Reading reviews

A homeschool friend sent out an appeal today for a book review resource. This really got me thinking. I have a number of resources for finding quality, wholesome reading, but do not have a resource to look up books I might not be familiar with, especially contemporary ones. I did a google search and came up with this article.

It says that while Focus on the Family's Plugged In movie review can help in choosing a movie, how do we find out about the books we or our children want to read? Here is a site that they recommend for parent friendly book reviews. I looked at it briefly and it seems to have some good info, but of course their list is not exhaustive. They say they are looking for qualified reviewers, this might be a great way to help advance this cause.

Another site requires a $15/year membership to view their reviews on various books. If you do a lot of reading, or your kids like to do a lot of independent reading of unfamiliar books, it might be worth it, but I don't know much about it, so I cannot recommend it at this point.

The Bluedorn's book, Hand that Rocks the Cradle, also came to mind. This offers parents an excellent resource, but mostly for a list of books to read, not books to not read. I have an older version of this book and have enjoyed referring to it from time to time.

Any other resources out there to help us offer our kids the best reading material?