Oprah's Reading Lists

Sorry I deserted you, my faithful readers, this past weekend. I ended up having some gallbladder issues that left me barely wanting to parent, let along blog. You can read more about it on my weight loss blog. So anyhoo...

Photo courtesy of Oprah.com



For those who are a fan of The O--Oprah, you know that she is a big proponent of reading. She created Oprah's book club to encourage us "old folks" to crack a book for pleasure. I suspect that she may continue her book club now that she's has her network OWN, however it does not appear that she has named a book since 2010. Click here for a complete listing of Oprah's book club picks, and if you're feeling crafty, you can even create a custom Oprah's book club bookmark here.

But what you might not know is that Oprah is also a proponent for getting young kids to read. And to help parents in choosing the best books for their children, she (with the help of Target and the American Library Association) has compiled book lists for kids broken down by age group. You can find those links here. 

But if your child is picky, and only wants to read books on a certain subject or within a certain category, O also has a list of books categorized by subject, and then further broken down into age groups.

I myself get a little uncomfortable "grading" books, I don't like kids to feel like they are bound by limits. I personally think that "grading" also take a little bit of the fun out of reading--it makes reading for pleasure much more like school. So if you do decide to use these lists, I strongly suggest using the age ranges as suggestions. If your child is reading above or below the books in "their range", allow them to delve outside of it. As long as they are reading, and it's fun for them, there's no reason to put constraints on the books they can read--pending age appropriateness, but I leave the judgement on what is age appropriate up to you.

But overall, what Oprah is doing is fabulous, both for the young reader, and their parent. I mean, who doesn't like having the guess work taken out? These lists will certainly assist you and your child in choosing their next book--who knows, you may find an old favorite, or discover a new one!