Read A Children's Book Review
You Didn't Expect

A good, truth-telling children's book review can lead to a lot of good things.

• It helps you find a book your child will enjoy
• A book your child enjoys leads to your child enjoying reading
• An enjoyment of reading leads to your child's success

A 2003 study in Britain

The study was done five years into a national literacy push. It found that on one level, the emphasis the country's schools had put on reading was working. Tests showed children were becoming better readers under the program.

But, on another level, the program seemed to be failing. Surveys of the children found that they weren't enjoying reading nearly as much as their peers five years earlier.

Do you think children who aren't enjoying reading are going to choose to keep doing it when they don't have teachers or parents looking over their shoulders?

I don't.

What went wrong?

Britain's push for improved literacy took place in school. In order to improve reading skills, teachers chose a higher percentage of the texts being read by students.

In other words, students weren't being allowed to choose their own reading material, and the material being chosen by teachers was about skill-building, rather than enjoyment.

So they ended up with mixed results: better readers enjoying it less.

What can we learn from this?

I think it teaches us that parents' responsibility for promoting their children's lifelong love of reading isn't over once their children begin attending school.

School will work on skills-building. Parents still need to take responsibility for reading enjoyment.

That means putting the best books in front of your children, and that's where a good children's book review can help.

What the study also revealed

Through at least age 10, fiction is the most popular form of reading for children. Stories. Which makes sense, if you think about it. School texts are most often about conveying information.

Yes, your child's developing brain craves knowledge, but it also craves enjoyment. If you want reading to be able to compete in the entertainment marketplace with TV and video games, email and computer chat, then you need your child to find enjoyment in reading.

Stories, it would seem, are the way to go. Use a good children's book review to find one that other children enjoy.

Numerous resources on this site

My How To Find The Best Children's Book Review page is filled with ideas and links for short-cutting your way through the internet to find a children's book review that tells you what you want to know. I'll even show you a site or two where children are the book reviewers!

What better way to find out what children enjoy reading?

Additionally, my How To Find The Best Children's Books page leads you to numerous other ways to find the best children's books for your child. Search for award-winning children's books or best-selling children's books. Find children's books loved by parents who think like you.

Finally, it's my goal to develop a section of this site dedicated to children's book reviews. I encourage every parent to contribute a children's book review of a book they think other children would love, or of a book you'd like to warn other parents against.

I've gotten the ball rolling by reviewing six books and two series I had rather strong reactions to:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
• The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series, by Betty MacDonald
• The Little Critter series, by Mercer Mayer
• The Berenstain Bears, by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems
• Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
• You're A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey, by Judy Finchler
• Clever Cat, by Peter Collington

If you have a children's book review you'd like to propose, please fill out this form. As you think about the book, consider what children's book audience it would best be "prescribed" for.