How do you track books you've read..? Spreadsheets (with what columns)? Websites (I assume Goodreads)? If you track for your kids, when did you start? Any books, just chapter books...? Audiobooks? At Pinner's Conference, I took a class by an Arizona blogger mom about books and reading to kids, and I came home with so many ideas of books to read and want to get to the library again, very soon. But this time, I wanted to go with a list of books to look for. So I've made a list of books we want to try, but I started thinking about the fact that I can't remember if we've read some of these before or not... I need a list! Just curious what everyone keeps track of, reading wise.... just title/author? Genre? I know I read on some blog or something that a lady was keeping a spreadsheet that had genre, pages, dates, ratings, comments, characters, and I'm not even sure what else... a bit extensive for what I am looking for. But I can't decide if I should start the kids' list with all the picture books we own and have read 80 times, or if I should only do the chapter books (I hope to start soon) we read going forward.
I use Goodreads to track what I've read. You can fill in the date you started and finished, a star rating, and a review, but those are all optional. I just use the finish date and leave the rest empty. You can also create different "shelves," so you could have a shelf for picture books, chapter books, etc. if you decided you wanted to track everything.
For me, I just use Goodreads and I keep it super simple... three shelves - to read, currently reading and read. I mainly just use currently reading and read. Most of my "to read" books are in a wish list on Amazon since that's mainly where I browse for reading ideas. For the kids, I never really kept track of their books and we read a ton. My kids never minded getting the same picture book from the library again. I tended to get books by theme (holidays, seasons, colors, etc) when they were little. I would "shop" the library online, and have them reserved and waiting for me (it was easy to make sure I got specific books that way... like your list you want to read). I let the kids pick out a limited number of picture books on their own as well. As far as read aloud chapter books, I never really had to keep track of those. My kids were series kids... they found a series that they liked and we plowed through them a couple chapters at a time at bedtime (Magic Treehouse, Betsy Tacy, Mysterious Benedict Society, The Doll People, Narnia, etc). And as for the others, I tried to read classic stories that we didn't have a problem keeping track of without writing it down. Now... with their chapter books once they started reading, I didn't even try to keep track. They read those so quickly and read so many (and most weren't great quality books) that it didn't even cross my mind to catalog them. I left it up to them to know what they had read already or not. I did keep an amazon wish list of books I thought they would like for gift options, but that's as far as I went. With all that being said, I'm still not entirely sure I would track what the kids had read even if something like Goodreads would have been available, but I would have liked to have kept better track of books to read. Not as a quest to finish it all, but more of a suggestion list for when we went to the library
I just read. Period. I like fiction more than boring fact books because I can google facts as needed.... I did sign up for the challenge on Goodreads this year but maybe won't again. Too much like some competition, even if, only with myself... Reading is one of my favorite escapes. I rarely watch TV so reading is my entertainment as well... I practice every day so read quite fast. I don't really feel the need to log it, or track it, or even discuss it, although I have had some very passionate discussions over books, I must admit. I'm happy with the reading thread here and to pursue other books as I find interest in them. I look at the favorites on Goodreads, NY Times Bestsellers, Amazon Kindle Unlimited, and defer to Bookbub often. My husband is not really much of a reader, but we introduced our sons to books very early. We would sit with them for hours looking at picture books and naming things and places for them every day. We progressed to story time every day and spent time on any books they found interesting. Today - they are more like my husband (not so much what I would call readers), but that's OK. Passion for fiction bloomed late in me and since they do know how to find whatever information or opinion they need or desire I think this is OK too. No tracking involved.
I use Goodreads - very simply, just like Tracie.. I also set up an account for my 8yo when he started reading more chapter books on his own, but before he really "liked" doing it. Not really to keep track, but as a way to get suggestions of what else he might like to read.. For example, we tried Magic Tree House and he hated it, and then assumed he would hate all books, lol.. So, something similar to books he read and liked is what we were aiming for. We go to the library while he's at school, so it was nice to have a jumping off point of what to look for when he wasn't there to choose for himself. Now he's such a fan of reading he devours anything I bring home, so it's been a while since we've used his account. I'm sure he'd love to feature of knowing how many books he's read, though.. Maybe we'll have to pop in there and get things updated.
There's a program I've heard of called "1000 books before Kindergarten" which is one reason I started thinking about how I'd track it... My daughter starts K next year, and my son the following year. There's no way I could count ALLLLLlllll the previous books we've read, but we have 120 on our shelf that we HAVE read, and another 20 or so we have yet to read... not even looking at books I have on the shelf in our room, away from the kids. Quite a bit away from 1000. I won't even pretend I'd be able to actually read 1000 books in one year to my daughter, but I could with my son in two years. we can easily get through 5-6 picture books in one time, and we do, regularly, just not every day. Love the idea of their own goodreads shelves. I just logged in to good reads for the first time in.... 3+ years... what a mess that place was with all my old stuff. Time to start over with that, I think.
I use Goodreads as well. I haven't updated it lately and it doesn't contain nearly all the books I've read, but I do pop in there from time to time and check out suggestions and see what everyone else is reading. My son's school does Accelerated Reader and they have to have so many points each report period. I think I need to set up an account for him so he can track the books he's read. They can only test on a book one time, so if he re-reads by mistake he misses out on points. Glad you brought this up!!
How involved do you want it to be? How fun/visual? How permanent? I did this for 2014. It was super simple easy for me, I just snapped a photo of the book cover. Originally, I had planned to add them to an app and track that way, but this was more fun. I love the visual too. I can't remember where I heard it, maybe Stacy Julian? But one mom pins each book her kids read. So there's a private pinterest board of all the books. I liked the idea, but we reread books, so that didn't seem like the best solution for me.
I've thought of having a fun visual tracker for the kids on a wall... like a bookworm or a stack of books, or a sticker chart... but not sure what I'd do when/if we moved. Take it all down and start over? booooo. I don't want anything as involved as a scrapbook page per period, i don't think... but that has possibilities if I decide to just use the PL app with the tiny square layout for each month - or however long to fill it up... I think I only want to list each book once. I mainly want to see a number, and to make sure I am introducing a wide variety of book/book types... but I'd like to be able to sort, I think... to pick out favorite authors or series, maybe genre's... but... i also don't want to track all that manually. LOL. If you pin from the same place, it will tell you if you've already pinned it... so if you say you will always use Amazon, and go to amazon to find the book cover to Pin, if you try to pin something you've already pinned it gives you a warning "psst, looks like you've already pinned this!". So that does have potential, for me.
I remember AR... at the time, i think i could re-do a test if I messed it up. But I remember the point thing... the thing I remember most about it was that the list said "Treasure Island" and I read the "Boxcar Children: Treasure Island" and got mad that the questions didn't match the book. LOL.
LOL my son did something similar once. I honestly dislike AR a lot. I am totally for getting kids to read, but when they are little and have to have the points as part of their grade it just takes something that should be enjoyable and adds a lot of pressure, especially for struggling readers. My son is in 6th grade and reads on a 9th grade level, but AR really turns him off to reading.
sounds like pintrest would work for that - i have seen (and probably subscribed to some readers pin boards - lists like 'books to read this summer') i started DD using goodreads so i could remember what she read and not re-borrow the same books from the library or buy them again from (ye olde) bookstore b/c she hates re-reading- she hasn't kept it up but i use it for myself and just print my "to Read" list once in a while and mark it with a pen when i buy/borrow something i don't know that i'd track every book to make sure it was 1000 before kindy - i figure that's basically 350 books a year if u read a book together most nights or if u read 2 books it's 700 odd... maybe that's easier than stressing about a tracker??
I used to use a spreadsheet. UGH. Now I use Goodreads. Each of my kids has an account as well. I login as them, though and I'm tracking their books for them right now. It's a good way for me to get other suggestions for them on what else to read and then some day when they're older they might want to remember if they have read a certain series or book and they will have most of the information there. I only do chapter books though because goodness I'd be on Goodreads all the time if I did picture books too!! LOL (also, I know this has been plugged before, but if anyone wants to follow me, or wants to let me follow them (cough cough) I'm Jlynn Wilkinson. haha I need some new ideas on books to add to my never ending to read list!
Goodreads for me. Nothing for the kids. I do have binders saved from elementary school with their reading journals in them. But other than that, I never tracked anything.
@tinkerbell1112 I added you as a friend! If anyone wants to add me on Goodreads, I'm gonewiththewind70
I've kept a list of books I've read beginning in the 1990's . . . handwritten in a journal. I then added it to my blog when I started it in 2007. So I keep that list going and it's by year, then with title, author, and then in recent years, I've added the month). I also use Goodreads now. My Carefully Crafted Story - LOVE TO READ
I totally love Goodreads! I use it mostly to figure out what to read next. I'm all snobby and don't want to read anything under 4 stars. I also have no memory, so I review almost every book that I read so that I can go back and try to remember what the book was about. Lol.
So I logged in to my Goodreads account, and laughed at how little I remember of what I was doing with it 3-4 years ago. I am seriously thinking I'll just wipe all that out and start over... or at least the "read" books I don't remember. I know I've read 3 books this year, so I can list those.... I think the simplistic methods of "to read" "currently" and "read" will work. I'm not as avid a reader as I used to be. I did add all my amazon purchases (I download many, many books from BookBub daily emails) For the kids, I decided not to track their 1000 books. (Or rather, my husband said i was crazy and talked me off a ledge!) I counted how many we have, and knowing we've repeated many of them several times, I have no doubt that my kids will have sat through a book 1000 times before kindergarten. I do think Goodreads shelves for them would be beneficial, but I also like the idea of Pinterest boards... I haven't decided which route I would end up going for that.... but it will probably be chapter books only! Haha. And as for library lists... well, I will plan to be more proactive with reserving books before a library trip, and then not worry about it... but I probably won't make a specific board or shelf for that, or maybe I will. Haha.
