Common Sense MediaBy Regan McMahon, Common Sense Media editor

Finding the right book for your kid can be a challenge. But if you guess right and keep new ones coming, you may be on your way to raising a lifelong reader.

Every month we highlight a few books for different ages -- some exceptional titles that could be the perfect thing to perk your kid's interest, get your reader hooked on a new author, or rediscover an old favorite. Here are our picks for July:

• For kids 3 to 7, check out Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, a funny picture book that warns of the dangers of serving dragons their favorite food topped with spicy salsa: It will make them breathe fire, and they could burn your house down. (Mild salsa is fine.) It's silly fun from start to finish, with dragons of every size, shape, and color and heaps and heaps of tacos on its entertaining spreads.
• For readers 12 to 17, there's Tokyo Heist, a sizzling mystery adventure in which two

The Nanny Nerve?!

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Jessica recently hired a new nanny to help with her three kids. After interviewing what seemed like every nanny in Manhattan, Annie seemed like the perfect addition to her family. Kind, punctual, and creative - all of Jessica's children took to her immediately.

After a fantastic first week, Annie told Jessica how much she loved working with her family and was so grateful for the job. Then Annie proceeded to tell Jessica she had a favor to ask her - could she borrow $500? Annie promised to pay the money back week by week over the next few months…

Jessica felt so awkward, she said yes without really thinking about it. Her mind was a jumble of emotions. On one hand, she was so grateful to have found Annie, but wasn't sure if it was ever okay for an employee to borrow money from an employer - much less after only a week of work!

Jessica's friends were split on the issue. Some said it wasn't a big deal. Jessica could just give her an advance on her pay…

"Momma, what's this book about?" That is a question that I hear every time we go to our local bookstore as my very curious six-year-old daughter picks up eye-catching books from various sections from fiction to biographies to psychology. My family spends a fair amount time in bookstores, so this is a query I've become accustomed to hearing and one I try my darndest to answer (but really, how does one explain James Joyce's Ulysses to a six-year-old?).

Recently, I've been curious to see what she thought the books were about. She doesn't yet know - from experience or exposure - what the narrative of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit is about, what happens in the F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or that George Orwell's Animal Farm is not a book for children.

What happens when this recent kindergarten graduate judges a book by its cover? Here are the results:

(above No Exit: "It's about someone who is in jail and you know there are no exits in a jail.")

Full Disclosure: I bribed my

coffeeIn what is no doubt some really great news for moms who can't resist having a cup o' joe every morning, there is new research showing that drinking coffee during pregnancy won't give your child behavior problems later in life. (Whew!)

The research showed that the children of mothers who drank up to three cups of coffee per day while pregnant did not have a larger risk of being inattentive than moms who did not drink any at all. (I guess caffeine isn't as bad as we thought.)

More from The Stir: The Amazing Allure of Junk Food During Pregnancy

When I was pregnant with my son, I was very concerned with what foods and drinks I needed to avoid to make sure he developed properly and stayed healthy -- but the thought of having to give up my morning coffee ritual almost seemed like too much to take. What can I say? Mama loves her java.

More from The Stir: Getting Your Pre-Baby Body Back Is Harder Than It Looks

I talked things over with my doctor, and she advised me to

Congratulations! You're now the parent of a toddler. Let me be the first to welcome you to a world of big girl beds and sippy cups, of vanishing naps and escalating temper tantrums. It's a loud, messy place and it's occasionally frustrating but I'm happy to call it home.

When I think about the changes my toddler is experiencing right before my eyes, it's truly remarkable. She's gone through so many transitions in such a short period of time (potty training, ditching her binky, and starting preschool to name a few) that I can excuse some of her more demanding behavior.

Here's the thing about parenting: with every age and stage come new challenges. Here are 7 things I wish I'd known when I was a new toddler mom- some are silly, some are serious, but they're all toddler truths.

- By Mary L. Weimer

Follow Mary on Babble

For more things to know when raising a toddler, visit Babble!

MORE ON BABBLE

The most age-inappropriate toddler gear (What were they thinking?!)

15 things NOT

Hey there, fans of Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, and Twilight. I bet you're thinking you're being soooooo original picking a baby name that's related to your favorite movie or TV show. You're like, "Ain't NO other kid in my baby's kindgergarten class going to be named THIS!" Well, I hate to break it to you, but names picked from those pop culture juggernauts were some of the hottest baby names of 2012.

More from The Stir: 2012's Top Baby Names: Is Yours on the List?

Nameberry, the baby naming site, has compiled the most viewed baby names of this year thus far, and while most of them are strange, they are also strangely familiar, as in, yeah, I heard that name in The Hunger Games!

Here are the 13 hottest baby names of 2012.

Senna/Cinna

These names were looked at 1,500 percent more than last year, mostly due to Senna, a Twilight vampire, and Cinna was Katniss's hairstylist in The Hunger Games.

Niall

Niall Horan is a member of the band One Direction. He

Bathing beauties who are actually clothed, and probably really hot.I almost titled this post "The More Feminist Approach to Teach Young Girls About Beauty" but it's such a loaded topic - feminism and beauty. We've been instructed that discussing appearance with girls at all is destructive. However, by not mentioning appearance (when it's true that girls are judged by their looks, whether we like it or not) we can unwittingly give them the idea that they don't measure up in that area. As I've written before, standing in the checkout line of the grocery store could convince anyone that appearance is the most important news to hit the stands for the past century.

Read More: How to Be a Role Model for Your Daughter: 3 Secrets to Boost Self Esteem

I do call my daughter cute because I can't help it! She's cute! But I admit that I've been wondering, after reading Lisa Bloom's article "How to Talk to Little Girls", if I'm doing my daughter a disservice by acknowledging her appearance.

Read More: Will Regulating Photoshopped Ads Save Girls' Self