3 Ideas for Library Book Recommendations

Dec 31

Written By Jenn

Engage your student readers with some fun ideas for book recommendation in the library! No-prep, editable printable bookmarks that are great for your library book exchange routines.

Providing student book recommendations is a never-ending job in the library!

Sometimes it can be tough challenge with reluctant readers, but it feels SO good when you find the perfect book for a student! During my years as a teacher-librarian, I’ve tried lots of ideas to promote books, and I’d love to share my favourite ideas with you!

1. Recommendation Displays

The easiest way to recommend books is to create a simple display with your recommendations. Take time to collect some of your favourite titles based on a theme, a time of year, or just random books you want students to notice!

Set up the books on stands, and you can even add some decorations to make it a bit more exciting. Sometimes I add a matching sign to the display about the theme or topic. Don’t have a theme? Just add a simple title such as Librarian’s Picks, Ms./Mr’s Picks, Favourites of the Month.

2. Student Recommendations

Students are reading the books in your library, so why not have them make recommendations to their peers? They know what they like, and are usually pretty honest with their thoughts on what they read.

After they read a book, you can provide templates for them to fill out with a simple review. Some ideas include; the book title, student name, star rating, and a short comment about who would enjoy the book. These reviews could be posted on a bulletin board or inside a display case.

If you have a team of student library assistants, you can ask them to review books too! Have them create a display of their favourite books, design some bookmarks with their names, and they can stick them inside their recommended books.

3. Book Recommendation Bookmarks

reading bookmarks — Recommendation bookmarks

I don’t know about you, but I typically give students 2 or 3 recommendations when they are looking for chapter book ideas. They usually sign out one of the books but often come back looking for the others on a future visit.

Do you think I always remember the other books? You’re right….I don’t. 😟

After I noticed this pattern a few times, I decided to create bookmarks for students. When I give recommendations, they write the titles and locations on the bookmark for future reference. (I help them write if they are younger, and I always make sure they know where to find the books when they return.)

There’s not enough time to fill out all the time, but I try and do them as often as I can. It makes me so happy when a student enjoyed the first recommendation and comes back with their bookmark looking for another one!

These bookmarks are simple to edit in PowerPoint (if you want) and print on white or coloured paper. Students can use them as bookmarks AND can reference future book ideas.