Getting kids exciting about new books with a New Year, New Book Event is one of my favorite activities to do when we first come back from our two-week long winter break.  It’s a great way to ease back into the library after being gone for awhile, and it’s virtually a stress-free lesson. Other than the initial set up, there’s really not much you have to do but sit back and watch the kids get totally excited about all the new books in the library!  You can’t help but smile when you hear kids screaming across the library “Oh my gosh! I wanted to read this!  You got the new [insert series here], Mrs. Liptak!”

I originally wrote about doing an event like this here, and  I knew that I wanted to do it again this year.  This time, I decided to make more specific signage to help show my kiddos the new books in each section of the library.  I created signs for Non-Fiction, Biography, Fiction, and Everybody/Easy but also added signs for Graphic Novels, Drawing Books, and each of the 9 genres in my Fiction section (Adventure, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Humor, Mystery, Scary, Science Fiction, Sports, and Realistic Fiction.)

I came up on the day before we went back to school and set up all the new books that I had been processing for the last few months.  (I typically spend most of my district budget in the beginning of the year to get ready for this event, and then use any profit from my book fairs during the second half of the year.)  These books will be on display all week so that every student will get to see all the new books. Even teachers are NOT allowed to check them out until the week is over.  (This always makes the kids giggle!)  Here’s how my library looked for the first day back to school.

Oh, I wish you could have heard their excitement when they walked in the door!  Priceless!  Anyhow, after they turned in their old books and joined me in our reading nook, we reviewed how good readers always have an on-going list of books they want to read.  I explained that today was all about finding books to add to their own list.  In my past blog about this event, I had created bookmarks to use with my 3rd-5th graders.

I felt like I needed something for my younger students as well.  So I decided to create a booklet for my Kinder-2nd graders to use to remember 3 books that they wanted to check out the next time they came to the library.

I was having so much fun creating these, that I decided to also make another bookmark that could be used even after the event was over.  (My students know that all the new books have a green stickers over the book’s call number.  I use Demco’s Color Tinted Glossy Label Protectors like the ones found here. This way, even if the book is on the shelf, they’ll know it’s part of our new collection. At the end of the year, my 5th grade leaders help me take these labels off so we are ready to start fresh the new year.)

If you’d like to do a New Year, New Book Event like this in your library, you can get the posters, bookmarks, and booklet here in my store or on TpT.

Parents, you can also get your kids excited about new books with your own New Year, New Event as well.  No, you don’t have to go out and buy hundreds of book, but you can take your kids to a library or a bookstore and let them loose!  I added a similar activity where you can just get the bookmarks and booklets (and not the posters) to my store here.

I’d love to hear your ideas on how you get kids excited about new books! Please share!