Contents 

Web Sites

Book Reviews

Booklists

Awards

Fables, Fairy Tales & Folk Tales



Research Guide for Children's Literature:

Web Sites


Web Sites

Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism
The 1987 edition of the book by Linnea Hendrickson, a reference librarian and a college instructor in English, social sciences, and humanities, now online and searchable. "Covering works as diverse as a historical survey of the alphabet book and an analysis of the young adult novels of Judy Blume, this annotated bibliography draws together significant articles, books, and dissertations of children's literature criticism. Compiled from a wide variety of popular and scholarly sources, Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism provides a thorough and easy-to-use resource to this burgeoning field of study. Children's Literature categorizes and assesses the critical response to fiction, drama, poetry, and some nonfiction written for children between the ages of one and sixteen. The children's literature covered ranges in format and style from the picture book to the young adult novel. The emphasis is on twentieth-century children's literature, although classics from earlier centuries have been included."


Children's Literature from the Google Web Directory

The Children's Literature Web Guide
David K. Brown's don't miss site. David K. Brown has done an excellent job of collecting web resources relating to children's literature. Lists of awards, best books, links to homepages devoted to authors and stories on the web are just a few of the available options. A search engine is located at the bottom of the first page. Be sure to check out The Doucette Index, which provides access to websites that contain useful teaching suggestions related to books for children and young adults, and the creators of those books.

Children's Literature in a Time of National Tragedy
Prepared by: Mei-Yu Lu
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #165

While America recovers from the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, parents and educators are seeking assistance to help children cope with the impact of this national tragedy. This Digest is intended to guide parents and teachers in helping children deal with this issue through the use of literature. It begins with suggestions, guidelines, and strategies which parents and teachers can use to help children deal with this tragedy, and it discusses the role of literature in helping children at a time of national disaster. The second part of this Digest offers resources intended to help children understand and appreciate cultural differences through the use of literature, as well as to provide materials that will help children cope with stresses in their lives and in particular, the events that took place on September 11th, 2001.

Children's Picture Book Database
"Located at Miami University, the Children's Picture Book Database indexes abstracts of over 4,000 picture books for children. Designed as tool for teachers creating literature-based thematic units for all disciplines, the database is searchable by a set of topical keywords (over 900) organized by discipline or alphabetically, or by a boolean combination search. Entries include title and author, an abstract, and a list of related keywords. Many of the topic listings also provide related links. A well-organized and useful site for preschool to third grade teachers, parents, and librarians." Internet Scout Report

The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection is one of North America's leading research centers in the field of children's literature. Although the Collection has many strengths, the main focus is on American and British children's literature, historical and contemporary.

Fairrosa Cyber Library of Children's Literature from School librarian Roxanne Hsu Feldman; includes links to:

  • Authors and Illustrators
  • Articles
  • Book Lists
  • Reading Room

Kay E. Vandergrift's Special Interest Page
This is the gateway to an extensive, in-depth, don't miss site. Kay is Professor and Associate Dean, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University. Her website includes beautiful illustrations, thoughtful essays on issues in children's literature today, and a list of readings she assigns for graduate courses she teaches. More scholarly in tone than most Children's Literature sites, it includes links for:

  • Children's Literature
  • History of Children's Literature
  • Snow White and The Golem
  • Gender and Culture in Picture Books
  • Young Adult Literature
  • Linking Literature with Learning

The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (NCCIL)
View exhibits online.

Parents and Children Together Online
"Parents and Children Together Online
, a magazine whose goal is to promote family literacy and parent-child read-alongs, is now freely available via the Web...The magazine is a part of The Family Literacy Center at the ERIC Clearinghouse for Reading, English and Communication." Internet Scout Report

Great Web Sites for Kids
"An annotated directory of hundreds of links for children, young teens, and adults caring for children, with topics such as games, music, stories, sports, technology, politics, and religion; there is a small collection of sites in Spanish. The site's selection criteria page includes guidelines for judging the quality of Web sites. Maintained by the Great Web Sites Committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), part of the American Library Association (ALA)." Librarians' Index to the Internet

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Book Reviews

100 Favorite Children's Books from the New York Public Library.

The ALAN Review
ALAN (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents), A Special-interest group of the National Council of Teachers of English. Founded in November 1973, ALAN is made up of teachers, authors, librarians, publishers, teacher-educators and their students, and others who are particularly interested in the area of young adult literature. The Assembly publishes The ALAN Review three times each year (fall, winter, and spring) with a current circulation of 2,500. The journal contains articles on YA literature and its teaching, interviews with authors, reports on publishing trends, current research on YA literature, a section of reviews of new books, and ALAN membership news.

Amazon.com: Children's Books

Booklist
The digital counterpart of the American Library Association's Booklist magazine. For more than 90 years, Booklist has been the librarian's leading choice for reviews of the latest books and (more recently) electronic media. Every year we review nearly 4,000 books for adults, more than 2,500 titles for children, more than 500 reference books and electronic reference tools, and 1,000 other audiovisual materials. We also publish a wide variety of feature articles including author interviews, bibliographies, book-related essays by well-known writers, and a selection of columns. And be sure to take a look at our Editors' Choice '99, which includes our picks of the top books and videos of the previous year. The Booklist Web Site is also the place to go for our ongoing cumulative index to the print version of Booklist. You can download a current index to Booklist, the magazine, with entries under author, title, and illustrator, as well as find a hot-linked index to the Booklist Web Site. Check out the many different indexes available on our Index page. Our site is also searchable.

Book Links: Connecting Books, Libraries, and Classrooms
Published by Booklist Publications, Book Links is a magazine designed for teachers, librarians, library media specialists, booksellers, parents, and all other adults interested in connecting children with high quality books. On these pages you will find previews of ideas and information that will appear in future issues of Book Links; two cumulative indexes of all issues of the magazine, one consisting of articles arranged by feature title, the other of subjects, authors/illustrators, and book titles highlighted in Book Links; submissions guidelines, and links to other Booklist publications. We have also added selected feature articles from recent issues of Book Links, as well as an archived listing of Book Links' articles beginning with the September 1998 issue.

CBC Online--Children's Book Council
"The CBC, administrator of National Children's Book Week since 1945, offers suggestions for ways to celebrate National Children's Book Week to teachers, parents and librarians. Year round this site provides a rich source of information and links related to children's literature. Within one of the five general user catagories, visitors can take a sneak preview at new children's books in the Hot Off the Presses section, consult an extensive bibliography of established children's books, learn about the 75 children's authors and illustrators that everyone should know, or browse the bi-monthly topical bibliography section." Internet Scout Report

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
This site offers numerous children's literature resources created by Carol Hurst, "a nationally-known storyteller, lecturer, author and language arts consultant." The site's main section consists of a large collection of book reviews and ideas for how to use them in the classroom. Reviews of Featured Books also includes discussion topics, activities, related books and links to other subjects and resources. Users will also find resource collections (book titles, activities, related links) for specific curriculum areas and selected themes. In addition, the site contains a number of professional resources including a quarterly children's literature newsletter. Scout Report for Social Sciences

Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents = Centro para el Estudio de Libros Infantiles y Juveniles en Espanol
"Readers interested in children's books in Spanish can visit this site provided by Isabel Schon of California State University, San Marcos, to browse and search versions of 'recommended books in Spanish for children and adolescents published around the world.' The database, at present, contains bibliographic information on over 3,000 books that have been selected for 'quality of art and writing, presentation of material, and appeal to the intended audience.' It can be searched by any of thirteen fields, or browsed by author or title. Each bibliographic item contains a short description, along with information on whether the book was reviewed in any of the numerous books Ms. Schon has written on the topic." Internet Scout Report

The Children's Bookwatch
A very extensive list of reviews on new children's books for toddlers through young adult, updated monthly. Includes reviews on:

  • Audiobooks
  • Geography
  • Political Science
  • Biography
  • History
  • Poetry
  • Books in Series
  • Myth/Folklore
  • Preschool
  • Computer Games
  • Pets/Wildlife
  • Sports
  • Fiction
  • Picturebooks
  • Video
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Book Lists

101 Out-Of-This-World Books For Kids Ages 8-13
Compiled by the Arrowhead Library System, Janesville, Wisconsin.

African-American Voices in Children's Fiction
Compiled by the Arrowhead Library System, Janesville, Wisconsin.

Booklists of Children's Literature from Children's Services, Monroe County Public Library, Indiana.

Booktrusted book lists Annotated lists from Booktrust, an independent UK educational charity working for - and with - all those concerned with children and what they read.

Children's Booklists on the Web: A guide to theme-related bibliographies Annotated by Children's Services, Monroe County Public Library, Indiana.

Children's Choices, Teachers' Choices, and Young Adults' Choices from the International Reading Association.

Goals:

  • To develop an annual annotated reading list of new books that will encourage young people to read.
  • To help teachers, librarians, booksellers, parents, and others find books that young readers will enjoy.
  • To provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them.

Books for Children and Young Adults from the Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. There are thousands of new books published for children and young adults each year, and tens of thousands available through public and school libraries, or for purchase at bookstores, at any given time. The CCBC helps librarians, teachers, child care providers and others navigate the abundance of choices to locate the best books possible to meet their needs.

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Awards

Awards for Children's Books from the School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill, this project deals with the award origins, criteria, medal descriptions, and award books for Newbery and Caldecott Awards. The project is limited to Newbery and Caldecott Awards from 1985-1994.

The Caldecott Medal Home Page
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Children's Book Awards from The Children's Literature Web Guide. Includes International Awards, Canadian Awards, United States Awards, British Awards, Australian Awards, New Zealand Awards, Children's Choice Awards, & Best Books of the Year Lists.

Children's Book Prizes from Booktrust, an independent UK educational charity working for - and with - all those concerned with children and what they read.

The Newbery Medal Home Page
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Fables, Fairy Tales & Folktales

Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Project Gutenberg.

The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection is one of North America's leading research centers in the field of children's literature. Although the Collection has many strengths, the main focus is on American and British children's literature, historical and contemporary. Look for the links to Fables Fairy Tales & Folktales.

Fairy Tales and Mythology on the Internet from Montgomery College Library, Conroe, Texas.

Feminist Interpretation of Fairy Tales
This two-part discussion of feminist interpretations/discussions of fairy tales took place on WMST-L in June, 1994. WMST-L is a large, international e-mail forum or "list" for discussion of Women's Studies teaching, research, and program administration.

Folklinks Folk and Fairy-Tale Sites
Links compiled by Professor D. L. Ashliman, a folklore research specialist.

Grimm's Fairy Tales
This online book contains 209 tales collected by the brothers Grimm. The exact print source is unknown. The etext appears to be based on the translation by Margaret Hunt called Grimm's Household Tales, but it is not identical to her edition.

Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies.
Marvels & Tales
is a central forum for the multidisciplinary study of fairy tales. In its pages, contributors from around the globe have published studies, texts, and translations of fairy-tales from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. Find abstracts for articles and order them via Interlibrary Loan.

Suggested Texts for Feminist Interpretations/Discussions of Fairy Tales compiled by Stacey Horstmann, Emory University. June 1994.