Summer Reading is upon us! Well almost for us anyway lol (Sign ups are open and then on Monday it begins!) And Almost every year since I started at the library I’ve been sharing some book recs and display ideas that match the summer reading theme that CSLP has made for the US branches. (It may be different for your library if your library system makes up their own!)
I think my most favorite was Libraries Rock. That book rec list I made for it was off the charts! (Pun intended) The next year I did a sci fi science themed one and that one was actually fun as well. I skipped 2020 because I wasn’t sure if we we’re going to have a Summer Reading Program, BUT I got back to it in 2021! For whatever reason I skipped 2 of the best themes from a couple years ago, and I said I won’t let that happen to me again! So last year I was back with a theme I wasn’t fond of for programming, but I didn’t have to do that I thought eh ok lol But you know what it was good for? Books and displays. So I gave them some ideas that were out of the box. Last year’s was pretty cute tho. I did a color theory type recommendation post and it was a hit!
So this year is another year I wasn’t especially fond of as a YA librarian. Off the top of my head I was like wtf am I going to do with teenagers and dinosaurs? My coworkers came up with a cute idea to do some different things like digging and gardening and the usual different genres etc but y’all know I love a good theme, so it took me awhile, but I came up with some ideas. So, here’s some random recs you can use for display Ideas or list/curation ideas! I’m not at the branches anymore so I hope this helps someone or maybe a couple of you or something!
Here’s a couple ideas I had:
So for this one, it’s just a play on the word triceratops. They all have actual dinosaurs in them.. For the YA I used a manga and a graphic novel. I think this could be a really cool display for any age. (Please note that the order on this slide is Adult, YA, MG/JF, and J Pic. Just a heads up so no one gets confused or in trouble.)
For this one, it’s fossil themed. All of them have a fossil or bone somewhere in the plot. I think this one would actually make a really cool display in J. (Again, this has examples for every age group, starting from the Left to Right: Adult, YA, J/MG, and J Biography and J Pic.)
I thought this one was cute! I didn’t realize how many CaveMen or CaveBoy books there actually were lol I had trouble narrowing them down! And please know, you can also do this with Adult books or CaveWomen or CavePerson as well!
LMFAO I’m almost positive you can’t use this one, BUT IF YOU CAN, use it! Only for adult tho. And it doesn’t have to be specific to the theme. You can just put a bunch of books or mention all the books you want to read to get your 300 points to complete SRP!
Other than that, here’s some fun ones you’ve probably thought of already!:
You have fantasy, romance, and mystery. I put all ages on here, just to give kind of an example on what types of books you can use! (For romance in JF/MG I usually go with first crushes and if you want to use J Pic, I usually go with like Family Love!) Also, if my sci-fi theme is in poor taste, let me know and I can delete it LOL I just hate that it lined up perfectly like that lol
**Please remember these are not exhaustive lists! If you are looking for more books to fit a theme, hit me up and I’ll help you!**
What do you think about this year’s SRP Theme? Is your library’s SRP theme the same or different? Have you read any of these? Will you read them now? Let me know in the comments!