Book Club in a Bag: Azaleah Lane Kit

Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11 in January 2021: Book Club in a Bag. This week’s feature: Azaleah Lane Kit featuring the Azaleah Lane books by Nikki Shannon Smith

The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.

In January, these featured characters included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):

• Ages 6-8:
  • Elephant and Piggie (Mo Willems)
  • Mindy Kim (Lyla Lee)
  • Yasmin (Saadia Faruqi)
  • Azaleah Lane (Nikki Shannon Smith)
    
• Ages 8-11
  • Wings of Fire (Tui T. Sutherland)
  • New Kid (Jerry Craft)
  • Phoebe and Her Unicorn (Dana Simpson)
  • Shuri (Nic Stone)

Each bag contains some repeated resources:

• List of kit contents
• List of books in the featured series
• List of readalike books
• Discussion questions
• Swag item (button, sticker, bookmark)
• 1-3 crafts, games, activities

Azaleah Lane Kit

The Azaleah Lane Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items (like animal figurines) depending on your budget.

Want to use make a Azaleah Lane Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.

Azaleah Lane General Materials

Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Azaleah Lane kit is no different.

Azaleah Lane Bookmark – All Books

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.

Azaleah Lane Bookmark – Readalikes

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the Readalike titles here.

The Yasmin readalike bookmark features these titles:

• Animal at Large by Patricia Reilly Giff
• Battle of the Bad-Breath Bats by David Bowles
• The Case of the New Professor by Steve Brezenoff
• Dragons and Marshmallows by Asia Citro
• How to Test a Friendship by Theanne Griffith
• Isadora Goes to the Ballet by Harriet Muncaster
• Problem at the Playground by Courtney Carbone
• Sarai Saves the Music by Sarai Gonzalez
• Sasha and Puck and the Potion of Luck by Daniel Nayeri
• Scarlet’s Big Break by Melody Reed
• Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong by A.J. Low
• Superhero for President by Gina Bellisario

Azaleah Lane Discussion Questions

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the discussion questions here.

**Find some of these discussion questions (and more) in the back of each book.

The Azaleah Lane Discussion Questions included:

• General Questions:
  • Azaleah loves animals! What is your favorite animal? Where does that animal live in the wild?
  • Azaleah is the middle child; she has an older and younger sister. Are you the oldest or youngest child in your family? Somewhere in the middle? An only child? What is similar or different between your experience and Azaleah’s experiences?
  • Azaleah likes to solve mysteries! What did you do when something went missing around your house?

• Sample Story Questions: The Dramatic Life of Azaleah Lane
  • Who did you think was behind the problems at rehearsal? How did you know? Were you right or wrong?
  • At the end of the book, you learn who was behind all of the mishaps. What do you think their consequences should be?
  • Think about the problems that happened in the theater. Can you list them in order? Try using the book for help.

Azaleah Lane Swag – Stickers

This bag also includes a printable Azaleah Lane sticker, made on 2.5″ circle Avery label paper. Download a printable PDF to make them yourself here.

Azaleah Lane Crafts, Games, and More

Azaleah loves to solve mysteries, and she loves animals, so I included activities related to those two topics.

Azaleah builds an animal habitat diorama in the first book in the series. I purchased tiny animal figurines and included a mini animal diorama kit. I also included an appropriate animal habitat background as well as a half sheet with pictures of animal diorama inspiration on one side and books to research animal habitats on the other.

You could take this activity to the next level by providing more than one animal figurine, tiny trees, and more diorama supplies–it just depends how much you want to spend and how big your kits can be.

The inspiration and research half sheet:

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the animal habitat research here.

The animal habitat backgrounds:

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the habitat backgrounds here.

Azaleah Lane Detective Practice

In the first two Azaleah Lane books, Azaleah examines clues, finds evidence, and collects suspects to solve a mystery! In the kit, participants built their detective skills though simple riddles and puzzles.

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the Puzzles and Riddles book here.