How much do you "pre-read"?

[echoterry]

How much do you pre-read the books before you give them to your children? Do you read all of the books beforehand, for content and for review questions? There are some I plan on reading beforehand...

[Lindi]

I pre-read pretty much everything except math. Third child to homeschool highschool, and I'm still learning.

[Dana]

I did for the first couple of years. My son is now 10 and is an incredibly fast reader. There's no way I could keep up.

I try to be careful about what I give him for school assignments and I hope he'll be good about self-censoring if a book is too much for him.

[Five More Minutes]

I tried to pre-read, but no longer can because of sheer volume. I now rely heavily on amazon reviews and these forums to get a sense of whether books are a good fit for my dds. I save my pre-reading time for the books that reviews tell me are questionable (because of depth and/or content). I'm also looking ahead to middle school and trying to pre-read just a few that I think we may use then.

[boscopup]

I have to rely more on reviews, as my 8 year old already reads faster than I do. It is not physically possible for me to keep up with his reading.

[stripe]

I didn't preread a book my mom got my son about chess. It contained a bondage cartoon. Yikes! Luckily my son totally didn't get it.

[Staceyshoe]

My own exposure to children's lit is extremely limited, so I've been listening to audio books in the kitchen to help select chapter books. Typically, I don't pre-read most things. We are currently studying WWII with living books, and I have pre-read those because of the sensitivity of topics.

[Mom2TheTeam]

I really wish I could pre-read everything. For now, I still could and he doesn't read anything without me. But, I have 6 kids who are all 7 and under. Unfortunately, I really can't pre-read everything we read or everything my children read in the future. I don't even have time to read for myself and I enjoy reading. I've gotten pretty good about censoring as I read. But, I know it isn't going to be long before he is reading on his own. I'm just going to have to rely on reviews. But, I wish I could.

[Kathryn]

I don't. My son reads an average of a book a day. So far this week, he's read The Phantom Tollbooth and the five-book series of The Indian in the Cupboard. I don't have time for that. If it's something I want to discuss with him or I'm not sure about, I just google it.

[In the Rain]

I enjoy kid lit, but I can't keep up with my dds' reading. One is a very fast reader, and they both spend hours reading each day. For most books, I rely upon Amazon's review system. The 1 and 2 star reviews give a good indication of what will be problematic in a book. My 11yo is also good about stopping when a book seems inappropriate.

 

I read any books that will be used for discussions.

[SKL]

My dd6 has read over 300 books this school year - how many over 300 I don't know. She gets the books from children's collections. That's basically how I screen at this point. When she exhausts the thousands of interesting books in the local, school, and home libraries, I hope she is mature enough to be ready for whatever else she'll encounter. Unfortunately I can't spend that much time reading.

[echoterry]

Thank you! I want to preread a lot as I remember reading some questionable stuff as a child; mainly as I was older though. Thankfully, both my girls will be reading mostly the same stuff and I am a quick reader.

[Dana]

Thankfully, both my girls will be reading mostly the same stuff and I am a quick reader.

 

I'm fast. My son is already just about as fast. And he gets interested in some things I just don't want to spend time reading.

[MASHomeschooler]

Same as most above: I would, but I have 2 who read constantly and quickly and another who will probably be the same in a year or so, plus a very limited amount of "free" time and rarely do my own reading that I want to do. I do use online and word-of-mouth reviews, and my kids will stop a book if it is too much for them (has happened a couple times with my oldest, and she went back to it when she felt she was ready and handled it fine), as well as ask if they have any questions. They are still mostly reading things that I have read or heard a lot about, so that helps. I was also just discussing this with a friend who recommended commonsensemedia.org specifically for this purpose, but I haven't done so yet. She just told me yesterday, but it looks like it will be useful.

[ocelotmom]

I'll take a look to make sure it isn't anything blatantly problematic, mainly because the children and YA books are all mixed in together at our library, but I don't pre-read. So far, it hasn't been an issue. While DS is an avid reader, he's not all that into choosing books, and 95% of what he reads is either from a series we're already familiar with or something I choose for him. I also don't have particularly stringent standards for what I don't want them reading.

[regentrude]

I do not preread anything they read for recreational reading. (It would be doomed from the outset, since my DD is an extremely fast reader)

I try to read all the books I assign them for school.

[PachiSusan]

I try to pre-read most things.

[mliss]

I pre-skim all books (a public school education taught me how to skim content so I could get the boring worksheets done as quickly as possible). Most of my daughter's library books have been all right but there have been the occasional book with disturbing content. For instance, in Return of the Black Stallion there is a section where "the bad guy" threatens to pull Alex's arms off. I knew my daughter would be disturbed by the details so I marked the pages for her to skip.

 

Now if my daughter read a book a day I'd be hard pressed to keep up. I'd probably have to superficially skim all the books. Maybe read just the first 3 pages, 2 in the middle and the ending.

[Heartsjoy]

At 13dd has brought several books to me and discussed their problems issues. I do a quick scan of the genre and the back summary. TOG prints a heads up on which pages are violent, graphic, morbid, sexual etc in the dialectic and rhetoric level books. Age 2-7 I pre-read or picked from trusted lists. My goal is to teach them how to regulate themselves as a lifestyle from books, to food, to emotions, to internet, you get the gist.

[I.Dup.]

I do not pre-read either. I do try to be very careful about checking reviews though. Although my daughter was reading one of the "Julie of the Wolves" books (can't remember if it was 1 or 2) when she was around 8 and there was a part in there where a boy pushed her down and "stuck his tongue in her mouth." I happened to be reading aloud during that part or I would have never known. I definitely do not think that kind of thing is appropriate for an 8-year-old, or in a kid's book in general I would assume, so I was rather bothered and have tried to be more careful since then.

[KateHW]

My son is only 4 so I'm not there yet but I can't imagine ever pre-reading books for him. I'd hope that we have an open communication going and that if he had questions or concerns about anything he'd read we would be able to talk about it. If it's a book I know is going to have issues (like racial slurs in Huckleberry Finn), from reviews, or having read it myself; I'd talk about it with him as he reads it.

[ErinE]

I tried to pre-read, but no longer can because of sheer volume. I now rely heavily on amazon reviews and these forums to get a sense of whether books are a good fit for my dds. I save my pre-reading time for the books that reviews tell me are questionable (because of depth and/or content). I'm also looking ahead to middle school and trying to pre-read just a few that I think we may use then.

 

 

This. I always read the negative reviews and see if there's anything I don't want DS reading.

[Butter]

I pre-read books they will be reading in school so we can have good discussions about them. For fun books, I rarely read them before my daughter. In fact, she is often recommending books to me (Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, etc.). My oldest son listens to audiobooks, but his dad has usually listened to them first or at the same time. I'm generally not interested in the same type of books they are.

[KAM]

I almost never pre-read, though I think it is a great idea in theory! My kids read so much there is just no way I could read it all before them. I do plan on pre-reading my older kids' school books this fall though so I can discuss with them. I haven't done that in the past, but I think I need to now that dd is going into 7th grade.

[Alice]

I pre-read or read along with him anything that I am giving as a school assignment where I want to be able to discuss it/teach the material.

 

I can’t pre-read everything my 9 year old reads. He’s a fast voracious reader. I occasionally read a book after him that he recommends to me or that he’s loved, that helps me get an idea of what he likes and keeps me more up to date on middle grade fiction. (Especially in the adventure/fantasy genre. :))

[Lilaclady]

My dd reads tons but I generally skim any book before going it to her. Her comprehension and reading level are greater than her grade so I have to be careful with some of the issues discussed and be ready to talk to her about them before I give some books to her

[echoterry]

I know that when I was a child, I wished that my mom had limited what I read a little bit more, as I read a lot and read some books that were too mature for me. They weren't bad but just dealt with issues that I really didn't need to be exposed to yet. While my girls are a bit younger that I was at the moment, I know I want to pre-read a lot of what they are getting. I do have strict standards at this point. They have been exposed to a lot before they came to live with me and I want to get them grounded solidly before exposing questionable stuff to them again. Lots of differing opinions! Wonderful!

[FriedClams]

When my kids were younger (under 8-9) I pre-read or researched ALOT. My kids could read really well, but that didn't mean they needed the content of some books. Also, I didn't want them to read something at 8 that was 'fine' but would be a book that was a dear friend at 11. KWIM? We also try to read and discern in light of God's Word and they needed help with that when they were younger.

 

At those ages we read from the 1000 Good

books list, the RA Handbook, Read for the Heart, and other reliable sources. Now, they read about anything but are careful to discuss or stop reading anything questionable.

[ChicoryChick]

I preread or at least rely on the reviews of trusted sources for books during the preschool and elementary years if it is something I am not familiar with. For the middle school and up I ask my niece (who is in her early twenties and has similar genre tastes as my daughter) or I have my dh preread them as my tastes in books do not run in the same direction as dd. My dh will read pretty much anything.

[2_girls_mommy]

I did for the first couple of years. My son is now 10 and is an incredibly fast reader. There's no way I could keep up.

I try to be careful about what I give him for school assignments and I hope he'll be good about self-censoring if a book is too much for him.

 

Similar situation here. My dd reads WAY too much for me to preread all. I try to read a few chapters of something to get a feel for it before I assign it. I read about the books to get the general ideas when they are for school and literature studies if I haven't read it before and don't have time to read the whole thing. I pay attention to reviews and things that strike me as a red flag do get read or shelved until I can read them. I did once decline a book from a book club we were in, because I read it all the way through and thought it was inappropriate for my kids much to my dd's embarrassment LOL. I try to be as vigilant as I can, but I have 2 other students to teach, spend time with, and to research for better teaching methods for as well. My time is divided, and I just can't read as much as I would like. A couple of her lit books this year I started and loved. I can't wait to spend some time this summer finishing them so we can really discuss them beyond just her telling me about them!

[Anne in CA]

Until recently I preread most books the kids read, but then I am a very fast reader. The exception would be if I read the first in a science fiction series for ds I probably would not read all the rest in the series. I just preread those to avoid nasty s**.

[Luckymama]

I only preread nonfiction to make sure it will work for us.

 

I rely on reviews on the library website, Goodreads, and older dd's opinions for fiction books that younger dd reads. She is almost to the point that I will allow her to fully choose what she reads for enjoyment.

[aggieamy]

I did for the first couple of years. My son is now 10 and is an incredibly fast reader. There's no way I could keep up.

I try to be careful about what I give him for school assignments and I hope he'll be good about self-censoring if a book is too much for him.

 

My story is very similar to Dana's. I too used to pre-read everything DD read and was kind of uptight about it. Now she's as fast of a reader as I am so if was going to pre-read her books I would spend all my time just reading her stuff and frankly I'm not that interested in books 11-18 of the Boxcar Children, three Enola Holmes books, Maniac Magee, and six of the Droon books. That's just this week. Last night she started on the 5th Harry Potter. I just warned her it was sad and if she wanted to talk about anything in it then let me know. She's good at closing books if there's anything in there that bothers her and has done that with a few books already. She doesn't want anything too teenager-ish or with dating.

[mathnerd]

I gave up pre-reading when the number of books read per month started going up astronomically. I just do not have the time to do it. So, I rely heavily on reviews, friend recommendations and I stop by the desk of our local librarian once a month and ask for referrals to good reads.

The good thing about my child is that when/if the content gets scary or troubling (some non-fiction books talking about sharks, meteors, earthquakes etc seem to terrify him) he is very good at putting that book away and informing me to stop giving him such books. We either try to talk about that topic or put it away to revisit at a later time.

[LucyStoner]

I only preread the stuff that I am assigning and feel I need to have fresh in my mind to legitimately discuss and teach. Even if I have read a novel before myself, it's been 20ish years in many cases and I need a refresher. I also preread most of his textbooks to check for accuracy and to be aware of how they are tackling a subject. I am a speed reader though so this is not a huge time drain for me.

 

For his self selected reading, I don't preread or screen. He can read what he likes. Anything I wouldn't want him to read content wise due to his age (gore or sex) he's not going to be interested in yet. When he is interested down the line, I am ok with him reading pretty much anything.

[Elfknitter.#]

Classics. If we have a vintage copy of some great work, I tend to pre-read in case of racism, sexism or out dated views. Not to avoid them necessarily, but to be ready for discussion.