Let’s chat about one of my favorite topics today, friends!
Books, books, and more books. Children’s books, in particular, because I am a sucker for a good picture book. Picture books are meant for children, but a good picture book will capture the heart of all ages.
I am always on the hunt for a book that is not only well written, but beautifully illustrated and with a subtle lesson intertwined in the story. Charlotte Mason called these living books. Simply put, living books are awesome.
I share our library hauls a lot and so many of you wonder where I find some of the titles. Well, today I am sharing all my secrets. There are endless resources to help you find good books for your kids. These are my best tips.
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1. Check out the The Read Aloud Revival Website & Podcast. Sarah Mackenzie is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to reading aloud to your children. Her podcast is unbelievably inspiring and informative and her website is bursting with recommended reading and book lists for all ages. She has a number of lists compiled by topic, but my favorite is books by month. I print these and star the ones we want to grab each month! What an incredible resource she is!
2. Use Pinterest to search by topic or season. Is Pinterest still popular? I am on it nearly everyday… so it is to me, lol! There are so many great book lists compiled by other moms! When I pull together our nature study topics for the year, I head on over and search away. “Kids books about butterflies” or “Kids books about thunderstorms” or “Living books about history” or “Childrens books about geography”…. endless topics and you are guaranteed to find a curated list.
3. Visit your local library. We all love buying books, right? But we don’t all have the budget to buy every book we come across. That is why I am at my library at least once a week. My biggest tip when using your library is to utilize their online services. You can search/browse the catalog online by title, topic, or whatever you wish and add a number of books to your holds (our limit is up to 20 books). The library will do all the work gathering the books you want and all you have to do is stop in when they are ready and pick them up at the circulation desk. This is my greatest time saver tip! If you prefer going in and browsing, then go for it. Be sure to ask your librarians about seasonal topics or books (they may even have a shelf displaying favorites) – very helpful.
4. Go thrifting. If you have some time to yourself, get out and go thrifting for books. It is one of my favorite things to do when I get a moment to myself. I will sit in the book aisle at Savers or Salvation Army for hours. They always have great deals going on, too. Buy 4 get one free or 50% off… you can score books for 50 cents sometimes. Just awesome. If you are building your childrens’ library at home, this is the economical way to do it. I do recommend doing this when you are sans kids because it does take time to weed through… it can be overwhelming if you have kids to keep an eye on!
5. Read Books About Books. How very meta, right? Books about books are awesome because aside from insight and research pertaining to the importance of reading, they provide you with lots of helpful lists. My favorite books that do this are: The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie, Give Your Child the World by Jamie C. Martin, The Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon, How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul, and Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt.
6. Check out book lists curated by literature-based curriculums. There are a number of literature-based curriculums on the market that share their book lists for free. All you have to do is go to their website, choose the year/age/grade level you are interested in, and you should find their list. My go-tos are: Beautiful Feet, Sonlight, Blossom & Root, and Ambleside Online.
7. Browse my book list archives. Slipping in a plug for myself here, but I have curated a number of children’s books on here and continue to do so. You can always check out the archives to see what we’ve been reading. I also have a story dedicated to childrens books on my Instagram. You can find that here.
**Bonus tips** Pre-screen books on YouTube. I do this often! If I am not familiar with a book or am on the fence, I will search for the book title + read aloud and almost always there is a video of someone reading it (not always, but I have had good luck so far). I do this sometimes when I have too many books on my library holds and am torn between two. Helps with my decision!
