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How to Choose Books for Your Children

How To Choose Books For Your Children

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A presentation from Through the Magic Door outlining some parental considerations when choosing books for your children.

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Page 1: How To Choose Books For Your Children

How to Choose Books for Your Children

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© Through the Magic Door2

The Challenge

• Everyone defines “best books” differently– Easiest to read– Most awards– Most sales– Most cited and talked about– Closest in values to those of the family– Most traditional

• Even what is identified as a child’s book is subject to question– Many “children’s” classics such as Gulliver’s Travels or

Robinson Crusoe, started out as books for adults.– Many books that are considered adult (ex. Kon-Tiki) are happily

read by older children.

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The Challenge

Tis the good reader that makes the good book.

Society and Solitude (1870) Sir Arthur Eddington

Oh! It is absurd to have a hard-and-fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn’t. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read.

The Importance of Being Ernest (1895) Oscar Wilde

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.Louisa May Alcott

One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since. Beverly Cleary

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The best book for your child is the book that has them wanting

to read more.

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The Experience and Reputation of a Book is a Function of Many Elements

• The Author and their skill, intent, knowledge, experience, role, and personal context.

• The Reader and their motivation, reading capability, and personal context.

• The Book and its format, condition, availability, etc.• The Critics and their domain specialties, agendas, self-

interest, and critical capabilities.• The interplay of these four elements is difficult to

forecast with any precision which is what makes recommending a book a challenge.

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Author (35%)

Critics (10%)

Reader (50%)Book (5%)• Condition• Legibility• Presentation• Access/Availability

Motivation Muse Commerce Audience Prestige/Influence

Role Ambassador Didact Entertainer Conjuror

Creativity and Imagination

Technical Proficiency Vocabulary Genre Writing Style Story Structure Subject

Personal Context Ethnicity Political/Ideological Economic Status Country Culture Religion Life Experience Caste/Class

Problem Solving Destructionist Isolationist Accomodationist Integrationist

Inte

gri

ty

Clarity

Sym

path

y

Ideologues, Domain Specialists, Parents, Educators, Authors, Literary Critics, General Readers

Reading Motivation Voluntary or Involuntary Functional vs. Aesthetic Receptive or Skeptical

Reading Capability Technical competency Experience Maturity Personal Inclinations and circumstances Facts, Opinions, Imagination

Personal Context Ethnicity Political/Ideological Economic Status Country Culture Caste/Class Religion Life Experience

Problem Solving Destructionist Isolationist Accomodationist Integrationist

Book Experience

Accuracy

EmpiricalNormative

FunctionalArtifact

Context

Reputation

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Suggested Rules of Thumb• To the extent possible, let the child’s interests and abilities drive the

choice• Always have some variability

– Things that they might be interested in but haven’t said so– Reading that is above (and below) their capability

• Keep the doors as wide open as you are comfortable with in terms of subject, vocabulary, values, etc.

• Happy reading is usually a function of unexpected coincidences, serendipitous circumstances and unplanned connections.– While careful planning of what books to expose a child to is important

and necessary (what values to reinforce, what knowledge to impart, what life’s lessons to prepare for, etc.) this should usually be done in as light handed a fashion as possible.

• Involve your child in the choosing.

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Book Choosing Prime Directive

They are your child, your values, and you know them best. You are the best

and ultimate judge of limits and choices.

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Considerations• Values compatibility• Reading capability

– It is not a race• Interests• Difference between the skill of reading and the maturity of reading• Life circumstances• Self-Identity

– Ethnicity– Religion

• Gendered reading• Nature of critics and criticisms• Past and present• “Relevance”• Accuracy• Awards• Author versus Work• Format• Social Anachronisms• “Quality” vs. Popularity

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“Virtue makes us aim at the right end, and practical wisdom makes

us take the right means.” - Aristotle

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Resources (Practical Wisdom)

• Librarian (public and school)• Teachers in general and English teachers in particular• Enthusiastic readers within your family• Through the Magic Door

– Book lists– Database– Through the Magic Door® Master List of Best Regarded

Children’s Books– Personal coaching and consultations– Community forums– Structured Reviews– Wish lists

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Extra Material

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Considerations

Values Compatibility• Do the values explicitly or implicitly espoused by a book supplement and reinforce

those that you are seeking to establish?• Less than perfect alignment is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly given the age

of your child, as it can create good discussions. Diametric opposition is more of an issue.

Reading Capability• Reading is not a race and there is huge variability regarding when children pick up

the ability and the habit of reading. Some have it even before kindergarten, some not till third or fourth grade. No matter what your desires, creating an encouraging environment is usually the best way to see progress.

• In picking books, you usually want most of the books to be around the technical reading level of your child with a handful above (for challenge and interest) and a handful below (for reassurance and familiarity).

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Considerations

Interests• Try and match the type of book to the child’s interests whether it is topics or genres:

Sports stories for the sporting type, animal stories for caring children, adventure stories for active children, etc.

• Don’t worry too much about how arcane the text might be if it matches the interest of the child.

• Younger children/early readers often like to read series books. They read one they like and then they want to read all the rest.

Skill vs. Maturity• A child’s technical capacity for reading can often out-strip the maturity of their reading.

Just because they can read a book doesn’t mean they should. As my mother-in-law and retired librarian is fond of saying: “They haven’t lived long enough.” Only you can be the judge as to when they are ready.

• I am very guilty of misjudging capability of reading versus readiness for reading. Approach with care because there is the risk of turning them off to a perfectly good book.

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Considerations

Life Circumstances• What is happening in the child’s life (or what will be happening) and to what degree

do you want what they are reading to reflect that? – Our recommendation is that this can be done with great effect selectively and infrequently.

When done frequently and in many circumstances, it can turn children against reading.

Self-Identity• Is it important that white children read about white children and black children about

black children? How about Catholics about Catholics and Protestants about Protestants? Racial, religious, and ethnic self-identity can be very important. Again, the question becomes one of frequency and concentration. One of the beauties of great stories is that it builds the muscles of imagination, allowing children to experience the lives of others in different circumstances.

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Considerations

Gendered Reading• Do girls and boys gravitate to different types of stories and is that important?• Sure they do and it is important to the extent that their interest in something drives

them to read more.• Horses for courses

Critics and Criticisms• The value of a critic is very much dependent upon your knowing and understanding

the framework from within which the critic is approaching a work. Some read a book with an eye to its political agenda, others towards some pre-existing world-view. Others critique a book against literary standards and models. Yet others are tied to the commercial success of a book. Know thy critic.

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Considerations

Past and Present• For younger children and picture books this is usually not much of an issue. It is

usually more of a consideration for independent readers and young adults. Sometimes older books have more archaic language or unfamiliar idioms. Sometimes there are anachronistic opinions no longer considered acceptable. Whatever the issues, my experience is that there is a rich balance that can be struck by wonderfully written books from decades and even centuries ago that fit hand in glove with contemporary books.

Relevance• Relevance is in the mind of the purveyor. Many publishers or authors churn out

material predicated on ever greater levels of social dysfunction and personal trauma all under the rubric of “relevance.”– I am skeptical as to how many of these tales are relevant and I think it is worth asking

whether reinforcing negative trends is a valuable goal.

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Considerations

Accuracy• Some critics will attack a book for its accuracy. This is usually treacherous ground.

Where does authorial license leave off and sloppy error or deliberate misleading take over? My recommendation is for wide tolerance of issues related to “accuracy” outside of the scope of deliberate deception. Interpretation of events and history and facts is the foundation for great conversation.

Awards• There are many major awards related to children’s books, among them Newberry,

Caldecott, Horn Book Fanfare, etc. They are all a pretty good initial filter to winnow through the 25-35,000 new books published each year.

• They are also just as fallible as every other human activity. Author’s best works get overlooked until once they have established themselves. Later books get awards more on the basis of earlier books. Publisher’s marketing and “buzz” affect nominations.

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Considerations

Format• Electronic vs. Audio vs. Hardback vs.

Paperback vs. Boardbook• I think the jury is very much out on the

consequences and experience of electronic reading. No data. I suspect it will have its niche but never supplant physical reading.

• Audio books can be a great supplement to reading but it is a different (and usually additive) experience.

• There is some indication that small children prefer paperback over hardback books.

• Boardbooks are great for the under four crew

• Family size considerations – Hardback when multiple siblings.

Objectionable Author vs. Desired Work

• This has to be an individual call. Populist and academic critics can be exceptionally intolerant of authors from the past who had different views than those popular in refined circles today. Example of Enid Blyton.

• Hardly any children’s authors are directly inappropriate, it is usually a matter of inference.

• A hardline on racism (which is very rare in children’s books), classism, ethnicism, religious bigotry, political view, etc. would gut virtually all the classics as well as contemporary books.

• The goal of habitual reading needs to be set against the refinement of message. My inclination is always to err on the side of inclusion.

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Considerations

Social Anachronisms• Words, phrases, and opinions about what is appropriate morph over time. What is

acceptable in one age becomes frowned upon in another. • Example of Doctor Dolittle.• Relates to issues of gendered reading, author vs. work, accuracy, etc.• Again recommendation is to be as inclusive as possible and where historical terms or

opinions are objectionable, to discuss what has changed.

Quality vs. Popularity• Exceptionally slippery slope.• Everyone has their favorites; it is hard to define quality.• Many popular books end up being inconsequential and ephemeral.• Many sleepers end up being perennial favorites.• Reading is fed by more reading – whether it is books, newspapers, magazines, comic

books, manga, etc. The habit of sustained, imaginative, creative and focused effort is one that is facilitated by just about any genre. Typically, enthusiastic readers will go through phases but just about show a long term evolution towards what would be regarded as quality reading.

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Contact Information

Should you have any questions about this presentation, please contact us.

Charles Bayless

Through the Magic Door®

1579 Monroe Drive

Suite F150

Atlanta, Georgia 30324

E-mail: [email protected]

Office: (404) 898-9096