Our children’s areas are packed with a diverse crowd of options to inspire kids (and grownups) of all ages! Here’s a breakdown of some of the different categories of materials you can find, along with the reasons they get their own special spot on our shelves:
- Board Books
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- The training wheels of readership. They are often the first independent experience our smallest library users have with reading. Unlike the rest of our library-land, these books are not organized by author, since our target browsers often don’t know their alphabet quite yet. This also means that they can be tricky to find if you’re looking for one specific book, but we will forgive that since they’re charming and cute, just like the kids who read them.
- Readers
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- These little guys are easy to hold in little hands and provide gratification and traction to kids who are new to reading. They are leveled so grownups and caregivers can help kids make choices that match or enhance the confidence and skills of their little ones. The levels match sticker dots on their spine and range from easiest to hardest as follows: Blue – Phonic Readers (simple, repetition, rhyming), Red – Pre-Emergent Readers (one sentence per page, include the most common short words, more rhyming), Yellow – Emergent Readers (stories are more detailed, vocabulary is wider), and Green – Fluent Readers (some pages have text only, more advanced concepts and vocabulary).
- Picture Books
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- Ideal candidates for bedtime stories, lap time, read alouds, and rereading! This section of books is home to bouncy rhymes, seek-and-finds, poetry, beautiful artwork, and conversation-starters. The interest level of these books typically spans from our youngest patrons to upper elementary school, and it is quite common for them to be used as teaching tools or entertainment.
- Junior Fiction
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- These books are often the ones that solidify kids’ identities as lifelong readers. Junior fiction means chapter books, series, and novels. It means getting lost in a story or a new world for the first time.
- Junior Comics
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- This growing collection of graphic novels has a lot going on! Believe it or not, this section contains more than Dog Man (*gasp!*). You can find tall tales, memoirs, superhero stories, graphic adaptations of novels, and oodles of series to capture the attention of young readers.
- Nonfiction
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- Ah yes, nonfiction. A little something for everyone. It seems straightforward, yet in the children’s section it incorporates many of the other formats you’ve been reading about, like readers, picture books, chapter books, and graphic novels! Of course, all of them are firmly rooted on the informational side of reading, but the narrative, storytelling style is still welcome here.
- Discovery Packs
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- These exceedingly popular themed bags hold several books, typically in picture book format, and are available at BOTH locations (unless, of course... they’re checked out). Funny books, singable books, bilingual books, books to help with conversations... These categories are customized by staff here at HDL, and we welcome any new suggestions you might have!
- Audio Enabled
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- Our growing audio enabled section contains English and Spanish picture books, nonfiction, and chapter books. These accessibility-boosting books have a special device inside the cover that allows users to listen to the book while they turn the pages, either through a speaker or through plugged in headphones. They’re superb options for car rides, English language learners, caregivers who just need... a few minutes... please... just a few minutes..., and kids who are just beginning to gain confidence in their independent reading.
