CREATING THE BEST LIBRARY EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR FAMILY: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS
Welcome the the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library! We appreciate that you are a parent or caregiver who is invested in your child’s learning. We can see that you care about your child because you are taking a step to understand how to navigate the library’s collection to find content that fits with your family’s interest and values.
RIGHTS & RESPONSIBLITIES
- As a parent/caregiver, you are your child’s first and best teacher. You should feel empowered to set parameters that are right for your family. It is your role to discuss with your child what is and is not appropriate for them to read, view, watch, and listen to.
As a public library, it is our responsibility to include materials in our collection to meet the needs of all the different people in our community. We strive and try our hardest to have something for everyone! With that in mind, every family is different. What is just right for some community members or families might not be for others.
This is why we encourage and empower you to set those boundaries for your family! There are some online recourses and a number of ways we can help you do that, outlined throughout this guide.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOOKS FOR OLDER KIDS AND TEENS
- Although material in the Young Adult Section is consider by librarians and the publishing industry as generally appropriate for teens between the ages of 13 and 18, this does not necessarily mean that the reading level is higher or more advanced than junior books in the children’s area. In fact, it is possible that the reading level could be higher for some books in the Junior Fiction Collection than those in the Young Adult Collection.
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What is a guarantee however, is that the content of young adult books for ages 13 to 18, is more mature content than what you’d find for 11 and 12 year old’s in the Junior Fiction Section.
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Additionally, books for older teens may contain content of a sexual nature. You would be less likely to find explicit language and definitely less likely to find sexual content in the Junior Fiction Section.
TOOLS TO HELP YOU FIND THE RIGHT BOOK
Common Sense Media
Common Sense is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.
Novelist K-8 Plus
Find just the right book by subject, age, awards won, books made into movies, and much more. Read reviews and learn about the author. Create your own reading wish list.
Plugged In- by Focus on the Family
Plugged In strives to give families the essential tools they need to understand and navigate with a goal of diving deeper into specific content. Under the books tab, you can search by genre or title. The site also includes a blog and podcast.
Ask A Librarian
We can talk with you about your family’s reading, viewing, and
listening values. This is also an opportunity for you to tell us about any subject matter you would like to avoid. This will help us identify items in our collection that specifically meet your family’s needs, interests, and standards.
School Library Journal Reviews+
School Library Journal is the premiere publication for librarians and information specialists who work with children and teens. A source of quality journalism and reviews for 70 years, SLJ produces award-winning features and news coverage on: literacy, best practices, technology, education policy and other issues of interest to the school library and greater educator community. We evaluate a broad range of resources, from books and digital content to databases, in 6000+ reviews published annually.
Compass Book Ratings
Compass Book Ratings’s mission is to give readers the ability to find the right book for them based on age, genre, starred literary reviews and especially by content. The site has developed its own standardized rating system for books, which they describe in the methodology section.