SSHEL Home > S-Collection Home > Find Children’s Books > Use Databases to Find Books by Topic and / or Age
Use databases such as NoveList and the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD). You will then need to search the Library Catalog to determine if the University of Illinois library owns the books.
Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)
The Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD), offers a wide range of information on children’s literature titles. It is a good place to look to find more information about a specific title, or to find books based on the genre, reading level, age range, awards won, and additional categories.
The CLCD includes the following information about children’s books:
- author, title, and publisher
- subjects
- reading level and age range
- reviews
- awards, prizes, and best book lists
To conduct a broad search, choose the default singular and plural forms and search within All Fields. To do a narrow search, choose exact phrase or exact words and search within Subject Hdgs.
To learn more about specific search/display procedures, click on “CLCD Advanced Search” above. Click on “Resources” at the top of the Advanced Search page. Then click on “Help.””
Diverse BookFinder
The Diverse Bookfinder offers a variety of resources regarding children’s and young adult books that feature Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color (BIPOC).
Their searchable catalog collection includes thousands of books with BIPOC characters and narratives. The filters on the left of the catalog allow the searcher to limit their results by several factors, including the books’ audience, the lived experiences of the books’ creators, and the identities of the books’ characters. The items in the searchable catalog collection are not necessarily recommended by the site’s creators. Books endorsed by Diverse BookFinder can be found on their “Recommended Reads” page. This page also includes a list of resources one can use to evaluate the quality of racially/culturally diverse books. Additional resources on the site include data, blogs, and external links to scholarly and popular articles, all regarding diverse children’s books.
NoveList
NoveList, is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, etc. for fiction books for all ages.
Go to the “Advanced Search” page and click on “Boolean Search.” It’s possible to search fiction titles by subject terms or keywords. This page also offers a convenient way for you to define age range of the books you are looking for (Audience or Grade Level).
Does the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library own these books?
After conducting a search in a database and finding books of interest, search for the item by title in the Library Catalog to determine if the University Library owns the books. If we do not own the book, search the I-Share Catalog or your local public library’s catalog.
