Book buzz
Foster your kids’ love of reading with enjoyable, engaging books.
Happy reading!
The best bedtime stories: 8 books to help your child sleep
Got a sleep-resistant child? Maybe it’s time for your little night owl to hit the books. Why not use a nightly bedtime story to help build and reinforce healthy sleep habits, overcome common sleep saboteurs, and boost parent-child bonding? Whether you add these titles to your child’s bookshelf or wrap them up for a parent-to-be, you’ll be giving the gift of blissful rest.
Award-winning books for children and young adults
Looking for top-quality literature to enrich your child’s life? Here’s a selection of nine award-winners. Each one has been honored as a top book for children and young adults by the American Library Association, including winners of the prestigious Newbery and Caldecott Book Awards.
Back-to-School Books
By Shannon Dean
Get kids ready for back to school with these books to help them get excited about learning, deal with those first-day jitters, and laugh a little too.
Ready, Set, Read – and Grow! Get Gardening with Your Kids
By Sara Barry
Do you have a green thumb? Even if you’ve never gardened, you may want to try it with your kids. Gardening teaches a lot about the life cycles of both plants and insects. Gardens can look and smell beautiful – and taste good too! And as a bonus, kids who grow veggies are often more likely to try eating them.
You can grow things almost anywhere. Try a patch of your yard, a community garden plot, some planters on a patio or deck, or even a few pots on a window sill.
Need a little more inspiration? Try these books about gardening to get you excited. Then go get your hands dirty!
9 books for kids to read about bullying
Here is a list of books that address bullying. Use them to start a conversation or to educate yourself and your children about the many different forms bullying takes.
10 Books about Friendship
Being a good friend to others is an important skill for children to learn. Help kids discover how to be a good friend and how to handle friendship problems with these great books about friendship.
8 Children’s Books that Teach Empathy
By Haley Nelson
Developing empathy is one of the most important skills a child can learn. It’s that ability to imagine how someone else is feeling in a particular situation and respond with kindness. To encourage empathy, look for those teachable moments where you can help your child see the world through someone else’s eyes. Consider reading books together that illustrate how badly others feel when they are left out, teased and bullied.
Inspire your kids to go outside, and de-stress, with books on nature
By Cindy Hudson
Check out this great selection of books showing people from different walks of life experiencing nature and discovering what it means to them. There’s also a book for parents with easy ways to get their kids outside and active every day.
6 books to read with your kids during
Women’s History Month
By Cindy Hudson
March is Women’s History Month, a perfect time to read with your daughter or son about famous women from history. These books can help you talk about ways that women pushed the boundaries in the work they sought to do, the rights they held in society – like the right to vote and the right to own property – and more. Here are a few ideas for great books (fiction and nonfiction) for kids from age 5 to teen. Check with your local librarian for even more suggestions.
11 Short Classic Books for Teens
For many teens, reading is a luxury that often gets squeezed out of a schedule that can include hours of nightly homework, sports practice, music lessons, household chores and more. In fact, many teens say they would love to read if only they had the time. Short classics, also sometimes called novellas, may be just the solution they are looking for.
11 Laugh-Out-Loud Books for Kids and Teens
By Cindy Hudson
It’s been said that laughter is the best medicine, and when it comes to kids and reading, getting a dose of humor can go a long way. Kids love to laugh, and the more they laugh when they read, the more likely they will want to keep reading. Humorous books can carry as much weight as serious ones when it comes to helping kids develop good reading skills. Plus, your children are likely to read serious books in school, which makes it especially important that you let them have fun reading at home.
Here’s a selection of titles that may make your young readers snort, chuckle and laugh out loud.
25 Can’t Miss Stories for Family
Reading/Movie Time
By Cindy Hudson
The best family films appeal to two or sometimes even three generations, letting the grandparents get involved too. Often, the key to finding these movies is looking for a great book the movie is based on.
6 Books to Introduce Your Children to
Other Cultures
By Cindy Hudson
Travel is not the only way to expose your children to other cultures. Many great books for children have rich descriptions of how others live, dress, eat, work and play. They also may tell universal tales that kids can relate to, with stories of growing up, making friends, helping family and making discoveries about themselves.
Six Memoirs Kids Will Love
By Cindy Hudson
Memoir, a popular genre for adults, is less thought of for children. Yet good memoirs written for kids can hook young readers, especially reluctant ones, with stories about things that happened to other children at different times in history and different parts of the world. Life stories aimed at the younger set may be scarcer than those written for adults, but there are some great ones. The list below highlights some of the best to check out at your local library or bookstore.
Books for baby to drool over
Designed for interactive fun, cloth books are the perfect way to let babies explore the world on their own terms, with little hands – and mouths! Here are some great picks for cloth books that are drool-proof, chewable and generally washable. They also make great gifts for baby showers, birthdays and holidays.
Never-be-bored Books
This winter season, if you need some creative ideas for occupying your kids (or just tearing them away from the TV and computer), these books are for you! Find hundreds of activities, arts and crafts and games to help entertain, educate and engage kids of all ages.
Great Alaska Children's Books
Instill a love of reading while sharing Alaska's wild and wondrous life with your children. And what better way to share the fun, the facts and the folklore of our great state than with beautifully written and illustrated books by Alaskans. Here are a few of our favorites.
Once Upon a Time
Special stories for babies, toddlers and preschoolers Foster your kids' love of reading with enjoyable, engaging books. Here are just a few of the many wonderful stories you can discover together with your child.