Wildcat Favorites- Our Favorite Series

Since February is Love to Read Month, I thought I would share some of the series we have in our media center, beginning with our favorites.  When I first started as a media specialist nine years ago, my friend and more experienced media specialist Mary Dean, gave me a suggestion that has been one of the best ideas as far as book access goes-create a favorite section.  Her section is called gold star books and those books are labeled with a gold star on the spine, for easy shelving.

In our media center, this section is the Wildcat Favorites and are labeled with a paw print sticker.

When labeling the series, I try to place the paw print sticker at the top of the book, that way if the series is numbered, the number can go at the top of the book on top of the paw print.  This is  not always possible, as sometimes the sticker will block some of the title-which I hate. So in that case, the paw print sticker goes at the bottom. The color of the paw print doesn't matter.

Just like any section of a library, this section is fluid.  Series that were in the Wildcat Favorites when I first started may not be there any more and as new series become popular, those get moved into this section as well.  This is by far the most frequented section of the media center, and is usually where students head to first.

So that all students have a fair opportunity to check out their favorites, students may only get one book from a series at a time.  1st-3rd can get one Wildcat Favorite and 4th-5th can get two.  This is because 4th and 5th have a higher checkout limit as they don't have the time to visit the media center as often as the other grade levels.

Currently these books are arranged from early chapter books, to upper fiction, to middle grade fiction in alphabetical order by series title.  Here are the series that are currently located in the Wildcat Favorite section:

Everybody Chapter Books and Graphic Novels

Arnie the Doughnut Dog
Babymouse
Bad Kitty
Dog Man
Eerie Elementary
Rainbow Magic Fairies
Ivy & Bean
Judy Moody
Junie B.
Katie Kazoo
Kitty Korner
Lunch Lady
LEGO Ninjago
Looniverse
Magic Tree House
Minecraft
My Weird School
My Weirder School
My Weird School Daze
The Notebook of Doom
Owl Diaries
Ricky Ricotta
Squish
Stink

Upper Fiction Chapter Books

Captain Underpants
Floors
Goosebumps
I Survived
Jewel Thieves
Katie Kazoo
Minecraft Adventure novels
The Never Girls
Stick Cat
Stick Dog
Whatever After

Middle Grade Fiction Chapter Books 
(reserved for 4th and 5th graders)

The 39 Clues
Artemis Fowl
Dork Diaries
The Genius Files
Harry Potter
The Heroes of Olympus
I Funny
Infinity Ring
Jedi Academy
Kane Khronicles
Last Kids on Earth
Middle School
NERDS
Percy Jackson
Spirit Animals
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Wings of Fire

What are the favorite series at your school?

#toptentitles Wildcat Favorites

The Wildcat Favorites section in our media center is made up (mostly) of fiction series books that are the most popular with our patrons.  This can include picture books (E), easy chapter books (EC), upper fiction books (FIC), as well as middle grade fiction books (MG FIC), and graphic novels.  Because these are the most popular books, the number of circulations for these titles is higher overall.  To read more about the Wildcat Favorite section, click HERE.


Interestingly, this year Diary of  a Wimpy Kid did not take the top place, although it did appear in the top ten more than once.  It's nice to see that different series are becoming more popular...Bad Kitty, Lunch Lady, and Squish are among some of the favorites gaining ground.  Here are the top ten Wildcat Favorites from 2014-2015 in our media center.

Three Lunch Lady titles sharing the top ten spot with 3 other books

Another Lunch Lady and a Squish book along with a Dork Diaries title make the number nine spot.

Number eight includes another Lunch Lady and the first of many Bad Kitty titles and Diary of a Wimpy Kid titles along with 3 other favorites.

Number eight...no surprises there

Number six...the first DOAWK

Number five...a Bad Kitty title

Number four...a Bad Kitty title

Number three.,..they love Lunch Lady!

Number two...down several spots from last year...DOAWK titles

And the number one Wildcat Favorites of the year went to a Bad Kitty title and an I Spy title.

It seems that the books I have placed in the Wildcat Favorites have certainly earned their spots.  What are your patrons' favorite series books?

Top 10 Wildcat Favorite Books of the Year

And now for the top Wildcat Favorite books checked out in 2013-2014. The books in this section are the most popular fiction series books at my school and have a higher number of checkouts than other sections.  In fact, that is how I know what books to put in this section.  I use circulation stats and observations to determine which books will go in this section.  Our mascot is the Wildcat, thus the section title.  You can read more about this section here.

#10 was Big Nate: In a Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce

with 35 checkouts.

(Side note:  I have had to mark this book as a middle grade fiction book even though it has a very low reading level because of the content.  Nate's character is disrespectful to adults and often makes fun of his teacher's weight and his father's parenting. In one book,  Big Nate Out Loud, he asks his best friend "Is that a name or a male enhancement drug?"  After discussing it with the media committee at our school it was decided to keep these books on the shelves, but make them available to the upper grades only, hoping that they would be mature enough to handle the content and not imitate it.)

#9 was Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray by Nick Bruel

with 36 checkouts.

#8 was I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Lauren Tarshis

with 37 checkouts.

#7 was The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley Went Hollywood by Jeff Kinney

with 40 checkouts.

#6 was Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel

with 39 checkouts.

#5 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinnley

with 44 checkouts.

(side note: DOAWK books have also been labeled as Middle Grade Fiction books due to content.  I asked several teachers to read the first book in the series, and then it was discussed with the media committee and decided that because Greg doesn't seem to take responsibility for his actions and basically bullies his best friend, that it would be best for more mature readers.  See comments at the end of this post for more.)

#4 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinnley

with 45 checkouts.

#3 was a time between I Spy Spooky Night by Jean Marzollo

and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinnley

each with 49 checkouts.

#2 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinnley

with 51 checkouts.

#1 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley's Journal by Jeff Kinnley

and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinnley

each with 54 checkouts.

I still don't understand the appeal of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. It may not be very "librarian" of me, but since I read these books a few years ago, I will not purchase any new DOAWK books for our elementary school.  After reviewing these books, our media committee agreed that we should keep what we have, but not add any more.  There is just too much good literature out there to spend the very limited budget our media center receives on these books. Perhaps they would be a better fit in a middle school, but elementary students are very impressionable.  As an educator, teaching good character is an important part of my job.  In my opinion, these books just don't send that kind of a message. I will not recommend or purchase a book just because it is popular if it doesn't add quality to our collection and I am convinced that they would not be as popular without the movie. We have selection guidelines in our county, and I just don't believe DOAWK books meet these guidelines.  In the meantime, the 24 copies we have (which, incidentally, were purchased before I took this position and/or before I read them myself to decide whether or not to purchase more) will just have to do.  Okay, I will get off my soapbox now.

You can read about 2012-2013's top 10 Wildcat Favorites here.  Next up, the top 10 Non-fiction books checked out in 2013-2014. Stay tuned!

*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.

Most Popular Titles of the Year...Wildcat Favorites

The top 10 today will focus on the Wildcat Favorite section.  To read more about the Wildcat Favorites, go to this post.  As these are the most popular books in the Media Center, they have a higher number of checkouts than books in other sections.

In at number 10 was the first Diary of Wimpy Kid: Greg Heflfey's Journal by Jeff Kinney.

The number 9 spot was shared by Big Nate From the Top by Lincoln Peirce and I Spy Spooky Night by Walter Wick.

Number 8 was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney and Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell.

Number 7 was Diary of Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney.

In at number 6 was Big Nate: In a Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce.

Number 5 was Diary of  Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney.

Number 4 was Big Nate: Strikes Again by Lincoln Peirce.

The number 3 spot was shared by Big Nate: On a Roll by Lincoln Peirce and I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 by Lauren Tarshis.

In second place was Diary of Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.

And with a grand total of 90 checkouts was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney.

I wasn't really surprised to see the DOAWK in the top ten, but I thought more of the I Survived books would be there, too, because they always seem to be checked out. Maybe those books just aren't getting returned on time.  It's something to keep an eye on.

What are the most popular books in your media center?

*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.

Share and Share Alike

In the past couple of days I have gotten a few, very sweet emails from other teachers and Media Specialists about the ideas and programs I have shared here on The Book Bug.  Although I do come up with a great deal of my own programs and ideas for the Media Center, I must admit that a few of the programs I am using in the Media Center are not 100% my original ideas.  I have borrowed from some wonderful, more experienced Media Specialists and tweaked their ideas into my version of their original.  I would like to take the time and acknowledge the creators of two of those ideas and explain my adaptation of them.

An idea which I have borrowed (or maybe maintained is the correct word for it) for the Media Center is Honor Books.

Mrs. Freeburg, the previous Media Specialist at my school, started this program. Books in this section are mostly paperbacks that have been donated by parents to the library. They are often times older publications and not in the best of condition, but rather than throw them out, they have become Honor Books.

Honor Books are not library books. They aren't barcoded or even stamped with the school stamp, although they are labeled on the front with an Honor Book label.

I don't keep up with who has them. Students are simply on their honor to return the book when they are finished.

Honor books are great for students who are repeatedly loosing library books and for students who have way overdue books. The Media Center policy is if you have an overdue book, you can't check out any more library books until you bring back the overdue book. If you have a lost book, you can't check out any books until the book is paid for or you have worked off your fine. Honor Books allow these students to still be able to have access to reading material until they can square up their library account. Honor Books are also great for new who don't have a library patron number yet.


One of my most successful project this year was also inspired by another Media Specialist.  There is a section in the Media Center I have labeled as "Wildcat Favorites."  The books in this section are the most popular fiction book series at my school.  (I use circulation stats and observations to determine which are the most popular.)  Our mascot is the Wildcats, thus the section title. 

The books in this section are in alphabetical order by the series title.

I have labeled each one with a pawprint sticker, which I got from the School Box, and marked them with (WF) in Destiny to designate the books as Wildcat Favorites for searching and reshelving purposes.

I adapted this idea from my good friend and fellow Media Specialist, Mary.  She has been such a big help to me this year, starting from this summer when she took a whole day out of her summer to help me begin to get the Media Center in good working order. In her Media Center she has a section of GOLD STAR books, which are favorite books of students at her school. She labels them with gold star stickers.  (You can check out her MC website here.   She really has some awesome ideas!) 

I have to say, the kids have loved the Wildcat Favorites section.  It is, without a doubt, the section that kids go to first when looking for a book.  It is so popular that I have had to limit the number of Wildcat Favorites that can be checked out at one time to one per student or there wouldn't be enough Wildcat Favorites for everyone to have even just one.

Here is a list of the series of books that I have placed in the Wildcat Favorites section:

The 39 Clues
Amber Brown
Amelia Bedelia
American Girl Series Books
     Addy
     Felicity
     Josephina
     Julie
     Kaya
     Kirsten
     Kit
     Molly
     Rebecca
     Samantha
Arthur
Bad Kitty
The Bailey School Kids
The Berenstain Bears
Big Nate
The Boxcar Children Mysteries
Bunnicula
Cam Jansen Mysteries
Captain Underpants
Clifford
Curious George
Dear Dumb Diary
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Dork Diaries
Encyclopedia Brown
Fly Guy
Ghost Books by Betty Ren Wright
Gooney Bird Greene
Goosebumps
Hank the Cowdog
Harry Potter
Hoofbeats
I Spy
I Survived...
Ivy & Bean
Judy Moody
Junie B. Jones
Little House on the Prairie
Magic Tree House
Marvin Redpost
Mercy Watson
Nate the Great
Pee Wee Scouts
Percy Jackson
Puppy Place
Rainbow Magic Fairies
Ready, Freddy
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Sports Readers by Matt Christopher
Stink

Just look at these before and after pictures of the Wildcat Favorites section on the FIRST day the Media Center was open for check out this school year.  Wow!

I always love going to other Media Centers because I get so many great ideas when I visit.  And for a Media Specialist newbie like myself, I am soooooo appreciative to my fellow Media Specialists for their creativity and willingness to share.  Afterall, it benefits more kids that way. So in the spirit of sharing, I am sharing with you a packet for the Prize Buggy program that I came up with for my school. (You can read more about the Prize Buggy program on this post.)   Just click on the picture below to snag your copy of the Prize Buggy packet.  If you decide to download, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear from you!

Hope you enjoy!