Children's Books discussion

Hi all,

As the new group moderator, I thought I'd ask for your input. Is there anything new you would like to add? Is there anything old that you would like to change?

At one time, there was someone interviewing authors--perhaps some of you would like to take that up again.

Perhaps you would like to crowdsource a book with contributions via replies to a topic (should be fun, could even be good).

I'm not sure how the lack of moderator thing happened, but thanks for stepping up to take the reigns.

As for what I'd like this group to be... Active.

It would be nice to see members interacting.

I haven't had a proper look at your changes yet, but here are some things I'd like to see - if you haven't already arranged them:

*A "chit chat" thread, where we can discuss general things going on in our lives; I've noticed this is a good tool for encouraging members to interact on other groups.
*Some games and/or reading challenges; just for fun.
*Sections dedicated to discussing and promoting books (judging by your message, I think you might have already done this one though).

But, most of all, I'd just like to see some of our members taking the time to come and post every now and then.

I'd love to hear from others what they'd like this group to be.

I am writing from a smartphone, and I'm a dumb user. I would like to get my reviews and ratings from Goodreads to appear here and I would love reading reviews from others, but I cannot copy and paste on my phone and don't like to type things twice.

I too would like some interaction between members, but sometimes the games and discussions veer far from the type of books the forum is about. I would hate to see all games and challenges.

Hi Linda,

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to get your reviews and ratings to show up here without you posting them yourself.

As for the games and challenges vs discussions thing. I agree. I'd hate to see it becoming all games and challenges, and no book discussions. But I want a couple of games and challenges to be on offer to members, because I've seen how much they encourage member interaction on other groups. I completely agree with trying to focus on book discussions, while the games and challenges remain a small portion of the things going on here though. Please bear in mind that the best way to encourage book discussions to be the focus of the group is to start discussing a particular book yourself in the hopes others will join the discussion, and to join the discussions of others to encourage them to keep talking about books.

I agree with Tori, the most important part is an ACTIVE group.
What about monthly/weekly reads? Children books are in general short, so one book a month will probably don't be enough, but 1 short book (picture book, transitional, graphic novel, comic, etc)a week + 1 longer book (chapter book, middle and upper level book) a month could work.
Of course not everybody will join with so many books, but the more options, the better chance of people participating.

I know this is a lot of work, but if the groups gets more active you even can think in another moderator who could take care of this. Or have the members "hosting" the discussions.

HI Everyone,

I have seen this method on some of the young adults groups that were very successful in reviewing books and learning tremendously from the experience and that is a suggestion, i hope you like, to how Children’s Book CB Review can WORK:

1) Every one or two weeks all members will read and comment on the ONE CB Book-of-the-fortnight. The comments are to be posted both on this group and on that author’s book domain if applicable. Author should provide a link.

2) Reviews are to be constructive, honest and positive and relate to the book, not its author.

3) A minimum of three chapters (or first 2000 words) would be good, but feel free to read as much as you like. Comment in one go, or over several posts. Best guide: Give the sort of review you would like to receive.

4) When it’s your turn as the CB book-of-the-fortnight you’ll be asked to give a few details about yourself to help us get to know you better - and an idea of what you specifically would like to get out of your reviews - eg: opinions on plot; dialogue; punctuation, characterization, or just whether people like it and want to read on. Whatever you need

5) You don't have to post a review every single review period, but you might have to wait a little longer before your book comes up for review. Every two weeks the moderator tallies up participation, so you can see where you are in the queue. This is calculated as follows: number of reviews given less number of reviews received.

SO: If you'd like to join us:

1) You must have a book under Children’s Books CA group, (or you may just enjoy the genre and review without a book.)

2) Be committed to helpful reviews all the way through - even after you've had your review! We all really value constructive comment.

Simply leave a post on this thread letting the moderator know you’d like to join. Give your name, the name of your book and the link and you’ll be added to the list. Then dive in to review a current book.

the name of the initiator of this method of review is AP George as it is known on Review sites.

I think a book of the week/fourtnight/month is a good idea. Though it will take some time to get something like that organized.

I also think helping to give the authors in the group a chance to get some publicity for their books is a good idea,. And I'm not justsaying that because I'm one of those authors who would like some publicity.

It's certainly something worth giving some thought to...

I'm sure it will be a lot of work. You'll need to have nominations and polls going on almost all the time. I imagine something like:
During week 1 -> poll for week 2, nominations for week 3
During week 2 -> poll for week 3, nominations for week 4
etc.


A space for authors sounds good. It annoying to have authors auto promoting themselves in the middle of a book discussion, but a specific space for doing that it's ok. I like to know about new releases, so promotion is good. Some authors could be interested in giveaway some books in exchange for a author/reader discussion in the group, or an interview. The way I see it, everyone wins.

Exactly... On both counts.

Like I said, it's certainly something to think about, and is a good idea.

Can anyone create events in this group, or do we need to submit to the moderators first?

I know of some online children's book contests, pitch parties, and web-based classes coming up, but I don't want break the rules.

As long as you make sure the events are appropriate for the age range the group is aimed at, and check before posting that the event in question hasn't already been posted by someone else, I'm fine with members posting events themselves.

We want to encourage members to participate in the group as much as possible, so are trying to keep restrictions on what members can do to a minimum. However, should this lead to too many inappropriate postings of any sort, we will be forced to reconsider this decision.

Remember, this is a group aimed at readers and authors of books aimed at children, and all content needs to be family friendly, if you know what I mean.

Victoria wrote: "As long as you make sure the events are appropriate for the age range the group is aimed at, and check before posting that the event in question hasn't already been posted by someone else, I'm fine..."

Yes, thank you. If I post something inappropriate, it will not be on purpose... so can you please let me know? I'll delete right away.

Yes, I will let you know if anything is inappropriate.

We need more friends in our Words and Games area, I think! If you're a Moderator, maybe you can add a "tour" to the front by the "Read this First" post? If you're NOT a moderator, please come check out the Fun and Games section to get your creative juices flowing. :)

Yes, I agree we could do with more people joining in with the games, as well as with the book discussions.