L/ST 400

This will limit your search to the books found in our Children's Collection.

Also, search DAWCL or ALSC Awards Shelf for award winning children's book titles and then use our OneSearch to see if we have them:

• Use more recent books, 20 years old or less to avoid bias
• Look for award winners
• Look for diverse authors

Start with the CA curriculum, and then use other items to teach the bigger picture.

• Nonfiction
  • Biographies and informational texts
  • Use your keywords in OneSearch and use the "location" feature on the left to select "nonfiction"
  • Find a call number related to your subject and you should find books on your topic for all ages
• Fiction
  • Picture books, chapter books, historical fiction
  • Use your keywords in OneSearch and use the "location" feature on the left to limit to "Children's Fiction" for chapter books or "Children's Picture" for picture books

There are many factors that determine the appropriate age to read a book, and it can be hard if you haven't read the book, or don't know the child. ​(Labeling books by age is a problem, since a child with lower reading skills having to select "little kid" books to find something they CAN read successfully can turn them off reading.)

Two major considerations:

• Reading DIFFICULTY

• CONTENT understanding

Recommendations from teachers or librarians who know the child and the books, are an excellent way to find appropriate books.

Publishers usually assign an age range to the books.  These are some of the designations you will see:

• Newborn to age 3 (Board Books)

• Ages 1 and up - Where the Wild Things Are

• Ages 3–8 (Picture Books)

• Ages 5–9 (Early or Leveled Readers)

• Ages 6–9 or 7–10 (First Chapter Books)

• Ages 8–12 (Middle-Grade Books)  -Harry Potter 1

• Ages 10 and up  - Hunger Games, Harry Potter 7, Thirteen Reasons Why 

• Ages 12 and up or 14 and up (Young Adult (YA) Books) Twilight

These publisher designations can not determine both content AND difficulty, only a suggested age range to sell the book.

• Choose a book, Award winners are good place to start. Find it using OneSearch. 
• Content Standards, can this book promote learning?
• Age/ability appropriate?
• Accurate information?
• Illustrations? Appealing techniques and colors are used? do they connect to the text?
• Representation/diversity? Are different cultures reflected in a positive way?
• Anti-bias? Are biases and stereotypes avoided (be especially wary of older titles)?

We all tend to live in our own bubbles these days, where our information sources echo back to us what we already know and agree with (think of your "For You" page). Information we agree with feels good.

Some resources are significantly more biased than others and can feed into skewed views of the world.

Reliability of sources is also very important.  Is the information presented true?

Here is a tool from Ad Fontes Media to help you find out about sources you may be accessing.

"A book worth banning is a book worth reading"

Everyday books are being challenged and removed from shelves, libraries, classrooms and reading lists across the USA. Challenged and removed books mean that somewhere a child can no longer access that book.  Challenged books nearly always include content about marginalized groups. Removal of these books remove a child's sense of inclusion and belonging.

This is a direct attack on our intellectual freedoms, First Amendment Rights, and having a democratic society. 

You should have access to several libraries.

• Your school might have a library.
• Your city/town probably has a public library.
• Your county might have a public library.
• Your local University might have a library.

All of these may be options for you and your students to access information.

Some things to expect:

• Free membership (Public Libraries)
• Buildings with books
• Digital Collections (eBooks, audiobooks, movies)
• Programs such as story times, summer reading, speakers, community groups

Using our Collection

• Open anytime the library is open
• Don’t put books back on shelf, use return bin
• Check out books on the 1st floor by the front door of the library with your campus ID card
• Or via a locker system out front: request the book in OneSearch, get an email when it is ready
• Students check out books for 16 weeks, up to 50 at a time