For Book Lovers
Library users are passionate readers and we’ve got resources for all varieties of booklovers.
Recommended Books
Librarians are experts at connecting you with the information you need, whether it's a complex research project or the next good book on your reading list. This list of award-winning books is a good place to start. Read more about recommended books for adults, teens, and children.
Starting a Book Club
Book clubs provide a wonderful forum for readers to talk about books and the reading experience and libraries contain many helpful resources for book groups. If you're looking for a book club to join, check with your library. Libraries often provide meeting space for book clubs and many administer their own book discussion groups. Thinking of starting your own book club? Learn how to get started.
Well Read
The American Library Association has teamed up with Well Read, the popular weekly public television program for those who love books and lively, engaging conversations with the authors. Read more.
Youth Media Awards
Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the American Library Association Youth Media Awards—including the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards—guide parents, educators, librarians, and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Learn more about the Youth Media Awards.
Authors
Authors are natural allies of libraries. Especially in these challenging times, authors understand the key role that libraries and library staff play in the economic, social and educational fabric of our nation. Read more about how authors can passionately speak out in support for libraries. Learn how authors can get involved.
Booklist Reader
Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken, who died in 2004, wrote more than 100 books over the course of her career. Today, she is best known and loved for her children’s novels, including the classic The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which launched a series of popular and award-winning alternate history books set in nineteenth century England, in which the Stuarts reign. However, many people don’t know that Aiken also wrote adult novels as well. Almost a quarter of her literary output consists of books that combine, to a lesser or greater degree, mystery, suspense, romance, and history—all with wildly entertaining results.
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Roald Dahl’s actual birthday is today. He’d be 100 years old. It’s time to party.
For those of you who’ve been trapped under a rock by a coven of scary yet entertaining witches, Dahl’s estate and publisher have been celebrating with a boatload of Dahl-themed events, culminating this weekend with birthday parties around the world.
To think, Booklist once called him “obnoxious,” “depraved,” and “not funny.” (...
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The Man Booker Prize committee announced their shortlist today in anticipation of anointing a new winner on October 23rd. Here are the six nominees—two Americans, two Canadians, and two Brits—linked to their Booklist reviews.
The Sellout, by Paul Beatty
Review of the Day
Gottfred, B. T. (author).
Nov. 2016. 304p. Holt, hardcover, $17.99 (9781627798501). Grades 10-12.
REVIEW. First published September 15, 2016 (Booklist). Benedict Pendelton and Pen Lupo barely exist to each other. Benedict is socially inept, principally because he is too intelligent to conform (as much as he would like to obtain social capital). Meanwhile, “I wanted to be liked more than I wanted to be me,” Pen reflects. She has traded in her real self for a lesser version that grants her a popular boyfriend and social standing. Pen maintains a silence that borders on invisibility; Benedict cannot help speaking, usually bluntly and usually uninvited. When they end up at the same ski resort for... READ MORE
Authors on Libraries
Libraries have impacted my life, because being able to access to information and stories has allowed me to learn a lot more, not about just myself, but about other people. And being able to really just pick up all that information
and help me discover who I am has been really important.
Libraries can be a safe place, because if the community is very supportive and you know everyone is just accepting of who you are, then you could be yourself and learn more information and acquire knowledge. And I think it's important to have a library where you can just be yourself and do your thing.
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