LOGSE Bookcrossing

Bookcrossing

You may find one of these books in your doctor’s waiting room, left on a park bench or inyour school library. They can be paperback, hardback, used or brand new but they all wear alabel which reads “I’m not lost; I’m travelling. Take me home.”

Welcome to the Bookcrossing phenomenon: it’s free, it’s as anonymous as you want it to be,and it’s great fun.

The invented term “bookcrossing” has become so popular that in 2004 it made it into theOxford English Dictionary: “Bookcrossing, (noun), the practice of leaving a book in a publicplace to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise*.”

The basics of bookcrossing are, appropriately, the “3 Rs”: (1) Read a good book. (2) Registerit at “BookCrossing.com” and you’ll get a unique identification number. Stick in the book alabel with that number and the address of the website on it. (3) Release the book in a publicplace for someone else to find and read.

If you happen to find a released book, you can take it with you, read it and enjoy it for free.If you then visit the website and enter the number of the book, the releaser will know whenand where the book was found and you’ll both be able to track future finds as well.More than 300,000 bookcrossers worldwide have registered almost two million books. Youmight just find one “in the wild” on your way home. Good luck!

*likewise: the same

Adapted from: S. Zorzi’s Random Acts of Literacy


1.Add True or False, quoting the relevant information from the text to justify your answer. (3points)

1.The books released by bookcrossers belong to very different categories but they all have a common message.
2.The definition of the term “Bookcrossing” will soon appear in the Oxford English Dictionary.
3.Once you release a registered book there is no way of knowing its whereabouts.

2.Answer the following questions according to the information given in the text. Use your own words. (2 points)

1.Why are the labels attached to the books so important?
2.Why is this Bookcrossing phenomenon successful?

3.Complete the following sentences. The meaning should be the same as that of the sentence above. (2 points)

1.“Anyone may find these books in any public place.” These books (…)
2.“I released one of my books in your school for you all to find and read,” he said. He said that (…)
3.“In only a couple of years the term Bookcrossing made it into the Dictionary.” It took (…)
4.“My brother reads more books than I do.” I don’t (…)

4.Write a composition with the following title (80 -120 words):

“The book I’d release.” Choose one book you’d leave in a public place for other people to find and read. Tell us what it is about and give reasons for recommending it. You should include a personal comment in your composition. (3 points)