5 Tips to Help Your Kid Choose a Book + a Children’s Holiday Book Giveaway

It's no secret we LOVE books. However, I know so many parents whose children struggle with reading.  Reading, like anything else, requires practice.  You have to be careful though as you don't want it to be a laborious task and seem like more homework.  There are ways to help your kid learn to enjoy reading.  

Our local library hosts a story hour each evening and over the years I've watched the program go from just a few kids to standing room only.  After story hour, the kids enjoy a craft, some snacks and then head off to choose books of their own.  Recently, I spoke with some of our local librarians to get some tips on how to help kids choose a book.  

Here are just a few of the tips she shared with me on ways to help your kid choose a book.

1.  Choose according to age.  Most libraries or bookstores group books according to reading level.  Books for babies are toddlers often feature bright pictures and few words; whereas, books for preschoolers tend to be more rhythmic.  Books for new readers feature sight words and simple storylines while books for older children tend to have a more defined storyline.

2.   Read the First Few Pages.  Allow your child time to browse a selection of various books.  Oftentimes the cover is what attracts them but encourage your child to read the back cover and the first few pages.  Then read through a few pages yourself so you can check vocab words and determine if this is a book that will keep your kid engaged.

3.   Find a Family Favorite.  What were some of your favorite books as a child?  What better way to spark up some conversation than talking about a book you both read.  I remember reading Charlotte's Web when I was a kid and one time we checked out a few copies and read it together as a family.  It made for wonderful dinner conversation as we all discussed different characters and things we liked about the book.

4.  Rule of 5.  As your child reads a few pages take note of words your child is not able to pronounce or is unfamiliar with.  If there are more than 5 unfamiliar words the book may be too difficult for them.  Let your child know this particular book may be a bit hard to read and help your child select another book or suggest this is a a book you and your child can read together.

5.  Ask a Librarian.  Librarians love to help kids find books they'll enjoy. Librarians may ask your child a few questions to determine what types of books they enjoy reading and suggest a few book that may be of interest. 

Here are some wonderful holiday themed books from Tilbury House Publishers for elementary age children and an easy entry giveaway for you.

If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy Newbold and illustrated by Greg Newbold (ISBN: 978-0884485933; Ages 6-9; 36 pages; Hardcover $17.95)is a big, brightly colored, playful introduction to various important painters and art movements.

If someone asked you to paint a snowman, you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Picasso painted a snowman…

From that simple premise flows this delightful, whimsical, educational picture book that shows how the artist’s imagination can summon magic from a prosaic subject. Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Roy Lichtenstein’s snow hero saving the day, Georgia O’Keefe’s snowman blooming in the desert, Claude Monet’s snowmen among haystacks, Grant Wood’s American Gothic snowman, Jackson Pollock’s snowman in ten thousand splats, Salvador Dali’s snowmen dripping like melty cheese, and snowmen as they might have been rendered by J. M. W. Turner, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Georges Seurat, Pablita Velarde, Piet Mondrian, Sonia Delaunay, Jacob Lawrence, and Vincent van Gogh. Our guide for this tour is a lively hamster who―also chameleon-like―sports a Dali mustache on one spread, a Van Gogh ear bandage on the next.

If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur by Amy Newbold and illustrated by Greg Newbold (ISBN: 978-0884486671; Ages 6-9; 40 pages; Hardcover $17.95)

In this sequel to the tour de force children's art-history picture book If Picasso Painted a Snowman, Amy Newbold conveys nineteen artists' styles in a few deft words, while Greg Newbold's chameleon-like artistry shows us Edgar Degas' dinosaur ballerinas, Cassius Coolidge's dinosaurs playing Go Fish, Hokusai's dinosaurs surfing a giant wave, and dinosaurs smelling flowers in Mary Cassatt's garden; grazing in Grandma Moses' green valley; peeking around Diego Rivera's lilies; tiptoeing through Baishi's inky bamboo; and cavorting, stampeding, or hiding in canvases by Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Franz Marc, Harrison Begay, Alma Thomas, Aaron Douglas, Mark Rothko, Lois Mailou Jones, Marguerite Zorach, and Edvard Munch. And, of course, striking a Mona Lisa pose for Leonardo da Vinci.

Mother Earth’s Lullaby by Terry Pierce and illustrated by Carol Heyer (ISBN: 978-0884485575; Ages 4-7; 36 pages; Hardcover $17.95): When Mother Earth bids goodnight, / the world is bathed in silver light. / She says, “Goodnight, my precious ones.” / Nature’s song has just begun.

Mother Earth’s Lullaby is a gentle bedtime call to some of the world’s most endangered animals. Rhythm, rhyme, and repetition create a quiet moment for children burrowing down in their own beds for the night, imparting a sense that even the most endangered animals feel safe at this peaceful time of day. In successive spreads, a baby giant panda, yellow-footed rock wallaby, California condor, Ariel toucan, American red wolf, Sumatran tiger, polar bear, Javan rhinoceros, Vaquita dolphin, Northern spotted owl, Hawaiian goose, and Key deer are snuggled to sleep by attentive parents in their dens and nests under the moon and stars.

How Nature Works: Don’t Mess With Me: The Strange Lives of Venomous Sea Creatures by Paul Erickson and photographs by Andrew Martinez (ISBN ; Ages; pages ; Hardcover $17.95): The role of venoms in nature … and in human medicine.

Why are toxins so advantageous to their possessors as to evolve over and over again? What is it about watery environments that favors so many venomous creatures? Marine biologist Paul Erickson explores these and other questions with astounding images from Andrew Martinez and other top underwater photographers.

GREAT for teaching STEM Marine Biology.

What are some ways you help your child choose books?

* * * G I V E A W A Y * * *

One lucky Three Boys and an Old Lady blog reader will receive a collection of four Tilbury House Publishers books including: If Picasso Painted a Snowman, If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur, Mother Earth’s Lullaby, and How Nature Works: Don’t Mess With Me
Tilsbury House Publishers Children’s Holiday Book Giveaway