May: Student Recommended and Favorite Books

Back in April, during National Library Week, we had students write down their favorite books and also recommend books the library did not already own. Every May we then create a display (or displays) that feature all of these books.

To begin we took the lists of books students had recommended and listed as favorites. You might remember the sheets I created for National Library Week:

I then searched our catalog for all the books. If we had them I added those books to a resource list. The books we did not already own I added to a wishlist on Amazon. After I checked that the books were appropriate I ordered them and our wonderful parent volunteers cataloged the books once they came in.

The second step was to type up labels for each book that was recommended. The labels have the name of the student who recommended the book along with a sentence "This book was suggested by.....". I then printed up all the labels and stuck them on light green post-it notes that I trimmed down (not really necessary but easier to remove from the books once the display comes down).

One of our Library Student Assistants came up with the decor idea. She suggested silhouettes that had quote bubbles that gave the illusion that the silhouettes were speaking. In the quote bubbles would be sayings like "I recommended TITLE OF BOOK" or "TITLE is my favorite book." This was such a great suggestion. I did a google search and found several different silhouettes that I brought into Photoshop and sized to approx 6.5". I then printed out all the silhouettes and we cut them out. I made sure to make an even amount of male vs female silhouettes. I then created some quote bubbles in Photoshop and using the lists I had of student recommended books I typed up the different sayings (being sure to pick an even number of boys and girls). I then printed out the bubbles and wrote either a G or a B on the back of each so I could match the right gender with the right gender silhouette.Here are some blank quote bubbles you can add your own text to.

Once it was time to put up the display I put two silhouettes on each shelf and added the quote bubbles. For the top of the display I made two large quote bubbles that said "Student Recommended" in one and "& Favorite Books" in the other.

That's all there is to it!

April: Earth Day Display

April 22nd was Earth Day and the library created two displays to highlight the libraries "Earth Day" inspired books.

The display was really quick to put together. After the last week celebrating National Library Week and all the events we held, there was not much time to put together a huge display. I created two signs for the displays, one for each book case. They are really simple:

I then cut out some clouds, butterflies and snails and decorated the bookcase with them:

That's all there was to it, please feel free to use the signs or template.

April: Book Spine Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, to celebrate we have created a book spine poetry display. This is our second year creating this display and it has only grown in popularity with our students. Last year we dedicated one bookcase to the display and by the end of the two week display period we had piles of books sitting on nearby tables because they wouldn't fit in the bookcase. This year we dedicated two bookcases to the display, it has been up for one week so far and we only have two spots left for poems, crazy!

The first time we created the display none of the students had ever heard of book spine poetry before. I wanted to encourage them to give it a try and also show examples of what a book spine poem was. I accomplished this in three ways. First I created a book spine poetry board on our library pinterest page. I then created a sign that said "need inspiration?" and I provided a QR code that would take you to the book spine poetry examples.:

Second I made fake books out of construction paper and then I wrote titles of books on them and stacked them to make fake poems. I taped these fake books to the back of the bookcase shelves, it was a great way to show examples while leaving the shelves clear for the students work.

The third thing I did was make small quote bubbles that said things like "place your poem here", "Create a poem", "Your poem goes here".... Just another way to encourage the students. I unfortunately did not save the quote bubbles with the text in it, but I did save the blank ones. You can open these in Paint and write your own words of encouragement:

Once a student created a poem they would put their name on it. I made small pockets out of construction paper and put a note on it saying "Name cards" and then in some of the quote bubbles I wrote "don't forget to add your name," I then made some note cards for them to write their names on and then place the card on top of the poem.

For signage I wrote out letters saying "Make a Poem" for the top of the bookcase. and then I had a sign explaining the display on one of the shelves.

This has been an extremely successful display. I hope you give it a try at your library. Please feel free to use any of my signage!