Have you ever taken your kids to the library only to be disappointed by the books they picked out? That’s happened to me a lot! I have been disappointed by the book displays and often times the book selection as well. So how do you find good picture books for your kids? I struggled with that question a few years ago. I would google something like, “picture books about cars” (my boys loved anything that had to do with cars), and I would find lots of books. Some were great, but most were just okay. Simply googling books didn’t give me the quality I was looking for, but I wasn’t sure where to go to find the best picture books.
Booklists
The answer to my problem was solved by using a highly curated booklist. My favorite booklists are from the following:
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon my favorite resources with booklists, but going through booklists pointed me in the right direction. I could tell when a picture book was boring and annoying to read, but I couldn’t verbalize what distinguished a mediocre picture from a great picture book. Unfortunately, when I was an elementary school teacher I rarely had the time to appreciate and enjoy children’s literature. Now as a homeschool mom, I can read all the children’s literature I want.
First, I started going through the booklists and requesting the books online. Then I would go to the library and pick them up at the reserve section. After doing this for a couple of years now, I am finally seeing fruit.
My Literary Taste Has Improved
People often talk about having good taste in clothing or good taste in home décor, but I prefer to talk about good taste in literature. The more I read high-quality picture books to my kids, the better I became at distinguishing the good from the bad. Now, I can thumb through a book in a few seconds and decide if it’s worth my time. I couldn’t do that a few years ago because I thought everything looked okay. I used to think it’s just important to be reading to your kids – the type of book doesn’t necessarily matter.
These days I disagree with that statement. I think the type of books we read to our kids do matter. After I read a chapter from a good book, I keep thinking about what happens next. Characters that have admirable traits help you connect with the book. If it’s a picture book, then the illustrations need to make you look so you can gather information about the story through the pictures. I can’t say I ever felt that way with the Berenstein Bears books or the Froggy books by Jonathan London. Slowly, after a couple of years, I saw that my standards for picture books began to improve.
I Enjoy Reading More to My Kids
Reading high-quality books with my kids made me love reading to them even more. The whole experience was enjoyable. I wasn’t bored, and that’s an important point. I have noticed that when I think a book is boring, then my kids tune me out and start misbehaving. They don’t want to listen to me read a dull book. But if I am enjoying the books and am laughing out loud at the funny parts, they are far more engaged. My enthusiasm is contagious.
My Kids’ Literary Taste Have Improved
I let my kids read twaddle, but when I read aloud, I read the good books. A few years ago, my boys were drawn to any book with a Paw Patrol dog on it. What a disappointment to a homeschool mom! I made a rule for myself: I will take the time to read high-quality picture books and chapter books with my kids, but if they want a less interesting book to read, they can have it. It’s kind of like making sure the main meal is substantial and nourishing, but less nutritious food is allowed in moderation.
They are no longer into Paw Patrol books. Phew! What I have noticed is that they are drawn to read books by authors we have read together: Jan Brett, E.B. White, Gail Gibbons, Beverly Cleary, etc… The early years of mothering are sometimes hard because there’s so much work that goes into each day, and you kind of wonder if any of it pays off. Seeing their taste in literature improve after so much effort for going out of my way to find good books was like a fresh breeze blowing in middle of July in Phoenix.
Final Thoughts
I own several Berenstein Bear books, and my kids used to love them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I do think it’s a good idea to have other books available. The booklists remove all the hard work and make it easy to find books that your family will enjoy together. Also, once you read the really good picture books, you will probably want to find more.