I’m writing this as a parent and a book lover. My mother told me that, as a child, she used to read under the bedcovers with a torch shaped like a little dog with the bulb in its mouth. I certainly used to read in the dark in the car by the headlights of the car behind, and during meals, and when I was supposed to be getting dressed. As an adult, I have lost more sleep to reading than I care to think about. When my two children were small, I used to read out aloud to them every day. And now that they are bigger, most days, I still do.
Reading books aloud with someone, and reading them alone in your head are quite different experiences. But the striking feature, I find, about reading a book to a young child, is that you never do it once. You do it hundreds of times. And the rhythm that didn’t quite work the first time you read it either smooths out or gets a lot worse by the twentieth reading. And when your children start using the language of the stories in their games and in their fights, you appreciate in a new way which books you really want in your home. Since I started this blog, my children have grown a little older and I read different things to them, but reading aloud still has its own magic and connection.
So, this blog is for anyone who wants to share books and reading with a child in their life. In this blog I usually refer to ‘your child’: the child you care about, the child you want to share books with. You might be a family member, a friend, a teacher, another caregiver; you might read with them every day or want to send a book to them overseas. When we share books, we share a part of ourselves, our own imagination too.
I believe strongly in giving my children free rein to explore the world of literature themselves, but I hope to provide them with, at minimum, a map, an idea of some places they might like to visit, and the ability to read the road signs. But of course I haven’t been everywhere either, so if you know of great books I’ve missed or topics I should cover, please do get in touch. I always love to learn about exciting new books to share with my children – whether they are new or just new to us.
By the by, no one has paid me for any of these books, or given them to me, or asked me to write about them. If they do, I’ll tell you.
A Note about Diversity in Children’s Literature
There’s plenty of research to show that children’s literature needs to represent children better. Too many children do not see themselves or their families in the pages of books. That was my husband’s experience (see his post), and we’re trying not to make it our children’s experience, so we’re always on the lookout for books that reflect the fullness of the world our children are growing up in. But books that reflect diversity are not just socially important, they are wonderful literature in their own right.
If you want diverse books, you will find many in these pages – we look for books when we travel, books in dual languages, books we can read while poring over a world map rug on the bedroom floor. Books for the global citizens that we’re trying to raise.
Have a look too at:
Common Media’s page on Best for Diversity
Read in Color from the Little Free Library (starting in the US, but Little Free Libraries are in many countries)
We Need Diverse Books (US based and focused, as far as I can tell)
and reviews of kids’ books on Read in Colour (UK spelling but prices in dollars)
If you know of other blogs reviewing diverse books or other great books to read I would love to hear from you!
Let’s read something together.
About external links
I add links to other websites, but I can’t control what’s on those websites. So while I try to make sure the links are right, I’m not responsible for the content of other sites.
About the images on the site
I use photos of book covers on this site. The covers are most usually copyright work. I use them as Fair Use for the purpose of criticism and comment. If you have any concerns, please contact me.
Original art used on this site is with the permission of the artist.
About A.I. (artificial intelligence)
In case it needs to be said, all the posts on this website are written by the author they are credited to, without any use of AI generated material. They are sometimes proof-read or edited by friendly other humans. I cannot say I never use AI – if I do a Google search to check some information, there’s AI giving me its view whether I asked for it or not. Same with trying to get online help. But I don’t rely on AI for my information and try not to use it deliberately beyond the spelling check function in Word or the dotty red lines that appear under my typos, or those ‘helpful’ Help searches.
In the same way as I avoid AI, AI is asked to avoid me: NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the authors’ and publisher’s exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication (i.e. everything published on this blog) to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The authors reserve all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
Books for Our Children 