March: Dive Into Reading Display

During the month of march my school has a two week Interim. The students all go on exciting trips around the world as well as participating in unique activities. This year a few of our trips focused on water: scuba diving, surfing...... so the idea for this display was easy! Dive into reading!

I cut out the waves, fish and title using the Silhouette Cameo. Because Interim is all about the activities that the students will be experiencing we like to make a display with books on each topic. I used the Silhouette Cameo to print out the name of each excursion on a fish and then cut out that fish. I place each fish under the corresponding book on the display.

We had lots of fish! The display turned out really cute. You could easily take this same idea and just leave the fish blank!

March: She Believed She Could So She Did, Women's History Month Display

March is Women's History Month, for our display I found some awesome propaganda for and against Suffrage. If you do a search on Pinterest for Women's Suffrage, you will find many options. I took the different posters and comics and made one side of the display all comics for Suffrage and the other side against it. I originally had all the shelves with comics as well but it was a bit overwhelming once the display was up. I cut out the quote for the display name using the Silhouette Cameo.

February: African American History Timeline Display

In honor of African-American History Month I created a unique timeline display. I saw an idea on Pinterest from a University library that had posted a timeline in their display case, for African-American History Month. I searched all over and was unable to find the timeline they had used. I created my own timeline template in Photoshop and I used facts, years and photos found on InfoPlease African-American History Timeline, History.com Black History Month, US Forest Services Timeline of Events in African American History, and NPR Black History Month Timeline.

The timeline covers events from 1694-2009. Each shelf covered six events in history, with the year it happened, a short summary of events and a picture of the event or person. For the books on display for each shelf, I chose books that corresponded to the events represented on that shelf.


For the title at the top of the display I cut the letters out using our Silhouette Cameo and glued them onto black strips of paper.

Here is the file, you can trace it in Silhouette Studio.

January: Puzzled Over What To Read Next? Display

Puzzled over what to read next? Check out our new library display!

For our first three displays of the new year we focused on variations of the classic "If you liked this, you'll love this" display. For our Puzzled display I used our Silhouette Cameo to cut out dozens of puzzle pieces and then I taped the pieces together forming the border of the display. For each Matching set of books I taped a puzzle piece of a matching color on the covers.

I including this sign on the display letting the students know what the display was all about.

I found some puzzle piece letters online and made the signage for the top of the display.

I used Goodreads for help finding books that went well together. That's all there was to it!

October: LGBT History Month Display

October is LGBT History Month. Since our Halloween displays will take up the second half of the month, I choose to celebrate at the beginning.

I started by creating a resource list with books on LGBT history and biographies and, fiction books featuring LGBT topics. One of our volunteers then pulled all the books for the display.

For signage I wrote out LGBT HISTORY MONTH in Photoshop and then manipulated the text with a rainbow gradient. Feel free to use it:

For decorating I made rainbow colored pinwheels. I took two pieces of paper of the same color and length, I then folded them up into long skinny rectangles (like how we used to make fans). I then stapled the center of each folded piece. I unfolded the piece to create a half circle and stapled the two edges together. Once you have two half circles you then staple them together. I then cut out a circle in a different color and glued it onto the center.

October: Black and White and Read All Over Display

This month I decided to take all of our black and white cover books and feature them in a display. This was by far the easiest display I have done, and it took very little planning. I recommend using this when you don't have the time to plan an elaborate display.

I went through the fiction section and noted down the barcodes of every book that had only black and white (or white) in the cover. I then entered all the barcodes into a resource list so one of our parent volunteers could pull the books the morning of our display change.

For the decoration I measured the shelf and made black and white boxes in Photoshop that I then printed out, cut out and taped to cover the shelf edge. Feel free to use them:


For the signage I wrote out "Black and White and Read All Over" and then cut out each word and taped it to the display.

Overall it really turned out great!

June: Books Vs. Magazines Display

Books vs. Magazines, a unique display to showcase our wonderful collection of magazines and similar books. Which will the students want to read more?

For this display I went with an Alice in Wonderland theme. The idea of arrows and "pick me" signs seemed to fit right in with the idea of books vs. magazines.

Here is some of the signage I created to decorate the display with:

I placed the arrows on the shelves pointed at either the book or the magazine.

I chose books and magazines that shared similar themes. For example: Sports Illustrated paired with a sports book.

If you have magazines that are not being read I recommend giving this display a try!

July: Postcard Summer Display

Wish you could travel this summer? Discover new places without leaving your house with this Postcard display!

I created "postcards" using the covers/locations of popular/new books in our collection. Here are some examples:

I then created signage for the display "Discover a new world this summer."

and then I cut out the postcards and the words and placed them all over the display!

I was able to find more postcards already made for Twilight and Harry Potter, I did not provide them here but you can search Google for them. Please feel free to use any signage!

June: Books Into Movies Display

Book Into Movies Display! There are several YA books being turned into movies this year. This is a perfect opportunity to gain student interest. The last two years we have made a books into movies display that features all recently released as well as upcoming movies. Playing off of the popular "Call Me Maybe" song I created signage for the display, the keywords I made pink and the rest I left black. I also backed each word with a colored piece of construction paper:

To entice the students even further I created a QR code that links to the movies trailer. Each book, that has a trailer available, showcases a QR code on the front cover. Here are some of the codes (you may want to check to see the links are still active):

I then created signs to display on the shelves. The first sign just told gave the display title along with some movie posters:

The second sign gave the title and explained about the QR codes:

The third sign I made smaller 5" x 7" and it was just a common saying that I am constantly saying/hearing:

On the lower shelves of the display I put books that were being turned into movies, yet their trailers were not released yet. I called these "coming soon":

I also added stars to the coming soon books with their projected movie release date:

The display is a lot of fun, please feel free to use any of the signage/ QR codes.

February: Blind Date with a Book, AGAIN!

February is here again and I have a second chance at creating the Blind Date with a Book Display. This display was really popular last year. You can see the post on my first attempt here. This time the display was over the top with pink and red wrapping paper and tons and tons of valentine's decor.

I wanted to be sure I did not have repeat titles from last year's display so I dug up the spreadsheet of titles I made last time. I added the new books to the spreadsheet to help me out in the coming years. I used the same signs from last year, (You might notice that I did alter the colors and make the signs darker this time, but they are all the same wording as before). I also used the same sign out sheet, and rate your date slips.

I advertised the display on our website, Facebook, Pinterest, and school newsletter. We have students fill out "rate your date" slips to be entered in a raffle at the end of the two week display period.

The decor was different this time. I found three new ideas to make the display even cuter than it was last time. First I made "pop-up" hearts from an idea I found on Pinterest. It comes from Howtoorange and was really easy to make (although I used tape instead of glue). I then clustered the "pop-up" hearts on one area of the display and the effect was awesome!

I then created some layered hearts, I saw many examples of this on Pinterest but it was difficult finding a tutorial. Michaels.com actually ended up having a great one. These were really easy to make and I had students offering to create them for me. (I think they would be adorable with scrapbook paper in different prints).

I then added small and large heart garlands around the display. These are so cute and easy to hang in different ways. I used long ones to give a decorative feel to the display area as well. You can find them on Etsy as Baileyhadaparty.

The display has only been up for two days and we have already have six books checked out. I think I am going to need to wrap a lot more books to keep up with the demand! Has anyone else made a Blind Date with a Book display?