Fiction - Easy/Picture Books

Revised August 2012

General Comments

This collection consists of children's easy fiction, picture books, and board books. The Easy Fiction collection bridges the gap between picture books and juvenile fiction. This collection serves the needs of children who are just learning to read through the end of grade two. These fiction books have controlled vocabulary, large print, and, in some cases, short chapters. The picture book collection is a popular section at the library. Picture books ideally should be books with illustrations on every page. These illustrations should be so detailed that the story can be understood by studying the pictures alone, without the accompanying text. This broad category includes alphabet books, counting books, animal books, seasons and holidays, etc. The board book collection is comprised of smaller cardboard books which are geared to the youngest child.

Development Plan

The primary goal of this collection is to provide an introduction to literature that meets the educational and recreational needs of the community. In order to meet these goals, the Library:

• strives to provide a wide range of reading levels from birth to second grade.
• strives to provide a balanced collection of current popular titles and core materials.
• evaluates patron requests either through reviews, or knowledge and popularity of the author or title. Patron requests are given serious consideration and added to the collection as warranted and as budget allows.
• takes into consideration the Buckaroo Award books.

This collection offers as wide a variety of topics as possible. Attention is given to holiday, concept books, problem stories, beginning readers, series, and core recommended children's literature.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

• shelf space.
• budget constraints.
• circulation statistics.
• titles in a series.
• patron requests.
• visual appeal.
• new works.
• access to a fully developed collection at the main library.

Retention/Weeding

• Physically worn materials are replaced or updated.
• Books are withdrawn due to damage, loss, drop in general interest level as evidenced by circulation figures, or content relevancy and currency.