How do you find books your kids will love?

"There is no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books." 
James Patterson 

I remember vividly a time I took my kids to the bookstore. My son must have been in 3rd or 4th grade. He wanted to get a book similar to the above books and I made him buy Hatchet. Now there is nothing wrong with Hatchet, it's a wonderful book, other than the fact that he didn't want to read it at all! I took a moment when he should have been exited about getting to pick a new book and I ruined it. I obviously still have guilt!

Inversely, he has read the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series multiple times and still gets exited for the new books that come out every November.  All three of my kids actually fight over them (girl age 10, girl age 13, boy age 15)! Allowing your kids to read what they want, and helping them to find books they will enjoy is a constant battle. 

The series pictured above and many other similar series are wonderful because there are so many titles. So when you finish them you can just pick up the next book!

Here are some things I do to help my kids find books they want to read.
-Ask them!

-Look up on Goodreads read-a-likes for their favorite books
-Check out many books at at time! (If you buy them it will be more frustrating when they don't want to read them, too much wasted money.) 

-Figure out how to put books on hold at your library!

-If you find that they won't move on from certain books, The Cupcake Friends etc... Try to find books at a slightly higher reading level that have similarities. (Goodreads read-a-like is a great place to find this too.)

-Get books much lower than their reading level, and they will get hooked into the story more easily.

-Try some nonfiction! Some kids are just more interested in facts!

What do you do to help your kids find their perfect read? Have you made any reading ultimatums that have blown up in your face?

Star Wars: Jedi Academy 650 Lexile, Ages 8+
The Adventures of Captain Underpants 720 Lexile, Ages 7+
Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Origami Yoda 1) 760 Lexile, Ages 8+
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1 1010 Lexile, Ages 9+