I was really out of books at my house. Although I did find this cool book my aunt gave me called Pranklopedia which was all about these non-mean pranks that people have done. I’ll have to tell you about it later. But my mom suggested I write this post about going to the library since people always ask her how we find books.
- Go to a good library. This sounds silly but it’s true. The local branch near my house has like no books. It’s really hard to find anything because say you have a book series, they will only have book 2 and nothing else. In 1st grade my mom started taking me to the downtown branch and that is really great. They have multiple copies of books—it’s so cool.
- Know your authors. I find that if there is a book I’ve read, chances are I’ll like others by that author. This visit, I ended up taking a lot of books by Andrew Clement (he wrote The Landry News). In my About section you can see some good authors.
- Get a lot of books. Normally I end up checking out 20-30 books. My mom tells me to stop or I’d take more. The limit for my library is 50 books and once we almost reached it (with me, my mom and my brother). I get a lot of books because sometimes I like to read different things depending on my mood. Having a lot of books gives me choices.
- Go for a series. My mom says this isn’t fair, but I like book series. This visit I found a few books that I didn’t read yet from 39 Clues, which was really cool. Usually, if you read one book in the series the others are good too.
- Go for a winner. I don’t know if you know about the Blue Bonnet Awards. This is given to books in Texas. There are these nominated books and that means they are good too. There is a special sticker on the spine and usually the book will be pretty good.
- Authors who like each other. Have you ever seen the back of a book and there will be a quote from an author about how great this other author’s book is? You may want to look into that author since maybe he is similar to the one you like. I found Brandon Mull that way since he commented on a Rick Riordan book.
- Get recommendations. If you see someone in class reading a book, ask him or her if it’s good. Then, try to look for it yourself. Or, try one of the books I recommend!
- Bring a list. This is really important! Sometimes we forget the books after the drive and then I’m just looking around the aisle. This time my mom emailed herself the books and authors. It was so much easier.
- Ask a librarian. I sometimes am a bit nervous about asking them, so my mom and I go together. My mom used to work at a library and said people don’t use librarians enough. The thing is that the librarian doesn’t know you, so you should tell her what books you like and then she can tell you some others you will like.
- Judge a book by its cover. My mom says you are not supposed to do this, but sometimes I just walk around and look for something that seems interesting. I’ll grab it and read the back. If it seems cool, I’ll add it to the pile.
That’s it. This is how I usually pick books from the library. I already finished some so I’ll have more reviews coming soon.
What books do you choose at the library? Do you go to a cool library or one of those small ones?
Gabriel's Reads 