Have you ever been browsing a book store and not felt like you’ve found a “good” book?
Well choosing books for kids is even worse! How do you know what they’ll be in to right now? How to do you know if it will have enough pictures? How do you know if they will like the content?
I had a girl come in who loved to talk with me but NEVER took any of my book suggestions. She’d return books half read because they were too “predictable” or because “it was too happy”. But, I finally found her the perfect book. Not only the perfect book BUT the perfect series. It kept her occupied for months! She wanted a sad book so I gave her……
It was perfect! She loved how unhappy the books were! But … after five of them she told me they were “predictable”.
I can pick out a book that I think will be perfect for a kid! It can have humor, graphic novel sections, and great characters…. but the kid will be unwilling to even try it because they don’t like the cover. It’s things like this that make it hard to choose books for kids. Here are a few tips from me on what may help!
- Cover appeal- as much as we don’t want to judge a book by its cover, kids will. Be aware of this. As much as the old books look neat and amazing on our shelves, kids may not be attracted to a leather bound book
- Pictures- with the rise in graphic novels I find more and more kids who want to only read chapter books with pictures. I have seen some very high reading level kids that are only in Second Grade. Books like “Stick Dog” by Watson or “Dork Diaries” by Russell may be a great way to send them. But don’t hesitate to challenge them towards books with more narrative than pictures!
- What drives the book forward- Relationship building is beautiful but most kids want some action. As adults, we see the value in relationships and stories that touch your heart but if all the characters do is stand (or sit) around and talk this might not be a winner.
- Recommendations – If you really want to give a book to kids that they will love, find out what other kids love. I really enjoy giving my patrons book recommendations, but they tend to take them more seriously if I can say another kid really liked the book.
There you go! Just a few tips. As much as we love books for one reason or another, we have to remember to see the books through the eyes of a child.
Keep Sparkling
-B
The Sparkling Librarian 