Books

How to score children’s audiobooks under $2

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Lindsay Books

I recently professed my love for audiobooks and listed a few of my favorites for adults (with a few kids’ chapter books mixed in). Now, however, my kids have become completely obsessed with the audio versions of their favorite picture books and ask to listen to them ALL THE TIME in the car. Here’s a quick tutorial on buying books from Audible (you don’t’ have to subscribe!) and a list of our favorites — all under $2.

Buying individual books from Audible

You’ve all seen the commercials for Audible or have at least heard of it and know it’s an audiobook subscription service. What you might not know is that you can buy audiobooks from Audible without a subscription — or you can buy them individually without using your monthly credit.

Amazon owns Audible, so you can search Amazon for your favorite books and buy audiobooks directly through Amazon. When you look at a book product page, you’ll usually see hardcover, paperback, Kindle (ebook) or Audible versions. Click on the Audible version, and it’ll give you an individual price or allow you to use a credit if you’re an Audible member.

Once you buy your audiobook, just download the free Audible app, create an account (or sign in with your Amazon account), and all the audiobooks you’ve bought will appear in your library. Then you can download them straight to your phone and listen to them anywhere.

Bonus: If you have an Amazon Echo Dot, you can ask Alexa to play your audiobooks in any room! Grab the physical copy of the book (if you have it), plop your kids down on the couch, and let them flip through it while the book plays over the speaker. It’s a fantastic way to help your kids recognize the words and learn to read or just entertain them while they’re playing with something else.

Five favorite children’s audiobooks under $2

The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall. My kids have listened to this at least 20 times, and this is the first one they ask for in the car. If you only buy one book, buy this one. The narrator is fantastic and does an amazing wolf voice. He even wheezes convincingly when he’s trying to blow down the house. I laugh every time he says “Colossal!” Just buy this one. Trust me.

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard. If you haven’t read this classic about a teacher who teaches her class to behave by disguising herself as the evil Ms. Viola Swamp, you’re in for a treat. My kids always ask to listen to this one, and it’s fun to relive a book I loved as a child.

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. I don’t ever remember reading this one when I was little, but my kids have loved it ever since their teacher read it to them at preschool. If you’re not familiar with the story, a bunch of monkeys steal the caps from a peddler while he naps under a tree. He tricks them into giving them back when he realizes they imitate everything he does.

Red Riding Hood by James Marshall. Many of James Marshall’s books are really affordable on Audible, and this one is just as fun as The Three Little Pigs. The narrator is great, especially with Granny’s voice, and my kids love that Red Riding Hood and Granny jump back out of the wolf’s tummy when the woodcutter comes because the wolf “didn’t even bother to chew.”

Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola. I loved this book as a kid, and I’m delighted that this is also one of my kids’ favorites. The narrator does all the voices (the surprised nun voice always makes me laugh), and the Italian music playing in the background and bubbling sounds from the pasta pot make it even more special. We listen to this one a lot.

There are many other classic audiobooks available on Amazon/Audible, but these are the ones currently on repeat. They are absolutely worth the money, too. Where else can you spend $10 and get instructional entertainment for your kids that you’ll love, too?

Do you buy Audible audiobooks for your kids? I want to hear your favorites!

13 picture books for Halloween

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Lindsay Books

I enjoy Halloween, but I think I enjoy anticipating it more than I do the actual holiday. The decorations come out at the beginning of October (fall still has to have its time to shine), the playlist of spooky songs is on repeat, and I started a tradition of reading 13 picture books to my kids to celebrate Halloween.

Some of these books actually stay on our shelves year-round because they’re not Halloween-specific, while others get tucked away in the bin on November 1 to enjoy the next year. You can start early in the month on your countdown or do it more as an advent with just 13 days left until Halloween. No matter how you do it, these picture books will help you get in the mood for Oct. 31. I wrote this post later with even MORE Halloween books!

Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia Toht

This book was released in July, and I actually preordered it and got it then because I just KNEW it would be good, thanks to her first book Pick a Pine Tree (also with illustrator Jarvis). It did not disappoint. The story follows a family who picks out pumpkins at a pumpkin patch, carves them into jack-o-lanterns, and then dresses up for Halloween. The illustrations are stunning, and I love the diversity of skin tones in this book! This one would look so pretty displayed on a themed book shelf for the season.

The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan and Jan Berenstain

You probably read this as a kid, along with all the other books in the series, but this Berenstain Bears book was always one of my favorites. Brother and Sister Bear dress up and go trick-or-treating with their friends, but they’re afraid to go to Old Miz McGrizz’s home because of the rumors about her. It ends with a message about how appearances can be deceiving. While I don’t think I’d ever let my kids trick-or-treat on their own, I still think this is a classic (and my kids love it, too).

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

The same duo that created The Gruffalo (which I LOVE) is responsible for this fun rhyming story about a witch who keeps losing things while she’s flying, like her hairbow, her hat, and her wand. Animals help her find them when she lands, and then they keep climbing aboard her broom for a ride. There’s also a cute animated cartoon of this available on Amazon Prime, so if your kids like the book, they can watch it come to life on screen.

How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green

I just discovered this book a couple weeks ago, and it is delightful. Written in the same vein as Dragons Love Tacos or How to Give Your Cat a Bath: In Five Easy Steps, this faux self-help book explains how to make a ghost feel comfortable, what to feed it, how to take care of it, and what to do as you get older and your ghost stays the same. The illustrations are adorable, and I love that it takes something scary like a ghost and makes it seem like caring for a pet.

Snowmen at Halloween by Caralyn Buehner

If you’re familiar with the other Snowmen books, this one follows the same format. Some kids make snowmen when snow falls early before Halloween, and then the snowmen come to life and do crazy and fun things to celebrate the holiday together. It’s fun to look at these pictures with your kids and see the snowmen dressed up in costumes and bobbing for apples. Also, we own several of the Snowmen books, and I somehow missed the fact that there’s a mouse hidden on every page! Bonus: If you have school-age kids, this book is on sale right now in the book order.

Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler

Skeletons can’t be cute, right? Wrong! At least Bonaparte, the skeleton in this book, is absolutely adorable. He keeps falling apart and losing different bones (it sounds creepy, but I promise it’s not), and he’s worried about going to school for the first time. Luckily, his friends have some ideas about how to help him stay together.

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

This author has several books like this one for holidays, but this story about two mice taking care of the same pumpkin is so sweet. One mouse wants to enter the pumpkin in a contest, while the other just wants to carve it into a giant jack-o-lantern for Halloween. They both carefully water the pumpkin, even giving it sugar water, and make sure it has the right soil, and neither knows the other one exists — until they discover each other putting blankets over the pumpkin to keep it warm.

Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara

I was blown away by this book when I first checked it out a few years ago. A witch moves into a haunted house, but she isn’t afraid of the ghosts living there. Instead, she finds creative ways to put the ghosts to use, like hanging one as a curtain, using another as a tablecloth, and putting one on the bed like a sheet. The entire book is orange and black with translucent white ghosts on the pages, and the color scheme just makes the story pop.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

When a little old lady goes out for a walk one night, she starts to hear strange noises and see various articles of clothing walking behind her. They all keep building on each other to create a sort of ghost/monster, but she is NOT afraid of it and has some tricks up her sleeve. This book has a great rhythm to it and is so fun to read out loud!

Sir Simon: Super Scarer by Cale Atkinson

This quirky book caught me off-guard when I checked it out last week, because I was NOT expecting it to be so funny! Simon, the ghost who narrates the story, explains that professional scarers have “ghost chores” they have to do, like flushing the toilet in the middle of the night, making floors creak, and slamming doors. Then, when a grandma and her grandson move into his house, he realizes he can enlist the boy’s help in doing some of his ghost chores. The illustrations and dialogue in this book are so great.

Ten Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage

While this is a basic counting book in which one pumpkin disappears in a different way on every page, the illustrations are so engaging that even parents will like this book. The numbers are bold throughout the book, and Savage uses bright colors and a minimalist style to bring the story to life. Your kids will be engaged by the rhymes and the pictures.

The Scariest Book Ever by Bob Shea

I will be honest and say that I’m not normally a Bob Shea fan, because his books are always too weird for me. However, I do like this one a lot. The ghost narrating the story is nervous about everything and warning you not to turn the page because any number of things might be waiting. Of course, when you turn the page, there are neon colors and charming woodland creatures, and treats and doughnuts. Also, the ghost spills orange juice on his white sheet, so then he’s translucent through the rest of the book, and I just love the texture and his facial expressions. This one is goofy, but give it a try.

What Was I Scared Of? by Dr. Seuss

Somehow I missed this classic Dr. Seuss book when I was a kid, but I still love it as an adult. The narrator is terrified by a pair of pants walking around with no one inside them, but the pants are ALSO afraid of him. Make sure to get the version with glow-in-the-dark pictures. The pants glow on every page when you shine a flashlight on them, and it’s so fun to look at the book with your kids.

Now it’s your turn! What are your favorite Halloween books? Do you read the same books to your kids each year?

How to download ebooks and audiobooks on the Libby app

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Lindsay Books

I have gushed about the Libby app before and how it changed my life, but it’s true! If you are serious about making more time for reading, this app will absolutely help you do that. Read on for more details about Libby, how to connect it to your libraries, and how to make the most of it.

What in the world is Libby?

Libby is an app that connects you to your local library’s collection of ebooks and electronic audiobooks. It’s a newer app released by Overdrive, the original electronic library app, and connects to the Overdrive collection — but I think Libby is more user-friendly. In a nutshell, Libby is a way to download books to your phone or tablet automatically without having to check out physical books or audiobooks from the library.

How do I connect Libby to my library?

First, download Libby from the app store. Once you open it, the app will ask if you have a library card. You’ll hit yes (unless you don’t have one, and then you’ll need to go to your local library to get one), and it will let you search for your library by zip code or guess your library based on your location. You’ll enter your library card number and your PIN (usually the last four digits of your phone number).

The cool thing about Libby is you can attach multiple cards to the app. For example, I have a card for my city library and another card for my county library system, so I’ve entered both in the app. I’m actually about to get a third library card for a separate library system, so I’ll enter those details when I have my new card.

Once you’ve connected to your library or libraries, simply search for a title. If your library has an ebook or electronic audiobook for that title, it’ll appear in the search results. Normal ebooks just have an image of the book; audiobooks have a headphone icon and say “audio” underneath.

If the book is available, you’ll tap Borrow and it’ll take you to another screen. This one shows how long the book will be available, which library you’re borrowing the book from (if you have multiple cards), and how many loans and holds you have left from that library.

If the book isn’t available, you can tap Place Hold. On the next screen, it once again shows you the library you’re borrowing the book from and the loans and holds you have left. It also gives you an estimated wait time for the book based on how many copies the library has and the number of people waiting for each copy.

Once you put the book on hold, you’ll get an email from the library when it’s available. When you open the Libby app, it’ll automatically download when you’re connected to wifi (or if you have data enabled).

Why is Libby so great?

I mean, isn’t it already great that you just download titles automatically to your phone or tablet without having to search for them at the library or carry around a hardcover? Here are some other reasons I love this app:

Books automatically return to the library when they’re due. You don’t have to worry about returning books or paying late fees if you can’t finish in time, because the book deletes itself from your device on its due date. You DO have to tap Renew Loan from your shelf if you won’t be able to finish, and you can’t renew if other people are waiting for the book. On the other hand, if you finish early, you can always tap Return early and delete it from your phone. I always do this so I can free up more space for loans.
You can have five loans and five holds at a time PER library. Now you know why I’m about to have three linked library cards in my Libby account. I almost always max out my holds for audiobooks, especially if they’re brand-new, so I like to have multiple library cards to increase my hold capacity. For example, right now I have holds on several audiobooks that were just released on one card and then holds for kid audiobooks we can listen to in the car on another card. We’re going on a trip next week, so I’m trying to have multiple audiobooks the whole family can listen to.
You can tell at a glance how long you have to wait for a book. Once you search for a title, you can tap the little calendar icon next to a book that isn’t available. It’ll give you the estimated wait time (the same one you’ll see when you tap Place Hold). If I have a trip next week and the estimated hold time is four weeks, I’m not going to waste my precious hold space with that book.
You can easily toggle between libraries to see which titles are available. While I love my city library, it doesn’t have nearly as many available ebooks and audiobooks as the county library system does. So if I search for a book there and get no results, I tap the little girl icon at the top right and switch to the other library and search for it there.
You can see all your recent searches. It’s the WORST when you’ve been dying to read a book and suddenly can’t remember the title when you want to see if it’s available. Libby saves all your recent searches, so you can just pick one from the dropdown that appears when you tap the magnifying glass at the top. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you can tap Clear Recent Searches to start over, or you can swipe left on an individual title to remove it from your searches (which I always do if I’ve already checked out the book).
You can easily speed up your audiobooks. If you use Audible, you already know about this feature, but you can increase the listening speed by tapping the speedometer icon at the top once you’re listening to a book. I usually start at 1.5 speed and sometimes listen at 1.75 speed, but it depends on the narrator and the type of book. If you’re hesitant, just move it to 1.25 to start. It’s just slightly faster than the original narration, but it helps you get through the book faster — and once you listen at 1.5 speed or even 2X speed (this is rare for me), the original narration will seem SO slow to you.
You can skip back or forward in fifteen-second increments or skip to certain chapters. One of my favorite reading hacks is checking out a hardcover from the library and then getting the audiobook on Libby at the same time. That way I can listen to the book when I’m in the car or folding laundry or doing some other task, and then I can pick up the physical copy at night and read where I left off. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I couldn’t skip to certain chapters. To do this, you have to select the book and then tap it again. Icons at the top will appear, and you’ll tap the three lines in the top-right corner and tap Chapters. If I’m in the middle of a chapter, I use the 15-second increments to find the spot where I left off. You can also skip to different chapters in ebooks.
You can measure how much time you have left to read/listen to the book. When you’re listening to an audiobook, a ticker appears at the bottom that shows how many hours you’ve listened to and how much time you have left. If you’re reading an audiobook, it will show many pages you have left (note that these are electronic pages, NOT the number of pages in the physical book). Tap that section again and it shows how many pages are left in the chapter, and tap it again to see the percentage you’ve read. This really helps to motivate me if I see that I only have two pages left in the chapter or that I’ve already read 20% of the book.

Have I convinced you that this app is life-changing? It makes reading and listening to audiobooks so much easier! Leave any questions about this app in the comments — and fellow Libby gushers are always welcome, too. 🙂

10 fall picture books your kids will love

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Lindsay Books

It’s the first day of my FAVORITE season, fall! As much as I like Halloween, I like to decorate for and celebrate fall first, and I also love reading picture books about this beautiful time of year. Adults, don’t worry: I’ve got a post with recommendations for novels coming soon. Here are 10 of my favorite fall picture books to check out:

Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

I checked this book out for my kids a couple years ago and IMMEDIATELY bought it, something I never do (minimalist problems). This story about a little girl who gets a squash from the farmer’s market and turns it into a pet is hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. We read it year-round, but it’s perfect for autumn.

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

This is a classic about a woman who hates pumpkins because she ate too many as a child when her family was poor. Of course, when a huge pumpkin gets smashed in her yard and spreads seeds everywhere in her yard, she can’t ignore the gourds growing all over the place. I love the message about making the most of an unpleasant situation and serving others in the process.

Leaves by David Ezra Stein

The adorable illustrations make this simple book about a bear confused by the falling leaves special. It’s a great way to show little kids how seasons change, but the colors are also vibrant and beautiful.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak

If Kenard Pak’s name is on a book, you can bet I will check it out. This one has stunning illustrations and follows a little girl with a red scarf who walks through nature saying hello to every animal and plant she sees. They all answer her and explain how they’re changing for the fall season. If you like this one, check out his book Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter.

Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer

Can you tell I’m enamored with beautiful illustrations yet? I just checked this book out last week and loved the story about kids and animals who celebrate autumn in different ways. The book also has pictures in varying shades of yellow and orange and has a vintage feel to it that I love.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (illustrated by Vivian Mineker)

Who doesn’t think of Robert Frost poems during the fall? I often have “Nothing Gold Can Stay” running through my head when the leaves change color. This brand-new picture book has gorgeous illustrations that bring new meaning to “The Road Not Taken” and help kids understand the poetry. I may be buying this one for our collection.

Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins

This book features beautiful photographs of autumn leaves from 13 different trees. I actually learned a lot from this book and was fascinated by all the facts it includes. If you have really small children, you can skip over the detail and just let them look at the pictures. I think it would be fun to bring leaves from your own neighborhood in and compare them to the ones in the book.

Storm by Sam Usher

I love Sam Usher’s series of weather-themed books, and this one is set in autumn. A little boy and his grandfather look outside at the windy day and decide it’s the perfect time to fly a kite. They search through the house for it and finally find it and have an adventure flying it together. It’s a really simple story, but I love the relationship between the boy and his grandfather.

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Technically this book is about all seasons, but books about trees often make me think of autumn — and falling leaves is a natural time to talk to your kids about why the weather and trees are changing. I love the interactive nature of this story. You shake the book, tap pages, and even “blow” the leaves off the tree. It’s fun to read aloud.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

At first glance, this book just looks like a collection of leaf photographs — but when you look closer, you see that the leaves are cleverly arranged to look like different animals, vegetables, insects, plants, and even trees. This is a quick read, but you’ll love seeing how creatively the leaves come together.

I’m always on the lookout for new fall books, and I have several on hold at the library I can’t wait to read. What are your favorites?

5 tips for helping your child learn to read

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Lindsay Books

Remember how I read more than 1,000 books to my kids before they started kindergarten? I was feeling pretty proud of myself, to be honest. My kids love hearing me read to them, picking out books at lunchtime and bedtime, and listening to audiobooks in the car (though only for short distances).

Since I have boy/girl twins, it’s easy to compare them to each other or assume they’ll be working at the same pace in school. When my son brought home a letter last week from school about a remedial reading class they suggested he go to, I felt like I’d swallowed a handful of rocks.

My daughter loves to read and was reading entire books to herself before she even started school. She looked over my shoulder and read an email subject line the other day, which shocked me. She spends afternoons pawing through books and sounding out most words without any help.

My son, on the other hand, is not interested in reading. I know he knows his letters and can sound them out and put words together, but he quickly gets frustrated if he doesn’t know a word and wants to give up after just a few pages. It’s hard for me as a parent, too, because I want him to love reading and excel at it, and he isn’t ready yet.

I know all kids are different, and boys and girls develop at different ages. I also know my son is going to get there at his own pace, and I shouldn’t be too worried just a month into kindergarten. The remedial class is starting next week, but here are some other steps we’re taking to help both kids read:

Implementing a reward system

Our kids LOVE the pink frosted sugar cookies from Swig (a local drink and dessert shop), so we told them they could each get a small cookie if they read every day this week. If they read every day for a month, they get to pick out a small toy from Walmart or Target.

We’re only a few days into the challenge, but so far reminders about cookies and toys have spurred our kids into reading and doing handwriting homework.

Setting a 15-minute timer

While my daughter loves reading and often sits in her room looking at books, it’s harder to get my son to sit with a book for a while. We have an Amazon Echo in the living room, so we’ll just ask Alexa to set a timer to make sure we’re keeping track of our time. You could obviously do this on your phone or watch, use a clock, or even use a kid-friendly timer that visually shows how much time is left.

I’m hoping to increase this time to 20 or 30 minutes eventually, but for now, 15 minutes is a great place to start.

Sitting with kids one-on-one and in different rooms

Parents with kids of different ages are probably better at this, but I’ve found that I often do things with my kids together since they’re twins. I don’t spend a lot of time individually reading to them, because we usually sit on the couch together and plow through our library stack. Since my daughter is currently reading at a first-grade level and also likes to point out words my son doesn’t know, it’s really important for them to read to us on their own (though I still read TO them together).

Right now, my husband and I are taking one kid and going into separate rooms (usually the living room and a bedroom) for 15 minutes while they read to us. This also keeps distractions to a minimum and doesn’t frustrate my son because he’s at a different level. While reading with my daughter, I’ve also realized that she doesn’t always sound out words and assumes she knows them, so we’re working on that, too.

Finding books that hold kids’ interests

My son is really into truck, tractor, and train books, so I’ve been checking out all the picture books along these themes I can find to get him interested in reading. While he can’t read them to himself yet, he LOVES hearing me read to him, and I point to the words as I read them so he’ll start memorizing them.

For my daughter, I’ve checked out a bunch of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie books, and she reads through them and loves them. My mom just bought her a new big book with five E&P stories in it, so she likes to read through that one. Parents, these are also fun to read aloud, so I read them to both kids when my daughter is finished.

Praising hard work

Ever since I read the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success a few years ago, I have been really conscious about how I praise my kids and how I approach learning. If you haven’t read it (you should!), the author talks about a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. People who have a fixed mindset believe talent is what gets them places. People with a growth mindset believe hard work is how you achieve success.

While it’s obviously a little of both, since you have to have talent or aptitude to be interested in something long enough to do it repeatedly (like becoming a pro basketball player), I completely believe that a growth mindset helps kids learn to keep going. I try not to say “Good job” to my kids (a compliment with judgment in it) but to say instead “You wrote the letter D just like the example!” or “You read that entire book by yourself!” I think praise is so important for encouraging kids to read, but it needs to be specific praise that shows you recognize their hard work.

I hope these suggestions help someone else who’s got kids with totally different interests! What tips do you have for helping a kindergartner become more interested in reading?

5 ways to maximize your time at the library

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Lindsay Books

If you find yourself frustrated when you go to the library or struggle to wrangle kids when you really just want to venture over to the adult nonfiction aisle for once, I’m here to help.

The library can be overwhelming, but it certainly doesn’t have to be! Here are some tips for getting the books you want without wandering around and pondering the merits of the Dewey decimal System.

Place lots of library holds

Until about five years ago, I had no idea you could place holds at the library! I know. My excuse is that I grew up in a really small town with an even smaller library, and library systems were not a thing there. Today, though, there is no reason for you to be wasting time trying to find a book — especially one that may already be checked out — when you can reserve it online before you leave the house.

Every library and library system’s website is different, but the concept is the same:

Pull out your library card (unless you’re a nerd like me and have the number memorized) and enter it and your PIN
Visit your library website and search for the book you want
On the search results page, decide whether you want a physical copy, ebook, or audiobook (I’ll discuss how to download ebooks and digital audiobooks in a separate post)
Click the book format you want and click Place hold
Select the library where you want to pick up your book (unless it’s an ebook/digital audiobook and you’ll download it)
Wait for an email from the library that your hold has come in
Go to the holds section of the library (usually close to the front desk) and check out your book

Placing holds has several advantages:

If you’re part of a library system, you can get the book from any of the libraries within the system that have it. For example, your local library might not have any copies of Becoming checked in, but the library 10 miles south might have one.
You go straight to the holds section, check out your books, and leave. This is a fantastic solution if you have little kids and need to quickly run errands. Some libraries even bring your holds out to you so you don’t have to leave the car.
You don’t have to keep checking whether a book is back on the shelf. The library automatically saves books for the next person in the hold line.
You have a week (depending on the library) to pick up your holds. That means if all of your holds come in over several days, you can just make one trip to the library to pick up everything rather than getting them one at a time. Unless you like making multiple trips.
You can place holds on books that haven’t even been published yet. If you know an author’s latest book is being released soon, search for it in your library’s system. If the library has already committed to buying it, place a hold and you’ll get it first (depending on how many people are ahead of you in line).
You can have quite a few holds at the same time, though this differs depending on the library. At my city library, which is not part of the county library system, I can only have 12 holds. At the county library, I can have 25 or more, depending on the type of book. You’d better believe that I have both library holds maxed out whenever possible.

Use the saved lists so you always know what to read next

Every time I see a book that interests me, I immediately go to my library website and search for it. If the library has it, I add it to my list of saved books (you could create lists for different genres if you wanted to) or place a hold if I have any holds available.

This is different from my to-read list on Goodreads, because I know that these books are actually available at my library (though they may be checked out). I pick books from this list to put on hold when I need something new, and then I delete them from the list once they’re on hold or I’ve checked them out.

I also take pictures of the saved list on my computer screen (my city library’s mobile site won’t let me see saved lists, unfortunately) right before I head to the library. Once I’m there, I pick up my holds and then head to the children’s book section. Since the picture books are organized alphabetically by the author’s last name, I can quickly go through and find books on my list that are available right then, especially if I’m still waiting for my holds to come in.

Having a saved list of books also gives me a sense of accomplishment, because I know I’m finding books I listed at some point, not just picking books up that I may or may not like.

Pay attention to how your library groups books

When you have a bit more time to actually meander through the library instead of dashing in to pick up your holds, look for little displays of books throughout the building. My city library often offers “bundles” of picture books, which are four or five books about the same topic (bugs, for example) rubber-banded together with a sticky-note on them. This is fantastic if you have kids obsessed with princesses or trucks.

At the county library I go to most often, they have all the Caldecott award-winning books grouped together on one shelf. I seem to gravitate to this shelf often because of all the beautiful illustrations (hence the Caldecott), and I often discover books I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise.

Many libraries often put their new books on display near the entrance or put recently returned books on an easel above bookshelves. I also love when my library puts themed books out on display, like books for holidays or back-to-school. Each library is different, but noticing the displays and the groupings can help you find a great new book to read.

Use Libby or Overdrive religiously

Check out my post about downloading and using Libby, because you’ll need more info to use these apps effectively, but essentially, you download ebooks and digital audiobooks from your library system to your phone or tablet, and they automatically return to the library (and delete from your device) when they’re due. Libby seriously changed my life and made it possible for me to read a lot more — and it’s FREE to get these books rather than spending a fortune on Amazon or subscribing to Audible. I can’t recommend Libby enough.

Watch your email for book updates, return reminders, and special events

If you don’t already get emails from your library, sign up for them! While I obviously get emails from the library whenever one of my book holds have arrived or a book has downloaded to my Libby app, I also get reminders when a book is nearly due or a book I requested the library buy is ready for me to pick up.

My county library often hosts writing workshops, movie nights, resume reviews, and all kinds of events. One day I walked into my city library to find the “Love to Laugh Society” was gathered in a conference room and everyone was welcome to attend. The library can be SO much more than just a place to pick up or read books, and email helps you stay connected.

What’s your favorite tip for heading to the library?

How to find an audiobook you’ll love listening to

Posted on September 4, 2019 by Lindsay Books

I have read more than 70 books so far in 2019. My secret that isn’t really a secret? Audiobooks! Inevitably, though, whenever I tell friends about how much I love audiobooks, I hear the same complaints: They can’t focus on the story, they don’t like the narrator, they need to be able to see the text.

I get it. Not all audiobooks are created equal, and you’re definitely going to find some duds in your search. You should also find some gems, though, and hopefully you’ll give audio another chance! Here are my tips for finding an audiobook you’ll love.

Try a memoir

The next best thing to reading a memoir from someone you admire is hearing them read it to you. I laughed so hard while listening to Jim Gaffigan’s memoirs (Food: A Love Story and Dad is Fat) that people on the train to work were giving me weird looks.

If you’re not a Hot Pockets fan, don’t worry. Here are some other memoirs I loved that were narrated by the author:

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham
Love Life by Rob Lowe
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Consider children’s books or young adult novels

You don’t always have to listen to books written for adults. In fact, I’ve loved reliving some of my childhood favorites on audio with my kids. Start thinking about the books you loved when you were young, and then search for them in the Libby app or on Audible. You’ll probably be surprised to see how many of them are available on audio! Here are some I’ve loved:

The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary (narrated by Stockard Channing)
The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (narrated by Cherry Jones)
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (narrated by Jim Dale)
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (narrated by Cynthia Bishop)
The Witches by Roald Dahl (narrated by Miranda Richardson)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary (narrated by BD Wong)

Look for bestsellers

As silly as it sounds, you’re more likely to find a great book narrator if the book is incredibly popular. Because the demand for audiobooks is so high when a bestseller comes out, companies like Audible often get the best readers to narrate the stories — and sometimes celebrities lend their voices as well. Reese Witherspoon narrated Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, and Jim Broadbent (from the Harry Potter films) narrated The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

You obviously won’t love the audiobooks for EVERY bestseller, but here are some of my recommendations:

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (narrated by the fantastic Kathleen Wilhoite of Gilmore Girls)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Try some nonfiction

I know some people LOVE nonfiction and others much prefer to escape reality. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, consider giving a nonfiction book a try. It can be easier to follow on audio than a novel, because you are listening to tips or facts rather than trying to keep characters and storylines straight.

Nonfiction also encompasses a lot of different styles of books. Here are some audiobooks I enjoyed:

How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate by Spencer Rascoff
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates

I hope this list encourages you to try an audiobook sometime soon! They really have changed my life and made it SO much easier for me to cram books in when I otherwise wouldn’t. Share your favorite audiobooks with me in the comments! I’m always looking for something new.

10 great picture books to read aloud

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Lindsay Books

I had several friends ask for a list of the 1,000 books we read before kindergarten. However, I decided to break it down into smaller posts instead for several reasons:

I wouldn’t recommend ALL of the books we read. Some of them weren’t great, and I don’t want you to pick up a poorly written book if I can help it.
Do you really want to scroll through a list of 1,000 books and try to find them at the library? The answer is no. You don’t. I also don’t want you to print off a list of 1,000 books and roam the shelves in confusion.
You could easily plow through 10 picture books in a week. Breaking it down makes reading to your child more manageable, because you absolutely could read one or two books to your child each day.

I am really picky when it comes to picture books. If the rhyme scheme is off or it’s trying too hard to be goofy/funny/different, it’s off the table. Here’s my list of books I enjoyed reading aloud to my kids — and it’s in alphabetical order by author’s last name, just in case you do want to search the shelves while you’re waiting for your library holds to come in.

No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont. I immediately bought this book online when we read it the first time, which says a lot. Poor Sheep just wants to sleep, but the other farm animals keep coming to the barn and making noise. You’ll be able to quote this book when your kids won’t go to sleep, and everyone in the house will be laughing while you read it.
Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney. This is currently my son’s favorite book. Written by the author of the popular Llama Llama books (which I also recommend), this story has the same rhythm and easy-to-read rhyme scheme, and the pictures are darling. Who doesn’t love a tale about an underdog that saves the day?
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. To protect himself from being eaten, a mouse tells all the creatures he meets about a scary “gruffalo” he’s about to have lunch with. This book is SO fun to read aloud, and I adore the illustrations.
You Don’t Want a Unicorn by Ame Dyckman. This one is on the weirder side, all about the hazards of owning a unicorn you don’t know about (they poop cupcakes, for example). Yet its goofiness is endearing, and the pictures (and the fact that it directly addresses the reader) make it even better.
The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman. I count this as one of my top 10 favorite children’s books. Easily. Any mother whose kids won’t eat what she makes will relate to this book about Mrs. Peters, who has to make different foods for each of her seven children every day. One of them only eats applesauce, for example, while another only likes milk. Marla Frazee is also one of the BEST illustrators, in my opinion, and her pictures make this story pop.
The Bad Seed by Jory John. I admit that when I first picked this book up after seeing it everywhere, I skimmed through it and went What? When I actually took the time to read it, I loved the subtle message about how everyone can change and no one should be stuck being a “bad seed.” It’s an interesting book to discuss with your kids, and the illustrations make it fun.
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen. Even though this was published 13 years ago, I just discovered it this year when a blogger posted a picture of her reading it to her daughter’s class. This sweet story is about a lion who comes to the library but gets in trouble for roaring when they’ve told him to be quiet. There’s a gentle message about how sometimes you need to break the rules to help someone (and that libraries don’t always need to be quiet).
I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll. My mom actually gave us this book years ago, and it’s been well-loved and read many times. In a fun twist, the boy in this story realizes he needs the monster who normally lives under his bed to help him go to sleep. When his monster leaves unexpectedly for the night, other monsters audition for the role — but they’re just not the same.
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin. I loved this book so much I actually used it as a theme for my kids’ fourth birthday. The dragons love tacos and eat boatloads of them (seriously — the illustrations even show this), but if they have any spicy salsa, it gives them the tummy troubles and they breathe fire. You can probably guess where this is going. I laugh every time I read this with my kids.
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. This funny book won the Caldecott medal, and it absolutely deserves it. The illustrations only include varying shades of grey, white, and orange and perfectly complement the story about a bunny being pursued by creepy carrots. My kids often ask for this one (and the companion book, Creepy Pair of Underwear, is just as good).

Have you read these? Share your favorites in the comments!

How to read 1,000 books before kindergarten

Posted on August 23, 2019 by Lindsay Books

It all began with the summer challenge from Little Mama Shirt Shop to read 100 books to your kids before Aug. 31. I have read to Henry and Norah since they were babies, but we generally read one or two books a night and weren’t really in a hurry to meet any goals. I knew this challenge would help me make reading a priority, since I intended to finish 100 books in about a month.

THEN, when I posted on Facebook inviting friends to join us on our challenge, a sweet friend asked if we were participating in our local library’s program: reading 1,000 books before kindergarten. Um, this was the first I’d heard of it — and we had less than two months to cram in more than 350 books if we were going to make it.

Here’s the thing: I couldn’t care less about sports or games, and I’m not a competitive person. When it comes to books, though, I will rise to meet the challenge. I knew it would take some planning, but I also knew we could make it.

Guess what? We CRUSHED our goal and finished our 1,000th book with almost two weeks to spare, all while juggling full-day preschool three days a week, a full-time job, and several family trips. I say this because if I can make it happen, you can make it happen!

While you probably won’t be cramming 350 picture books into 50 days like I did, you can still read a lot of books in a short amount of time — or you can start planning now, while your kids are small, to read 1,000 books before kindergarten. Either way, these tips can help:

Keep track of the books you read in an easy way

I dislike paper (more about my obsession with recycling later) and often misplace notebooks anyway, so the easiest way for me to record all the books I read to my kids was creating a Goodreads list. If you’re not familiar with Goodreads, it’s a website and app that lets you record and organize all your books. I simply added a new shelf called “hn” and added titles to it whenever we read another book. I also went through their bookshelves and added all the books we’d ever read to it.

If you prefer writing down books by hand, get a cute notebook or journal so you can keep track of them. My sister is much craftier than I am and actually made a paper journal herself, complete with pressed fiber paper, and she keeps her list there. No matter how you do it, it’s important to know which books you’ve already read. You’ll be surprised at how many you’ve already read to your kids once you start adding them up.

Use library holds to your advantage

If you don’t put holds on the books you want to read at the library, you’re doing it wrong. OK, not really, but this is an easy way to always have new reads on hand. Use your library card to log in and then search for books you’re interested in. Once you find one, place a hold, select a library close to you where you can pick it up, and repeat.

I used to put two or three books on hold and then have to go to the library several times a week to pick them up before the holds expired. While you certainly can do this, I find it’s much easier to put, say, 10 books on hold at a time. Then you can pick them all up at the same time (hopefully) and read them all before heading back again.

Make reading a habit

Most families read bedtime stories at least occasionally, but do you read consistently with your child? I actually find it hard to read books at bedtime sometimes, because my kids are wound up, I’m tired, and I can’t get them to sit still to actually listen and look at the pages. In our home, reading a few books at mealtimes works really well, especially at lunchtime. I work from home several days a week, so we can make this happen, but you could also try reading at breakfast or dinner.

No matter which time of day works for your family, be consistent. You’ll miss a day here or there or end up just putting the kids to bed without a book sometimes, but it’s much easier to achieve your goal if you read a few books every day around the same time.

Pay attention to your kids’ interests

My son is still obsessed with all tractors, trains, and fire trucks, so I try to find interesting books about these topics so he’ll want to listen. My daughter loves mermaids and unicorns, so I’m on the hunt for those books as well. I want to introduce them to lots of different books, so I get one or two books on their favorite topics and then choose the rest from authors I love or titles friends or bloggers have recommended.

Ultimately, you want to have a good mixture of books that meet your kids’ interests and stretch them to try something else they might like. This keeps things fresh and doesn’t make reading together a chore.

Remember the real reason you’re reading

It’s awesome to tell friends you read 1,000 books to your kids before kindergarten or even 100 books in a month — but the real reason I read to my kids is that it has massive benefits for them. Reading aloud helps your child develop their vocabulary and concentration and critical thinking skills. It also helps them speak and read better themselves and helps to cultivate a love of learning.

Reading aloud has connected me better to my kids and helped us have important conversations about a lot of different topics, including kindness, empathy, embracing differences, and being yourself. If you need a motivator to keep reading to your kids, pick one of those benefits (or the many other reasons reading is so important). It’ll help you achieve your goal and keep reading long after you achieve it.

Have you done a reading challenge like this before, alone or with your family? Share your experiences with me!

Books

Lindsay

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