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Helping Your Child Choose Appropriate Books
Reading at home should be a positive experience for both you and your child. Providing time to read and having books available are keys to your child’s reading success. Your child can learn a great deal about reading from hearing you read aloud as well as from reading to you. You can support your child by providing opportunities to read alone and with others.
To help your child choose a book that is “just right” encourage him or her to:
Read the back of the book and ask, “Does it sound interesting?”
Look at the table of contents and ask, “Can I predict what may happen in the book?”
Talk to someone who has read the book and ask, “Would you recommend it?”
Flip through the book, looking at the print, pictures, and organization, and ask, “Does it look like a book that will keep my interest?”
Read the blurb about the author and ask, “Does it tell anything new about the book?”
Read the first page and ask, “Is it written in a way that is interesting to me?” and “Are there too many words that I don’t understand?”
Many readers choose books because:
Someone has recommended it
They have enjoyed other books by this author
It is about a topic of interest
Here are a few book recommendations for a second grade reader:
Horrible Harry or Song Lee Series by Suzy Kline
Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne
Magic School Bus Books and Chapter Books by Joanna Cole
Henry and Mudge Series by Cynthia Rylant
Cam Jansen Mystery Series by David Alder
Nate the Great Series by Majorie Weinman Sharmat
A-Z Mysteries