Online Stories Reader's Theater Favorite Authors Discussion Guides Book Awards Book Talks

Walnut Grove Media Center   Children's Literature

 Online Stories

Search Online Stories by title 

Search for online books by title using the University of Pennsylvania Digital Library's search. 

Aesop's Fables 

This site has hundreds of fables and fairy tales. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

by Lewis Carroll - A twelve-chapter performance in RealAudio by the Wired for Books Players. 

Beantime Stories from Chateau Meddybemps 

Where jellybeans ripen under tropical rainbows. Check their homepage for other neat things. 

Korean Folk Tales 

Stories are audio version of Korean Folk Tales. You will need shockwave to view this site. 

Little Animals Activity Center 

For 4-8 year olds. From BBC. Audio stories where there is interactive participation. This is a British site and the language pronunciation and meanings may seem strange at times. 

Mightybook.com 

A great site with stories that are read to the students, plus a lot of different characters and activities to choose from. Each character represents a different content area with various activities! 

NickJr 

has stories that are read aloud and animated. A very good site for young children. Click on the stories link to get to the list of stories that are told. Don't forget to click around while the story is being read for cute animation of the characters. 

Online Children's Stories 

Stories available on the Internet to read or download. Some of them are from well-known books, others can be found only online. 

Stories to Grow By from Whootie Owl 

Search for stories by type, the values taught, or the place of origin. This is a large stockpile of stories and the stories are age ranked. 

Story Place - The Children's Digital Library 

Visit the preschool library and the elementary library. Audio available. 

Classics for Young People 

Classical books available in full-text. 

Cool4Kids 

Online stories in many genres. 

Cecily Parsely's Nursery Rhyme 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

Johnny Town-Mouse 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

Miss Moppet 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

The Tale of Peter Rabbit 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

The Pie and the Patty Pan 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

Timmy Tiptoes 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

The Tale of Two Bad Mice 

A Beatrix Potter favorite from Ohio University's "Wired for Books". 

 Reader's Theater: involves a group of children in reading a play, a story, or a poem. Children are assigned to read  particular parts. After reading through their parts silently, children read the text orally. Props are not required. Presentations  can be easily done in a classroom. Scripts are held by the readers. Lines are not memorized. The focus is on reading the text  with expressive voices and gestures. The following sites provide great scripts for reader's theater presentations and good  information on the value of reader's theater. 

Readers Theater 

This site centers on Readers Theater, a highly motivational strategy that connects oral reading, literature, and drama in the classroom. 

Readers Theater K-3 

A collection of Reader's Theater scripts. 

Lisa Blau's archive of scripts . 

A collection of Reader's Theater scripts. 

Mrs. McGowan's Reader's Theater 

Mrs. McGowan, first grade teacher talks about the Reader's Theater techniques. 

Aaron Shepard's Reader's Theater 

Here are resources for reader’s theater - including the acclaimed series of free scripts Reader’s Theater Editions - all from children’s author Aaron Shepard. If you’re looking for a perfect combination of education and fun, this is it!

 Favorite Authors: some great sites about authors and illustrators.

Internet School Library Media Center's index to author and illustrator Internet sites 

The ISLMC's index to authors and illustrators points you to information about authors including: Print Bibliographies, Author Birthdays, Author / Illustrator Appearances, Author Interviews Online, Name Pronunciation Guide, Literary Maps, and other sites about favorite authors and illustrators. 

McGraw-Hill Authors and Illustrators 

Web sites developed by authors and illustrators. 

David K. Brown's Children's Literature Web Guide 

The websites listed here include authors' personal websites and websites maintained by fans, scholars, and readers. 

Fairrosa Cyber Library of Children's Literature 

Individual and collective sites about Authors and Illustrators. 

Kay Vandergrift's Authors and Illustrators 

More than six hundred links to children's and young adult authors and illustrators as well as many adult authors commonly read by young adults. 

Children's Book Council Authors and Illustrators 

Explore the world of Authors and Illustrators. 

Gander Academy's Children's Authors and Illustrators On-line 

These five Web sites represent the best alphabetized lists of author and illustrator resources currently on-line today. 

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Web Site 

Many suggestions on how to use children's literature in the classroom. 

 Book Discussion Guides: Many of the discussion guides below feature a review of the book, discussion and activities, and links to related sites.

Linda's Links to Literature

This website has 11,000+ links to activities and lesson plans for children's and young adult literature. Links are arranged in alphabetical order by title.

Sparknotes Study Guides

Literature study guides for intermediate and young adult fiction. 

Doucette Library of Teaching Resources

The Doucette Index provides access to books and websites that contain useful teaching suggestions related to books for children and young adults, and the creators of those books.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

This is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom and collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics.

Scholastic Discussion Guides

Most guides contain introductions and summaries, explorations of the theme, setting, characterization and plot, discussion points, group activities, and interdisciplinary connections. To navigate to these discussion guides, click the teacher's tab, click on the "Tools and Timesavers Content Index: Ready to Go Lessons", then click on discussion guides.

Nancy Polette's Literature Guides

Each month Nancy features a sample literature guide for classroom use. Archived guides may be found on this site. 

 Book Awards

Randolph Caldecott Medal 

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Current and past winners are available at this site. . 

John Newbery Medal 

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished American book for children. Current and past winners are available at this site. 

Coretta Scott King Award 

The Coretta Scott King Award is made annually by the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association to African American authors and artists for young people. Current and past winners are available at this site. 

Michael L. Printz Award 

The Printz Award is made annually by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association. This award is for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature, for ages 12-18. 

Awards given by the Association for Library Services to Children 

Find a variety of awards given for excellence in literature, audio recordings, translation and more! 

Young Adult Library Services Association Booklists 

Find a variety of booklists created for young adults, noting excellence in literature, audio recordings, paperbacks, and more! 

The Hans Christian Andersen Medal 

This international award is given every two years. When it was established in 1956, the award was given a living author who had made significant contributions to the field of Children's Literature over many years. Thus, the recognition was not for just one book (as with most of the other awards), but for many outstanding books over a lifetime career. In 1966, a second award was created so that an outstanding illustrator might also be recognized for lifetime achievements and contributions to the field of Children's Literature. 

The Kate Greenaway Medal 

Awarded by the British Library Association, the Kate Greenaway Medal was created in 1956. The award is presented annually for the most distinguished work in the illustration of children's books published in the United Kingdom. 

Pura Belpre Award 

Presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. 

Boston Globe - Hornbook Awards 

Awarded annually since 1967, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature honor outstanding titles in three categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction, and Picture Book. 

Orbis Pictus Award 

NCTE, through the Committee on the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, has established an annual award for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children. 

Iowa Children's Choice 

Iowa's children's choice literary award program designed to develop an appreciation among Iowa's youth for excellence in writing and beauty in illustrations. 

Iowa Teen Award 

Iowa's early teen's choice literary award program designed to develop an appreciation among Iowa's teens for excellence in writing. 

 BookTalks: are used to introduce children to books and to interest them in reading the book themselves. The booktalk tells just enough of the book to entice others to read it. The following sites present some book talk tips and booktalks that you might want to use or adapt. Keep in mind, it is important to have read the book before you booktalk it to students!

TeensPoint.org 

The Young Adult Librarians of Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia share their favorite books with students in area schools. Read their booktalks at this site. 

Booktalks Quick and Simple 

This is a wonderful site by school media specialist, Nancy Keane, which covers a broad range of information related to booktalks. The site includes booktalking tips as well as some prewritten booktalks.The booktalks are organized by Title, author, and subject. This is the place to start! 

How to Present Booktalks 

This site explains what a booktalk is, objectives of booktalks, and gives steps for preparing booktalks. This site also contains booktalks for many books. 

Talking Books Creates a Hook 

An article from Education World that reviews Nancy Keane's Website and offers tips for booktalking. 

The Booktalker 

Joni Bodart's booktalking site includes an archive of booktalks, booktalks of the month, booktalks for Scholastic Books, Joni's top ten booktalks and booktalks on Chris Crutcher titles.