On Cheeky Book Displays

We've got a set of shelves in the children's area of my library that serves as a display space. My coworkers take turns populating these shelves with themed displays of their choosing, and the space has seen plenty of different display topics. We've had Picture Book Month, National Poetry Month, seasonal themes, award winners, focus on animals and science, focus on picture book biographies...lots of displays meant to highlight interesting and often lesser-known parts of our collections. These displays usually do pretty well, but occasionally one soars above our expectations.

 

That's the precise case with my colleague Erin's most recent display: "I don't remember the title, but the cover was red..."

This cheeky display theme works on quite a few levels. For kids, it's visually pleasing to see all these like-colored books in one place. The color also tacitly ties into the current festive mood without connecting explicitly to any one holiday or tradition.

For caregivers who like to check out our displays for new book-sharing ideas, the title elicits quite a few chuckles. What reader hasn't before encountered that exact experience of remembering nothing about a book besides its cover? The humor of this display works because readers are 100% in on the joke.

The display is eye-catching for sure, and it looks like it piques customers' reading interests as well: 20% of the items on the display have checked out in the few days this December display has been up. Let this serve as a reminder to me that a touch of humor can go a long way in recommending books to readers.