LibGuides: How to Read to Children: Choosing a Book

Book Awards and Reading Lists

On-line Resources

And Do It Like This . . . (audio)
Hear text read aloud--from children’s author/illustrator/storyteller Mem Fox
10 Tips for Reading Aloud with Children
Drop Everything Reads
Favorite Read-Aloud Titles for Families of D.E.A.R. Readers--from the D.E.A.R. Organization
E.B White Read Aloud Awards
From ABC Children's Group--since 2004 this award is granted by the Association of Booksellers for Children for children’s books “nominated for their universal appeal as a ‘terrific’ books to read aloud”
Read Aloud Books
From the Indiana Library Federation--includes 5 age categories – high school, middle school, intermediate, primary, ageless--yearly lists since 1990

Children's Literature Sites

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
University of Illinois
Cooperative Children's Book Center
Information on authors and illustrators, thematic bibliographies, best-of-the-year lists, and links to other children's literature sites.
Literature for Children
Digitized, primarily historical collection of over 600 works from before 1850 to beyond the 1950's from the U.S. and Great Britain.
International Children's Digital Library
Digitized books from around the world categorized by length, age group, & subject.
Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature
Contains more than 100,000 volumes published in Great Britain and the United States from the early 1700s through the current year.
AdLit
"AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers. AdLit.org is an educational initiative of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital, and is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation."
Children's Picture Book Database
A bibliography for designing literature-based thematic units for all disciplines.

Library Catalogs

One of the best ways to choose a book is to immerse yourself in the Children's section of a Library. If you don't have time for that, look for children's books using the Niles North Catalog or the Skokie Public Library Catalog.

Additional Resources

Importance of Reading Aloud