What do you look for in a children's book?

We all want to encourage our children to read, after all reading builds foundations that support educational, social and mental development. But what do you look for in a great children's book? Authors and readers come together to answer these questions and more.

1. Quality content- Parents agree that educational value, moral lessons and positive messages are the number one thing that they look for when choosing books for kids.

2. Colorful illustrations- Young children especially love bright colors and beautiful pictures.For kids that are too young to read for themselves, the pictures can help them to make the connections between the words they here and what they see. This is extremely beneficial to language development and it also makes the story more interesting for the youngsters.

3. Appropriate reading level- If you are a children's book author, you need to market the book to the age appropriate audience and make sure that the reading level reflects your target age. A book for preschoolers should have short and simple sentences but a book for older kids should have full chapters, a strong story line and lots of humor or excitement to keep them entertained.

4. A great cover- We all want to teach children not to judge books by their cover, but in reality we all do this. A stunning cover portrays quality and it immediately captures the attention of children. If they love the cover, they will want to know what is inside.

5. Humor or adventure- Children need excitement or something that makes them laugh, otherwise they will quickly loose interest. Of all the children and parents surveyed, 95% said that without some sense of adventure or something funny the kid's loose interest.