Websites
Internet Resources on Children’s Literature
Check out this list of websites full of free children’s literature.
Always be cautious when using sites from the open internet, and be sure to read websites critically.
How Google Search Works
Websites about Children’s Literature
See these sites for free books and book information.
- Children’s Picture Book Database at Miami University
The Children’s Picture Book Database at Miami University is
a collection of picture book abstracts searchable by topics, concepts, and skills for building content area reading across all academic subjects. The collection contains abstracts of over 5,800 picture books for children, preschool to grade three.
- Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)
Managed by the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the CCBC is a research library for the subject of children’s literature. It includes a wide variety of online resources in addition to its noncirculating print collection.
- Database of Award-Winning Children’s Literature
A privately managed, open-access database of children’s book abstracts, including winners of 162 awards from six countries. The database contains records for over 15,000 books.
- New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids
The New York Public Library annually selects a list of one hundred children’s titles considered exceptional.
Free Books Online
- Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature
A library of historical works at the University of Florida. It includes many texts that have been digitized and made available on the internet.
- Children’s Literature Bookshelf
An extensive collection of public-domain children’s literature sorted by author, available from Project Gutenberg.
- International Children’s Digital Library
A collection of digitized children’s books both historical and contemporary from around the world and in a wide variety of languages, freely available on the internet.
- Read.gov
The Library of Congress has a wide selection of digitized classic children’s literature available online in high-quality scans, as well as many other resources.
Read Websites Critically
Anyone can publish anything on the internet.
Use the Spider Method to ensure that your internet sources are appropriate for your research.
- Source
Who wrote the information? Is he qualified? If you can’t find an author, you shouldn’t trust the information until you verify it elsewhere.
- Purpose
Why does this website exist? Is it intended to sell a product or convince readers of something? Can you detect any bias?
- Information
Is the information current? Check for a publication date. If there isn’t one, you need to verify currency with another source.
- Domain
Be aware of the host site. Is the domain .edu or .gov? These domains sometimes have more authoritative or reliable information.
- Educational
Who is the intended audience? Is there adequate depth to the information? Are you sure it’s not a hoax site or satire?
- Reliability
Is the same information available on other websites? Triangulate with other sources to improve the chance of getting complete or accurate information.