Finding your next great read often starts with a little exploring. Browsing covers, skimming a few pages, and trying something unexpected can all lead readers to a new favorite.
Enter the book tasting.
Inspired by a food tasting, this activity invites readers to sample several selections before choosing what to dive into next. They can explore a few pages, take some “tasting notes,” move on to the next course, and discover titles, authors, genres, or formats they might not have picked up otherwise.
Book tastings are easy to adapt for classrooms, school libraries, and public library programs. And while they’re especially fun at the beginning of a new school year or reading challenge, you can put them on the menu anytime you want to encourage discovery and choice.
What Is a Book Tasting?
A book tasting is a low-pressure way to introduce readers to several titles in a relatively short amount of time. Instead of asking someone to commit based on a cover or description, give them a chance to try it first. Participants might spend five to ten minutes with each selection, checking out the cover, scanning the description, sampling the first few pages, and recording their initial impressions.
At the end, they can compare tasting notes and decide which books deserve a spot on their “want to read” list. And if something isn't to their taste? That's part of the fun. Learning what doesn't appeal to you can bring you one step closer to discovering what does.
Why Host a Book Tasting?
A book tasting can do more than help readers choose what to read next. It gives schools and libraries a low-pressure way to introduce more of their collections, spark recommendations among readers, and learn which kinds of books are catching their community’s attention.
That can have practical benefits, too. Librarians have used tastings to increase checkouts, highlight titles readers may otherwise overlook, and even spot gaps in their collections. Because participants are encouraged to react, compare, and recommend as they browse, the activity also turns readers’ advisory into something social rather than a one-way list of suggestions.
For educators and librarians, those reactions can be useful long after the tasting ends. What did readers gravitate toward? Which genres surprised them? What did everyone pass over? Those observations can help shape future displays, reading challenges, programs, and collection decisions, while giving students or patrons a stronger voice in what comes next.
Choose Your Book Tasting Menu
Here’s where you can get creative. Your menu can be as broad as “Find Your Next Great Read” or centered around a theme that fits your community, curriculum, programming calendar, or collection.
Try serving up:
- Find Your Next Favorite Series: Introduce the first book in several series and let readers decide which world they want to spend more time in.
- Comics, Manga & Graphic Novel Sampler: Offer a mix of visual storytelling styles and genres, giving readers a chance to explore everything from manga and superheroes to memoir, fantasy, nonfiction, and more.
- Mystery Menu: Serve up mysteries, thrillers, and detective stories and see which ones leave everyone wanting answers.
- Try Something New: Mix genres and formats your audience might not typically choose on their own.
- Fact or Fiction: Pair graphic nonfiction with fiction inspired by history, science, biographies, or real-world events.
- Staff Picks: Invite teachers, librarians, or library staff to nominate favorites for the menu.
- Readers' Choice: Let your community recommend favorites for the next tasting.
- Seasonal Reads: Build a menu around summer reading, spooky season, winter break, a heritage month, or another moment on your programming calendar.
You can also create different tables or “courses” by genre, moving from fantasy to humor to nonfiction to manga. No tiny portions required.
Skip to the good part: A tasting is about giving readers just enough to want more. Use bookmarks to flag a great scene in physical books, or prep your Comics Plus® titles so readers can quickly sample a standout section.
Set the Scene
You don't need to transform your library into a five-star restaurant, but a few details can make the activity feel special and memorable. Set up tables with your selections and add tablecloths, menus, relaxing music, or simple café-inspired decorations. Give each participant a tasting sheet to jot down reactions along the way.
For each book, consider asking:
- What caught your attention first?
- What do you think the book will be about?
- Did the first few pages leave you wanting more?
- What did you notice about the characters, artwork, or writing style?
- Would you order another serving?
Use our printable Book Tasting handout or customize the Canva Tasting Notes template for their event.
Ready, Set, Taste!
Once your tables are set, it's time to start sampling. Give everyone about five to ten minutes with each book. That’s enough time to examine the cover, scan the description, flip through the artwork, and sample the opening pages before moving on. Use a timer to signal when it’s time for the next selection. Depending on your group, you can rotate between stations or let everyone browse at their own pace.
And remember: no one has to love everything on the menu. The point is to try something new.
Save Room for Discussion
Once everyone has sampled the selections, bring the group back together to compare notes. Ask:
- Which book are you most excited to continue?
- Did anything surprise you?
- What drew you in: the artwork, characters, premise, writing, or something else?
- Did you discover a genre or format you hadn't considered before?
- What should we put on the menu next time?
This is also a great opportunity to swap recommendations. Sometimes the most convincing readers' advisory comes from the person sitting at the next table.
See It in Action: Book Tastings at The New York Public Library
At The New York Public Library’s Pelham Parkway–Van Nest branch, Young Adult Librarian Tabrizia Jones has used book tastings as one of several ways to help teens discover comics and manga and connect over shared interests.
Virtual book tastings introduced teens to recommendations from librarians across the NYPL system, while monthly Teen Comics Chats, creator events, and other programs offered more opportunities to share favorites and encounter new titles.
As Tabrizia puts it, “These programs give patrons a chance to interact with books in a different way.” That’s part of what makes a tasting so useful. It isn’t just about choosing the next book. It turns discovery into a shared experience and gives participants an easy way to venture further into the collection.
Take Your Book Tasting Digital
A traditional tasting works beautifully with stacks of physical books, but going digital can make it even easier to expand the menu. With Comics Plus, readers have unlimited, simultaneous access to thousands of digital comics, manga, graphic novels, and picture books. Everyone can sample the same title at the same time, with no need to gather multiple copies or manage holds and waitlists.
Before your event, choose titles from your Comics Plus collection and make sure participants know how to access the platform and add favorites to My Shelf. Curate your own menu around a theme or start with one of the lists available within Comics Plus. And when the tasting is over, there’s no waiting to find out what happens next. Everyone can jump right into their favorites.
Keep Book Tastings on the Menu All Year
One of the best things about this activity is that it doesn't have to be a one-time event.
Host one at the beginning of the school year to introduce your collection. Use another to launch a reading challenge. Build a manga tasting around community requests. Invite students or patrons to create the next menu. Or use seasonal themes to keep things fresh throughout the year.
Change the books, switch up the theme, and add new decorations. The idea stays simple: give people the freedom to sample, explore, and choose what they want to dive into next. Because sometimes finding a new favorite starts with just a taste.
Ready to serve up something new? Explore Comics Plus and give readers instant, simultaneous access to comics, manga, graphic novels, and more.
