Tips for finding age appropriate books for kids: Video

Just because a book is on the shelf in the children's section of the library or bookstore doesn't mean it's suitable for the kid in your life. It's like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Some books are too young, some are too old and then there are the ones that are just right.

Parents, guardians, aunts and uncles don't have time to read every book on the shelf while trying to pick something for the young reader in their life, so here are some simple ways to determine if a book is suitable for that child.

Watch this video for tips on finding age-appropriate books for kids.

Common Sense Media 

Start with Common Sense Media. It's a nonprofit organization prioritizing kids' safety in the digital age. Its website lets you browse a variety of media your kids will be exposed to, including books, social media, games and movies. It gives you age ratings and content reviews.

There are a few different ways to search. You can put in the child's age and content limits for recommendations, browse its curated list of book suggestions or search specific titles.

The lists it populates will show you the ages it recommends, as well as each title's star rating out of five.Clicking into the title will give you even more information, including a blurb about what parents need to know, a breakdown of potential concerns and positive qualities about the book, and reviews from kids.

You can also find information about books on Goodreads. This website doesn't break the books down as simply as Common Sense Media, but you can get an idea of who the book is for by looking at the tags and using that as a guide.

Some books will have the "Children's & Middle Grade" tag, meaning it's probably good for a kid in the double digits or tween ages.

Goodreads also has curated lists for "Children" and "Middle Grade" that you can browse through to find the next adventure for the reader in your life. The lists can range from the books that got you hooked on reading, books with strong female leads and Best Books for Reluctant Readers.

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Age appropriate books for kids

As your kids go from kids' books to tween books, it's more likely the book might contain some potentially triggering content.

Common Sense Media's pages will indicate if the book has themes like violence, language, drinking or sex and give you an idea of how prevalent those things are in the book on a scale of 1 to 5.You can also check out the Trigger Warning Database for a list of more potential triggers in the book.  

In addition to the themes Common Sense Media highlights, the Trigger Warning Database's list also includes potentially triggering events or themes, like drugging, avalanches, poverty and more.