Moms who are choosing books for their own home libraries, and beginning librarians who are trying to select books for a new library all have the desire to learn more about what constitutes a living book, and which authors and books are worth collecting and reading. Here are some resources to help you on your quest toward selecting good books for children.
- Homeschool Librarians Conference 2012: A New Vision for Old Books Six audio downloads and two video downloads from librarians Liz Cottrill and Emily Kiser of Living Books Library. The first two audio downloads, and the video library tour in particular, are very helpful for librarians who are trying to hone their book selection skills. The Living Books Library Tour video was inspirational for me as I homeschooled my eight children and dreamed of someday starting a private lending library.
- Jan Bloom’s two volume set of books, called Who Should We Then Read? is indispensable for librarians and moms, both experienced and novice. I learned so much from Jan’s books, even though I have a degree in library and information science and experience as a librarian for children. Jan organizes her books alphabetically by author, giving a short biographical sketch of each author and then a list of that author’s books.
- Honey for a Child’s Heart and Honey for a Teen’s Heart, both by Gladys Hunt, are two more books about books that recommend excellent children’s and young adult literature from a Christian perspective. You may or may not always agree with Mrs. Hunt’s selections, but she gives enough information about the books to enable you to make your own decisions. Mrs. Hunt is deceased, but you can read a legacy of her essays and reflections about books, libraries, and reading at the website, Redeemed Reader.
- Biblioguides is a robust database of information for living books, both old and new, with an emphasis on the older books for which information and recommendations may be harder to find. You can get basic information about the thousands of books in the Biblioguides database for free, no membership fee required, just by going to the Biblioguides website. But to mine the full treasures Biblioguides has to offer–reading levels, extensive tagging, content considerations, series information, anthologies, partner guides, and more–a membership is well worth the price.
- Carol Joy Seid’s seminar, A Literature Based Approach to Education includes several hours of content about how to homeschool with quality literature as the main course as well as Carol’s book list of books you can’t let your children leave childhood without reading. Carol also recommends the booklet Turning Back the Pages of Time: An American History Book List by Kathy Keller.
- Ambleside Online: The book list at this free homeschool curriculum site is an education in itself in regards to Charlotte Mason and living books. You can look at the book lists by grades (forms) or download a copy of the master book list for all grade levels.
Other books about books and book lists that you may want to consider as you further your children’s literature education:
- TruthQuest History guides by Michelle Howard.
- Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early
- Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children’s Literature by Elizabeth Wilson
- For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
- The Book Tree: A Christian Reference for Children’s Literature by Elizabeth McCallum and Jane Scott.
- All Through the Ages by Christine Miller
- Morning Time: A Liturgy of Love by Cindy Rollins
- Books That Build Character by William Kilpatrick
- Let the Authors Speak by Carolyn Hatcher
- In Review: Living Books Past and Present, four booklets available from Bethlehem Books.
- 100 Best Books for Children by Anita Silvey
- The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
- Read for the Heart: Whole Books for WholeHearted Families by Sarah Clarkson
- Hand That Rocks the Cradle: 400 Classic Books for Children by Nathaniel Bluedorn
- Realms of Gold in Children’s Books by Bertha Mahoney Miller (published in 1930)
- Five Years of Children’s Books by Bertha Mahoney Miller (1936)
- A Literary Education by Catherine Levinson
- World History in Juvenile Books: A Geographical & Chronological Guide by Seymour Metzner
- American History in Juvenile Books: A Chronological Guide by Seymour Metzner
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