This week we visit with Kristin Wynalda who has an amazing website/blog sharing all kinds of tips about books for our kids and families called “Big Books, Little Ears.” She shares great information with us about navigating the public library and finding out about books for our kids.
Our Guest: Kristin Wynalda
Kristin Wynalda likes Agatha Christie mysteries, chai, and her job as a mom of four. She reviews children’s books at bigbookslittleears.com. She is known for reviews of secular books through a Christian lens, theology deep-dives of Christian picture books, and curated lists of the best books on the faith market. Kristin believes that YOU are the best person to choose books for your family, and she will equip you to do that!
Books Discussed in This Episode:
Transcript with Links:
Terrie:
Welcome to “Books That Spark,” a podcast for parents and caregivers, celebrating books that help us with everyday discipleship every day, sparking important conversations with our children. I am so excited to share our guest with you today, her name is Kristin Wynalda, she has her own website where she reviews books similar to the way we do on Books That Spark and she deals with chapter books, picture books, and gives a lot of great information for parents, for caregivers about reading together and using books in our lives as we’re parenting our children and discipling them. Her website is called Big Books, Little Ears, and we’ll have the link in the show notes and, so glad she’s here. Well, thank you Kristin for joining us today, I’m really excited to talk with you about this topic.
Kristin:
Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Terrie:
Well, I know you’ve done a talk on navigating the public library and we all, as parents and caregivers, need to know what we’re doing when we go into the library. What do you think parents need to know or do first when they’re getting ready to go visit the library and find some books?
Kristin:
So the first thing that I think all parents, totally independent of if they agree with my beliefs or don’t agree with my beliefs, is they need to keep in mind that the library is for everybody. So all of us are going to see books that are not right for our book basket at home. So the best person to choose books for your book basket at home at the library is you, and I think that using a couple tips and tricks and things to look for will help you navigate and stay away from books that aren’t quite right for your family, and pick out the ones that are right, because even though right now the library can seem a little bit scary, especially if you’re on social media and hearing some things that might be happening at different libraries, but it doesn’t have to be that way because even though the library is for everybody, that means it’s for us too, and there will be thousands of books that are right for your family.
Terrie:
Well, can parents request if they know of a certain book they would like to read, can they request a library, get those books?
Kristin:
For sure. Our library system where we are at, every library card holder of course can request books from the other libraries in the system and they’ll send them to our library, and then if no one in the system owns it, every library card holder can request that the library purchase up to three books a month, so that’s a lot of books.
Terrie:
Oh wow. Yeah, that’s great. I didn’t realize that it was that many, that’s cool.
Kristin:
Yeah, sometimes our library will tell me no, like they’ll email me back and be like, “That’s a bit much. We’re not gonna buy that for you.” Or sometimes they’ll email back and be like, “We’ll buy the e version of that book, but we won’t buy the hard copy.” So sometimes they’ll say no, but yeah, a lot of times they will purchase the books.
Terrie:
That’s awesome. Okay. You also suggest that we read reviews of the books before we buy them or check them out. Where are the best places to find reliable reviews?
Kristin:
So my personal favorite place to find reviews of books is Amazon. I think Amazon, just because of the fact that there are so many users, you can find out what is in a book really easily, especially if you look at a couple five star reviews and a couple one star reviews. Those one star review moms, they will tell you what’s up. They’ll be like, “On page 72, this happened.” So if you’re looking for just a really easy way, that’s a great place to go. And of course I actually have a book review website, so I also encourage people to go to Big Books, Little Ears, which is where I review books.
Terrie:
Yes, and it’s very good. I will have the link to that in the show notes so they will be able to find that easily. Also, there’s Goodreads. I like Goodreads because a lot of the parents will put a list of books like, “Okay, if you’re wanting books about this topic, check these out.” And then you can read the reviews about the books and see which ones fit with your goals as well.
Kristin:
Yeah, I think Goodreads is great, especially for the list feature, like you mentioned it’s really good. Sometimes people will give a book a glowing review, but not mention the content that’s in it.
Terrie:
True, yeah.
Kristin:
That’s always a thing, but yeah, the list feature is great, especially if you have a child who is a voracious reader and it’s hard to keep up. You can try to find a list of books like a book that you knew they liked and was clean, so that’s a great feature of Goodreads.
Terrie:
Well, one of the things I want to encourage our listeners to do as well is to please write reviews. I know I try to find time each week or as often as I can, just even five, ten minutes to review the books you’ve been reading because the other parents are looking for the same thing, they want to know what you thought of the book so that they know if they want to buy it or to borrow it. So please take the time, even if it’s just five minutes a week to review a book on Amazon or Goodreads or both, it’d be really helpful. Okay, you have several terms that you say everyone should be aware of. Can we go through those and just talk about what they mean and why they’re important?
Kristin:
Absolutely.
Terrie:
Okay. So the first one is ‘graphic novel.’
Kristin:
So a graphic novel is just the fancy word for what you might know of as a comic book. It’s a novel that’s written in picture form and the word graphic could throw you off a little bit, right? Like you might tell grandma, “Oh my kids love graphic novels,” and grandma’s like, “Why you giving them graphic novels? So yeah, that’s just a book written in picture form and there are good ones that will line up with what you’re looking for for your family. And then there are some like all books that might not be quite right for your family.
Terrie:
Okay. And ‘trope,’
Kristin:
A trope is like an overarching theme or plot point that is known well and used in lots and lots of different types of books. So for example, like Friends to Lovers would be a trope. You see it in especially like young adult books or romance novels, so things like that are Tropes.
Terrie:
Okay. And ‘YA Lit’
Kristin:
YA stands for young adult. However, the most important thing to know about young adult literature is that it is a genre of literature and it is not a reading level. So YA literature encompasses the genre of literature which is written they say for like the 12 to 18 year age group, but the whole point of that form of literature is that the conflict or the problem or the adventure in the book is an emotional problem. It’s not like you’re going out and fighting dragons in YA Lit, you will be dealing with an eating disorder or something like that. Like I mentioned, it is not a reading level, so even though a book may be shelved in the YA section that says nothing about its vocab level, its story structure, that type of thing, and most of them are actually written at quite a young reading level, like around sixth to eighth grade reading level, so just because your child is now 12 doesn’t mean they should go crazy in the YA section because it might not even be stretching them for their reading level, and it also has all of those emotional conflicts versus the physical conflicts.
Terrie:
Yeah, that’s the best description I’ve ever heard of YA Lit. I love it. My students, they always complain because they want to read a novel that’s not a romance that’s not dealing with the teenage angst, and most of the ones they get in YA are dealing with all of that, and like one of my students is like, “I just don’t want romance, can I have a mystery or something else?” And so I had to direct her to a whole different type of genre of novels, talking about Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark and some of those writers, cause she wanted something different because every YA she picked up was dealing with those emotions that she just didn’t want to read about that all the time. So that’s really good, I love that. Okay. ‘Own Voices.’
Kristin:
So Own Voices is normally used in social media or marketing to show that a book that has a main character with a unique feature that the author of that book shares that unique feature. So a lot of times that could be things like they’re minorities, like racially minorities or they have a disability and whatever it is that the main character has, the author has. So they use that in marketing. It’s really only used for minority groups, like if I wrote a novel about a Caucasian soccer mom, I couldn’t be like “#OwnVoices.” That doesn’t work.
Terrie:
Okay. And ‘White Cued’ now this one I’ve never heard of.
Kristin:
Sure. So white cued is a term that’s used when in a novel there is, on the cover, no picture of the main characters, and then also in the novel they never really say what their ethnicity is, however, they act in ways that people would say, “Oh this is stereotypically [this ethnicity].” So you can say white cued, or sometimes people will be like Hispanic cued or something like that, and it’s just saying that this is the way that this character acts. It’s mainly used in reviewers, especially reviewers who are trying to find books that would be for kids who would be in minorities, so then they would be like, “Oh hey just fyi, this one is white cued.” Meaning they don’t say who the character is, but we’re kind of assuming they’re Caucasian.
Terrie:
Okay. And ‘Intersectionally Diverse.’
Kristin:
Intersectionally diverse means that the main character has multiple things which would put them in the minority or make them a diverse character. So for example, they could be Asian living in America and also have autism, that would be two different things that together make the character intersectionally diverse. Having a book be marketed as it has an intersectionally diverse character, it doesn’t automatically mean that it wouldn’t be right for your book basket, but it is something to keep in mind because currently when people use that term, a lot of times they’re referring to the gender identity or the romantic relationships in the book, that it is a character that could be in the minority.
Terrie:
Okay. And then ‘Open Door’ and ‘Closed Door’ romance. What are those two?
Kristin:
So if a book is labeled as an open door romance, that means that it’s a romance novel either in YA or in the grownup romance section that the physical relationship scenes, the door is wide open and they describe everything, and then if a book is described as a closed door romance, that means that the door is closed during physical scenes. So it would be something like they were in front of the fireplace all night but nobody got any sleep. Right? So the door is closed. It’s not like they described everything but you understand what happened.
Terrie:
Interesting. Okay, and then ‘clean.’
Kristin:
So the word clean, if you see a book marketed as clean or the author calls it clean or it’s in a clean section, like if there’s a display at the library or a blogger has a list of clean books, clean means absolutely nothing. What is clean to one person is not clean to another person, and everybody’s line of what clean means is totally different. So it means nothing, ignore it. You still have to check the book out for yourself, because who knows what clean means to that person who’s labeled it as clean.
Terrie:
Okay, very good to know. Where and how can we preview books? Well, okay, two questions. Where and how can we preview books? Just the library or are there other ways? And then my second question is how can we preview so many books to keep up with our kids who are reading like crazy?
Kristin:
Good questions. So of course the library is a great place to preview or bookstores, they do actually still have physical bookstores that you could go to, and preview there. I’ve also found that especially picture books, there are a lot of read alouds on YouTube, which is not quite always copyright appropriate, so I don’t try to share those on social media or anything like that, but if you wanted to preview a picture book and couldn’t find it somewhere else, you could always look on YouTube. As far as how to preview, so, if you’re previewing a chapter book, which I think you definitely should preview chapter books before you just hand them over to your children, my recommendation is to read the first couple pages really reading for tone. How do the characters talk to each other? How do they talk to their parents? What kinds of words are used? Are you okay with those words? Then go ahead and flip through the book reading here and there, letting your eyes skim over some pages, looking for words of things that might not be okay in your family, or if you have a sensitive child who’s sensitive to certain topics, looking for those types of words, and then read the whole last chapter because if you read the last chapter, you’ll get a real sense for how the author brings everything together. Does good win over evil, or does evil win in the end? Sin or bad actions? What were the consequences of those? So the last chapter will give you a real sense of the overall message of the book.
Terrie:
I love that. Yes, really good advice. And you have a rating system for being able to discern what books might be appropriate. So the R stands for Representative, what does that mean?
Kristin:
So this can be for either in your family or also for if you’re helping like, a church pick books or things like that. We are looking for books that represent what our children look like and how they act and how they feel, but then also show other children and a variety of different types of people, especially if your family has children who all look a little different, like different skin tones or if you’re working for church and there is a wide variety of kids in the class. I always recommend looking for books where the main characters are animals because then everybody’s represented.
Terrie:
Oh, that’s good. Okay, and then the A is ‘Accessible.’
Kristin:
Accessible just means that it’s easily understood and it’s at the right level for understanding for your kids. This can be different for different families, like if you have a precocious reader, it might be that the vocab level is accessible, but the theme and the complex relationships isn’t accessible in that book. So that might not be a great choice for them.
Terrie:
That’s good. Okay, and then my favorite, ‘Theologically Sound.’
Kristin:
Sure. So this will of course look different for different people in different situations, but yes, I think overall you’re looking for books that are theologically sound, especially in the picture book section. I feel really strongly about this because the kids aren’t yet able to tease out the idea of ‘overall this is a great book even though we don’t agree with like, this one particular thing.’ So we are looking for books that are theologically sound or that we can easily edit because I definitely do that too. If there’s a great picture book that has just like one phrase or two phrases that I’m like, “Uuugh, that’s not quite what our family believes.” You take a little bit of packing tape and a really nice sharpie, like one of the fine tip sharpies and write on a piece of card stock what your family agrees with and just tape it in the book, nobody’ll ever know.
Terrie:
That’s great. Okay, and then the E is ‘Engaging.’.
Kristin:
So of course we are looking for books that are exciting and that our kids enjoy, and I think that also if you’re thinking about reading aloud or doing audio books as a family, also pick things that you as the parent actually enjoy, because if you don’t enjoy it and you are not engaged, you’re never going to be like, “Oh let’s do our family reading of this boring book!” So yes, definitely looking for engaging books and exciting books, and also you can start a book and then not finish it as a family because we started Boxen by C.S. Lewis. Have you read Boxen?
Terrie:
I have not.
Kristin:
Okay. So I saw Boxen on the shelf and I did not preview it, and I should have, and I started it and it was a play, it is a play written in novel form and I like staged directions and everything and I had like a five year old and a three-year-old and I was like, this is not engaging, so we stopped, we didn’t finish.
Terrie:
I had that happen. I was teaching in a Christian school and I had tried to keep up, they wanted me to have books that went along with the history class, which I love that because I was teaching both history and English in a very small Christian school, and I had read all the reviews, I had previewed the book, read part of it, skimmed part of it and chose this one book and introduced it to my middle schoolers and about, I don’t know, a third of the way through, totally inappropriate information and totally boring, oh my goodness. It was so boring and it was written in such an older way of saying things that I knew most of my students didn’t understand what they were reading, but I thought if their parents pick up this book and read this chapter, they’re going to fire me. So I thought my students will never know they’re reading something inappropriate, but the parents will, and I thought, “I am in so much trouble.” So I went to my principal and I said, I tried previewing the whole book, I did not have time to finish reading it. I made a mistake, we’re stopping this book. So I didn’t have em read the rest, we just talked about what the book was about because it was about the spice trade and the spice wars, whatever you wanna call it, when they thought that nutmeg could cure the plague, and so the Dutch and the English were fighting to get to the islands and get the nutmeg, and it’s a very interesting book as far as history, but it is not interesting as in engaging. Oh my goodness.
Kristin:
So, it sounds like, nor was it theologically sound?
Terrie:
Well it was kind of interesting because the inappropriateness was actually condemned by the ship’s captains.
Kristin:
Well there you go, so it was.
Terrie:
There was a lot of them calling their sailors to be good Christians and to act right and to not be doing the things they were doing, and so they were reprimanded and this is in all of the logs from the captains, these were actual logs from the captains, so it was really kind of cool in that way. My husband enjoyed it cause he loves history and sailing and all of that, but for middle schoolers, no it was not a good match.
Kristin:
I think that’s a good point though, especially if your child is super into YA, that YA can be okay even though it has some of the things like that, some inappropriate stuff, especially if you find YA that then has consequences for those actions.
Terrie:
Yeah. I do have a couple more questions for you. Do you have some recommendations for maybe one or two titles of chapter books that even a Christian family would enjoy, even though the book may not be Christian? And do you have one or two titles that would be in the Christian market that families could enjoy with their middle schoolers?
Kristin:
Yeah, for sure. So we in our family loved the Green Ember series, which is written by a Christian, [S.D. Smith] but the books themselves are not Christian, so that is a great option, those feel super popular. So if you are listening and you have already read those or your children have already read those, which they probably have, you should also check out the Mistmantle Chronicles by M. I. McAllister, it’s sort of that same vibe, like on the cover are squirrels with swords. So instead of bunnies it’s squirrels, but they’re a little bit older series, but same sort of idea animals, but very like adventure fighting type series. So that could be a really good option for families that liked the Green Ember, check out the Mistmantle Chronicles. So those would both be secular sort of sticking with that same vibe for the Christian ones. In our family right now, we are obsessed with the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. It can get just a tad bit dark, like people do die fyi, but my six year old has been totally fine listening to it, so it doesn’t get gory or anything like that, but it is a great Christian series that is wonderful as a read aloud for families. The other read aloud that we’ve enjoyed that would be a little bit different would be The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins by Karen Kaufman, that is about little mice and that is also Christian, the mice are Christians. So that is a great option also, but that is also a really great family quieter sweet series.
Terrie:
Oh, that’s awesome, thank you. All right, well Kristin, thank you so much, you’ve given us so much good information. I love this. And I don’t often talk about chapter books even though in my book club each month we include a chapter book for the older children or for the parents or both, and that is part of my newsletter each month. And do you have a monthly book club on your website?
Kristin:
So I have a newsletter that goes out as my four children allow me to write it.
Terrie:
Okay, I do understand that.
Kristin:
But yeah, a lot of information, especially around the holidays, I definitely focus on holiday books and also like gift lists, what to purchase your children.
Terrie:
Oh, that’s wonderful, good. Okay, in the holidays I do two calendars, one for Thanksgiving and one for Advent books to read, so I have an advent calendar with a book a day and I have a leading into Thanksgiving gratitude books per day for the month of November, so I do that every year, so… Okay, well, this has been great. Thank you so much and I appreciate you taking the time to share with us today.
Kristin:
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Terrie:
Thank you for joining us for “Books That Spark,” where we encourage each other to live out everyday discipleship, helping to equip our children to follow Christ with their whole hearts. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and share on social media so people know we’re here and can find us more easily, we really appreciate that. If you would like to comment or ask a question about this episode, you can do that on my website and that is TerrieHellardBrown.com. You can also join my mailing list there, and with my mailing list you get all kinds of free items, your first 100 books for your child’s library and some table talk topics that are a lot of fun, and even some phoning books that you could download. You are also encouraged in your own walk with God through some special emails I send just to those people on my mailing list along with our monthly newsletter, so feel free to sign up and you can also unsubscribe at any time if it’s not for you, but give it a try and see what you think. As far as Kristin, she also has a mailing list. She has some great emails, great information that she sends out, I highly recommend you join her mailing list on her website, Big Books, Little Ears. If you have a question for her, you can ask that on our podcast show notes as well. We pray you feel empowered as a parent or caregiver to walk by faith and to embrace everyday discipleship every day with the children in your life.
Your Host: Terrie Hellard-Brown
Terrie Hellard-Brown writes and speaks to help children and adults find God’s purpose and plan for their lives. She teaches workshops and writes devotional books, children’s stories, and Christian education materials.
Her podcast, Books that Spark, reviews children’s books that spark imagination, emotion, questions, and discussion leading to teachable moments with our kids. Her podcast posts each Tuesday morning.
Her blog posts discuss living as a disciple of Christ while parenting our children. She challenges us to step out of our comfort zones to walk by faith in obedience to Christ and to use the nooks and crannies of our lives to disciple our children.
Terrie uses her experiences as a mother of four (three on “the spectrum”), 37 years in ministry (15 in Taiwan), and 32 years teaching to speak to the hearts of readers.
Her motto is “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be WONDERFUL” and keeps her childlike joy by writing children’s stories, delighting over pink dolphins, and frequently laughing till it hurts.
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