Sunday, February 14, 2010

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Things You Can Do Using NovelList


1) You can search by author, title, series, or describe a plot (for instance if you type in vampire and Las Vegas you get 17 titles).

2) You can browse the award winners and get a list of (almost) every book award out there, or search by specific award or genre. For example, searching under Romance brings up the Quill Book Award, the Rita (presented annually by the Romance Writers of America), and the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards.
3) You can browse the author read a like lists, which has a wide assortment of authors- for example: Deborah Crombie, Jennifer Crusie, Clive Cussler, and MaryJanice Davidson (which includes Katie MacAlister, Julie Kenner, Carrie Vaughn, Michelle Rowen, and Kim Harrison on her list).
4) For authors like Anne Perry, who has more than one series, or J.D. Robb, with 36 titles in her one series- clicking on the series title produces a printable list of the titles in that series (in order).
5) If you search for Dakota Cassidy- it also pulls up Angie Fox and says that her books will appeal to fans of Dakota (and I would agree having read them both).
6) There are also a variety of book discussion guides, for adult books and teen's books, as well as booktalks for the older kids (9-12).
7) The featured articles provide lists of books, based around a theme, for both adults and young adults. Some of the YA lists include: Beyond Happy Endings; Beyond Harry Potter; Misfits and Free Spirits: Teen fiction looks at the nonconformist; and Things that Matter: Fiction from Down Under for Teens.
8) You can find other themed book lists under recommended reading.
9) Each of the reviewers also does a monthly write up under What We're Reading.
10) In the children's section, there are Curricular Connections- lists of fiction and nonfiction books on specific topics, such as animals in folklore, the fifty states, Canada, and also further breaks it into preschool and elementary through middle and high school.
11) NovelList also has a list of links for the curriculum standards for all 50 states and most of the provinces in Canada.
12) For anyone stuck coming up with a storytime, there are picture book extenders. Using one picture book as a starting point (for example- All You Need for a Snowman), they give you a list of discussion questions, a list of activities and crafts, and a list of other titles that could be read with it.
13) Most pages have the print option, as well as the add to folder; some pages also let you save it, email it to yourself, or bookmark it to any of a hundred social media sites (blogger, Facebook, google reader...).
Feel free to check it out for yourself (if you have a Chesapeake library card), your library might have a subscription too.