Whether choosing books for avid readers or finding titles for reluctant readers, these websites are sure to help. You’ll find book reviews, games, printable worksheets, author bios, and an opportunity for kids to interact with others who love the same books they do.
Alan Brown: Just for Kids Who Love Books
Alan Brown, a retired Canadian school librarian, updates this site every day with posts from kids about their favorite books. In addition to the book reviews, kids between 8 and 14 can submit short stories, favorite quotes, and comments about their favorite books. Although many of the kids respond to posts written by others, the messages are not threaded (forum-style) so it can be a bit hard to follow conversations. Brown includes resources for finding author sites and lists of book awards.
HarperCollins: Children’s Books
Discover books, authors, and illustrators through games, videos, and contests at the kids portal of publisher HarperCollins Children’s. My favorite click is Browse Inside, where you can preview over 10,500 books such as “Coraline’’ by Neil Gaiman or “The Composer Is Dead’’ by Lemony Snicket. Browse Inside also allows you to embed these previews on your MySpace profile or website. The books are organized into lists of bestsellers, most e-mailed, and most viewed, or you can search them by keyword.
Kids@Random
The official site for kids books at Random House is a collection of mini-sites for treasured book characters such as Thomas & Friends, Junie B, Berenstain Bears, and hundreds of others from the likes of Disney, Dr. Seuss, and Sesame Street. Visit to keep up with your favorite book series, and to interact with your favorite characters at their websites. The Magic Tree House site, for example, has printable activities, online games, and a Readers & Writers Club with tips for budding writers.
In addition to book reviews, regular features at Kidsreads.com include what’s new in paperback, great books for boys, and books turned into movies (which currently include the holiday season releases of Disney’s “A Christmas Carol’’ and “Fantastic Mr. Fox’’ based on the book by Roald Dahl). Other reasons to visit include the author interviews, author contact info, book trivia quizzes, word scrambles, polls, and contests.
