Where can I get customised recommendations for children's books?

Finding the right books for a child can sometimes be a challenge. And not just because we're trying to find books suitable for him or her at their age. But also because we want to make sure that the book would be something that he or she enjoys. Maybe there's a particular theme or type of books they're fascinated with (Disney princesses anyone?) or there's a specific kind of storyline or plot that really engages them. Whichever the case, with the selection of books available in bookstores, libraries and online, it can be mind-boggling for a parent.

Fear not! As with all things today, technology often has a solution for us. Goodreads, is a social reading site that has just the answer you'll need. The site's core purpose is to help book lovers recommend and share their favourite reads with others like themselves. Not only are you bound to find a review for any book you're interested in, you'll also be able to receive customised recommendations for books that you might enjoy based on your ratings of other books you have read. 

Now, you must be wondering to yourself, how does that help me? I don't want recommendations for the paranormal romance novels that I'm into at the moment (although we're sure you'll be happy to know that you could find recommendations for the paranormal romance novels you're into at the moment on the site as well). I'm looking for recommendations for my 5-year-old Sarah or my 3-year-old Aaron. 

The answer is simple. Instead of setting up an account for yourself, create an account for each of your children. Then select a specific genre, in this case "Children's" for them. The first thing you'll be prompted to do, is to start by rating the books that Sarah or Aaron have already read. The key is of course, to rate the books that they like. The more ratings you provide, the easier it would be for goodreads to provide you with a list of recommendations that might fit their tastes. 

And to help goodreads refine their recommendations further, you can choose to remove recommended books from the list by simply clicking "Not Interested". The overall logic is simple, the more information you can provide to goodreads based on the books that Sarah or Aaron have already read, the better goodreads will become in predicting what other books they might also enjoy. 

To top it all off, since goodreads is a social reading site to begin with, you can get your friends and family to join in the fun as well! Once you're connected to them on goodreads, you'll also be able to find the books that they (or their children) have rated or recommended. So what are you waiting for? Go knock yourselves out!