I am VERY big on reading. In fact just last week I read 14 books. I was a pretty active kid but if I wasn’t out rollerblading, camping, swimming, or skiing as a tween and teen, I had my nose in a book. I married a non-reader though. Hubby reads maybe 1 or 2 books a year. :(
When I had kids I knew it was super important to get them excited about reading and luckily it has worked so far. My kids are crazy about books. We read to them a ton and I get just as excited about new kids books as they do. One place I go to see what books kids like is online. Because books can be expensive I like to do my homework and one site I like is called Read Kiddo Read. I learned about it from the moms at Mother Talk. It has lists of books by age group so that you can shop around for what other kids the same age as yours are reading and enjoying.
For my son for instance, I like the Real World Fiction section for kids ages 5-9. This gives me a list of great real world stories he can relate to and that will be fun for him. The descriptions are long and tell me exactly what the book is about and what lessons it teaches (if any) and I can determine if he will like it. Sometimes when you buy online the book descriptions are short and useless…but not these. Right off the bat I see one my son will like since he likes Junie B books… Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants. And then at the bottom of each book page it has a long list recommended books that are very similar. That is a nice feature.
If you are looking for kids book recommendations you may want to check out Read Kiddo Read.
