My son has really missed the library. I told him to look on a website to see what books they recommend. But, he says, then he can't browse the shelves. How is he supposed to find new books?
Um..... I heard myself talking back at me.
I was feeling bad for him, so I decided to give the website system* a try. I took my son to the library and let him browse the shelves. He returned with about 20 books. With half of them it was very obvious there was no offensive content in these books (readers, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc...). With the other half I went to the library computers to get on the internet and find sites that would help me decide if these books were OK for my son.
I went to two websites. The first, Common Sense Media, didn't have one book. One book was even a Newbery Award Winner. They have detailed ratings, which are very helpful, but none of the books I was looking for were on that website.
The second website was Goodreads. This site had every book, but no specific information about the content. I read review after review. Some did say if they would let their children read that book or not, but didn't give any specific reasons. Was it because of subject matter or potentially offensive content? I left feeling I was where I started, not sure if I was taking home books with appropriate content or not.
Website System : Failed
* Those opposed to book ratings tell me that websites have all the information we need. I decided to put it to the test.
