about this site

This site was created as an easy way to maintain an obsessively curated book list for young children, containing books that meet high standards:

• beautiful artwork
• interesting, multi-dimensional characters
• sophisticated use of language (not speaking down to children)
• good messaging / developmentally appropriate for very young and sensitive children
• books don’t feature exclusion, punishment, mean-spiritedness, even when the author is using this to set up a moral lesson (b/c it doesn’t work)
• books do not perpetuate harmful stereotypes*

The idea is that books hold the potential to help children develop sophisticated language/vocabulary, a keen aesthetic sense, and learn values that are consistent with the way we want to raise them: to be kind to the earth and others.  Books can also enrich children’s lives with a sense of wonder and fascination and feed their endless curiosity.  The books in this list have been chosen because we find them to meet these needs for young children, as a foundational way of understanding the world beyond their immediate environment.

* There are exceptions to this: it is hard to find books that are not heternormative, and since it’s easy enough to swap characters’ genders, this factor is not heavily weighted.

This site does NOT use affiliate links, and you are encouraged to find and purchase used copies of books through your favorite source (though Amazon links give you the opportunity to explore reviews & other product info).  This website (findingstories.org) is fully non-profit.