Selection Tools

Selection Tools	Description	Compare	Contrast
Age Appropriateness	All children do not reach developmental landmarks at the same age. Everyone working with children must understand child development. Selecting books that will match the developmental needs of the children in specific age ranges. For this assignment we are focusing on 0-4 years of age.  We also have to take the above into consideration as some children can begin to read on a higher level at a young age. Thus we must provide books for these children as well.	Books with subjects and words appropriate for the child’s age provide a strong need to read more books.	Stories that are above the child’s level will cause them to lose interest and become discouraged with the reading process.
Illustrations	Must be age appropriate, to catch the attention of the child. Color plays a large role in the illustrations as colors keeps the child interested in what is happening in the story.  Pictures that portray the story help to allow the child to envision the story in their own minds and allow for the development of envisioning stories read from Chapter books as the grow.	Illustrations appropriate for the child’s age allow the child to envision the story and compare to pictures to their own world. Increasing their imagination.	Non-existent pictures or dull coloring will not capture the young child’s attention, thus their mind will not stay focused.
Vocabulary/words	Wording must also be age appropriate for the young learner/reader.  They should be words that they can connect to their daily lives as well as introduce some new words.  Young children can absorb a certain number of words per day which increases at they develop with exposure to books.	Age appropriate words should be familiar to the young child. The familiarity allows them to attempt to determine what the new words may be in relation to the known words.	Reading lots of larger unfamiliar words can’t be processed in the young child’s mind. Causing them to shut down the listening/learning process.
Organization	Material should be arranged in certain order to match what a child already knows from real life. Nonfiction should be in a logical sequence, such as enumeration and chronological order.	Organization in children’s books will provide the young reader to compare; what they know with the new readings. This provides a structure that allows for greater understanding.	Any book that does not have a structured order will cause confusion to the young child. He or she must process the new information with what they already know. This confusion will break down the learning process.
Writing Style	Writing style brings the story to life. A clear writing style sparks the imagination and opens the child to the information in both fiction and nonfiction stories.	Stories for young children must provide challenge as these learning opportunities must support their intellectual, social and personal development. This can be accomplished by the writer’s clear prose.	Unclear prose again will cause confusion and inhibit the learning opportunities.

Information regarding selection tools came from the following:

Horning, K. T. (2010). From Cover to Cover (revised ed.): Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books. New York: HarperCollins.

Peck, P. (2009). Crash Course in Storytime Fundamentals. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.