school is involved. I have been watching some of my students reading, and noted their choice of material. When I mentioned the Casanova book, several pairs of female eyes glistened visibly -- they shyly came up to check out the texts, and when I took the books out of their hands and inscribed a personal note to them, I saw proud smiles on many faces -- most couldn't believe that the books were now theirs to keep: if a wall of books is a wall of magic, then Walrus Bookshelf pulled a rabbit out of a hat for these girls. Thanks, Walrus!"

"Last year we used some of the books as end of year prizes for some of our students. The books were wrapped and labeled and given the aura of a formal award. We have several students who show excellent dedication and achievement in overcoming countless barriers to success, yet who for one reason or another do not receive a formal award in our commencement ceremonies - there are only so many of those to go around. These books fit that need perfectly; just last week I spoke to a student who graduated two years ago and clearly remembered receiving the book as award. Many of these students have never considered worthy of winning a school award and the boost to their confidence and self-esteem is clearly noticeable."

"I have greatly enjoyed giving books to the top students in our English program each year at the annual awards ceremony. The students' express genuine joy and gratitude for these gifts. But even greater is the effect on the quiet, hard working student who has made the most improvement in the year and who has been "awakened" to the joys of reading. This student is grateful beyond words and I feel as though I have launched a growing mind in to the universe."