How to Find Books for your Child to Encourage a Lifetime Love of Reading

Both of my children love to read. I think it’s helped that we’ve always been involved in finding books for them that suit their personalities. When my son was younger he liked books about the weather and sci-fi books like Star Wars novels. My daughter likes books about animals and stories about the lives of children. If we had gotten my son books on animals and my daughter Star Wars books, they wouldn’t have enjoyed reading nearly as much. My daughter might have flat out refused to read books like that!

Providing your children with the types of books they like is invaluable for creating lifetime lovers of reading. There are more great kids books out there than ever before, so your task is easy!

Here’s what you do…

1. Type in the name of a book that your child already has read and enjoyed into the online bookstore Amazon.com.

2. When you get to the book’s page, scroll down the screen to where it says, “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought”. There you can click the arrow to see which books other kids who liked that book also enjoyed. Not all of the books there will be right for your child. As you scroll through the books, see if there’s anything that strikes you as a good choice. Then click it on and see what it’s about.

3. Once you’re on the book’s page, you can read the Editorial Review to see what the plot is. Does it sound like something your kid would like? Does the book have a lot of stars in its rating? The more people who rate the book the better chance the rating is correct. Of course, the better the rating the more likely it’ll be a good book.

Even if a book has a good rating, you have to take into account your child’s taste. I found one book about a dog that looked good for my daughter and it got good reviews. It was called Shiloh. When I read the Editorial Review, I noticed it was about an abused dog. I decided against it because my daughter doesn’t like sad books (Marley and Me upset her because the dog died in the end). It’s important to read about the book and not just trust the rating.

4. Once you find a book that looks good, you can preview the book if it says “Click to Look Inside” near the picture of the book (like the image above). You can often read the first couple of pages of the actual book. This is important. You can read the first page or two to make sure it’s well-written and that it seems like something your child will actually enjoy reading. That’s all there is to it!

Note: Another way to find books is to type into Amazon books on a specific topic your child is interested in (like weather) and then see which books come up. Click on specific books and follow steps 3 and 4 above.

I find these tricks work to help me find books I like too!

Finally, you can do it the old fashioned way and ask around… ask the librarian, ask your child’s teacher and friends. We’ve found some great books this way too!

Happy book hunting!

Mama Lisa