“I’m looking for a book about…” is a monthly reading/reviewing group bringing together bloggers and readers across the globe which aims to create a resource that’s fun and useful to parents, teachers and librarians, as well as hopefully providing a stimulus to those of us who love to review books to seek out something new and unusual.

Not only do I believe in enriching literacy through play, I’m also passionate about enriching play through literacy – in other words, finding books on the topics/themes that are of particular interest to my girls, reading stories together that extend their play and introduce new ideas, and this is how “I’m looking for a book about…” was born.

I’ve always been interested in ways of finding books by subject/theme – that was the idea behind Fantastic Fiction for Kids, and also the topic of this post: “Finding kids’ fiction by subject/theme“. But here’s how “I’m looking for a book about…” works…

  • What? A monthly round-up of reviews of books on a specific topic/theme
  • Why? To create a resource for people wishing to find children’s books on a particular theme/topic, to foster a community here on Playing by the book and amongst those of us who love to read and review children’s books
  • Who? YOU! Me! Us 🙂
  • How? Write a review of a children’s book which fits the monthly theme (published well in advance). The book can be a new one, an old one, a picture book or a teen/YA book, a poem, a non-fiction book – anything goes, as long as it is a children’s book that somehow relates closely to the given month’s theme/topic.
  • When? The 2nd Monday of every month
  • Where? Publish the review on your blog, then come here to join the monthly link up.



    • Image: John 'K'

    As this is about creating a resource, relevant old reviews are more than welcome (although I hope you’ll take “I’m looking for a book about…” as an opportunity to write a new post) and you can submit more than one post per month

    Monthly topics

    May 14 – Elves and fairies
    June 11- The seaside, beaches and oceans
    July 9 – Space (planets, solar system, space travel)
    August 13 – (Starting) school
    September 10 – Disability
    October 15 – Music
    November 12 – Books/authors/writing/illustrating
    December 10 – Dance Sorry – due to having to have surgery I won’t be able to host December’s carnival.

    2013 January 14 – Green issues eg sustainability, recycling,
    2013 February 11- Bullying
    2013 March 11 – Ancient civilizations
    2013 April 8 – Gardening, plants
    2013 May 13 – Inventing and inventors
    2013 June 10 – Dance
    2013 July 8 – Human rights (in preparation for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech in August)
    2013 August 12 – NO THEMED CARNIVAL THIS MONTH

    9 Responses

    1. Elves and Fairies | Child-Led Chaos
      | Reply

      […] from Playing by the Book is starting a new monthly series called “I’m looking for a book about…”, the first theme of which is Elves and Fairies. I love children’s books, I love reviewing […]

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