Children's Books discussion

I am curious how everyone picks their books that they read with their children/child. I was at the library today and my son who just randomly pulled a book and claimed he wanted to read it. He didn't even look at the title.
I have be picking books by topic and by books that others read of a title I liked. Some are big hits and some go right back to the library.
I also wanted to know if you guys go and stay at the library and read then just take home what you really like? I usually don't have a lot of time to hang out at the library.
Thanks

We are in Japan, so we take what we can get. There are MANY books we have read that we would not have read if we were in Canada or the United States. (Our library does have a GREAT supply of English books, considering it is Japan.)

As far as buying books, I look carefully at reviews and think about what we need and would enjoy.

If I am in the library in America, there are certain books I want to check out and I look for those. But there are also books that we grab just because they look good!

My brother and sister both live in Europe (Germany and Switzerland), but their children go to an international school where the main language of instruction is English. When I send them books through Amazon for birthdays and Christmas, I usually send them books written in English (let their parents buy them German children's literature). Before, I had tended to rely on reviews and my own reading memories (for children's books, mostly classics and books of the 60s and 70s that I have read). Now, though, and especially with newer children's literature, I often see if I can get an interesting sounding children's book or picture book out of my own library system, so I can read it before making a decision wether to get the book for my nieces (I've had too many cases of books with good reviews not working for my nieces and vise versa).

Abigail wrote: "I'm not a parent myself, so I don't pick out any books for a child reader, but in terms of selecting my own reading material, I tend to walk around with a huge list! :) I actually keep a running ta..."

Out of curiosity, Abigail, do you have your list with you in printed form, or can you remember all of the books you'd like to read? I'm realising that although I have a huge to-read list, I often don't remember all of the book titles that are on the list, especially when I'm at a bookstore or the library.

Abigail wrote: "No, I mean a printed list! Well, hand-written really. I'd never remember all of them, if I didn't have a list!"

I think I might do that as well, right now I have an unorganised mess of multiple lists which I tend to misplace as well, unorganisation, that is me.

Abigail wrote: "I recommend one of those little spiral notebooks, with the pages that can be removed! Very helpful..."

Thanks, I'll check for those.

Like the gap in a smile, I have discovered a niche that needs to be filled—environmental literature for kids and teens that not only encourages wonder of the natural world, but also wise stewardship, and, the often-missing component—activism. I love The Wheel on the Bus by Meindert Dejong, also Jean Craighead George series.

There is a dearth of Ya Eco mysteries.

Leslie,

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do it. I do a variety of things to choose books for my kids... my oldest 2 (ages 7 and 5) are allowed to choose any 3 or 4 books they want...by looking at the cover, pictures, etc. Sometimes they make great choices and sometimes they don't...and I think that is okay.

I also often put books on hold (I can get books from any of our county's library's delivered to my neighborhood library free of charge)... especially books that others have recommended...then I can just walk in and grab them right off the shelf.

Sometimes, we find a favorite author and read everything we can find by that author.

Our local library has a few books in special displays...sometimes by theme...or a spotlight on an author...or award winners/nominees... or just because... we often look at these and see if any of them interest us.

In the summer (when I'm not teaching) we will often spend awhile there...reading books, looking carefully to decide what books we really want to take home. The rest of the time, my time is limited and so we're into the faster methods. (In fact more than half the time, I go to the library after my kids are in bed and just pick up the books I've got on hold and then browse for a few minutes to see what else I want.)

I tend to pick books based a upon what my son is interested in. One time it may be science books, another may be magic or dinosaur books. When we read together it is usually books based on the holiday coming up or we read alot of chapter books that let us make guesses about what will happen next or allow us to talk about what we read. I get a lot of recommendations from this group and really follow my son as a guide.

I have a funny library story.... I borrow English books from a high school library. It uses the old method of stamping the check-out date. Anyway, I tried to borrow a Little Golden Book and noticed it hadn't been checked out since.............Sept. 4, 1969!

I showed the librarian and she said, "I wasn't born yet." and I said, "I wasn't either!" LOL

I bought a vintage book on ABE books once, an ex-library book, and the last date it had been checked out was August 17, 1966 (which was really freaky, because I was born August 17, 1966).

Gundula wrote: "I bought a vintage book on ABE books once, an ex-library book, and the last date it had been checked out was August 17, 1966 (which was really freaky, because I was born August 17, 1966)."

Amazing!

Kathryn wrote: "Gundula wrote: "I bought a vintage book on ABE books once, an ex-library book, and the last date it had been checked out was August 17, 1966 (which was really freaky, because I was born August 17, ..."

It was amazing, but a bit creepy as well.

That is funny--but yeah, creepy. ;-) I found myself wondering--where is the person who last checked out this book? Where is she now?

Sorry to hijack this post. I didn't mean to do that.

That's pretty amazing. The closest I've ever come to something like that was finding a penny with my birth year on it...

As for how I used to pick out books as a kid: I was one of those who dragged Those-With-Cars to the library, walked up to the counter with a stack of books taller than me, and wiped the children's section out with a single check-out. I think I picked chapter books by the synopsis on the back and picture books by the cover.

Nowadays I read reviews and stuff online before getting a book. I got sick of reading duds :(

Before Goodreads I would go on recommendations or I would find something that caught my eye in a genre I was interested in.
As a child the local library had a very comfortable bean bag on which to sit and peruse. There I discovered a love of Obelix and Asterix.

Now there is the internet and I have a bigger 'to read list' than ever. I may have to whittle that list down though...

The other day I was pulling picture-books from my list (my new library doesn't place 'holds' on books unless they're checked out) and I walked out with a *lot* more than I intended to choose. I grabbed it if it had a cute dog on the cover, since we're doing a dog theme this month. I grabbed it if it was by an author I'd read before, or even an author I am discovering via my list. I grabbed it if it looked 'pretty' or had a picture of a tree on the cover.

Cuz why not? Circulation numbers are good for libraries' funding, and serendipity happens, and I had my husband along to help carry the bags... :)

Why not, indeed! ;-)

Cheryl wrote: "The other day I was pulling picture-books from my list (my new library doesn't place 'holds' on books unless they're checked out) and I walked out with a *lot* more than I intended to choose. I gra..."

I work in a library, so, I typically check out a book or two at a time on my card, usually I have near the limit of 25 checked out at any one time. My daughter's library card is kept at 0 so that if I get a chance to bring her, she can run around like crazy and select 25 books. I select books from a list; but, also pick books randomly from the new book area or from the shelving cart.

Ah yes, the shelving cart... nab the ones that in circulation cuz they're likely to be pretty good! :)

I browse the shelves. If a title or cover catches my eye, I read the summary. If the summary does not catch my interest, I put it back. If it sounds interesting, I read the first chapter. If I like the first chapter, I will read the book. The result is that I almost always select books that I enjoy.

Our library has had to cut the number of books down now that Thealie has moved on from just picture books. From 20 a week to just 9 :-(

Because Thealie's reading level is way above her age I pre-select a suitable choice from the YA section and she can then pick 4 from that to take home. (Her current favourite is The Superpower Project.)

The other 5 books can be first readers or picture books.

For picture books I let her pick what she fancies because after all she is just 6 and who doesn't like picture books. Letting them choose (and potentially experience naff books now and again) helps them find out who they are and what they prefer. Personally I hate superhero books but my daughter loves them (so I let her do the goodreads reviews for that genre!). If she hadn't had the opportunity to read Supertato or Superfrog and the Big Stink when she was smaller she would never have found out and that would be a shame.

Elspeth wrote: "Our library has had to cut the number of books down now that Thealie has moved on from just picture books. From 20 a week to just 9 :-(

I don't understand. Um, are you saying that the kind of book determines the limit that can be checked out at a time? What library is this, if you don't mind me asking?

Its standard practice in Rural Scottish Libraries we have just 2 libraries to support a population of 235,000 spread over an area of 30,659 km².

Picture books 20 max a week. Other children's books 9 max a week. Adult books 5 max a week. If the library van delivers to you 1 book a week max! Popular books must be reserved in advance.

The amount of books stocked is based on population statistics (fair enough) unfortunately that means kids that don't read to their age level (whether that is up or down) are restricted in order to ensure "fair usage".

The book restrictions and waiting lists have their upsides, I've been exposed to so many authors from smaller imprints, I wouldn't even have thought of looking at them back when I was a city girl.

That's very interesting, Elspeth. Thank you for explaining.