Internet Resources

Children's Literature Resources on the Internet

 

 

Children's Literature Web Guide

The Children's Literature Web Guide has information about children's book awards, book lists and bibliographies, information about authors of children's books, and links to resources for librarians, parents, teachers, writers, and children. It is the premier Web site for people interested in children's literature.

Children's Book Awards

This is a resource page with a list of children's book awards and links to information about them, maintained by David K Brown at the University of Calgary. It includes international awards (for instance, IBBY's Hans Christian Andersen Award), national and regional awards from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and children's choice awards from many places.

Children's Book Council (CBC Online)

This site has information for parents, teachers, and librarians, and other people interested in children's books. There are ideas for celebrating National Children's Book Week (USA), lists of publishers, links to author and illustrator home pages, bibliographies.

Children's Book Council of Australia

The Children's Book Council of Australia Web site has information about the Council, about the Australian Children's Book of the Year Awards, about the state branches and state awards, and about state and national events. The Children's Book Council of Australia, Queensland Branch, has its own site, with state information and information about the BILBY Awards (Queensland's children's choice book awards). Other state branches with Web sites include Victoria and Western Australia.

International Youth Library, Munich

The International Youth Library "facilitates communication on children's and youth literature around the world" and is a major research resource. The Web site is in German.

Bologna Children's Book Fair

The Bologna Children's Book Fair is an annual international event that has been held in this Italian city for the last 36 years. It attracts authors, illustrators, editors, translators, publishers, booksellers, agents, media producers, critics, and other people who are interested in books and publishing for young people. There are exhibitions, discussion sessions, award presentations, and other events associated with the Fair. The next Bologna Children's Book Fair will be held from 29 March to 1 April 2000.

CHILDE

CHILDE (Children's Historical Literature Disseminated throughout Europe) is "a project, funded under the European Commission's Culture 2000 programme, that uses web technology to allow wider and more open access to images from collections of early children's books in Europe. It is hoped that by sharing these images and other resources with an international audience, the CHILDE project will lay the foundations for a wider network of early children's book collections." Libraries involved include the International Youth Library in Munich, The National Centre for Research in Children's Literature (NCRCL) at the University of Surrey at Roehampton, the Royal Library in The Hague, and Dublin City Public Libraries.

International Children's Digital Library

This project was announced in late 2002. Funded by the (United States) Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, in partnership with other organisations, and based on research, it aims to "build a digital library freely available to children around the world". It will have 10,000 children's books "drawn from 100 cultures".

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

This site has information about children's authors and illustrators, a collection of reviews of children's books, ideas for using the books in the classroom or library, and activities related to the books.

Kay Vandergrift's Children's Literature Page

Kay Vandergrift, a faculty member at the Rutgers University School of Information and Library Science, maintains a Web page with links to literature and children's literature sites and resources for those working with children and young people. This is an interesting page, created by an acknowledged expert in this field.

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

This site has searchable information and links to a range of resources, including book festivals and fairs, authors and illustrators, information about the Children's Literature Newsletter and promotional materials.

Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

This database has bibliographic information and short abstracts for more than 5000 children's picture books. It is designed for the academic community, and also to give "teachers, librarians, parents, and students a place for designing literature-based thematic units for all subjects". The database can be searched and browsed by keyword as well as by bibliographic details, and it is possible to track or expand themes through the keywords.

Eileen Wallace Children's Literature Collection

"The Eileen Wallace Children's Literature Collection is ... one of Canada's most extensive collections of children's literature". It is housed in the Harriet Irving Library of the University of New Brunswick. The Web site provides information about the collection, a link to the catalogue, and collections of links covering "reference books about children's authors", "reference books about children's literature", biographies, and "children's literature Internet links".

The American Library Association

The American Library Association Web site has information about the Newbery Awards and the Caldecott Awards for children's books. This includes information about the medals, details of this year's winners and honor books, lists of previous winners, and links to other resources.

Australian Children's Choice Awards

  • WAYRBA (Western Australian Young Readers Book Awards).
  • BILBY, Queensland
  • COOL, Australian Capital Territory.
  • YABBA (Young Australians' Best Book Award) is a children's choice book award based in Victoria, Australia. The site includes a list of previous winners.
  • CYBER (Children's Yearly Best Ever Reads -- Tasmania)

The Puffin House

This is the Web site of Puffin (UK). Arranged as a hourse with many rooms, the site has lots of interesting information, plus activities related to books, reading and writing. There are author profiles, information about books published by Puffin (including a searchable database in the "Library"), advance notice of new publications, "tips on becoming a writer", and competitions.

The Moonlit Road

"Take a walk down The Moonlit Road if you want to read or listen to folktales" at this very attractive Website. "Producer Craig Dominey and his team have taken a simple concept and created a quality contribution to the Web community" (Blue Web'n, 7 Fbruary 1998). Stories of the American south are accompanied by attractive graphics, with RealAudioversions read by well-known storytellers.

Teaching Books

The TeachingBooks.net web site has information about children's authors and illustrators (including video clips), teacher guides for using children's books in the classroom, author study materials, a section where questions can be posted for authors and illustrators, and links to other children's literature sites. There is a site search engine, and those who register can receive email updates on resources targeted to their own needs. Author and illustrator profiles highlight particular authors and illustrators. This site is aimed at teachers (and teacher librarians) who are using children's literature with children.

Last updated 27 October 2009 (KSB)