Sourcing good books for your kids

I have been asked a few times where I get book recommendations from. The short answer is the internet, specifically social media. The long answer is as follows:

As a kid, if I read a book and really liked it, I would remember the author’s name and then every time I was in the school or public library I would scout out the section where their books should be and hunt for other books by the same author. I remember doing this for Encyclopaedia Brown books, Where’s Wally books, John Marsden books and, of course, Babysitter’s Club books.

In uni, with the advent of the internet, particularly Amazon, I would search a book I liked and then scroll through the ‘Other Books People Bought’ section to see what might be a good match for me. This was really effective; I found, read and liked many books using this method.

I now employ similar finding techniques for the kids’ books, only using social media. If we really like a book I will connect with the author or illustrator or publisher on Instagram or Facebook. There are a few really great benefits to doing this. Firstly, they will usually post about their work, so you can see earlier books or, most importantly, upcoming books. Also by connecting with them, you also connect to other people who like their books and they will often be recommending other books that you might like to check out.

There are plenty of people on social media posting about books they love. They might be a teacher, a librarian, a bookseller, a homeschooler or a parent. I usually find them by searching through people who like posts that I also like and then following them.

I have now built up on my social media pages a bank of people who are contributors to or consumers of the kid’s book industry. These people are readers and they will let you know if they really like a book, and they will often be happy to recommend other books if you ask.

On this topic, I highly recommend you join a Facebook group called Your Kid’s Next Read. Australian author Allison Tait runs the group and there are lots of well-known names in the Australian kid’s book industry who contribute regularly. Once you are a member of the group you can gain access to their wonderfully thorough book lists. There are lists for girls and boys of all age groups plus more. You can also access all posts and see what recommendations might suit your child. And if all this is still not getting you results, you can pose a question to the group and get almost 7500 brains working to find some books your kids will love.

You can also go to book review sites. I use Goodreads every so often, but I find it is too big, anyone can post whatever they like, truth or not. For something a bit smaller you might also like try Kids Book Review or Reading Time. The benefit of these sites is that the reviews usually go past a well respected and very knowledgable editor. The downside is that they usually only review books that have been sent to them by publishers or creators.

You can also follow blogs such as Megan Daley’s Children’s Books Daily, Brightly or Sarah MacKenzie’s Read Aloud Revival. Or you can listen to podcasts, again Sarah MacKenzie has Read Aloud Revival Podcasts. A couple of others that I have been meaning to get to as they have been recommended to me are: Middle Grade Mavens, The Kidlit Club and One More Page.

But to really make use of all these recommendations you need a system. I use Keep, and I have separate notes with book lists: one for me, one for the kids and one for family read-aloud books. Though as I write this I am realising I should really split and have one for chapter books and one for picture books. When I source a title I want to get my hands on I record it along with the author/illustrator on the list. Then every few weeks I sit down at the computer and search the library catalougue for them. If the library doesn’t have it I will often request they buy it. I use these lists when I’m buying gifts as well. As it turns out there are way more books out there that I want us to read than we can actually get our hands on and my lists are only ever growing.