Children’s and Young Adult Literature Blogs

Blogs are more popular than ever and they are a great way to stay updated on what is going on in children’s and young adult literature, to get ideas for teaching in the classroom, or decide what to read next. Below is a sampling of some of the better blogs in the field. The number of blogs is huge, so to narrow it down we evaluated how often the blogs were updated, their layout and content, and how often the blogs were cited by others as being authoritative. Many of these blogs are updated daily or every other day, with most of them taking a break from posting over the weekends. To find additional blogs you can look at the blogrolls, or lists of recommended blogs, often on the right hand side of each of these blogs or go through the two sites immediately below.

Kidlitosphere Central
This site gives a “sampler” of good blogs to start with.

Blog Central: Children’s Book Reviewers
This site lists blogs that review children’s books.
Children’s Literature

100 Scope Notes
This elementary school librarian’s blog is updated daily with interesting articles, reviews, and news on children’s literature. The blog’s author reviews for the School Library Journal and has been a judge for the Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards). 100 Scope Notes is great for fun posts including their features: Cover Controversies (whitewashed characters, books with very similar covers, etc), and Link du Jour.

A Fuse #8 Production
This is one of the most referred to sites in the children’s literature blogosphere. The author of this site is a children’s librarian in the New York Public Library system and is currently (spring 2010) counting down her list of the top 100 children’s novels. She reviews books and posts about news in the children’s literature and YA community.

Picture Book of the Day: Using Picture Books to Teach the Six Traits of Writing
This is a great site for teachers because each blog entry includes a summary and mini lesson idea (on organization, conventions, ideas, word choice, sentence fluency, or voice) for each book. This blog features Nonfiction Monday and Poetry Friday. Also check out the author’s companion blog “5 Great Books” where each Wednesday she shares a list of 5 books on a specific topic for children who are learning to read.

ShelfTalker: A Children’s Bookseller’s Blog
The tagline to this site is “in which children’s booksellers ponder all things literary, artistic and mercantile.” This blog talks about everything from new books, recommendations for teachers, and the publishing world, to amusing experiences dealing with bookstore customers who can only remember one word of the title they are looking for–often “The.” They also compile and post lists of how many starred reviews books have received from publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Booklist.

Young Readers
This wonderful site is updated daily with book summaries and reviews for books for children from birth until ten years old. Holiday books are featured seasonally. Up currently are Easter books!

Young Adult (YA) Literature

GreenBeanTeenQueen
This teen and tween librarian shares teen and tween book reviews, news, and author interviews.

Guys Lit Wire
In the words of the Guys Lit Wire writers, this daily updated blog exists “to bring literary news and reviews to the attention of teenage boys and the people who care about them. We are more than happy to welcome female readers – but our main goal is to bring the attention of good books to guys who might have missed them. The titles will be new or old and on every subject imaginable. We guarantee new posts every Monday through Friday and have a list of twenty-three individual scheduled contributors plus several additional occasional posters all of whom have different literary likes and dislikes. We hope to provide something for everyone and will strive to accomplish that goal.”

I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell do I Read?
Writer Lee Wind blogs mainly about literature but also about other forms of popular entertainment that include gay characters. A unique resource for librarians, teachers, and anyone interested in GLBTQ literature. Also featured are poems and quotes from GLBTQ history.

readergirlz
readergirlz was founded in celebration of Women’s National History Month. This blog is run by five YA authors and promotes teen literacy and leadership in girls by each month featuring a different YA novel and matching community service project. The blog also features YA literature news and the feature Cover Stories, where the writers discuss book covers, including their origins. readergirlz also has twice yearly special literacy projects. Past literacy project Operation Teen Book Drop has helped donate over 20,000 new YA books to hospitalized teens.

Teenreads.com Blog
Teenreads.com is a great resource for new and popular young adult literature. The site’s blog features mostly author interviews and information about new releases.

Blogs Featuring Both Children’s & Young Adult Literature

Jen Robinson’s Book Page

This blog’s free Growing Bookworms newsletter “contains content from [the] blog focused on children’s books and raising readers. It is sent out once every two weeks. There are currently 1054 subscribers.” Jen also posts a weekly news roundup of reading and literacy events in the blogosphere, as well as children’s and young adult book reviews. This is a highly regarded site and is linked to by many other blogs.

(Selections and commentary provided by Katelyn Edds)