My First Library March Madness

During the month of March (and part of April), the readers in our library participated in Library March Madness. Similar to the NCAA March Madness, our event also had brackets, but instead of teams, books were the competitors!

(I'd heard of this idea on Twitter and I knew I wanted to try it for myself. I thought my way through it and learned a lot!) 

Here's what the bracket looked like when we started:

Two of my parent volunteers helped make the bracket banner. We used masking tape and butcher paper. Each week, a parent volunteer helped me post the results and conduct voting.

I went on morning announcements to talk about the "tournament". That created some buzz and excitement!

I started a Google doc with the match-ups,  then I created a QR code with the link. The link was posted on the banner in the hallway and I also placed it on an easel located on the circulation desk. I had an iPad ready so learners could vote anytime they were in the library. I also had paper ballots available. (I'm not sure I'll do that next year.)

I chose 32 books that were known by most of our readers. I selected picture books as well as graphic novels and chapter books so that every reader would be able to vote in at least one of the levels. Since this was my first time doing a March Madness, I paired up the books as best as I could. But I will probably be wiser about it next year! 

After the first voting, we posted results with book covers on the banner. I created a new Google form for the next round and continued this until we were down to two finalists!

As learners walked by the banner in the hallway, I could hear them talk about the books! Mission accomplished! One of our 4th grade teachers brought her class over to the banner and had them all fill out a blank bracket to predict the winner.

As the weeks progressed, when I walked down the halls, students came up to me and mentioned different books. They asked when the next winner would be announced or where they could vote. It gave me another chance to connect with readers and share books. That is always a good thing!

As far as results go:
Our two finalists were:

Journey by Aaron Becker 

Wonder by RJ Palacio 

With different events in the building, some of the voting had to be postponed, but eventually we got to a winner (a school favorite):

Overall, I was very pleased with how it turned it out, and I'm already looking forward to next year!