LibGuides: Children's and YA's Literature: Children's and YA's Literature Websites

General Children's & YA Literature Links

Useful information, booklists, book reviews, etc., on Children's & YA topics can be found in these sites. Includes Children's & YA Author & Illustrator's websites. Also includes websites which give access to digitized collections of children's and young adult books. Tip: Many authors & illustrators have their own websites. You can also check publishers' websites.

Association of Library Service to Children (division of ALA)
Great links to resources for children's literature from the American Library Association.
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
Provides book reviews, thematic teaching units, etc.
Center for Children's Books
Housed at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a lively place of knowledge and research about children's books.
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature
Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University
Academic website providing teachers and librarians with an annotated bibliography for designing literature-based thematic units in all disciplines. Database contains over 5000 picture books for children preschool through grade 3.
CLA: Children's Literature Assembly of the NTCE
Includes "Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts," booklists from 1997 through the current year.
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
is a gathering place for books, ideas, and expertise in the field of children's and young adult literature. The CCBC is a noncirculating research library for Wisconsin school and public librarians, teachers, early childhood care providers, university students, and others interested in children's and young adult literature.
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The CCBC is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) School of Education (SoE), and receives additional support from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Favorite Poem Project
The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997.
Florida Center for Reading Research
The Center conducts and disseminates basic research on reading, reading growth, reading assessment, and reading instruction that will contribute to the scientific knowledge of reading and benefit students in Florida and throughout the nation. Includes lesson plans incorporating children's literature.
Index to Internet Sites: Children's Authors & Illustrators, Nursery Rhymes, & Recommended reading for children and young adults.
The Internet School Library Media Center's index to authors and illustrators internet sites. Also includes nursery rhymes websites, and internet sites listing recommended reading for children and young adults.
Lexile Framework for Reading
When you enter a lexile range on this page, it will return a long list of books that will fit that range. You can select titles by genre and interest.

Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
The Literature Resource Center is a literature reference database. It features information on literary figures from all time periods in such genres as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, journalism, and more. Literature Resource Center contains Contemporary Authors Online; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select; and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online. The Literature Resource Center also includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material from Literature Criticism and For Students Series.
Novelist This link opens in a new window
Resource for finding books by topic or by type. Can sort by age and grade level.

Read Write Think
Resource for literacy lessons and activities.

Teaching Books This link opens in a new window
This resource provides original, in-studio videos of authors and illustrators, and a wealth of multimedia resources on K-12 books. This is a service to which the Whittemore Library subscribes.

Digitized Collections of Children's and Young Adult Books

Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project
Mission: Bringing yesterday's classics to today's children. Links to full-text of children's literature in the public domain in the U.S. This includes all works first published before 1923, particularly materials published between 1880-1922. Includes nursery rhymes, fables, folk tales, myths, legends, hero stories, literary fairy tales, bible stories, nature stories, biography, history, fiction, poetry, storytelling, games, and craft activities.
Hockliffe Project
Provides access to a digitized collection of early British children's books. Hosted by De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K.
International Children's Digital Library
Gives access to plot summaries, full-text and illustrations of childrens books from all over the world. You need Java-based software for complete access to of some of the books. The mission of the ICDL is to create a collection of more than 10,000 books in at least 100 languages that is freely available to children, teachers, librarians, parents, and scholars throughout the world via the Internet.
Nineteenth-Century American Children & What they Read
Has the full-text of documents about 19th-century American children and a selection of works from early children's books and magazines.

Awards & Prizes

ALSC List of Children's Book & Media Awards ALSC: Association of Library Service to Children (a division of ALA)
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
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The goal of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is to honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.
Boston Globe - Hornbook Awards First presented in 1967, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards honor books published in the field of children's and young adult literature. Winners are selected in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. Two Honor Books may be named in each category. The awards are chosen by an independent panel of three judges who are annually appointed by the Editor of The Horn Book.
Caldecott Medal Home Page Provides information on the Caldecott Medal which is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Coretta Scott King Award Homepage Provides information on this award which is given annually to authors and illustrators of African descent whose books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream" for children and youth.
Database of Award Winning Children's Literature DAWCL has over 10,000 records from 112 awards across six English-speaking countries (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Ireland).
Massachusetts Children's Book Award The winning book in a "master list" of book titles designed for Massachusetts schoolchildren in grades 4-6. Sponsored by Salem State University School of Education.
Michael L. Printz Award Provides information on the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, which is awarded annually to the author of a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Newbery Medal Home Page Provides information on the Newbery Medal which is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Pura Belpre' Award The Pura Belpré Award is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.
Schneider Family Book Award
Stonewall Book Awards
Sydney Taylor Book Award

Professional Organizations

ALA: American Library Association
ALA has 2 divisions with links to useful Children's and YA's Literature information and resources. At the ALA website, click on, "Divisions." Click on the "Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)" or the "Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA)" for links to recommended booklists, awards and prizes information, and links to reading and literacy resources.

ALSC: Association of Library Service to Children (division of ALA)
Great links to resources for children's literature from the American Library Association.
Children's Book Council
The C.B.C. is the national nonprofit trade association for children's trade book publishers. Forum for collaboration by publishers with national organizations (ALA, IRA, & others) on co-sponsoring reading lists, educational programming, and literacy initiatives. Sponsors the Children's Book Week, the Children's Choice Book Awards, and other literacy programs. Has Links to publishers' web sites, book lists, author's blogs, and other children's & YA literature websites.
ChLA: Children's Literature Association
ChLA's mission is to encourage high standards of criticism, scholarship, research, and teaching in children's literature. Check out this website to access information about ChLA's conferences, grants, Awards, job openings in the field, directory of Undergrad & Graduate programs, and links to scholarly resources in the field of children's and young adult's literature. Publishes the peer-reviewed journal, Children's Literature.
Foundation for Children's Books
Boston based program which brings acclaimed children’s book authors and illustrators into underserved K-8 schools in Boston for visits and workshops focused on writing and illustration.
IRA: International Reading Association
Professional organization for those involved in teaching reading and promoting literacy. Provides links to lesson plans, booklists, and a career center. IRA publishes the journals, Reading Teacher, Reading Research Quarterly, and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.
Massachusetts Reading Association
NCTE: National Council of Teachers of English
NTCE's mission is to advance teaching, research, and student achievement at all scholastic levels. Follow the Elementary, Middle, or Secondary section links to useful information and resources related to children's and YA literature for the K-12 instructor. Use NCTE's social networking links to join an online network of your peers.
New England Reading Association
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
YALSA: Young Adult Library Services Association (division of ALA)

Children's and YA's Literature

F.S.U. Resources

Book List Sites

Museums re: Children's Literature

General Children's & YA Literature Links

Digitized Collections of Children's and Young Adult Books

Awards & Prizes

Professional Organizations