Simple Families

Positive Parenting + Minimalism with Kids + Family Wellness

SFP 162: Reading Aloud + Our Book Overhaul [with Emily Cook of Build Your Library]

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I recently went through and did a huge book overhaul. I got rid of all the “twaddle” in favor of prioritizing high quality, well-written children’s books. To quote today’s guest Emily Cook, “well-read children will grow into well-read adults”. In this episode, Emily and I talk about reading aloud and choosing great books for our children.

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  1. You read my mind! I have been searching for the Fairy Tale book you previewed on Instagram Stories. Thank you for linking it! I can’t wait.

  2. I’m curious as to how your kids are handling Good Omens? I personally LOVE the book but I’m not sure that my almost 5 year old can follow along to enjoy the story as well. We read a good variety of quality books, non-fiction, and then some younger/crap books because my daughter is trying to learn to read and those are the easiest for that. How are you handling the early reader life with introduction to quality books?

    • Hi Melody,

      The children I’m reading Good Omens with are teens, I don’t think I would read that with anyone younger than 12, just because it’s a lot to follow! It’s great fun though.

      There are so many great quality early readers! I highly recommend the Little Bear books, Amelia Bedelia, anything by Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad, Owl at Home, Mouse Soup), Nate the Great…early readers can be living books too. 😉

  3. Hey Denaye! Thanks for all that you do. I started following your work in January and have made so many great adjustments for myself and my family – both physical and mental! You briefly touch on birth order in this podcast, and it made me wonder if there is actual science behind child behavior and characteristics that are linked to birth order. I’d love to learn more about this. Our kids are 5,4 and 1 (girl,girl, boy) and that middle child is BY FAR our most challenging. We sympathize with her though because not only is she in the middle, she’s also a short step behind her big sister in all things. I’m curious if there are any parenting trends or suggestions that support these kids in the middle who are fighting so hard to keep up and be heard.
    Thanks!

    • I’m not all that familiar with the birth order research/theories. I’d love to know if you find anything. I know I’ve heard “Second child, born to be wild” and that old wives tale has rang true for me 🙂

  4. Wait, I’m allowed to get rid of the crappy books that I hate reading?? I don’t have to keep every awful book about Thomas the Tank Engine that is gifted to us?? MIND. BLOWN. Doing this ASAP. Thanks for the post!!!!

    Also, wondering if anyone has those Little Golden Books that are essentially recaps of movies? But bad, hard-to-follow recaps. We have Cars and Wall-E and Finding Dory and a couple other movies my kids love (all gifted by grandma, of course). I really hate these books. They are terrible. Am I really allowed to get rid of these too even though my kids love the characters and movies?? My mindset has always been, Well, they’re at least reading and not watching TV, but maybe I need to think about this differently…
    Thanks, Denaye!! Also, can’t wait to get your book, congrats!!!

    • YES and YES! I find the Little Golden Books to be some of the worst offenders. At first I thought they were innocuous because I remember the classics from my own childhood. BUT I am finding they are disguising a lot of garbage as Little Golden Books these days. We got rid of 90% of ours, just keeping a few legit classics.

  5. Hi! Do you have a list of books that you would recommend? I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old and I’m looking to enrich their library. Any books you would recommend as “must haves”?

    Thanks!

    • For fairy tales, our favorite book has been A Treasury of Children’s Literature by Armand Eisen – it’s a gorgeous collection and perfect for younger listeners. The illustrations are phenomenal.
      Another collection I’d recommend is the 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury put together by Janet Schulman. It is a great way to find new authors to explore!

      I would recommend some great authors to look for: Tomie dePaola, Jan Brett, Robert McCloskey, Beatrix Potter, Eric Carle, and Mo Willems, for a start. These are all mainly picture books.

      For longer books, I would suggest reading Roald Dahl, E.B. White, Grace Lin, and Kate DiCamillo.