Publishing houses and movie production companies spend plenty of money promoting new books and movies. Educators on the other hand, have that shoestring budget that we would rather spend on books. When it comes to promoting books and reading, it is always nice to take a ride on the coat-tails of the big guys.
When a new book in a popular series is being released, make sure to capitalize on the excitement and anticipation expertly created by the publishers. Show the book trailer and post a countdown to the release date in your library or classroom. Authors and publishers are usually buzzing about new releases online. Post information from their sites on your blog or bulletin board. Speak in hushed tones and pretend to have top secret insider knowledge of the upcoming book. Check to see that nobody is listening and say something like, “Rumor has it there is a surprise ending in this book.” Make a big deal out of revealing the new cover when it is released. Select a student who is particularly enthralled with a series to be your Chief Information Officer and charge her with keeping you up-to-date with all the latest information about the upcoming book. Book release parties are also a fun way to promote books and reading. Jump at the chance to party about books!
Since students are already clamoring to put books like this on hold before they come in why not have some fun with it? Pre-order multiple copies of popular series books such as the Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s series Cabin Fever; or the next installment of the Origami Yoda series, and make a special trip to the book store to make sure students have the new book at least the day after it is released. Hold drawings on the school news program to determine which students will be the first to check out the new release. Drawings can be open or based on trivia questions from earlier books in the series. Keep drawing to see who will get the book next. Someone has even come up with the idea to put a “first read by” plaque in books with the name of the student who read the book first. Genius! Now that the book is out the reviews will start coming in. Create a “Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down?” book review display. Allow each student who reads the book to post their vote on the display. Add sticky notes for short reviews.
If your library or classroom has a blog, Facebook page or Twitter feed, make a post when you are on the way to the book store to pick up copies of a hotly anticipated new release. The first person to like or respond to your post will win the chance to be the first to check out one of the copies.
Keep track of the book to movie action. As soon as you find out that a book is being made into a movie, book-talk that book. At the end of the book talk, be sure to say something like, “This book is so good, they are actually going to make it into a movie.” This is the perfect time to start a book club and feed on the frenzy of excitement and publicity generated by the motion picture industry. Pour over the movie still releases, predict scenes that will be cut, create your own soundtrack, watch the movie trailers, listen to the official sound track which is usually released just before the movie, and predict where the songs will be used in the movie. Of course, have a movie premiere party with your book club members. Check out this great example of a book-to-movie party.
There are so many ways to put a fresh spin on these ideas and make them perfect for your students, but the most important part of it all is YOU and your excitement about books and reading.
Middle School Teacher-Librarian Jennifer Tazerouti is ready to assist students and teachers with their information and technology needs in Union, South Carolina. The librarian keeps a professional blog at: www.auntielibrarian.com
Much fun to do all those things, and I would add that my students too bring in books they’ve just acquired so we had a spot in the morning meeting called Book News where they could share. I like the idea of doing a blog post of the trip to the bookstore, etc. You could even take a few students with you! Thanks for all the ideas!
You are welcome! Great idea to bring in a book and talk it up on the news!
Thanks Linda! I love bookstore field trips! Love the book sharing on the school news. Great idea!
Thank you Linda! I love book store field trips! Excellent idea to have students bring in their new books to talk about on the school news show! Students will more likely read a book after hearing another student recommend it.
What wonderful, practical applications of ways you make reading fun and contemporary. Drawing on what you said about making it timely and fun: we took advantage of this with the Hunger Games that just came out; we made teens draw what they thought Katniss’s costumes would look like and had a great time. Good Article!
What a wonderful article showing practical ways you can bring mainstream culture into the classroom and library. We did a similar movie tie-in party here where teens could draw what they thought Katniss’s wardrobe in the new Hunger Games movie would look like. I also liked how you touched on the importance of creating hype for a new book series: that way the kids can grow together with the characters. Congrats on all the great work you are doing! You are making a difference!
Thank you! Yes! We can’t miss an opportunity to get kids to read using the movie and sequel buzz! Once the movie is out the books tend to sell themselves and I look for the next big thing to keep the excitement rolling. It looks like The Maze Runner is next for movies and the Fortune Wookie for series. Great idea for the wardrobe and costumes! Sounds like a ton of fun! It is amazing how many students you can get to read like this. Lots to be excited about.
Thank you for some fresh ideas to help get my kids excited about upcoming releases (books and/or books-to-movies)! I love the idea of appointing a student to keep track of the updates/news.
You are welcome! So glad you found some new ideas here. Give the new CIO a new notebook and that will make her/him feel even more special!
Congratulations, Jennifer! You are always thinking and are successfully engaging your students to read with these creative strategies you use. What a great gift to others to share your ideas. Your mother would be so proud.
Thank you Judy!
This, quite simply, is an Awesome post. Those who know me well know that I do throw that word around a lot, but not always capitalized! Lots of great ideas and thoughts in here. Thanks for putting this together and sharing!
Thanks Brian!
I covered a “life sized” chessboard style “Hunger Games” game in which 20 students took part at the main Chicago library. Everyone had to create a tribute name and there were pre-game games to measure cunning and bravery. The library system did it at nearly 20 branches. Way to go, Jen!
Great ideas, Jennifer! Love using the tie in to your social media (the first student posting a reply is the first to check out one of the copies of the new book).
And your CIO idea (with new notebook!) is gold. There is no way I can stay on top of all the series – but there are always students (and teachers!) who know when the next book is being released. With all the series we have, I will lose track of the CIO’s if I don’t post their names!
Why not encourage your CIO’s to be guest bloggers?
I just love these ideas! I already post on my class blog about new books, but I can make it better. This is a very helpful post for me. I am definitely going to hold contests on our school announcements show. Thank you for sharing, Jennifer!
Love all these great ideas! The picture made me smile most of all. I ALWAYS use the plastic containers from my Scholastic Book Fairs for any and every drawing I have in the library.
So convenient! For new books, I sometimes draw first for a student to win their own personal copy and then the next students drawn are the first to check out the library copies.
Love these ideas! This is one of the reasons I love Twitter. With authors like Tom Angleberger and George O’Connor being active online, I feel like I’m always “in the know”. The kids love to hear about the latest news, and it keeps them excited about reading.
Fran – What a fantastic idea to have the CIOs be guest bloggers on the library blog or the book club blog or the class blog! Wonderful!
Cynthia – Glad you found something helpful here. Isn’t it great to make reading something a prize? That’s cool!
Sherry – Your comment made me laugh! I love it that you recognize the Scholastic Book Fair plastic container! It has that PERFECT slot int he top! I will never let that thing go!
Maria – I am with you about Twitter. The “dirt” you can get from author tweets sometimes makes it seem as if you personally know them! Tweets fit nicely on sentence strips too!
I really appreciate everyone’s comments! Thanks!