Besides travelling, reading aloud to my kids is my favorite thing to do as a family.
Last night I sat down and estimated that the kids and I have already read over 2,500 books together…..and they’re not even 7 yet! I know the number of books we read together each year will drop as the novels get longer and the kids won’t want to read together as often (it hurts to even think about that!), but we still have many, many years together to share great stories and books.
I’ve compiled 10 of my favorite places to find new books to read with my kids. I’m always on the lookout for something I know they will love to hear, or books which introduce them to new, exciting topics and ideas.
If you have any great sources of new books to read with your kids, I’d love if you’d share them in the comments below.
Enjoy!
10 Great Places to Find Amazing Books to Read with Your Kids
1. Good Reads – This site has been around for awhile now, but I’ve only recently started using it. I love it! After you’ve entered books you’ve read in the past and are currently reading, the site will suggest other books you might like to read based on what you’ve read in the past and how you’ve rated the books you’ve read.
I’ve only done this so far for the books I’m reading, but I’ve anxious to do this with books I’ve read with the kids, too. What I love the most about this site is how the recommendations change and evolve each time you enter and rate new books. The more you enter and rate, the better suggestions you receive. It’s sort of like Pandora on smart phones.
2. Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. Jim has so many great suggestions in this book. Its divisions include: picture books, short novels, longer novels, poetry, anthologies, fair and folk tales, wordless books and predictable books. I used this a lot when my kids were really young and was introduced to some fantastic children’s authors that way. I’m going to have to read it again since we’re moving more into reading middle grade fiction together.
3. Amazon’s “Customers Who Have Bought This Item Also Bought” section – This is one of my favorite ways to find new books to read. I just type in the title of a book we’ve just read, scroll down to this section and find dozens more books either by the same author or books similar to the one we just read. I usually keep an eye out for the books that have lots of ratings and close to 4-5 stars.
4. 1,001 Children’s Books You Must Read before You Grow Up by Julia Eccleshare. This is an amazing resource. What sets it apart from other book recommendation resources is that it not only lists books published in the United States but also suggests books published around the world. Most of these books have also been translated into English and can be found at your local library or ordered online. I’ve been introduced to a lot of great international children’s authors this way.
5. All Through the Ages: a History through Literature guide by Christine Miller. This is a great book for finding lots of historical fiction about particular time periods. I purchased the e-book last year, and love browsing through it when we come across a time period we really like.
6. Reading the World With Picture Books by Nancy J. Polette. I’ve mentioned this book before when I wrote about new geography resources we’ve been using. I think this book would be great to use even with older kids. We’ve spent almost this entire year reading picture books about Africa (probably about 50-60 books so far). When you read lots of books about a particular country or continent, you start to see patterns and similarities between the stories.
7. The Association for Library Service to Children’s Book and Media Award’s Page This is a great site to see a lot of children’s award winners in one place. The site lists Caldecott and Newberry Award winners along with 8 other awards. It also has an extensive Children’s Notable List as well.
8. Pinterest – Pinterest is my newest way to find lots and lots of great new books to read for myself and the kids. I just type in a search category and sit back and wallow in all the literary greatness that comes up! I love reading all the reviews and seeing what others have said about the books before checking them out from the library or purchasing them.
9. Library Thing – Now I have to admit I don’t personally use Library Thing yet, but it’s something I’ve been looking into and researching for some time. You can catalog all the books in your home library and keep track of the different books you’ve read.
I buy lots of second hand books, so entering them all in one place would help me remember which books we have when one of the kids express an interest in a certain topic. Also, you can find other people who will recommend books similar to the ones you have read. Users can also rate and review books, too.
10. Blogs. Some of my best introductions to new books for the kids have come from recommendations from the many homeschooling blogger friends I have. It’s nice to hear about the book from someone you know and trust and find out what they thought about it before you check it out for yourself.
Also, when I hear about a book on one blog, I might not check it if it doesn’t capture my attention right away. But, if I keep seeing it recommended by many different people, I’m more likely to check the book out in greater detail.
Photo Credit: Brandi Jordan
Where do you go to find out about great new children’s books?