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If you don’t understand the life of a book reviewer, the title might leave you wondering, “What else would you do?” Well, as a book reviewer, I am offered more “free” books — advanced copies for review — than I could ever read. There are books that sound interesting, but in order to honor the people sending it out, if I can’t get to it within a reasonable time after it publishes, I won’t accept it, so I certainly am careful about books I pay to bring into my house.
I still love books, and I still visit bookstores, especially on vacation. The books I buy tend to be for my kids, though we do review books together as well. Â But while browsing my Facebook feed this weekend, I realized that a book sequel that Kyle and I had been waiting for had been released, so I hopped over to amazon and ordered right away.
One year ago, I wrote about Story Thieves in a post here Book Series Your Child Will Love. Sequels have come out for two of the four books, so if you didn’t check out the series then, look at them now:
At the bottom of the page, amazon made a recommendation. I think that the algorithm they use to suggest books is pretty good. Lo and behold, a sequel to a book we both loved was mentioned after I added that one to my cart. When I saw Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, I was floored.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (linked to my review) was a favorite of mine and my son’s. I didn’t even know that a second book was in the works, and I certainly didn’t know that it had been out 3 weeks!
So now we have two books on the way, books that I’ll have to fight my 11-year-old son over once they get here. Actually, it’s no fight. He can read the one he wants to first, and then we will switch.
How do you decide if a book is good enough to buy?
Pat Schwab says
When my kids were growing up we borrowed books from the library all the time. If there was a book they wanted me to read over and over and we borrowed a lot then they went on my list for Christmas or birthdays. We also bought books at our school book fair. Of course, Dr. Seuss books are always fun for the parent and child.