Monday, March 22, 2010

Librarian in the Light

Have you ever wondered what is ok for your child to read? I am getting more into this predicament as Noah is getting older and wanting to read, and me read with him age appropriate books. We are nowhere near the likes of Harry Potter, etc. I was skeptical of reading Magic Treehouse books with Noah. By the way, which we love and would reccommend to any parent. We have only read one - Magic Treehouse #28, High Tide in Hawaii - but Noah loved it! It has chapters which is very rewarding for him to be able to read or me read with him a chapter. Today we read the last three chapters and it was great finishing it together! I think we both were so excited at finishing and being able to go pick out another together!

I hope all parents pre-read books for their children. I feel like if I don't know what the book is about, thoroughly, I don't want Noah to know until I do. The book may sound great on the cover - but what language or content is within those pages that is not hinted at on the cover? Especially secular books.

Voila! Here is help for us parents wondering the aisles of bookstores, adding children's books to the piles of books we ourselves would like to read!

My friend Elizabeth has known since the age of 9 (I think that is right) that she has wanted to be a librarian. She grew up, went to college and is a local librarian here in Alaska. She travels all over the country attending library and reading conferences. Not only is she a librarian, her speciality is that of childhood. Whenever I see a movie based on a children's book - I ask her. A new child's book comes out that I might like to get for the kids - I ask her opinion. She is a christian woman trying to shed some light on secular books for us parents who have children who are avid readers and would like to protect our children from some of the more mature content that is becoming more prevelant in books approved for younger ages. She provides an overview of a book, the age(s) it is intended for, and more. I have a lot of respect for Elizabeth's opinion and believe her reviews are great for Christian parents.
I hope you visit her site. She is just starting up so if a particular book is not listed I am sure you can email her - and also get some great ideas for books from her already reviewed books. Click HERE or check out my blog roll. Tell your friends - this is not limited to toddler reading!!!

1 comment:

Brandi said...

love the sounds of this...I think it's great! I have a small collection of books that either Ben or I read when we were younger that we knew we wanted to pass on to our kids someday. They are chapter books for when the boys are older, but I agree that you have to have read them first or you just never know.