Library Haul - How I Choose My Books

For those who are curious, here is generally what I look for when I walk through the library. I'll show you the book(s) that fit(s) in to each category from this past week. The "criteria" is in no particular order. I share this with you to give you a bit of a guide for how you might look when looking for books with your kiddos.

1. I look for authors I know and love, or authors Oscar knows and loves.

I'm obsessed with this author/illustrator team.

I assumed I would love it. I didn't at first. 

Oscar has asked for this to be read over and over.
Now I'm a big fan too. #obvi

I've been meaning to pick up this book!
Stead's first one.
I was so happy when I saw it on the shelf. 

Oscar didn't love it as much as I did.
Only one read. 

I could just cry these illustrations are so beautiful. 

Silvia Borando, back again!

Another winner! Oscar loves funny books.

But who doesn't, amiright?

We've heard this phrase allllll week. 

2. I look for books that offer some kind of diversity - something different than what Oscar sees every day in our home. That could mean a whole lot of different things. I chose this one because I hadn't read many South American books. 

I'd never even heard of this one! 
Along the River by Vanina Starkoff

This story takes place in Brazil. 
Illustrations are out of this world gorgeous. 
I also love the shape and feel of the book. 
A long book for a boat story - perfect.

Oscar loved all the different types of hair. So cool. 

I loved the vibrancy.

3. I look for a book related to something Oscar is interested in. For example, he's all about trucks, dinos, and music right now.

Oscar asked for Dig, Dump, Roll to stay this week. Renewed!

4. I let Oscar find books that look cool to him. He is totally judging books by their cover but that is exactly fine.

Oscar didn't realize this was a yoga book.
Win, win!

He likes that each picture looks like a bug he knows.

For the perfectionists in the yoga community (seems like that shouldn't be a thing) -
the back shows the connection to the pose names.

5. I find books related to something I think Oscar might need. The past few weeks his toddler brain has been frustrated and he hit a friend. So I found a book I already knew that might help him think through that and add more words to his growing vocabulary.

This is one of my favorite covers of all time. 

I've read this with kindergarteners and 4th graders.

I like to point out here that it is ok to be angry,
but also Sophie never chooses to hit.

We talked about how you can run when you get angry.
This week, when Oscar got angry I asked if he wanted to run.
"Pabam!" he said as he did laps around the living room and dining room.

"I'm happy now," Oscar told me after one run.
He's read this book a few times on his own.

6. I look for books recommending by others! This might be a friend (hey Mas!), or someone I follow on twitter, another blogger, etc.

Another win for Mas. She always suggests the best books.

Get it? Man I love this page.

I wish I had this book last year when we studied Mexican homes
in kindergarten. What a cool story!

Another...get it??

Oscar provided the music for this one. Ha!
Also, you go Gustavo. Sometimes YOU are the answer.

As you can see, some of the books could easily fall in other categories. Gustavo and Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat feature could easily fall under "diverse" books. Yoga Bug could also be in the "things Oscar loves" category because he does "Oya" whenever he sees me doing my daily Yoga with Adriene. There's a hockey stick in The Wolf, The Duck, & The Mouse. Oscar definitely loves hockey sticks. 

Another pro-tip, I keep a list of books that I might want to find throughout the week. For example, I was thinking Oscar might be interested in stories that have other emotions. I'm not necessarily looking for books centered on emotions. A good story that has a good emotion in it would work. Oscar learned the word, "frowning" when he read the Old MacDonald book a few weeks ago and it clicked for him. We also haven't picked up any dinosaur books and this week has started to identify dinosaurs by their actual names so a dino book would be cool. So emotion book and dino book are on my list.

Happy book hunting!