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Reading List Recommendations:
Public libraries hold great treasure… but how do we efficiently select the best books for our children ? Ultimately, the best judge of a book for your child is your child, but don't waste a child's time wading through mediocrity. Do some pre-selection and provide the child with lists of books to find.
An excellent source for review based recommendations is the Elijah Company catalog. Other trusted catalogs can also be helpful. The Classical Christian Education Support Loop has published the 1000 Good Books List. For recommendations by the author's children, click on Peggy's Reading Lists. If your child has good discernment, other lists, such as lists of "the classics" usually available at libraries, can also be used effectively. Of course, no list's age recommendations will fit your child exactly. If the book is too "old", read it aloud or delay it. If it is too "young", it might be valuable to a younger sibling.
Teach your child to discriminate. Try having them score books from 0 to 5. 5 is a favorite. 4 is a book worth reading multiple times. 3 is worth reading once. 2 is dry but has valuable information for research. 1 has no value. 0 is offensive. Convince them that anything less than a four is a waste of time. How? By spoiling them with 5's! Teach them to notice the publisher, series, title, and author of favorite books, and find more of the same. The libraries hold enough truly great books to satiate the appetite of even the most voracious bookworm.
If you need specific recommendations (like, "What's a good book on World War II for a 2nd grader?"), ask your reference librarian
Finally, remind your children that as soon as they decide not to read a book, they need to return it.
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