Episode 410: Kids Books, From Kids!

graphic of Episode 410 Kid's Books from Kids

Hello! Thank you for joining us on Reading With Libraries! We’re so glad you could be here to enjoy our book group podcast.

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we support libraries of all types: schools, publics, academics, and special libraries and archives. We started this podcast to provide useful information for library people doing Reader’s Advisory work. There are so many books out there that it’s tough to be an expert on all of them. So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar genre!

This week we are discussing kids books, and are joined by some real kids to chat about their favorites! Welcome! 

If you are interested in learning more about children’s literature, listen to Episode 201 on Picture Books and Episode 110 for a general overview of young reader and YA books. Visit cmle.org to listen!

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. Each of our beverages will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself. 

The grown-ups on this episode are having some of these more time-intensive drinks, while the kids are enjoying Capri Sun and juice boxes!

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon lemon liquid stevia
  • 1/2 cup Swerve sweetener
  • 1/2 cup strawberries
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cups ice
  • Add lemon juice, water, liquid stevia and Swerve to your high powdered blender.
  • Remove stem of strawberries and wash them then add to the blender.
  • Give the blender a quick whir then add ice.
  • Continue to blend until ice is thoroughly incorporated and lemonade is thick and slushy.
  • https://www.thespruceeats.com/no-sugar-added-frozen-strawberry-lemonade-3151582

Mango Julius Mocktail

Sparkling Citrus Punch

  • 1 can (12 ounces) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • 1 can (12 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional
  • 8 cups cold water
  • 2 liters lemon-lime soda, chilled
  • In two large pitchers or a large punch bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Gently stir in soda. Serve in chilled glasses.
  • https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sparkling-citrus-punch/

Genre Discussion:

Letting kids choose their own reading materials can be an important way to increase literacy and encourage a love of reading!

This article from Scholastic explains, “Children are driven to learn language and literacy not for its own sake but for its function in their lives. 

Engaging children in in-depth investigations of real topics-explorations that evolve from their interests-creates an exciting springboard for literacy learning. 

Finding out how something works or how to care for a favorite pet – concrete activities based on what children really want to know about.

We’ll share this blog post from Classroom Tested Resources about ways to encourage self-selected reading, like using book commercials and the 40 book challenge!

Suggested Reading Resources:

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us for this discussion about books for kids! 

And a round of applause for our guests who shared their favorite books with us, thank you so much for being here!

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! 

And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries, subscribe to our podcast Linking Our Libraries. Listen to Episode 506 where we discuss Children’s Services.

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!