Finding the best books for children

Are you a parent that wants to encourage your children to read? Good, because it is a proven fact reading with your child is one of the best ways to help prepare your child for success in school and later life.   
 
But how do you pick the best books to read with your children?
 
I just returned from the American Library Association annual conference in Washington, D.C., where I went to a program by my friend and colleague Oralia Garza de Cortés.  Oralia is an expert on books for children of all cultures and backgrounds. She suggested a number of great websites that help parents and teachers learn about the best books for children or, in some cases, actually read the books online. Here are a few sites she suggested that you might like to check out:
 
Africana Awards. http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/awards.html
Promoting books that portray a realistic portrait of life in Africa, this site features beautiful award winning books for young children and older readers.
 
Américas Book Award for Chidlren’s and Young Adult Literature
http://www4.uwm.edu/clacs/aa/index.cfm
Awarded annually by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, this award honors authors whose work authentically represents life in Latin America and the Caribbean.
 
Coretta Scott King Award. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/emiert/cskbookawards/recipients.cfm
For forty years, the Coretta Scott King Award has been presented by the American Library Association to excellent books for children featuring the African American experience. This site features the 2010 winners as well as previous years.
 
International Children’s Digital Library. http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
This very cool site contains books in many languages from around the world in full text with pictures. You and your child can spend many hours exploring the books available—you can search by age level, language, even the color of the cover!
 
Jane Addams Peace Association. http://www.janeaddamspeace.org/jacba/2010ceremony.shtml
This old and venerable social justice organization creates an annual award for children and those books are highlighted here for this year and all previous years back to 1953.
 
Pura Belpré Award. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal/index.cfm
The Pura Belpré Award—named after a groundbreaking children’s librarian at the New York Public Library—is awarded annually to authors and illustrators of outstanding Latino books for children “whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”
 
Tomás Rivera Award.  http://www.riverabookaward.info/
Named after the late Tomás Rivera—the former chancellor of UC Riverside—the Rivera Award honors books about books depicting the Mexican American experience.
 
United States Board on Books for Young People. http://www.usbby.org/
The USBBY site contains lots of recommendations for really good books for kids as well as information on the children’s publishing business (for those that are interested) and other related topics.
 
World of Words. http://wowlit.org/
From the University of Arizona comes World of Words: International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature. This site features dozens of book recommendations and many other resources for parents, teachers, and others interested in good children’s books. 
 
You will find most of these books in our libraries.  Enjoy—and thank you for promoting the love of reading with your child.