Organizing your classroom library is no easy task. For example, how would you label The Book Thief? Fantasy, because the narrator is Death, or historical fiction because of the time period? If you have a section for movies that are books, it may end up there. And that’s one book. Many classroom libraries have hundreds of books; some have over a thousand.
Here’s my solution: primary (basic) genres along with a mini bookcase that has a weekly spotlight on specialty genres/categories.
Primary Genres
I want my students to be able to find all of the specific types of books they love, but I also know it’s not feasible. In the end there would be too many categories and it would be too difficult to navigate. After much trial and error, I limited my genres to the following:
- Fantasy
- Historical Fiction
- Science Fiction
- Mystery, Horror, and Suspense
- Realistic Fiction
- Classics
- Poetry
- Drama
- Memoir, Biography, and Autobiography
- Nonfiction
- Graphic Novel
- Shakespeare
There is still a bit of overlap, but generally I can easily decide which genre works best for each novel. In the event I have more than one copy of a novel, I will place different copies in different genres.
These are permanent genre categories. I put a corresponding label on the spine and always have these specific genres available in my library.
Spotlight Categories and Topics
In an effort to change things up and to find what interests all students, I created a weekly spotlight bookcase. I painted two wooden crates (find them at any craft store, Target, or Walmart) and stacked them to make my mini bookcase.
At the beginning of each year I print out my spotlight labels and each Monday I choose one to be the weekly focus. Sometimes it depends on the class, what’s happening in the news, or even what’s happening around the school. For example, when social studies classes focus on WWII I make sure I do a spotlight on WWII at some point during the unit.
My Spotlight Topics List – So Far!
- Sports
- Loved the movie? Read the book!
- Teacher Favorite
- Student Favorite
- Civil Rights
- In the News
- Animals
- Love
- Book Series
- Adventure
- World Lit
- LGBT
- Dystopia
- WWII
- War
- True Crime
- Female Leaders
- Author Spotlight
- Time Travel
- And…what am I missing?
Here are a few examples from this past year.
This one is perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Here’s one for my students who feel much more comfortable reading a book when they already know the characters and the general plot. I also like to remind my students that 99.9% of the time, the book is so much better! Half the time they don’t even know their favorite movies are based on books.
A lot of my students are into sports, but I’m not ready to make it a “genre” of its own. At least once each year, usually at the beginning of the year, I’ll do a sports mini bookcase. Sports books tend to be a great hook for getting students back into reading for enjoyment.
Spotlight Benefits
- It’s become a Monday routine in my class to do a quick book talk introducing the topic and discussing at least one of the books featured in the mini bookcase. It’s a good reminder for students: before people said, “There’s an app for that,” people said, “There’s a book for that.”
- Having a mini spotlight bookcase helps me to change up the types of books I’m discussing and putting in front of my students. I can’t discuss every book with them, but having a little bookcase with different themes and topics helps me put a majority of the books in front of my students in a meaningful way.
- Some students don’t understand what each genre means. The visuals on the labels help guide them and generate interest. They help my hesitant readers realize there’s a topic or genre out there that’s perfect for them.
Having the books in your library is a great start, but it’s only successful if the books get into the hands of the students who will love them! Use weekly spotlights to help your students find their next favorite book.
I’m not in the business of making and selling mini bookcases, but I do have my labels available at my TpT store. Just print and go!
6 comments
Skip to comment form
Hello! I just found your blog after listening to your guest appearance on the Spark Creativity podcast. You have wonderful ideas! Here’s my question that keeps me awake at night (not really, but still!): So, “The One and Only Ivan”–which genre would you put it in? It’s realistic fiction! Except, it has animals that communicate in English with the reader and the other characters. So, fantasy?? But it’s a real story! This is just one of many stories that fall into this area. Please send help! 🙂
Author
I once had a pile of books next to my library, unmarked, because I couldn’t commit to a genre. The struggle is real. For historical fiction and fantasy, I look at how much fantasy is present. Most of my students who read historical fiction enjoy the reality of it. Most of the people who love fantasy love that aspect and don’t mind if it’s historically accurate or not. So I usually code it as fantasy, though I hate the idea of it being overlooked by someone who would love. A few solutions: buy another copy and put one in each genre, label with both genres and put in historical fiction, or give it one label while making sure to recommend it and display it often. Hope this helps!
Love this idea!
Author
Thanks for checking it out! I’m hoping to add more categories in the future.
You always have the best ideas! Idk why I never thought of doing this. It would be a great addition to any clasroom no matter the content area or grade level! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Author
Tara, my biggest fan! I feel that way almost daily when I read blogs or scroll Pinterest. This seemingly basic idea took me a little over six years to come up with 🤷♀️. As always, thanks for checking out the blog.