Storyline Online

Storyline Online is a fun and engaging site where kids can listen to and watch a story. All stories are read by actors from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. While not an overly large selection of picture books, the ones selected are high interest and are quality literature by well-known authors. Each book has related activities that a teacher could use to extend the story along with being excellent additions to many classroom units of study. If you've never seen this site in action, try it!

ATN Reading Lists

Have you ever looked for pre-made book lists on a particular theme, genre or reading skill? ATN (All Together Now) Reading Lists has all this and more. It originally started in 1996 as a simple website created and maintained by one person, but recently has evolved into a wiki where anyone can add to it. ATN has exhaustive book lists on any topic imaginable. It seems to be more elementary focused, but does have lists for middle and high school. This is a tool that I turn to often when searching for and creating specialized book lists. And the best part is that this resource is alive and growing everyday. Anyone can join the wiki to add their expertise.

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature (or DAWCL) is designed to help select titles of children's books based on certain criteria. This database enables you to search by items such as genre, setting, ethinicity/nationality of protagonist, gender of protagonist, keyword, awards, format, and more. Why is this helpful? While you can search a library's catalog by keyword, it is also somewhat limited to the assigned subject-terms. The creator of DAWCL, Lisa R. Bartle, is a librarian and has read many of the books that are included in the database. This means that she is able to create a robust index far more complete and searchable than a library's online catalog. This database has amazing detail and will be very helpful for anyone looking to create an exciting reading list.

Series Books

Do your students ever wonder which book is the next in a series? The Mid-Continent Public Library does an amazing job of organizing and tracking juvenile series and sequels. It allows you to search by series title, series subject, book title, and author. MCPL manages to stay really current with this database which is no easy feat! If you're ever looking for "what's next" in a chilren's series, this is the site to bookmark.

Mid-Continent Public Library Juvenile Series and Sequels