Wonderful Web Sites
To Help Your Kids Find Great Reading
The Children’s Literature Web Guide. This site has been developed, and is hosted, by the University of Calgary. If you want to know what the experts think are the best books for children, this site gives complete and easily printed lists of all the awards given for children’s literature each year. In addition to the well-known awards such as the Newbery and the Caldecott, you can find the awards lists for the best Latino literature for children, or the best African-American, or the best Fantasy and so on. There are also seemingly endless links to other great resources for kid’s lit.
Jim Trelease on Reading. This is a wonderful site developed by Jim Trelease, the noted lecturer on reading aloud. In addition to great recommendations of favorites, you will find author biographies, lecture tour schedules, studies on reading, and a wealth of other information concerning reading aloud.
ALA (American Library Association)/YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association. YALSA is the division of the ALA specifically targeting young adults. Although there is some overlap with The Children’s Literature Web Guide listed above, there are some great additional lists for the teenage reader. One of my favorites is the 100 Best Books for Teens from 1966 to 2000. As with most sites these days, you will find great links to other children’s and young adult’s web sites.
New York Public Library On-Lion for Kids (not a misspelling). As you might expect for the NYPL, this is a neat site with links to books & reading, science & technology, summer reading programs and information for parents and teachers. They have yet more recommended lists broken down by subject — i.e. fantasy, history, humor, biography, poetry etc. Happy foraging!
Tales Told Tall Hey Dads! It’s no secret that there is a gender gap between boys and girls when it comes to reading. This amazing site will help you bridge that gap. Michael Sullivan is a teacher, librarian, author, storyteller and expert on boys and reading. You’ll find books to share with your son, read aloud to your son or just show him how savvy you are by recommending books that he will love.
The Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award. Ever wonder what kids like to read? Well this is the web site for you. The Colorado Blue Spruce Award recognizes the most popular books among middle- and high school students in the State of Colorado. Teens nominate their favorite titles and select the winner — adults do not vote.
Cricket Magazine. The venerable Cricket Magazine, undisputed champion in the field of children’s magazines, has recently entered the electronic fray. Targeted at the 9- to 14-year-old reader, you’ll find stories by leading authors (both print versions and audio), contests, biographies, a chat room to connect with other avid readers and, my personal favorite, a child-generated recommended reading list so that you can see what your child’s peers are enjoying.
Read Aloud West Virginia. Read Aloud West Virginia works to inspire children to want to read. They operate under the principle that children who discover that reading is fun will read more. Those who read more improve, which leads to better test scores, higher education levels and greater achievement throughout life. RAWV recruits and trains volunteers to read in classrooms, puts books in homes, schools and communities and organizes programs for schools to give children enjoyable experiences with literature. They use their web site to reach new volunteers and supporters and to share research and inspiration.
Read Aloud Denver. This is a website that lists where the Baby, Toddler, Preschool, Family, and Bilingual Storytimes are being held in public libraries and bookstores in the Denver area. Our goal is to help make it easier for parents and daycare providers to bring children to Read Aloud Storytimes and to support their goal of creating lifetime readers.