Speed Dating with a Book: find your perfect match

I consider my number one priority as a librarian to acquire awesome books and help our students find books that they will love or find interesting. Many in the profession call this readers advisory.  There are so many forms this can take from book trailers, book talks, personality quizzes (see my post about genre personalities here), having one on one conversations, and today I am sharing one of my favorite readers advisory activities: speed dating with a book! 

What is speed dating with a book?

Students spend 3-5 minutes with a book of their choosing and rate the books they 'date' on their attractiveness, personality, and comprehension/compatibility.  There are different variations on this activity all around the internet nowadays so feel free to do some Googling for different ideas!

Setting the Stage to Engage

I set out a variety of high interest books from different genres on 7 -8 different tables with 4 chairs each. My list changes each time I do this activity because new books come out and I get to know the students and their interests more. The number of books stays about the same as I want to have enough for students to choose from.  With 6 books per table and 7 or 8 tables, plan to have 42-48 books on hand.

Find the table images I created for table signs here. 
I like to go extra when decorating so of course I had tablecloths and flowers on all the tables. There is a cheap option on Amazon for a pack of white tablecloths.  The flowers I have collected over the years, but since it is Valentine's Day, I am sure there are good deals at Michaels, Target Dollar Spot, or Hobby Lobby.

Resources

Intro to students:

Speed Dating Sheet: