Take 5: Book Lists So Cool You Need to Know About Them

The other day I stumbled across a book list that was so cool, I wanted to share it with you. So I thought I would put together a Take 5 lists of cool book lists to share, just in case you haven’t seen them. Here are 5 resources that will revolutionize your reader’s advisory.

Middle Grade Books to Read If You Loved These YA Books

Over at Buzzfeed, Afoma Umesi has put together this great pairing of MG and YA books around various themes. This is the list I wanted to make sure we all saw. Afoma blogs at Reading Middle Grade and just makes a tons of amazing book lists. It’s an excellent resource and I highly recommend it. So seeing her work over at Buzzfeed I thought yes, of course it’s Afoma. This idea of pairing MG and YA books is so smart, and will help a wide variety of people from librarians to new YA readers who want to read something like their favorite MG.

The RISE Feminist Book List

TLT’s own Ally Watkins recently served on the RISE committee. The RISE committee puts together a list of feminist books for readers of all ages, so it’s not just YA. This is another great list and perfect for Women’s History Month, which happens in March of every year. But it’s an important list all year round, of course.

The Cybils Awards

Every February the Cybils Awards puts out their various list of best books for a wide variety of ages and categories. I have participated multiple times, including this past year. This award is chosen by bloggers who apply. It’s a two-tiered system. The first group of readers, first round panelists, put together a category shortlist. The second group of readers, the judges, choose a winner off of that short list. In addition to quality, diversity and appeal to the target audience are important factors in their consideration. I was very excited with this year’s YA Fiction winner, it is an AMAZING read. Check out all of the categories and winning lists here.

Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

Last year I was invited to be on a panel to help select a YA book winner translated into English. This is how I came to be familiar with the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, which seeks to promote translated books. I’ve really been paying more attention to translations since this experience.

2022 YA Releases from Rec it Rachel and Vicky C Books

I have long appreciated the work of Rec it Rachel and especially her yearly YA releases database. It has moved to Tumblr which allows it to be parsed and sorted in a lot of different ways. It’s an amazing resource. This year she has a partner to help her do this amazing work.

These are some of the great book lists and resources I have found and been using. What about you? What’s on your list of lists? Tell us in the comments.

Filed under: Book Lists, Reader's Advisory, Teen Fiction