Where is the best place to get a list of the best selling Christian Fiction and Christian Non-fiction each month to use as a tool in planning book purchases?
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I totally agree with Joanne's comment about reading the Newbery books first. I met a public librarian a few years ago at the CSLA conference. She is the daughter of a Methodist minister and a very caring person. She said it was a very difficult task to complete all of the necessary reading, but she took her position very seriously. Not all committee members come from the same cloth. I read ALL elementary and YA books before purchase. One can never tell. I bought the first book in series "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea and loved it. It is about a class of 5th graders. I automatically bought Book #2, then read it and sent it back. Inappropriate language on the first page fit for a church library. Be careful.
I subscribe to Family Fiction. It is a free website that offers a magazine type format of about 40 pages. The categories of Fiction are broken down and they offer YA suggestions as well. When looking for quality books, fiction or non-fiction, look for quality publishers and you'll probably be successful. Eerdmann's is a wonderful biblical publisher, Tyndale, Bethany (gentle fiction publishers), even Thomas Nelson offers quality books as a bit of religion and secular mixed nicely. For children's books, look at Newbery Winners as well as Caldecott Medal winners. I do not just rely on Christian books for older elementary or YA, good quality books are the key for this age group. Look at the book Wonder and you'll be surprised at the message and quality writing. If you want more titles, let me know and I'll offer you more. Go to a Christian bookstore and just look around for quality books. Take you time in making your selections. Everyone has their own favorites. Good luck.
Before buying any of the newer Newbery runners-up or winners, borrow a copy from your local public library and read it. A number of them have been very controversial in the past ten years or so. Keep in mind that the Newbery committee gives the honor to books written for up to the age of 14, not just 12. Speaking as a Library Media Technician at a public school, some secular publishers consider "Young Adults" to be as young as age 12 & up. Most people outside of the library or publishing field don't realize the age designation may go down this young; most think of "Young Adult" as 16 and over. I'm not saying don't buy them, just read before you buy and you won't be surprised later!
Most of the Newbery winners have been geared to readers 12 and over, not age 8 - 11. It makes sense that the winners would be written to the older readers as it's easier to write a more dramatic or intense story when the reader has a higher level of vocabulary, comprehension, and ability to follow a more complicated storyline.
Yes, I would agree with this also. Newbery winners from 30+ years ago are much safer when it comes to a church library! And also, as Bev said below, don't automatically add the subsequent books in a series just because the first one was okay. We have The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale in our Classics area, but we very intentionally did not add books 2,3 and 4 (even though we love them) because they are not appropriate.
Thank you for the information; I have subscribed to Family Fiction and look forward to using this resource.
Thanks for the information!