What Are Launch Books

Launch. The word brings to mind taking off on a new adventure. Soaring to new heights. Vocabulary launch books help students do exactly that: take off on their word-learning journey so they can soar to new heights in their thinking, speaking and expression.

Launch books establish Word Consciousness: the awareness and interest in words and their meanings. Michael Graves, in his aptly-titles book The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction, describes word consciousness this way:

“Simply stated, word consciousness refers to an awareness of and interest in words and their meanings. As defined by Anderson & Nagy (1992), word consciousness involves both a cognitive and affective stance towards words. Word consciousness integrates metacognition about words, motivation to learn words, and deep and lasting interest in words.”

Launch books celebrate word learning in many ways. These books set student-mindset toward learning new words. Once launched, this word acquisition becomes contagious and soon leads to JOY. This is an important first step and should not be skipped.

Here is a list of a few of our favorite Launch Books to ignite the word-learning journey in your classroom or with your child:

• The Great Dictionary Caper by Judy Sierra

• Thesaurus Rex by Laya Steinberg

• Big Words Small Stories: The Traveling Dustball by Judith Henderson

• Rhyme Crime by Jon Burgerman

• Betty’s Burgled Bakery: An Alliteration Adventure by Travis Nichols

• The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds

• What Are Words Really? by Alexi Lubomirski

• Francis Discovers Possible by Ashlee Latimer

• Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis

UPDATE 1/25: Also check out my newest favorite Launch Book, Calvin Gets the Last Word by Margo Sorenson.

UPDATE 2/25: We wrote a lesson plan for the book! Enjoy!

For advanced readers, you may want to try Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall.