Unwrap the Gift of Reading

By Amanda Buschmann

What wonderful creativity and imagination there is in our libraries!

Thanks to Amanda for sharing her brilliant idea - 'Unwrap the Gift of Reading' 

Here are here comments:

'Here is a display currently running in my middle school library located in Humble, Texas (a suburb of Houston). I spun it off of a Valentine's Day "Go on a blind date with a book" display I saw on Pinterest. Essentially, my library aides chose books that they thought students would enjoy/be excited about. We wrapped them and on the covers put the following info: barcode (to check them out), genre, and good for boys/girls (middle school boys are especially sensitive about this).

It is a hit! Sorry about the blurry second photo, but I also wanted to share the "rules" I set up for the students so they wouldn't keep checking out books, unwrapping them, and then checking them back in. They have to give the book a "chance"--meaning read it for a few chapters--before deciding to return it.

The students get really excited when they realize they get to unwrap a book! I have boys who have been in our school suspension program actually pay their fines so that they are able to check out these books. Very cool! :)'