When Anne and I led a panel session on the Cybils at the 1st Annual Kidslitosphere Conference this weekend in Chicago, one theme in particular kept popping up during discussions: How do we decide if a book is child-friendly or not?
This is an important question for the ninety panelists and judges evaluating the hundreds of children’s and YA books nominated this year. One of our main goals is to find quality books children will love. In other words, we’re looking for well written, intelligent, and kid-friendly titles.
But how do we–a group of 88 adults and 2 teens–decide what is child friendly? What are our criteria? Will we know child-friendly when we see it?
Tell us what you think. How does an adult reader recognize a child-friendly book? What are your tell-tale signs of a fun and compelling read? Feel free to answer in the comments or on your own blog. We want to hear what you have to say.
–Kelly Herold, director