Video Transcript

E0:00:00
Hello everyone.

Ever wondered what book to buy for your children from the thousands on offer?

Ever wondered what to read in the classroom or what novels to study?

Grandparents - has buying book gifts for your grandchildren ever been tricky?

Today I introduce a tool that helps with these conundrums and so much more. I have been building and improving
What Book Next since 2016. For me, it is simply sharing all the best books for children and young adults that I discover.

0:00:34
So where did it come from? Who is it for? How do you use it? And why use it?

I am a children's author, a bookseller, and you'll soon see a reviewer.

0:00:45
But once upon a time, I had the joy of being a Napier Library children's librarian and this is where What Book Next began. Young readers from tots to teens came into the library looking for new books to read. Being an avid reader myself, I had lots of suggestions in my head which I had begun putting down on paper because my internal hard drive was filling up fast.
But having it on paper was no help to young library users.

:01:19
Library systems are great, but they usually need a title or an author to start from. But young readers want a funny book or a war book or a creepy book. How could I make it easier for them to find them?

I began to build What Book Next.com. As I got to know library users I added their favourite topics - action, adventure, animals etc. Teens began asking about books on racism, prejudice and conflict for their schoolwork.

0:01:51
I also added the main genres like historical, sci-fi and fantasy. I added some of my own favourites, like time travel, horror and Revenge, also popular with teens.

So What Book Next has titles for those aged 4 plus right up to 16 plus to cover those crossover novels into adulthood. It's also for teachers looking for read-alouds or librarians looking for books for their shelves.

0:02:30
It's for parents looking for a book on children's challenges like scared of the dark, moving house, first day of school or like this page - confidence. There are four ways of searching shown here with red boxes.

The picture book tab has a drop down menu showing 40 children's challenges and other subjects like New Zealand picture books. Click on one of these to find a selection of books on that particular topic to browse through.

0:03:06
You can choose by age with the menu across the top of the page. As a bookseller, I know this can sometimes be tricky
because every child's reading journey is different, but there are other ways to narrow down your choices. I want every child to be able to find a book that's just right for them.

There is the topics menu down the right-hand side of the screen. This includes all the main genres and common topics readers are looking for. There is humor, horror, and everything in between. These came from the most popular requests from young readers as I was building What Book Next.

0:03:48
The SEARCH box - which can be the most important way to search. I wanted children to be able to search for books with the words that they use.

Instead of the term horror, they say freaky, spooky or creepy. Instead of humour, they say funny or silly. In fact, there are thousands of words that they can search by.

Search by a particular animal. New Zealand books, bilingual books, dragons, mermaids, a book with their name in it, the year they were born, maybe by publisher, series or even bits of a title that you remember.

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I'm constantly surrounded by online book news, updates and book sites. I know there are oodles of book review sites out there and that's a really good thing. We need all of them to keep kids reading. So why should you use What Book Next?

Have you ever seen something online and thought it's just what you're looking for but then discovered that it's unavailable?

0:04:43
This happens as books go in and out of print. There are over 1500 book reviews on What Book Next at any one time. This number goes up and down as I review each week. I check through every What Book Next title twice a year to make sure they're still in print or available somewhere.

Most books on here can be found in your local independent bookstore or your local library. I hate taking reviews off but I need everything on there to be available.

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I am a children's author of over 20 years, a bookseller of over 10, an avid reader for 50 and I was a librarian in the middle. I read and review every book on there. There is a comment section at the bottom of every post where other readers can enter their own reviews.

Ads. I hate them. There are no ads on What Book Next. There is only one pop-up inviting you to receive the monthly newsletter showing you the best books that I've found and also enters you into free book draws. This is how I give away all the books I get sent by publishers.

0:05:56
I'm not trying to sell you anything, nothing except the wonder of reading. There are so many things for children and
teens to be doing, so why not make it easy for them to find their next great book to take them to different worlds, times or other children's lives.

0:06:28
So there you have it, What Book Next.com - for your next great read or picture book you need. 8 years in the making with many more to come. I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by books all day, every day. And what a waste it would be not to share them. Don't you think?

Transcribed with Cockatoonter