Children's Books discussion

What is important to you when choosing a book? Is it word length? Pictrues? Humor? Rhyming? I've been guilty of guiding my son to pick a shorter worded bedtime story on nights we are late getting to bed... But generally I look for a good word flow, light humor, and of course a lesson.

Well, now that I'm just reading for myself, I read a wide variety. When I was sharing with my kids, I pretty much let them choose. Fortunately our library has low bins for the picture books, so it's very easy for the children to browse without making any sort of a mess. Then, when we got home, I'd preview them, making sure none were way over their heads or too scary for bedtime, and then I'd try to pick and choose the best for bedtime and save the others for the after lunch reads.

Here are things I look for in a book to use with children. I am in a position of evaluating books for use in a library setting.

Appealing format;
Quality for the genre
Represent a variety of genre (picture book, poetry, nonfiction, biography, folktale, fairy tale);
Invite reflection,
Critical analysis, and response;
Be of enduring quality,
Demonstrate unique language or style;
Celebrate diversity.
Image building language, rhyme, rhythm, musical language use,
Characters that come alive with a strong voice'

I also think the book should be fun, pleasurable and broad general appeal both as a read aloud and just for enjoying the process of reading.


LANGUAGE Criteria
Uses a variety of rich familiar and unfamiliar words to embrace reader/listener’s understanding of what they know and extend them towards learning new vocab.
A variety of sentence structures introduce reader/listener to sentence types as well as adding interest to text.
Uses literary device to captivate reader/listener. IE: repetitive words, phrases, or sentences that engage in text.
Text invites reader response through participating, noticing, relating, or expressing feelings.

ART:
Uses an original idea that allows viewer to see something familiar in a new way or to introduce something not ever seen before.
Art captivates viewer because of style, medium, sequence, or placement.
Art enhances or extends text, creating greater understanding of words through artistic images or additional details not mentioned in text.
Art invites viewer response through noticing, discussing, pointing, relating to text, discovering details or expressing feelings.

TOPIC of interest to children for the target audience

ENGAGING / ENTERTAINING- Will children be engaged, entertained, and encouraged to continue lifelong reading adventure?

PURPOSE (explain, biography, tall tale, story, information) :

TYPE of book: engineered/ pop-up, board book, nursery, poetry, alphabet, number/counting, big concept, wordless, picture storybook, picture book for older reader, chapter.

FAVORABLE REVIEWS from professional sources: SLJ, Booklist, Library Media Connection, Horn, other another recommended list:

I think the book should be fun, pleasurable and broad general appeal both as a read aloud and just for enjoying the process of reading.

That's really interesting, Judy, thanks for sharing! I might just refer to your criteria for inspiration when I'm next stuck writing a picture-book review.

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "That's really interesting, Judy, thanks for sharing! I might just refer to your criteria for inspiration when I'm next stuck writing a picture-book review."

I write a lot of reviews, mostly here on Goodreads. I am chair of a state wide picture book award for Kansas, Bill Martin Jr Picture Book Award.