I’m not that great at book displays. I know, I know, librarians are supposed to have great book display game. We’re supposed to be cutting, tracing, glueing, bubble-letter geniuses. Maybe it’s the fact that my readers are so enthusiastic that books in our library don’t take much selling; maybe it’s because my ideas are much bigger than my skills. Whatever the reason, my book display skills are a little less than top notch.

I ask my students to have a growth mindset when considering their strengths and weaknesses, so this year, I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I was going to work hard, focus, and strengthen my book display skills. I would browse Pinterest! I would use glitter! I would use timely holiday and pop culture references! On the eve of the first day of school, the library held three lovely book displays chock full of great novels to choose from. And then the school year started. And you can guess what happened next.

Instead of beating myself up about dropping the ball, I decided to stick to my growth mindset and do what I ask my students to do: ask an expert for help. And that is how fifth grade got the opportunity to take charge of our first student-made book display. We chose a theme, we designed decorations, and, most importantly, we chose books, with students involved every step of the way. It’s easy to talk the talk about our library space being student-centered, but it was pretty fun to walk the walk, too. The best part? The display ended up way better than anything I could have done by myself!

Stop by the library sometime this month to see the display that 5th grade created, and to check out some of the awesome novels they chose to go along with the theme of diversity, love, and walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.