Preschool
We have a row of long, low shelves with a flat surface in the picture book area, so I've always made it a point to display rows of newer purchases on top (things that aren't 'new-new'). This has been a double bonus because folks remember things they had checked out when they were on the new shelf, and I also have a chance to spotlight a few nonfiction titles that are perfect for preschool/early readers as well.
Schoolage
To get students to read some of the older books in the collection, I created a list of similar books to pique their interest. These books are then given a small label which reads "If you liked [title], then try this!". These are set out on display and the labels have been laminated so they can be reused. Here are a couple of examples:
If you liked A Series of Unfortunate Events, then try The Big House (Coman)
If you liked Judy Moody, then try The Green Magician Puzzle (Pearson)
I also have used movie and book comparisons in the schoolage section, which I've detailed in the teen area of this page.
Teenage
Our society loves watching movies, especially those based on books. But there are several books, as well as movies, that aren't based on each other, but are very similar. I've created a list that pairs books to similar movies, and each book gets a label of "If you liked [movie title], then try this!" The top row of shelves in the YA area is empty, so I put out a set of books, face out, for display purposes. Here are a couple of examples:
If you liked The Wedding Planner, then try The Bridesmaid (Abbott)
If you liked The Truman Show, then try Parent Swap (Blacker)
Something else I've used to pique interest is the sticky-note book blurb. Many times the book jacket doesn't give enough information for making a book sound intriguing, so I write little sticky-notes with a fast-paced booktalk on them, and because they are small, I have to keep it short and catchy. This also is a way to 'highlight' certain books in the collection, as not every book has a sticky-note hanging on the shelf below it.
