What to Consider When Buying Children’s Books

You might have heard that getting kids to read is a good thing. You are charged up to introduce the kids in your life to some good children’s books. Here are seven things to consider when selecting a children’s book, that way you get a book that your child relishes and picks up time and time again.

1. Age

   The age of your child will help you determine the book format to pick.
   Think cloth or rag books for babies. They put everything in their mouth. You want to get a book you can throw in the washing machine when soiled.
   Bath books are also a good option as they are waterproof and will survive many messy spills and make bath time lots of fun.
   Board books are best for toddlers. Kids in this age group are very active and may I replace the word destructive with curious. Paperback books will be ripped apart.
   Don’t be upset if your child tears apart a book, it’s all part of the learning process.

2. Gender

   Boys and girls are very different in how they learn and read. For most parts, language development comes earlier in girls. You might find a girl reading better than a boy initially. This often lead to boys being mislabeled as “reluctant readers”

3. Personality

   Is your child a social butterfly, pick a light-hearted book. If you have an introverted kid, a mystery or adventure plot might be a better pick.

4. Hobbies

   This is by far the best way to get a child interested in reading. Look to get a title on what piques their interest. If a boy loves trains or truck, get him a book on truck or trains. If your girl loves playing the princess part, get her a book with a princess theme.

5. Current Events in a Child’s Life

   Think milestones like graduation or puberty. Loss of a loved one or a beloved pet, adjusting to various life changes are various examples of what could cause stress for a child. A book on the relevant topic could bring solace.

6. Current World Events and Holidays

   These events are teachable moments for a child. You may select books to open up discussion on ancestry or holidays.

7. Important Concepts

Are you working on potty training? Are you trying to instill manners? You can get them a book written in the language a child can easily grasp.

If you could still use more guidance, you can try the free SlimyBookworm.com Gift Selection Service.

Bola Ajumobi is a mom of two boys and the owner of SlimyBookworm.com, an online children’s bookstore with a mission to help busy parents and grandparents select wholesome children’s books for the kids in their lives. Books that engage them and unleash their imagination.

20% of profits go to fund literacy efforts in the US and oversees.

Organizing a Child’s Book Collection

I as recently cleaning out my old room at my parent’s house and I came upon my old book cases. They were an absolute mess. I was a most tidy kid and I never really learned proper organization skills until well after I had graduated from college and moved very far away.

As I was digging through all of these books, I found one of my favorite stories, which I thought had gone missing years ago. I was excited, but this made me determined to instill organization into my own children.

Let’s start with some basic tactics. The first thing you should do is to make sure that there is enough shelf space for the number of books that you have and for those to come. Try to buy multi-purpose pieces of furniture to make the most out of your floor space. I have seen bunk beds that have shelving incorporated into the frame, shelves with gaps for windows and normal bed frames with shelves that take the place of bedside tables.

After you have the space to store the books, you need to determine what kind of organization you want to use. Some people are crazy enough to use the Dewey Decimal System, but that is for over the top bibliophiles. I suggest using a category system. Group all of the books together into categories like science, math, history, art, music, fun and activity books.

Now that we have the books grouped together you should designate certain bookshelves for certain books and label the shelved accordingly. If you label the spines of the books with colored stickers that correspond to the color of the shelf they belong on, you can encourage both organization and cleaning. There is nothing to think about beyond whether the colors match. Science books get a blue sticker and they go in the blue book shelf. Fun books get a red sticker and go in the red book shelf bunk beds. It’s pretty simple.

Even if my kids ignore the groupings, the colored stickers will help them identify the books that they want at a glance. Maybe they won’t lose their favorite books and assume that a friend took it, like I did.

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TOP 10 READ ALOUD BOOKS FOR KIDS

1. Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?
2. Cat in the Hat
3. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
5. Dear Zoo
6. But Not the Hippopotamus
7. Corduroy
8. We’re Going On a Bear Hunt
9. Is Your Mama a Llama
10. Goodnight Gorilla

TOP 10 BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

1. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
2. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See
3. Dear Zoo
4. Freight Train
5. Sheep in a Jeep
6. But Not the Hippopotamus
7. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
9. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed
10. Belly Button Book

TOP 10 PICTURES BOOKS FOR BABIES

1. Pat the Bunny
2. Goodnight Moon
3. Go Dog Go
4. Let’s Play
5. Napping House
6. Soft to Touch Colors
7. Good Egg
8. Clap Hands
9. Baby’s Belly Button
10. Baby Shapes and Baby Colors

TOP 10 BEDTIME STORY BOOKS

1. Goodnight Moon
2. Goodnight Gorilla
3. Where the Wild Things Are
4. Pajama Time
5. The Napping House
6. The Runaway Bunny
7. Time For Bed
8. Naptime
9. Last Night at the Zoo
10. Bedtime Lullaby