Library Visits & Book Guides

Our kids love trips to the library. They love the opportunity to look for new books and have the freedom to choose. My kids always walk away from our monthly library visits with 5-6 books that excite them. 

In addition to the books my kids choose, a week or two before going to the library, I put 30-40 books on hold of fabulous read-alouds and new-to-us chapter books and early readers, ones that come highly recommended (if I'm being honest, it often reaches 50+ books. The librarians LOVE checking me out).

The reason I put so many books on hold is two-fold. Often, the books we want are not held at our local library. Second, allowing our children to select books from the library in the current culture is tricky. 

I've decided to pick my battles when it comes to the books that are on display at our library, always giving them a once-over before we take any of them home. My little ones know that I have the power to veto a book or even take one off the shelves once we get home if I missed something at the library.

I'm noticing that the more we read quality literature at home, the better my children are getting at selecting their own books from the library. Part of the fun of going to the library is searching for your own books! The lower-quality books they pick out are usually abandoned pretty quickly at home anyway. We also love exploring the nonfiction section of the library. My children love sitting at the library, flipping through the pages of the nonfiction books they discover. 

Another way I am combating the difficulty of navigating today's library is by creating my own Scholastic Reader-style book guide that my kids can peruse to choose books they are interested in checking out from the library. If they are interested in a book, I either put it on hold or help them locate it at the library! I'm also planning to use the book guides to allow them, from time to time, to choose a book or two that they would like to collect in their personal library.

Check out our first book guide for young readers here! It contains a great collection of books for both boys and girls :) 

Looking for other great ways to raise readers?

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