October Book Display ideas - Not Horror!

 So, it's October and you want a book display that isn't horror? Here are some ideas that you can use. 

You could always go horror - adjacent and do a true crime or horrible history display with your non-fiction. If you pick the best readable, narrative non-fiction and put it near your fiction stacks, there are books that will get checked out. This is a display that will flow into your horror book displays and lists. 

Remember that you can be funny and refuse to fall into anything! Put up a display of beachy, coastal romance and fiction. Put up a sign with a flip flop and proudly demonstrate your refusal to give up summer. There are plenty of books with beaches on the front that you can use. You could tie it into a coast/ocean horror display with books like Daniel Kraus' Whalefall. 

Mean Girls Day was October 3 but a book display of the books you think that the characters from the movie would like and books that fans of the movie might enjoy would also be fun. 

Other holidays celebrated this month include: 

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah -  Put up a display of fiction by Jewish authors and books about Jewish history. See what you have that is not Holocaust specific. There are plenty of times of the year when those books can be brought out. 

Indigenous Peoples' Day/Columbus Day is almost upon us. You can get warmed up for Native American Heritage Month and put out some fiction by Native American Authors. There are plenty of horror titles that you can use including ones by Erika T. Wurth, Jessica Johns, Stephen Graham Jones, and Owl Goingback. See if you have any titles about your own area's Native American culture and history. 

National Coming Out Day is October 11. Remember that books by Queer authors should be part of your passive readers advisory all year. Find narratives and fiction about coming out. Include resources on bookmarks and small flyers for those patrons who might need it. Add links to your online passive readers advisory. 

October 15 is National Grouch Day. There are many lists of the hot, grouchy heroes of romance. This is also called the grumpy/sunshine trope. While by now you know that you can promote your horror collection all you, don't forget your romance collection when it's not February. Here are some links:
Goodreads
Another Goodreads list
Romance Rehab- Sexiest Grumpy Heroes in Romance
Here are some reviews from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Book Riot with a list of grumpy sunshine titles
Another romance display/list option is October 18th's No Beard Day. Display those romances with heroes on the cover who do not have a beard!

October 17 is Black Poetry Day. Putting poetry on display is a great way to get it to circulate if you don't have a dedicated audience for it. When I put a spotlight on poetry, the books do get checked out. See what anthologies with collections of Black poets' work and individual titles you have in your 811's. 

There is apparently an International Sloth Day on October 20th. Use it to put up those long, difficult titles that take forever to get through. Encourage people to slowly enjoy a great book that is longer and more challenging. Also, do a youth companion display with picture books and non-fiction about sloths. 

Finally, October 29 is National Cat Day (isn't that every day?). There are so many cat-themed cozy mysteries. You also likely have pet books about cats as well as youth titles with cats as the central character. 

I hope this list gives you an idea about where you can start if you want a non-spooky display to put up for October. Don't stress about fitting a theme perfectly; let's just get some love to our backlist titles!

Book Display Idea - Beachy/Sea Side/Coast Horror and Suspense

One of the things I repeat over and over is that people love to sit at the beach and read about about the pain and suffering of others. The Horror Writers Association along with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist has created an entire program for libraries called Summer Scares. There are titles picked for adults, young adults, and middle grade readers. Click here for more information from Becky Spratford on her blog, RA for All Horror. 

In that vein, I would like to show how you can use horror tied with beachy themes for a fun summer book display that will draw patrons in. The two titles I'm using are forthcoming releases but you can use the idea with whatever your library's collection holds. Don't forget to add titles from suspense, thrillers, and non-fiction to create a display; never get hung up on genre. 

I've made summer displays like this with all kinds of horror, suspense, and thrillers. 

In September, Quirk will release What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman. From the publisher's website: 

After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.

It’s at the market that she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying monster waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.

Combining supernatural horror with domestic suspense into a visceral exploration of parental grief, What Kind of Mother cements Clay McLeod Chapman’s reputation as a “star” (Vulture) and “the 21st century’s Richard Matheson” (Richard Chizmar, Chasing the Boogeyman.)

This book also contains elements of body horror and psychological horror which would be an alternative display. Another option would be to create one mixed with suspense and to focus on family relationships because parents and children are part of both novels. I will give suggestions for this in a future post. 

Daniel Kraus's Whalefall will be released in August. From the publisher's website: 

The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “astoundingly great” (Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

I've included several options for signage here. They were all made on Canva using images I found by searching Creative Commons. I am not a graphic designer, clearly, but these fit the theme and would catch someone's eye. The focus should be on the books. 

To help get you started, below are some lists from a variety of websites. Use your library's collection and remember to look at non-fiction and DVDs as well. You can add QR codes that link to titles in your eBook collection. Don't get hung up on how exactly the books fit the message on your sign. Book displays are primarily marketing tools for your collection rather than something like an art project for school.  

The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Deep Edited by Ellen Datlow 

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 
16 Aquatic Horror Books to Dive Into From the Line Up 
16 Horror Books Perfect for Summer Scares from Spooky Little Halloween
Eight Horror Novels That Will Make You Glad Summer is Over from Book Riot
Best Summer Horror Books from Goodreads
Aquatic Horror Books from Goodreads
8 Books That Will Make You Scared to Go Into the Water from Barnes and Noble