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Websites for Readers



Good Starting Points

See also more literature and books resources.
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Bestsellers Lists

For bestsellers lists with links to the library's holdings and the ability to place holds, see the library's online catalog.
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Book Awards


  • Children's Literature Awards

    • ALSC Awards
      The Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association presents yearly awards for outstanding books and media for children and young adults.

    • Caldecott Medal
      Awarded by the American Library Association to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

    • Coretta Scott King Award
      Awarded by the American Library Association to authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American dream."

    • Jefferson Cup
      The Youth Services Forum of the Virginia Library Association's award for an American biography, historical fiction or history book for young people.

    • NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
      The National Council of Teachers of English award for outstanding nonfiction for children.

    • Newbery Medal
      Awarded by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

    • Printz Award
      Awarded for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.

    • Pura Belpré Award
      Presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children and young adults.

    • Virginia Readers Choice
      Awards are presented to noteworthy books in the field of children's/young adult literature representing each of the following reading levels: primary, elementary, middle and high school.

  • Literature Awards

    For lists of award winning titles with links to the library's holdings and the ability to place holds, see the library's online catalog.
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Book Discussion Guides

See also information on the library's book discussion groups and book discussion kits.

  • LitLovers
    An online community dedicated to books and book clubs. Unique features include free online literature courses, recipes to go with books and ideas for children's and teens' book groups.

  • Reading Group Choices
    Dozens of selections from a variety of publishers. Each discussion guide includes a brief biography and topics to consider.

  • ReadingGroupGuides.com — Find a Guide
    Browse by title or author, or use one of many subject guides to find suggestions for topics for book discussion groups.

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Book Reviews — and More

  • Book Page
    New book reviews, author interviews, and an archive of reviews going back to 1996.

  • BookBrowse
    Browse for book reviews and excerpts of books by author, title or genre. Includes brief biographies of authors, interviews and reading guides.

  • New York Review of Books
    Newest issue and archives to search by title, author, reviewer, etc.

  • The New York Times Sunday Book Review
    Includes current reviews and a searchable database of book reviews back to1981.

  • Washington Post Books
    Book reviews and local literary calendar.

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Buying Books

  • Abebooks
    A multi-dealer, searchable site for used books. Allows searching by publisher as well as title and author.

  • AddALL Book Search and Price Comparison
    The AddALL site allows you to search several sites simultaneously for either used or new books.

  • Alibris
    This site searches a variety of book dealer holdings for used and rare books.

  • Bookfinder.com
    Search this metasite for new and used books by author, title or type of book.

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Children's Literature

See also TumbleBookLibrary, children's literature awards, early literacy, and the library's book lists for preschoolers and book lists by grade.

  • American Folklore
    Short entertaining stories which include tall tales, folktales, ethnic tales and famous characters.

  • Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature
    Print out a custom list based on criteria such as suggested reading level, genre, format, gender of protagonist, setting or historical period.

  • Guys Read
    "… if you're looking for something to get a guy reading," book recommendations from teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, parents and guys themselves.

  • Horn Book Magazine's Recommended Books
    A collection of annotated lists of literature for children and young adults, including their popular list of Children's Classics. Other interesting areas of the Horn Book website are their resources for educators, parents, authors and artists.

    Note: Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files on this site.
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  • International Children's Digital Library
    A project of the University of Maryland and the Internet Archives, the International Children's Digital Library offers a large number of full-text children's books, including illustrations, in several languages. Enter the library to browse by subject, geographical setting or origin.

  • Juvenile Series and Sequels
    This database can be searched by author, title, series title or by subject. Books are classified by reading level as either juvenile easy, juvenile, or young adult. The website is produced by Mid-Continent Public Library, Missouri. Fairfax County Public Library owns many, but not all, titles.

  • Kidsreads.com
    Part of The Book Report Network, this site for children's literature includes book reviews, articles, author profiles and interviews, information on series books, synopses of new releases and literary games and contests.

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Classics

  • Great Books
    A compilation of lists of classics in Western, Eastern and contemporary literature.

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Early Literacy

See also the library's booklists for preschool children and early literacy information.

Early Literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Below are some websites for parents, caregivers and educators which provide guidance to help children develop literacy skills and encourage reading.

 

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Fiction Genres

Fantasy/Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Horror, Inspirational Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Urban Fiction, Westerns

  • Fantasy/Science Fiction

  • Graphic Novels

  • Historical Fiction

    • Historical Novel Society
      Review of historical fiction searchable by author, type, period or century. Includes novels for children and young adults.

    • Historical Novels.Info
      "More than 5000 historical novels listed by time and place, including more than 300 reviews."

  • Horror

  • Inspirational Fiction

    • FaithfulReader.com
      For those interested in religion and the spiritual life. Includes reviews, book excerpts, study guides, author bios and more.

  • Mystery

    • Historical Mysteries
      Search for historical mysteries by time period or by author.

    • The Mystery Reader
      Read the latest reviews of mystery novels listed by category, or search the archives for earlier reviews and links to other websites.

    • Stop, You're Killing Me!
      A resource for mystery, crime, thriller, spy and suspense readers. Includes author and chronological series lists, read-alikes and indexes by location, job, historical period and diversity.

  • Romance

    • All About Romance
      "The back fence for lovers of romance novels." Reviews, articles, message boards and the "who's who and what's what in romance fiction today."

    • The Romance Reader
      A site with "The very latest news and views of romance novels."

  • Urban Fiction

    • Books of Soul
      Recommended urban fiction from a forum dedicated to books by and about African Americans.

    • Street Fiction
      Author interviews, reviews and news of urban fiction.

  • Westerns

    • Roundup Magazine
      Monthly reviews of westerns from the Western Writers of America's online magazine.

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Online Texts


  • eAudiobooks

    See also eAudiobooks available from the library.

    • LibriVox
      Access to public domain eAudiobooks read by volunteers.

    • Project Gutenberg
      Access to public domain eAudiobooks read by humans or generated by computers.

  • eBooks

    See also eBooks available from the library.

    • Bartleby.com
      Full-text access to a wide variety of reference, verse, fiction, and nonfiction titles.

    • Digital Book Index
      Links to more than 150,000 titles of electronic books from more than 1,800 publishers. At least 60,000 are available for free. Search by author and/or title, and browse by subject, author or publisher. Note: Free registration is required.

    • Online Books Page
      An index linking to thousands of online text resources in English as well as to works in other languages. Includes archives of freely accessible serials (magazines, journals, newsletters, etc.).

    • Project Gutenberg
      Links to the full text of thousands of books, including books written in more than 40 languages.

  • Poetry

  • Short Stories

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Teen Reading

See also booklists for teens and readers.

  • Reading Rants!
    "Out of the ordinary teen booklists." A source of up-to-date book reviews and an interactive blog where teens can read reviews, respond to them or write their own.

  • Teenreads.com
    Comprehensive site for teen readers includes monthly reviews of books, manga and paperbacks; The Ultimate Teen Reading List; books into movies, reading group guides and more.

  • YA Book Blog Directory
    Links to blogs by readers and authors of Young Adult literature.


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