Children's and Young Adult Literature

For databases containing articles and other information, see our Education databases page.

Comprehensive Sites

The Children's Literature Web Guide

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/

The most comprehensive index of web sites related to children's literature. Provides access to online stories, topical bibliographies, book reviews, book awards, electronic journals, information on books, movies based on children's books, authors, publishers, and booksellers, and much more.

Cooperative Children's Book Center (U. of Wisconsin-Madison)

http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/

Offers many helpful features, including booklists on various topics, pulbishing trends, information on challenges to books in libraries and schools, and links to related web sites.

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature

http://www.dawcl.com

Users can enter criteria, such as age level, historical period, publication year, and nation of origin, and receive a list of award-winning children's books that match these characteristics. Each resulting entry includes the author, title, year, award won, and a brief abstract.

Fairrosa Cyber Library of Children's Literature

http://www.fairrosa.info

Provides links to book reviews, subject bibliographies, publishers, and information on children's authors and illustrators. The "Reading Room" section has an online archive of copyright-free children's literature available for downloading.

Vandergrift's Children's Literature Page

http://scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/ChildrenLit/index.html

Original essays on writing for children plus many topical bibliographies. This same author also provides a Social History of Children's Literature page at http://scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/HistoryofChildLit/index.html

Vandergrift's Young Adult Literature Page

http://scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/YoungAdult/index.html

Links and commentary on various issues related to young adult literature.

Professional Organizations

ALAN: the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents

http://www.alan.ya.org

Provides links to young adult (YA) literature resources on the Internet, including Web sites and mailing lists as well as access to The ALAN Review, an e-journal published by the Assembly with articles on writing for young adults, interviews with authors, reports on publishing trends and research directions in YA literature, plus book reviews on YA titles.

Association for Library Service to Children

http://www.ala.org/alsc/

Provides annotated lists of award winning titles plus links to online children's libraries and resources for children's literature.

Children's Book Council

http://www.cbcbooks.org/

Provides a list and links to U.S. children's publishers and booksellers, annotated bibliographies on various subjects in the "CBC Showcase" section, announcements of pre-publication titles, and a list of Children's Choices Award titles.

Young Adult Library Services Association

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/

Lists award winning and recommended books for young adults and links to other useful Web resources.

Reviews/Plot Summaries/Lesson Plans

Booklist

http://www.ala.org/booklist/

The online version of Booklist, a library journal with book reviews and featured articles.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

http://bccb.lis.uiuc.edu/

Website for the well-known children's book review journal. Contains feature articles, reviews of new books, theme-based lists, etc.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

http://www.carolhurst.com/

Good source for children's book reviews arranged by title, author, or grade level. Also offers lesson ideas for curriculum areas or particular themes (e.g. Native Americans). Provides a newsletter and links to related resources for teachers.

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

http://www.childrenslit.com/

Great source for themed reviews, interviews with children's book authors and illustrators, resources for librarians and teachers, etc.

Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/

Has abstracts of thousands of picture books searchable by keyword.

Doucette Library's Children's Literature Index

http://www.educ.ucalgary.ca/litindex/

"An index to books and websites with teaching suggestions." Can search by author, title, or illustrator to find lesson ideas for a particular work.

Notes from the Windowsill

http://deeptht.armory.com/~web/notes.html

Formerly known as the Web Online Review, it is an electronic journal of children's book reviews done by volunteers.

The Scoop: Children's Book News

http://www.Friend.ly.Net/scoop/

Offers brief reviews of books and software, as well as links to activities, author/illustrator information, etc.

Special/Digital Collections

Baldwin Library of Children's Literature: Digital Collection

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/UFDC.aspx?c=juv

Digitized versions of books primarily published in Great Britain and the United States of America dating from the 1700s.

Children's Books Online

http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm

Large collection of classic illustrated children's books.

The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection

http://www.lib.usm.edu/~degrum/

A guide to the de Grummond Collection of classic children's books at the University of Southern Mississippi. A searchable catalog and collection highlights are provided, plus links to children's e-text projects and other children's literature collections in the U.S.

Henrietta Maizner Hochschild Collection

http://library.webster.edu/archives/hochcoll.html

The Hochschild Collection contains more than 3,000 books of children's literature published between 1860 and 1970.

International Children's Digital Library

http://www.childrenslibrary.org/

Full text of children's books from around the world in their original languages.

Writers & Publishers

Bookwire

http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/

A good starting point for book, author, and publishing information. Carries several lists of children's bestsellers with links to reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, etc.

The Purple Crayon: A Children's Book Editor's Site

http://www.underdown.org/

Provides an archive of articles on writing for children, plus an annotated list of books edited by Harold Underdown, the site author. Additional links to children's literature, publishing in general, Internet reference, and pictures.

Children's Book Publishers (Kay Vandergrift)

http://scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/ChildrenLit/publish.html

Links to publishers, each providing a brief description of the publisher's site and the information on children's literature to be found there.

Children's Publishers on the Internet

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/publish.html

Links to large and small publishers.