Some kids need endless amounts of reading material. But how do you know what’s kosher or not? We’ve read all the books so you don’t have to.
They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
When my friend and I started pre-reading our children’s books 20 years ago, we never dreamed that one day we would have a list of over 4000 books. We never imagined that we would have detailed summaries and comments for nearly all of them. And only in our wildest dreams could we envision our own website where frum parents could search for books for their kids.
Kosherbooks started with a humble mission: to provide our own kids with books that were appropriate, and (as much as possible) did not contradict our hashkafos and value system. Using Rivky Kaganoff’s list as our starting point, we checked our own kids’ selections which were not included in her directory. We quickly learned from experience that the front book flap is not the most complete source of information; if we wanted to monitor our kids’ reading, it was up to us to actually plow through each and every book.
Fortunately for us, we are both bookworms and love to read. While there were some books we struggled to get through (Moby Dick, anyone?), for the most part, it was a matter of finding the time–so we discovered some spare hours lying around and tacked them onto our hectic days (just kidding–stray storybook device there).
With the encouragement of our Rav, we did our best to make Kosherbooks available to other frum parents and educators. After over 10 years and over 10,000 downloads of our list on Chinuch.org, we are now zoche to the invaluable (and sometimes superhuman) services of our web designer Margalit Brown, who burned the midnight LEDs to provide busy parents like you with a priceless resource: a searchable website complete with comments and recommendations for over 4400 books (and counting!).
It is our great privilege to share some of the books that we have come across throughout the years. As problem-free books are exceedingly rare, and since personal standards vary, we also include here “questionable” books and encourage parents to check out the full reviews on Kosherbooks.org
10 Timeless Favorites That You Can Share With Your Own Kids
You surely remember the imaginary vistas of your childhood, inhabited by the intrepid characters of your favorite books: Winnie the Pooh, Cam Jansen, Laura Ingalls, and Nancy Drew. When it came to sharing our childhood favorites with our kids, we found that in the glaring lights of 21st century, we re-read those classics with new, sharper lenses. To what extent did we want our kids exposed to mild, childish romance? Warm and mushy descriptions of non-Jewish holidays? Unrefined language and middos? Here are a few of your childhood favorites that you may wish to share with your kids. Please check out full reviews on Kosherbooks.org for complete details on any book or series.
What are YOUR kids reading? Look up the book on Kosherbooks.org: Let the reading begin!
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