It’s not always easy to know if a book will be a good fit for your kids. This is especially so when you order books unseen, be it an online purchase or even just an inter-library loan for an upcoming lesson. I often receive book lists, or links to online lists, from other homeschoolers. It’s great to have a selection of books to choose from!

But what about if you’re just looking for a book your child can read independently? Something that will have a subject that interests him, and that will be at the right reading level? You can try the Sylvan Book Finder!

This interface asks for your child’s grade level and preferred reading level (my grade level, easier, more challenging or any grade level.) It then offers the choice of fiction or non-fiction, and up to five subject areas or genres. Once everything is selected it will spit out a list of suggested books, with a grade level rating for each. Most books have a one-sentence summary, as well.

It’s not as good as a full book review, but I did like that the grade level is given. And it’s easier to get a manageable list here, than by going through one of the big box book vendors, or a search engine. I would suggest using this resource in conjunction with your favourite vendor’s site. This way you can get a better summary, reader reviews & ratings, find books by the same author or related books, etc. And most times, there’s a bit more of a description (number of pages, illustrations, sometimes even sample pages to view.)

Another cool thing on this site was a “5 Finger Test” to determine if a book is at the right reading level for your child. It’s pretty easy: have him open the book up & select a random page somewhere in the middle, then ask him to read the page. Every time your child comes to a word he doesn’t know or cannot pronounce, have him put up a finger. Up to two fingers by the end of the page means he shouldn’t have too much difficulty with the book. Three or more indicates a challenging book. Five fingers is a sign that it’s best to choose another book.

Also, even if very few fingers go up, look at comprehension & ease of reading. If your child reads much slower than normal or is spending a lot of time decoding the words, he isn’t going to retain too much of its meaning. Books that are interesting to your kids but too difficult in terms of reading skills could be done as read-alouds! If you’re using a lot of living books in your homeschooling you may find that a large number of books you’ve selected are good for sharing this way, but are too challenging for your kids to read independently.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a
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