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Children's Book Awards
Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Newbery Award
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the same division of the ALA to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Coretta Scott King Award
A committee of the American Library Association presents this award to authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books represent "the American Dream."
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards recognize works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction published in the U.S.
Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
Another ALSC award, this medal is for authors and illustrators who have made “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
This award by the National Council of Teachers of English honors a living American poet for his or her body of work for children ages 3-13. The award is given every three years; the next will be in 2006.
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
This ALSC award honors the author of an outstanding nonfiction book.
International Reading Association Children’s Book Awards
Because these awards go to authors who have published only one or two books, they are a good way to broaden your horizons with authors you’ve never heard of. There’s an award for fiction and for nonfiction in each of three age categories.
Lists of Recommended Books
Booklist
Semi-monthly. Published by the American Library Association, this journal features brief annotations of recommended general interest and reference books as well as of audiovisual materials. The free website offers selected reviews and the annual Editor's Choice of books and videos.
Classics for Young People
This page of the Children’s Literature Web Guide lists books that are available as full text on the web, but it also has links to more comprehensive lists of children’s classics.
Hot off the Press
This unique online bibliography features anticipated bestsellers, recently published or forthcoming, from member publishers of the Children's Book Council.
Highlights of Children’s Books
The Free Public Library of Philadelphia has three categories of recommended titles: picture books, fiction, and nonfiction. The fiction and nonfiction are for grades 3-6.
Choices Booklists
The International Reading Association offers annual lists of children’s choices, teachers’ choices, and young adults’ choices.
Children’s Literature Network
Members of the Children’s Literature Network—authors, parents, teachers, librarians, and others—have compiled top-ten lists in a variety of categories.
Book Sense Children’s Books Picks, Winter 2005-2006
BookSense.com is a family of websites of independent booksellers. Lists, updated quarterly, are divided by age ranges, with a separate category for poetry.
Children's Bookstores
Powell's Bookstore Children's Section
Favorite Authors' Websites
Nonbook Materials
Children's Notable Lists
Besides books, the American Library Association offers Children’s Notable Lists for recordings, videos, and computer software—plus a handy list of distributors.
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video
Supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, this award honors outstanding video productions for children.
Kids First Reviews
Kids First’s parenting section offers reviews of children’s videos, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and audio CDs.
School Library Journal Picks of the Weeks
Of course SLJ highlights books, but the journal also selects a children’s audio, video, and website of the week.
Book Clubs
LiteratureCircles.com
Sponsored by the Walloon Institute, a summer retreat for educators, and Stenhouse, publishers of Harvey Daniel’s book on literature circles, this site offers “one-stop shopping” for book club leaders.
Besides lists of recommended books for reading groups, this site also offers advice for running a book club.
Pathfinder Literature Circles
This handy bibliography, including
websites, comes from Winnipeg School Division Library Media
Services.
LIterature Circles Resource Center
Seattle University’s College of Education offers tips on structuring literature circles for primary or middle school students, booklists, discussion tips, and more.
LitSite Alaska Literature Circles
Janet Lopez of Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School in Juneau provides great advice on running literature circles as well as handouts including group role guides and help for low auditory learners.
Literacy & Democracy
National Archives Digital Classroom
Resources for teachers and students can easily be adapted for use in an afterschool program.
Center for Democracy and Citizenship
This center, based at the
Tolerance.org, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, offers a wide variety of articles, teacher’s kits, and audiovisual materials.
Hundreds of teaching and learning activities connected to the Library of Congress’ American Memory history project.
Youth Action NYC
A program of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, Youth Action NYC is a student advocacy group that offers training and other resources for young activists.
Freechild Project
The Freechild Project connects youth with resources that encourage social activism and enable them to be leaders for change.
Just for Girls
Read about the Write Girl model of professionally mentored writer’s workshops for adolescent girls. Anthologies of participants’ work may provide inspiration for the young women writers in your program.
Girls Circle A project of the Tides Center in northern California, Girls Circle provides training and resources on structured support groups for pre-teen and teen girls.
Science, Gender, and Afterschool Community of Practice
This interactive forum on encouraging girls’ involvement in science, math, and technical fields is sponsored by the Promising Practices in Afterschool System of the AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research. Resources and forums focus on issues of access, program content and strategies, and staff development.
Girl Scouts of the USA
You don’t have to be a Scout troop to take advantage of the Girl Scouts’ rich array of articles and resources on positive youth development for girls.
Recommended Books for Women’s History Month
Brought to you by Scholastic, this list of books (from many publishers, not just Scholastic) is organized by grade level and by topic.
Free Resources for Women’s History Month
The reference publisher Gale offers online lesson plans and activities, brief biographies from Abigail Adams to Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and an interactive quiz on notable women.
Girls Inc. started in 1864 as Girls Clubs of America--but you wouldn’t guess the organization's age by looking at its highly interactive website. Resources for adults include a variety of fact sheets and resource lists. Girls can enjoy a variety of interactive activities that build literacy skills and character.
Program Evaluation
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
Explore this site to better understand evaluation from the grantmaker’s perspective.
An evaluation handbook and logic model development guide—in English and Spanish—are among the tools the W. K. Kellogg Foundation offers.
Sponsored by
Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation
Part of the American Evaluation Association, this group headed by David Fetterman of
Innovation Network
Numerous evaluation tools and resources are available at Innovation Network; you have to log in but the tools are free. Resources include a guided step-by-step process for creating a logic model.
Harvard Family Research Project
The Out-of-School-Time Evaluation Database includes hundreds of afterschool program evaluations, in which you can locate findings, tools, and methodologies. The online newsletter Evaluation Exchange includes articles focused specifically on out-of-school-time programs.
Bruner Foundation
Download Participatory Evaluation Essentials: A Guide for Nonprofit Organizations and Their Evaluation Partners, which includes extensive information about program evaluations plans, terminology, logic models, data collection strategies, data analysis, and report writing.
Media Literacy & Adolescent Literacy
Alliance for Excellent Education
The section on adolescent literacy features two important reports: Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy (October 2004) and Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21st Century (November 2003).
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
Among NCREL’s many fine resources is a one-page definition, Adolescent Literacy: Essential Components of a Successful Program. Check the other Adolescent Literacy areas, and then return to NCREL home page to view Technology in Education.
Center for Media Literacy
A wide variety of resources characterize the Center for Media Literacy’s website, including newsletters, lesson plans, a “Crash Course in Media Literacy,” and a complete framework for media literacy K-12.
Media That Matters Film Festival
Sponsored by Media Rights, Media That Matters chooses top short documentaries by young people for screening in various cities and on its website. View some outstanding films by young people on such topics as juvenile justice, voting, and military recruiting.
Action Coalition for Media Education
ACME develops and distributes media literacy curricula and advocates for independent media production. An annual conference and a research database are just a few of its offerings.
Media Awareness Network
This Canadian organization offers a variety of resources focused on TV awareness and Internet literacy.