Selecting Books With Your Child
Knowing that reading is important is one thing, but selecting books to read with your child can be overwhelming.
With so many books coming out, it’s hard to keep up or know where to start! Here are a few things to consider when trying to find books for children of different ages.
Newborns
When selecting books for newborns, try to pick books that have repetition and rhyme. Books with bright, bold colors and high contrast images are great while your baby develops their sense of sight. Our Board Book sections at the library are full of great options.
Older Babies
As your baby gets older, rhythm in books continues to be important. Rhythmic text can help your baby identify syllables and word sounds while you share books together. For a place to start, try some classic nursery rhymes that you remember from childhood. This can make reading fun for both of you! Our Play and Stories categories of Easy Readers include some great options that meet these criteria. Ask our librarians for help finding the categories.
Toddlers
At this age, finding books that capture your child’s attention is a great place to start. Look for engaging books with special features like lift-the-flap, seek-and-find or touch-and-feel. Books that talk about routines your child experiences or other familiar topics like going to the grocery store can be fantastic options as well. Check out the books in our All About Me, People and Places categories for books about these familiar topics.
Preschoolers
At this age, your child likely has a lot of opinions! Use that to your advantage by reading books they want to read. Help them lean into certain interests like trucks, dinosaurs, animals or characters from a favorite show. Our Easy Readers sections are divided into many categories designed to make browsing for your favorite topics a breeze.
Need More Ideas?
Check out our blog and social media to keep up with recent recommendations from the library! Below are other resources you can use for reading inspiration.
Reading Rockets Book Finder: A search engine that you can use to narrow down your search by filtering things like age and topic.
Novelist: This is a great database for finding books for all ages. Search for books that your child would like or browse existing lists of books on a variety of topics.
Early Literacy Week
Sunday, May 2 – Saturday, May 8.
Enjoy free books for kids at checkout and blog posts on how to support your child’s literacy and outdoor story times. Plus, be entered into a grand prize drawing for a 3 month subscription to BookRoo, a Love Them Out Loud literacy box and a $50 gift card to Out of Print.
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