Grade 9 Honors Seminar Project Brings Books Alive

“Each of the six seminar sections takes over a classroom in Haynes and tries to recreate the world from the book that they read,” Mertsch explains. “Each seminar group has five to 10 minutes to recreate an experience from within their text, and the other groups rotate through them, getting to enter into the world of the other books.”

Mertsch said this is the tenth year that the Living Library project has been part of the Honors Seminar, a special class for Grade 9 students with a passion for reading and writing. Crediting colleague Juliet Bailey with the original idea, Mertsch says, “I remember we wanted a way the kids could share their books with one another in an exciting, engaging fashion.”

The Living Library project is not a mere retelling of plot. Rather, students have to “come up with a way to bring the book alive,” said Jennie Jacoby, who leads one of the seminar sections as one of the program “mentors.” Each group selects a book from among a few options; this year’s chosen texts were Wuthering Heights, Anxious People, Everything I Never Told You, The Handmaid’s Tale, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Students spend about two months reading the book and holding classroom discussions. 

Jacoby said that at the beginning of the term, she introduced the text—her group was Wuthering Heights—but the students drive the discussions. “We give them responsibility and autonomy, and they have to be ready to lead the conversation,” she said.

First up on Monday was the group who’d read Everything I Never Told You. Said one of the presenting students, “It’s about a girl who ends up dead in a lake.” But that was as much of the plot as the group would reveal; it was up to the audience to follow the “escape room” clues to solve the mystery of the girl’s death. 

In the Wuthering Heights room, across the way, the eerie scene was set when visitors were given electric candles to bring with them into the darkened room. A soundtrack provided screams and other spooky effects, and visitors were startled when a hand suddenly reached out from behind a curtain. “I never thought I’d feel genuinely spooked by that room,” said one student as she emerged through the ivy-draped doorway of the haunted mansion (otherwise known as the Lower Haynes Conference Room). 

Visitors to The Handmaid’s Tale, next door, found themselves in a red-lit dystopian future where, as they were told by a narrator character, various rules kept gave women “freedom to and freedom from.” Visitors entered in pairs and were directed to shop for food together, as the handmaids of the book do. In this room, too, the audience was caught off guard, this time by a character banging on the glass door at the back of the room, screaming for release. 

Upstairs, in the Anxious People room, crime was on the menu, as visitors tried to piece together a hostage situation, a bank robbery, and a real-estate open house. 

There’s also a competitive angle to the Living Library project. The faculty members assess the projects, and prizes are given for favorite, most creative, most immersive, clearest vision, most ambitious, and best use of text. Each library shone in one category or more, but the overall favorite, just squeaking out a win over The Handmaid’s Tale, was Wuthering Heights.

Afterward, Mertsch said, “I love how very student-centered the whole enterprise is. Mentors are truly hands off and try to put the task in the kids’ hands, and while this might lead to some bumps along the way, even those bumps can end up being tremendous learning opportunities for the kids.
 
“Additionally, the fact that the seminar is pass/fail really encourages the students to take risks they might not otherwise feel comfortable taking. I am always in awe of the kids’ creativity and energy—whether their libraries win a prize or not.”