School Library Decor: Where Will Reading Take You? (with a free printable!)

I finally (finally) got my school library's decorations up. Hey, and it's only October. Woo! Anyway, I wanted to share the ideas here, point out some cool resources, and even share a free printable travel poster.

Travel poster? Travel poster. Here, you can see what I'm talking about. Check out this library...

More Funny Book Covers for April Fools

Happy April Fools! I decided to expand on my April Fools display from last year (which was originally inspired by Hafuboti) with five more popular picture book covers that have been specially photoshopped...April Fools style. I love me some funny books!

I've included the Google Drive pdfs in the caption of each of the photos below, so you can download these copies whichever way you please (for free!) and print them off for your own hilarious book display. Kids are sure to love them. Try setting it up where kids have to write down the correct titles, if they know it. Or have them design their own April Fools picture book cover!

National Poetry Month Library Display

Ages ago, when working at my old library, I found this image on Pinterest:

As far as I can tell, the image came from Greenville County Library. So I'm giving them the credit, though I will admit that it could've come from anywhere (oh the joys of Pinterest).

But the point is: I got out a poster board and copied it exactly to hang as a display in my library. Because I think it is hilarious. And it worked so well to promote our (somewhat rarely used) poetry section. In fact, I've got a list of some of my favorite poetry books below.

Another Book Return Poster

After my awesomely nerdy book return memes garnered some success (and how could Gandalf, Yoda, and Batman not be a success?), I made another one for Thanksgiving. Well, it turns out that I enjoy making them so much, it was only a matter of time that I made one for Christmas.

Yep, I have another free printable with which to encourage patrons to return/renew their books on time. I figure this Christmas one would be especially useful at a school library before they go on winter break. Or really any library that closes for a number of days.

Like I said, a totally free printable. You can either download the image above or get the pdf off of Google Drive.

Turkey Book Displays and Book Return Poster

By far my most popular display I've made is my No-Shave November. Which I do love. It's pretty hilarious. So I don't really have a lot to add to the November library display collection...

Except for turkeys. I think they're so funny. So I couldn't resist adding to my book return meme collection (see the Batman, Yoda, and Gandalf ones here) with a new printable perfect for Thanksgiving:

And yes! You are free to print it and use it. If you want the pdf, here's the Google drive link.

Anyways, now I'm craving some turkey. Here are some other turkey library displays that I just want to gobble up!

Halloween Library Display and Book List

Halloween in the library! We always had a big party and storytime in my library with all sorts of treats, costumes, and (of course) the best stories. But to encourage excitement before the holiday itself, check out this display idea: "'Witch' book will put you under its spell?"

11 Banned Books Week Display Ideas

Ah, Banned Books Week. It's coming up, just next week! Remember when I shared my library's display from a couple years back? Well here's where a lot of the ideas came from. In honor of the banned and challenged books, I thought I'd share many of the displays and posters that I find to be most inspiring or intriguing.

It's not about forcing books on people or celebrating negativity, but merely reminding patrons that they have the freedom to read what they want. So please don't take that right away from others.

I love this quote from Roberta Stevens (image from Ebook Friendly) because it really sums up that sentiment in one easy sentence. I would make this into a big poster and hang it front and center.

Here are some more display ideas!

Encouraging Book Returns with Library Memes (with free printables!)

I'm a nerd. Let's be honest. If I could venture a guess, I would say that a lot of librarians are. In any case, this nerdiness is really making itself known today. Because I have designed some library memes (memes make a great display topic). But not just any library memes! Nerdy library memes. That are, in fact, very cool at the same time.

That's right, I made posters for a library to display to help encourage patrons to return/renew books on time. Avoid those icky penalties or late fees, you know? Anyway, I'm sharing these designs with you. All out. Do what you want with them. I just appreciate the credit.

Here are the files: Google Drive .pdf or you can download the individual pictures...

"Gold Medal Books" Olympics Library Display

The 2016 Summer Olympics are just around the corner!

Flowchart: Animal Books for 2nd-4th Graders

Phew, this was totally supposed to go up on Friday and I just kept adding more and more books! There's a lot of good stuff out there, which ended up surprising me a little bit because this is the age group that I often have the hardest time finding books to recommend. I've always felt it got a little lost in the shuffle between easy readers/early chapter books and middle grade fiction.

But! Without further ado, a flowchart of animal-themed books for kids aged 8 - 11 years.

These books are all chapter books, all have some illustrations/photos in them, and are great stories. Some I'd still double check what would be good for the right age (one might lend itself better to the 11-year-old than the 8-year-old). Some are classic, some are brand new. There's something for everyone, for sure.

Also, I have a link to download the printable poster: a pdf on Google Drive. It's sized 11" x 42" so you could, technically, print it on five landscape-oriented letter-sized pages. In any case, it's nice to have as a reference when recommending books!

Here's a full list of what's on the flowchart:

May the Fourth Be With You - Library Display

Star Wars is just getting better and better. And thus, more and more popular! There's so many great books and such to promote. And guess what's coming up next week? Yep, May 4th!

So it only made sense to make a free printable Star Wars library display! The idea originated with this share from Ridgewood Public Library. I liked it so much, I thought I'd make my own to share.

April Fool's Library Display: 11 Funny Book Covers!

I'm admitting straight up that the idea for this display is not mine. Rebecca from Hafuboti was so nice as to let me expand on her posts Library Fools and More Foolish Than Ever with eleven of my own silly/funny/foolish book covers. I love photoshop and I love funny books, so basically, it was a match made in heaven.

So without further ado, here are eleven book covers of popular picture books/early readers for your April Fools pleasure. Hang them up on a bulletin board or wall for patrons enjoyment. Or number the covers on display and have kids write down the correct title for each number for a small prize. OR, even better, have some blank papers out for kids to make up their own silly titles or stories!

Easter Library Display

Easter is this weekend! Who's excited to eat a ridiculous amount of jelly beans?? And/or chocolate bunnies?? And/or, as the case may be, those marvelous marshmallow, ooey-gooey goodness known as Peeps??

Why do I bring up Peeps? Well I have to give a shout-out to my former coworker, Heather, who made this awesome library display:

For Peeps sake, people, just read a book! And Happy Easter!

Fortune Teller Library Display

Or do you call them Cootie-Catchers? One and the same, my friend. The point is, here's an idea to help patrons figure out what to read next. Like so:

St. Patrick's Day Library Book Display

Okay, we're going to try a little experiment here. Though I'm not actually at the library creating displays anymore...I still like creating displays. So this post is about what I would create for this time of year.

Yep, it's time for a St. Patrick's Day display!

So, basically, I saw this quote somewhere in passing, and thought it'd make a pretty perfect St. Patrick's Day book display sign. So here's a free printable! You can click on the image to download for yourself, or get the 11" x 17" .pdf from Google drive.

And just to help you get a feel for what it may look like on display, here's my obviously-photoshopped inspiration picture!

What's great about this display is you can highlight any collection, really—nonfiction, picture books, etc.—just find the books with the green covers! Add some four-leaf clovers for some extra luck and you're in business. Enjoy!

Flowchart Poster Display

Well, I thought I'd show you my set up for the poster I made last week. Nothing too surprising here, but I do love the look!

Fills up a good amount of the end cap, and I left half of the space open for book displays and also a bookmark booklist with the call numbers of all the books in our library.

So there you have it! Inspiration to print and hang your own! The file can be found on the original post from last week. 

Flowchart: What Books to Give a Middle-Grader

I had a lot of fun with this one. So much so, that even though it was supposed to be posted on here yesterday (Thursday being my normal middle-grade book day), I spent a few more hours tweaking it and posted it now (obviously). So—without further ado!—a flowchart of middle-grade book recommendations!

Turns out it's hard to narrow down recommendations. This could have been SO much longer (heaven forbid). But hey, it works. So I'm hanging it in my library (see it here!). If you want to, too, here's the link to the .pdf printable in Google Drive.

If you want a full list of what books are on the flowchart, continue on, muchachos.

Wild About Reading Library Display

It's not anywhere close to unique, but hey, that just makes it classic. This here library display is simple for anyone to do. I'm talking about gettin' wild...

What I'm really proud of is the felt animal prints I made. Yep, hand cut from patterns I found online. Can you see the texture?

It just adds a bit more glam to it. Safari glam. Just what is needed in the library!

The Avengers! Summer Reading Library Display

Well most of us librarians might be superhero-ed out already, what with such a super summer reading program this year...

But of course, the summer continues onward, and I have my version of a book display befitting the season:

March Madness Results Are In...

In case you're curious...

Harry Potter is the ultimate champion. But really, that's no surprise is it?

Most of the wins seemed about right, with a surprise or two thrown in. I was surprised how quickly Diary of a Wimpy Kid lost out, what with how often those books circ out. But fantasy books for the win!

See the original post about this book display here