In order to select a book for a child, there are a number of factors (apart from reading level) that a teacher must keep in mind in regards to that child, including the child’s developmental stage, emotional maturity, and personal characteristics and interests. This is where getting to know the child is incredibly important.

• Developmental stage: refers to the general cognitive ability and milestones of the child. What kinds of books the child will like will reflect the developmental stage. For instance, a 4-year-old will not be interested in stories with references to justice, because justice is fairly abstract and the 4yo brain is not capable of truly understanding abstraction just yet.
• Emotional maturity refers to the child’s socioemotional skills. A teacher should be familiar with the child’s maturity, including what ideas or images might scare the child, or which might induce a sense of sadness. When kids get older, emotional maturity factors into book choice with romantic or violent themes. Some kids who are chronologically old enough to read those books might not be emotionally mature enough to handle the themes.
• Personal characteristics and interests  refers to information that the teacher has about a child that assists him/her in selecting a book that is relevant and enjoyable for that child. If the child comes from a recently divorced home, the teacher might recommend a book where the main character is also impacted by divorce. Or, if a child is interested in a career in medicine, perhaps a biography of Marie Curie would be appropriate. If the child comes from a foreign country and shows interest in her heritage, a teacher might select a book by an author from that heritage. A teacher should leverage the information he has about a child in order to select a book that would be enjoyable for that child, or to stay away from books that might be painful for the child to read about right now. Many children like to read about characters that are like themselves, so having that source of information is helpful as a teacher makes a personalized book selection for the child.