How we choose literature for our home
When looking for good books to expand our home library, we have found it helps to be intentional about what you’d like your children to hear and read. Like with all other types of media we consume, books and illustrations can greatly impact a child’s mindset, values, decision-making and more. I’m sure we’re not the only ones seeing ours play and act out the stories we’ve read or watched together!
Finding high-quality books that enrich your children’s minds and imaginations can be a challenge. Over the years I’ve (unfortunately) brought home books that looked good at the store but ended up being a waste of money. We learned the hard way how important it is to understand the content and message of a book before adding a children’s book to our shelf.
We look at a couple of criteria when reviewing a book to help us identify books that would delight both us (as we’re doing most of the reading still), and the young ears and eyes with us.
Engagement and Interest:
A good quality children’s book should ignite curiosity, be fun to read, and develop enthusiasm for reading. Here we assess the book to determine whether it might captivate our child’s interest with engaging storytelling techniques. We look at the topics and emerging themes, the rhythm and flow of the story as well as the use of illustrations to enhance the overall experience of the book.
Here we also look at the potential for a child to participate in the story through fun interactive elements. Few things capture the attention of young children like a book with flaps to lift, tabs to slide or textures to feel. Although these are not strictly required, the books that offer a child more ways to engage will likely be picked up more and help to develop an early love for books and learning.
Educational Value:
In the world of children’s books, I’ve come across some delightful stories that ended up teaching my child (and myself!) wonderful new things. These books make our read-aloud story time extra valuable. When we look for a book’s educational value, we try to determine what knowledge a young reader might gain from the book. Here we look out for any new skills our child might learn or stories that mention historical events, science, technology, cultures, etc. We take note of any additional context we might need to provide to ensure the story makes sense and to maximise the learning and enjoyment potential.
Illustrations and Design:
We love books with beautiful, high-quality illustrations that complement the story well. This is particularly important when evaluating books for young children who are not avid readers yet. The images in a picture book have the potential to capture their imagination and promote understanding of the story. It also enables them to ‘read’ stories to themselves by looking at the pictures and offering their own narration of the story. Our child loves ‘reading’ stories to us while we play together!
Language and Writing Style:
We like to look for well-crafted books that show a high standard of writing and use rich vocabulary. We’re well aware that our child’s mind absorbs words and concepts like a sponge, making story time a wonderful opportunity to further develop her language and comprehension skills. It helps to expand her understanding of complex language and gently encourages her to be more creative in her use of language. Exposing children to high-quality and engaging writing also helps them to gain an appreciation for good-quality literature from an early age which will serve them well in the coming years.
Themes and Messages:
After reading a book, it is important to sit back and think about the overall message of the book as well as other themes or characters in the story. Consider whether the themes and messages encourage appropriate behaviours and thoughts, and think about what a child might take from the book. Are there negative consequences when a character behaves disrespectfully or inappropriately, or are they depicted as acceptable? We look for stories that are relevant to our child’s stage of development and promote good social skills and emotional intelligence.
So, does this mean that every book on our shelf is perfect and gets a perfect score on all the above? Not at all! We have many books that we keep for other reasons. Some books were gifted to me when I was young, and their only value might be nostalgia! Others are written in our mother tongue and are harder to come by where we live. Having these criteria just makes it easier for us to select better books and be more intentional about what we’re reading as a family.
If you’re looking for some recommendations for books we’ve enjoyed, check out our book reviews! We’re adding more book reviews all the time.