Welcome to The Horn Book's newest blog, Family Reading, a place to find children’s book recommendations, vigorous discussion and debate, advice, and humor about sharing books in the home.

We are using both the words family and reading in the broadest possible sense. If, as Sister Sledge sings it, "We Are Family," then "family" expands to include all of us, whether we are parents or not. And "reading" can include reading aloud, listening to audiobooks, allowing babies to chew on board books, interacting with book apps, and leaving kids alone to make their own choices.

The idea for this blog has been percolating for some time. In 1997, The Horn Book Magazine's annual Special Issue theme was "Family Reading," with articles by such luminaries as Betsy Hearne, Lesléa Newman, and K. T. Horning, on topics ranging from board books to Walt Disney to picture books featuring same-sex parents. Roger and Martha's book A Family of Readers (Candlewick, 2010) further explored the subject of reading in the home, from birth through the teen years. And over the years the Magazine's "Books in the Home" column has featured pieces on reading and homeschooling, race, adoption, kids on the autism spectrum, a grown daughter caring for a mother with Alzheimer’s — to name just a few topics. Not to mention, thanks to the Horn Book Guide's mission to review all hardcover children's books published in the United States in any given year (or as close to it as we can get), we are literally surrounded by children's books all day, every day. It's what we do.



The Horn Book editors, reviewers, and colleagues are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, neighbors, babysitters, casual observers, librarians, teachers, and writers. Some of us have babies in our lives, others school-age kids, others grownup children (and some of us are "parents" to cats and dogs; is that not a family?). And our family configurations, too, are varied. Not to sound too cliched, but The Horn Book itself is a family — dysfunctional at times, sure, but also filled with love.

The Family Reading blog will include both existing Horn Book material that is useful to families and original content written by Horn Book staff and guest bloggers. If you have an idea for a post, pop it into the Comments below or email us at: newsletter <at> hbook.com

Families are complicated, but reading about them doesn't have to be! Welcome to Family Reading.