How We Library

Our library trips coincide with swimming lessons since the pool and library are in the same building. So our trips always involve a water bottle and a snack. We usually spend about an hour at the library every week. I nurse T and read books to E. We avoid the kids' computer but play with the exploration wall / toys and the book return toy. E and I both browse the books independently looking for a variety of books in length, topics, and type of main character (gender, race, animal etc.), old favourites and new books, popular characters (ex. TV) and one off adventures.

However, before we even enter the library I like for there to be books waiting for E. Sometimes there is a holiday coming up and it's nice to have books on it. But usually I just want inspiration and someone else's opinion on kid's books instead of randomly searching through the ones at our branch.

So I head to Pinterest. Here's my collection of pins on kids' books.  https://www.pinterest.com/cjanssengrieve/childrens-books/

So I either look for new pins on a topic of books or look through the ones I've already pinned. I head to their websites and then read descriptions and age levels and then do a search on my local libary's online catalogue. Sadly the library can't own every book and I am often disappointed. BUT, they almost always have at least one or two books on a list of 10.

Here are the pinned lists I most recently looked at:

Here is the list I put on hold / had sent to my local branch:

1. One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the recycling women of the Gambia BY: Miranda Paul
2. Hippos Can't Swim: and other fun facts BY: Laura Lyn DiSiena and Hannah Eliot
3. Now and Ben: the modern inventions of Benjamin Franklin BY: Gene Barretta
4. Henry's Freedom Box BY: Ellen Levine
5. From Slave Ship to Freedom Road BY: Julius Lester  too many words and graphic illustrations
6. Hoot Owl, master of disguise BY: Sean Taylor
7. The Bear Ate Your Sandwich BY: Julia Sarcone-Roach
8. Zen Socks BY: John J. Muth
9. All the World BY: Liz Garton Scanlon
10. The Most Magnificent Thing BY: Ashley Spires
11. Whoever You Are BY: Mem Fox

We ended up borrowing all the books except #5. Andrew wasn't really happy with Henry's Freedom Box because he thinks E is too young to read about slavery. I've gone back and forth on this and think since we only read it once, no one is physically harmed in the book and E wasn't too upset (no nightmares or crying) that it was okay for him. I think it helps set up context for current race discussions and also historical mentions of slavery in his kid's Bible. That being said, we don't plan on making this a topic we read about constantly.