Choose the next book from what your child loves about this one

A favourite book gives you a starting point for the next choice, but its subject may tell only part of the story. A child who brings you a dinosaur book might want dinosaur information, the chance to repeat a noisy line, or another funny character. Each of those preferences leads to a different request at the library.

Before looking for another book, open the favourite together and notice what your child returns to. You don't need to work out a permanent reading preference. You're finding something useful to try next.

Notice what happens on the favourite page

Look at a page your child asks to revisit. Do they point to the same picture detail, wait for a particular line, ask about something shown, or want you to repeat the joke? If they're able to tell you what they like, ask. A question such as “Which bit shall we look at again?” can also give you somewhere to begin.

Keep your description close to what happened. “They want to find things in the pictures” gives you a reason to ask for another picture-search book. “They like joining in with the repeated line” points you toward a story with a similar place to join in.

The answer may have several parts. A child could enjoy both the dinosaur subject and the repeated line. You can try carrying one part into the next choice and leave the other open. That gives you a reason to compare books beyond whether their covers look similar.

Turn the preference into two different requests

Here's a hypothetical example. Suppose the favourite has dinosaur characters and a line the child likes saying with the adult. The household could browse in either of these directions:

• Keep the dinosaur subject. Ask for a dinosaur information book to share aloud, with clear labelled drawings and short passages you can read beside them. This choice lets you try finding things out about the subject.
• Keep the chance to join in. Ask for a story with an easy-to-recognize repeated line. The characters could be different animals, people or vehicles. This choice carries the reading activity into a new subject.

Those requests describe different books, so look at them separately. If the child keeps asking questions about the creatures, the first is a useful direction to try. If they mainly want to supply the familiar line, preview the second for a similar place to join in.

The same distinction works when a favourite involves searching a picture or spotting a joke. Keeping the subject might lead to another book about the same place or animal. Keeping the picture search might lead to a different subject with details to find. Name which feature you're carrying over so a librarian can help you look for it.

For actual dinosaur choices, our dinosaur books for toddlers guide separates character stories, factual requests and different ways of using the page. Use it when the subject is already settled, rather than treating every dinosaur cover as the same reading experience.

Read an ordinary page before choosing

A cover and an opening page can suggest a match. Before choosing, look at an ordinary middle spread too. For a shared read-aloud, read that part yourself and check what you'd need to explain or point out for the child to follow it.

If you're looking for repetition, see whether the line returns through the book and whether its wording stays recognizable. If you're looking for a picture search, check that the details are visible in the edition you're holding. If the request is for information, look at a page on a topic that interests the child and see how the words connect to its drawings or photographs. These checks show whether the feature you wanted is present beyond the cover.

Pay attention to the amount of help that page asks of you. You may be happy to pause over several labels when reading together at home. For a brief read during a busy outing, you might choose a page with a clearer starting point and fewer separate pieces to explain.

Tell the librarian whether you'll read aloud, share parts of the reading, or want the child to work through the words independently. An appealing subject doesn't settle that question. If you're choosing for independent practice, our first-reading guide explains the checks for the text itself. Keep that purpose clear when you ask for recommendations.

Use a mismatch to narrow the next choice

If the next book isn't wanted, look at the difference before setting it aside. Perhaps the dinosaurs still interested the child, but the spread had too many separate boxes for the session you had in mind. Your next request could keep the subject and ask for a simpler page layout. If the pictures interested them but the long narration didn't, try a book that leaves more room for looking together.

You may not know why a book was rejected. You can leave that open and offer two books with a difference the child can see: a factual spread and a character story, for example. BookTrust's shared-reading advice includes letting children choose the book. Show the alternatives, let the child pick, and keep the other available for another occasion if you want to try it later.

Take the favourite's title to the librarian, along with the feature you want to find. A suggested request might be: “We're looking for a story to read aloud about animals, with a repeated line my child can join in with. They enjoy that part of this favourite.”