This is a list of resources that may be helpful to people who are looking for specific books that may not be listed here. Some are specifically geared to people who are trying to find books and others are lists, catalogues, or databases of books with descriptions and the options to search for specific ones. If anyone knows of a resource that I haven’t included yet, let me know, and I’ll add it! As always, this is a work in progress.
Book Descriptions
Sometimes, you can find what you’re looking for just by doing a keyword search and reading the product descriptions. The downside is that not every book has a product description or a review written in enough detail to let you know whether it’s the one you’re thinking of or not. However, there are places where you can ask questions about products or ask someone who has placed a review for more details.
Allows you to search for books by title, author, or keywords, but also offers lists of books by category and reading level and a personality quiz to find your “reader personality type” and recommended books. It also has lists of “read alikes” and tips for educators.
People can give reviews and ratings for books they have read (both adults and children), and many of them have descriptions of the plots. You can search for an individual book or browse by category. In many cases, there are pages which list books in a series, and some people have made lists of books in a particular category, such as children’s books from specific decades. The downside is that some older books or lesser-known ones may not have descriptions because no one has entered one yet.
This site has descriptions for adult, young adult, and children’s books. It’s an extensive collection with a search feature to help you locate specific books under various categories and links to places where you can buy the books.
Other People’s Blogs
There are many blogs dedicated to children’s literature! These are some that I particularly liked.
This blog hasn’t be active since 2017, but it has some nice entries about vintage books that I don’t have and haven’t read.
The owner of this blog works in the English Department at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, specializing in Children’s Literature and Early Canadian Literature. Her blog is organized alphabetically with special attention to age and reading level and with a few special articles about teaching. It has more modern ones than I typically include, but also some older ones.
Books on Specific Topics
If you’re looking for a very specific kind of book, there may be a site already dedicated to that topic. For books from a specific decade, see the resources listed under each decade in the Books By Decade section. You can find lists of books on different themes and topics that are described on this site under the Book Lists section. Some of my special topics lists also have links to additional resources.
Mystery Books
The 100 Best Children’s and YA Mysteries of the Past 10 Years
Because my site is geared specifically for nostalgic books that are at least 10 years old, it’s going to be awhile before any of these end up on this site. The article was written in 2015. If the book you’re looking for is a relatively recent mystery, you might try here.
From Red Herrings to Whodunits: 17 Super Middle Grade Mysteries | Summer Reading 2021
Recent recommended mystery fiction. From the School Library Journal.
Historical Fiction
Most of my resources for historical fiction are located on my list of Historical Fiction by Period.
18 Novels for Teens That Blow the Dust Off History | Summer Reading 2021
Recent recommended historical fiction. From the School Library Journal.
Diverse Characters
It is exactly what it sounds like! The goal, as explained on the site, is to find and catalogue 1000 books with black girls as main characters. As of this writing, it is still a work in progress. However, if you are looking for a book with a black girl as a main character, this is the place to go! They also take suggestions and donations.
I like the list, but it does have two issues when I last looked at it: No book descriptions and authors are sorted by first name, not last. They could get around this problem by adding two extra fields to their form, one for the description and one to separate the author’s first name and last name. (I’d put middle names or initials in the same field as the first name, where they appear because not all authors have them, and I don’t think it’s necessary to add a special field for that.) As an alternative, they could just change the entered author’s names so that the last name comes first. I think that would make the list more efficient because books are normally sorted by the author’s last name in libraries. On the plus side, the reading level of each book is also noted, which is helpful.
Unusual Formats
This is for books of the Choose Your Own Adventure variety, where readers make the choices about what characters in the story should do and the endings differ depending on the choices that the readers make. The site lists different series and individual books within series.
Vintage Book Series
List of Little Golden Books Titles
I have a list of Little Golden Books I’ve reviewed on this site and some others that I know exist, but my list isn’t a complete list. This Wiki is the best list of Little Golden Books I’ve seen so far. It’s in alphabetical order, and if you click on individual titles, there are descriptions and cover pictures, although not all sections have complete information. If you can’t find a Golden Book you’re looking for here, you might also consider looking at printed books. There are guides to Little Golden Books written for collectors.
Vintage Series Books for Girls . . . and a Few for Boys
As the title suggests, most of the series described at this site are girls’ series, but there are some series aimed at boys as well. They are all “vintage” books (roughly mid-20th century and earlier), and there are many Stratemeyer series here. There is also a blog connected with this site.
Wikipedia — List of Stratemeyer Syndicate Series
The Stratemeyer Syndicate produced many children’s series over the course of decades, including some that people might not know were Stratemeyer books. If what you’re looking for was an adventure or mystery story that was part of a series, especially if it might have been published prior to 1980, you might consider if it could have been one of these.
Read Books Online
This is mainly for books old enough to be in the public domain, but there are some places where you can even read non-public domain books.
“Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.”
Bookshare requires signing up for an account to access books. Schools and students in the United States can sign up for the service for free. Other individuals in the United States and other countries can also use the service for a fee, varying by location.
“A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.” It’s free to use, but it requires you to sign up for an account. It has more than just public domain books. Various organizations, such as libraries and book-selling companies, have donated scanned copies of many books and also various audio recordings, some software (such as old computer games), and other materials. There is even help for users with print disabilities. Patrons may borrow up to 5 items at a time, and books can be borrowed for up to 14 days, with the option to renew. When your time is up, the book simply disappears from your list of loans, so there are no late fees. You can also turn in books early if you’re done with them and want to get something else. Patrons can also place holds on books which are currently being loaned.
Provides free e-books of books that are in the public domain. Some of the older vintage series described on my site are here. There is no need to sign up for an account. E-books are available in multiple formats.
This is a collection of public domain works, especially those about religion and folklore. Most of it isn’t for children, but some of the folktales and fairy tales overlap with children’s literature. For example, they have a complete collection of the Lang Fairy Books (also known as the Color Fairy Books because of the titles). There is no need to sign up for an account, you can simply read the texts in the page.
An online collection of public domain works by the University of South Florida. The description on the main page states:
“Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom. “
The collection contains more than children’s literature and is free for the public to use. You can listen to the audio version of a book while reading the text version of a book in your browser at the same time. You can search for books by author, title, genre (broad categories such as mystery, adventure, fantasy, and horror), collection (shows specific topics such as African-American Literature, The Princess Collection for stories about princesses, or specific series such as the Oz books or the Lang Fairy Books), or reading difficulty according to the Flesch-Kincaid grade level system.
Searching Tips and Help
Some of these are ones I’ve already listed at the bottom of the main blog page.
An online forum where people make inquiries for specific books, using details that they remember.
Google Books — Advanced Book Search
You can look for a book through Google Books. It will look for the keywords you provide in book descriptions and return suggestions.
How to Find a Book Without Knowing the Title or Author
A guide with search tips and additional resources.
Library Thing — Name That Book
A place where you can post inquiries for books you’re looking for along with some search tips.
Loganberry’s Stump the Bookseller
For a small fee, you can submit a description of a book you’re looking for to see if the bookstore employees or other readers of their blog recognize it and can tell you the title. For free, you can read descriptions that others have sent in to see if there’s something that you recognize.
Offers suggestions for search strategies and additional resources.
For redditors, this discussion channel allows participants to describe books, movies, games, etc. that they halfway remember to see if others recognize them.
History of Children’s Literature
The History of Children’s Books
An article about the earliest children’s literature.
Bookshelf Tour [Partial] – 19th & Early 20th Century Children’s Classics
In this YouTube video, a collector shows old editions of classic children’s literature and discusses the books and their illustrations. From the library ladder.
Are There Really Kids’ Authors Who Hate Kids?
I’ve heard these rumors before about children’s authors who supposedly didn’t like children at all. As this article points out, some of those rumors were based on the behavior of some of the children in the authors’ stories, which doesn’t necessarily reflect how they felt about children in general, and some of the rumors are based on the fact that some children’s authors never actually had children themselves. The authors who never had children may have been childless more for medical reasons than a distaste for children. Also, people believed that some children’s authors didn’t enjoy writing for children because the authors wanted to be known for their adult books as well, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t enjoy writing for children sometimes.
The article is accompanied by a podcast about feminist role models in children’s literature. It’s not bad, and I agree with many of their points, but the part about Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll could use some expansion. They note that Lewis Carroll has become something of a controversial figure in children’s literature with accusations of inappropriate feelings toward young girls, but the podcast is correct to say that the accusations are more modern in nature and have to do with his photography hobby, where he photographed young girls, sometime in fancy dress costumes and sometimes in nightgowns or states of undress. Photographing children in this manner wasn’t unusual for his time period, and the children’s parents had given their permission. There is a lot more detail to unpack about that situation and his relationship with the real-life Alice and her family, but I’m saving that for when I cover Lewis Carroll’s books. (This documentary has more details.) I would like to mention something that I wish the podcast had explained but didn’t: part of the reason why the Alice books are so weird and surreal is that much of what happens in them is actually parody of popular pieces of children’s literature and rhymes from that period (often didactic rhymes to emphasize educational lessons and virtues for children). Much of it is lost on modern audiences because they don’t know the original references, as the original readers would have. Also, Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) was actually a mathematician, and the books also contain puzzles and brain teasers. The women in this podcast talk about the significance of Alice wanting to become a queen and whether or not that’s a good goal, but they’re missing the fact that Through the Looking Glass is actually based on a real chess game. Alice becomes a queen because that is something that can happen in a real game of chess when a pawn reaches the opposite side of the board.
Thoughts About Children’s Literature
Our favorite books when we were young don’t lose their appeal as we get older. In fact, many adults still love to read good children’s books. Why? I talk about it somewhat in my About page, but these people have some inspiring thoughts about children’s literature.
10 Reason to Read Children’s Books Instead of ‘Grown-Up’ Books
Why All Adults Should Read Children’s Books
Tips About Reading to Children
How to Really Read Racist Books to Your Kids
When you read vintage children’s books, which can be fun and exciting, you do sometimes run into the problem of books using racial terms or stereotypes which are no longer acceptable in modern society. So are these books really that bad, and if so, what do you do about it? This article takes a look at the degrees of racial issues in older books and how to talk to children about issues that they encounter in stories.
One of the issues that I think is important is remembering that books, like people, have both good sides and bad sides. Some are more likeable or more helpful than others, but to really know them as whole people, you have to look at their individual points, both good and bad. For example, it’s okay to say that you liked a story for being exciting but that you didn’t like the way that some of the characters talked or acted. You can have mixed feelings about books and fictional characters, just like you can about real people (ex. “He’s fun to be with but kind of a flake” or “She’s a hard worker but not easy to get along with”). The good points don’t make the bad points less bad, and the bad points don’t make the good points less good, but it’s important to acknowledge that both exist. How much there are of each tells you whether you want to read the book again, kind of like how a person’s good and bad traits tell you whether you want to hang out with them or work with them again. I think that acknowledging those mixed feelings and seeing that it’s okay to have them can help children gain wisdom, maturity, and greater decision-making skills. Some people are different from others, but that’s okay. Some people don’t behave as well as others, but we can handle that. In the end, we make up our own minds about who we will be and how we will behave.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 