Online Resources: Children's Literature

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, the Australian Children's Book of the Year Awards, the Children's Choice Awards, 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 websites 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 site is in English and 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 since 1964. 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, usually held in the first part of the year. Site is available in Italian and English.

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
The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global communityundefinedwho exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideasundefinedby making the best in children's literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children's books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children. Site is available in multiple languages.

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..

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 is the largest research collection of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Endowed by librarian and long-time educator, Eileen Wallace, this non-circulating collection comprises over 12,000 monographs and 5000 microfiche titles. Supplemented by the UNB Libraries' circulating collection in children's literature and children's literary criticism, the Eileen Wallace Collection is the key resource for the study of children's literature within the region." The collection is housed at the University of New Brunswick. The site provides information about the collection, a link to the catalog, and collections of links.\

The American Library Association
The American Library Association Web site has information about the Newbery Medals and the Caldecott Medals 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.

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 February 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.