This page provides links to a variety of sites that will be useful for teachers, librarians and parents, and fun for kids. Sites denoted with a K are particularly oriented toward kids.
K - The Author's Corner has links to authors of interest to 3-8 grade students. It also has a Reading Corner which provides lists of books at the same grade levels.
Jennifer Armstrong's author page includes all new books (with reviews) and the same great specific detailing her books have! great answers to questions and directions for an author's day.
K - Jan Brett writes and beautifully illustrates her books about children and animals and trolls. The page is constantly changing but always includes extensive information about how she researches her stories and fun activities for teachers and kids.
K - Eric Carle is a beloved children's author and illustrator. The Very Hungry Caterpillar greets you, and the site includes answers to Frequently Asked Questions, lists of Mr. Carle's books, and a bulletin board for teachers and parents to exchange ideas.
K - Virginia Hamilton's homepage provides information about all of her books and her interests. It is of particular interest to teens.
Brian Jacques has a wonderful webmaster who's organized pictures, bios, FAQs, writing advice, information about books, and games as well.
Jackie Koller. This is the website of author of both YA, I Can Read, and picture books. There's lots for adults, reviewed work, information about her, and even a collection of her amazing gingerbread houses. There's kid friendly reviews and a slew of activities led by Zantor, make famous by Koller's Dragonling series.
Jane Kurtz. Author of children's books and materials for teachers has a great sense of classroom needs and children's likes. Her growing list of books have won many awards and she updates her site with exciting news about visiting Ethiopia to the White House!
K - The Internet Public Library's Author Page has links to biographies of famous authors that include their answers to some Frequently Asked Questions posted by Internet users.
Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells about her Caldecott-winning book Snowflake Bentley, gives examples of his photographs, and educational l essons, too. Note: this site tended to give me screen freeze
Rafe Martin. This site includes the background of this author of 17 book and storyteller that reads like quite a story. There's lots of information and reviews about his books and audio tapes. His articles about writing are great reads too.
Linda Sue Park. A relative newcomer to the field, Park's books are thoughtful and thoughtprovoking and so is her website which shows articles, information about her life and much about her reading. She offers a fun trivia who am I quiz for children, or children's book lovers!
Katherine Paterson is an award-winner author of children's books. This site has information about her books and awards, as well as answers to some Frequently Asked Questions from Ms. Paterson herself.
The Unofficial Harry Potter Website was begun for fans to "chat and share their love of Harry Potter". There are all kinds of involving activities (receiving quidditch mail, getting sorted, and even t-shirt decals to download). There are also teaching ideas, book suggestions "while you wait", an interview transcript with Rowlings, and the latest HP news!
Elise Primavera's Site with focus on her new book, Auntie Claus. Beginning Nov. 25th there will be udates about S. Claus' progress delivered by head elf Mr. Pudding
Patricia Polacco has an amazing site where she gives visual and text visions of her life and work that are personal, child-centered, filled with illustrations, and honor art, people in her life and children.
Maurice Sendak, one of the best-loved children's authors ever, shares how he became an author and his ideas about children's literature.
Aaron Shepard, the author of many retold children's books has an extensive collection of folktales, legends, classic, sacred and original tales. Many have been translated by Shepard into Reader's Theater to make children's dramatizing easy!
Cynthia Leitich Smith. Children's book author and reviewer is great at updating reviews, author interviews, and news about herself and her books.
K - Joyce Carol Thomas, poet and novelist, won the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Award for her 1994 poem and picture book, Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea.
Kay E. Vandergrift's Author and Illustrator Page provides hundreds of links to websites about authors and illustrators.
David Wisniewski is the 1997 Caldecott Medal-winner for his book, Golem. The page includes some basic information about his work and background, and a list of his books.
Audrey Wood's Site is full of graphics, information on the many Woods books, teacher suggestions, activities, and information about how to receive the Smart Piggies' Newsletter.
K - ACHUKA "aim[s] to be an informative, reliable and thought-provoking site covering the children's books market in the UK." It offers selective lists every month for a wide variety of categories including teen/young adult, first readers, nonfiction, poetry, fiction and picture books, as well as news, teacher guides and profiles of and interviews with authors. Although nominally oriented toward adults, many older children may enjoy browsing this site as well.
High schooler Adam Balutis is an avid reader and reviewer who minces no words, places books in a proper YA perspective, and has a great rating scale. Not all that many reviews, but all are well-done.
ALA's Quick Picks for the Reluctant Young Readers provides bibliographies of books that appeal to reluctant readers for parents and teachers.
The Bulletin for the Center of Childrens Books - Reviews of current children's books (with one long look called Big Picture), author focuses, featured reviews on subjects and the Blue Ribbons (awards that should have been given)
Links to Canadian authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. To be used as a reference guide for parents and teachers. Provided by the National Library of Canada.
Children's Books on the Physically Challenged - Short one line annotations describe a number of novels and picture books about special needs children.
Children's Literature is "a monthly newsletter that helps teachers, librarians, childcare providers and parents make appropriate literary choices for children." It is a gold-mine of quite varied material for adults and children. This is a terrific resource for research on different authors, genres, and topical bibliographies, as well as for reviews, teaching materials, and contests for kids.
Children's Literature: A Newsletter for Adults has reviews of children's books. The site "is designed to enhance children's literacy by helping adults find the best children's books available."
Children's Literature Web Guide is, in keeping with its name, a good resource for linking to other children's literature resources on the web. It also includes some good quick reference tools, like best books and bestsellers of the year, and complete lists of the winners of national and international awards. More oriented toward adults than kids.
Writer-Reviewer Darcy Pattison offers reviews and usually has some interactive fun for children's book fans
Books about children with disabilities - Long listing of special needs books divided into different disabilities.
K - Educational and entertaining links for Empowering Girls. Made available by Kay E. Vandergrift of Rutgers University.
Children's book editor Harold Underdown advises and offers articles about writing for children as well as giving great links for children's literature sites!
Kids' Reading AnnEx a site that helps teachers help their students to read, encode, annotate and ponder. Includes an on-line bookclub and plenty of books to comment and read comments of others.
The Librarians Guide to Cyberspace for Parents and Kids is mounted by the ALA and provides separate selective lists of terrific sites for both groups. Parents may need to assist younger kids: the list is text-heavy and somewhat crowded.
Linda Lamme, professor of children's lit at Univ. of Fl has well-organized reviews on subjects such as realistic fiction, easy to read books, and more
K - Once Upon a Time is similar to the Children's Literature Web Guide, but also offers links to television broadcasting companies around the world as well as particular U.S. channels, and to libraries, museums, planetariums and zoos, among other things. It includes students' pages and resources for teachers and librarians. A fun page for kids to browse.
Random House for Teachers is primarily a site for teachers (lesson plans and discussion possibiilites and opportunities to win new books) there are also many author interviews (well-written with wonderful quotes) and clubs for kids (including Junie B. Jones club) that might be enjoyed by a wider audience.
K - Student Reviews of Young Adult Literature publishes book reviews by young adults. The books can be searched by author, title or genre.
Kay E. Vandergrift's resources for children's writing and publishing links. A resource for parents and teachers to help children write well.
K - The Young People's Literature Author Page provides links to hypertext documents by children and young adult authors.
K - Now We Are Linked provides extensive links to information about Winnie-the-Pooh and friends, including graphics, history and audio sites, as well as other Pooh pages. Terrific for Pooh-lovers of all ages.
K - Fun page for kids about all aspects of the book Treasure Island.