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Recommended Reading

ALA Library Fact Sheet Number 23

General Lists | For Children | For Young Adults/Teens | For Adults | Reference Books (for children, teens, and adults) |  Reading Events, Programs, and Tips


Lists in the News

RUSA (Reference and User Services Association, a division of ALA) Notable Books Council releases 2008 list
A list of outstanding books for the general reader. These titles have been selected for their significant contribution to the expansion of knowledge and for the pleasure they can provide to adult readers.

American Library Association announces literary award winners (Jan 2008)
The American Library Association (ALA) list of award winning books, videos and audiobooks for children and young adults - including the Caldecott, King, Newbery, Schneider Family and Printz awards.

Booklist's Top of the List: The Best of Editors' Choice
The editors of ALA's Booklist magazine select the single best title in eight categories -- adult fiction, adult nonfiction, youth fiction, youth nonfiction, youth picture book, reference source, video/DVD, and audiobook.

Top Ten Most Re-Read Books List
List of popular novels, plays, and poetry compiled for a news report by committee of librarians and book review editors -- including Nancy Pearl.


General Lists (across two or more age groups)

  • ALA Professional Tips Wiki: Selection. A list of online and print resources for selecting books for a library collection.

  • Amelia Bloomer Project. The list presents well-written and well-illustrated books with strong feminist messages that affirm positive roles for girls and women. The works are recommended for young people from birth through eighteen years of age.

  • Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association presents awards to books that promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage in three categories: Adult Non-Fiction, Illustration in Children's Literature, and Young Adult Literature.

  • Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth. Committed to providing a broad selection of outstanding books that mixes popular appeal with literary excellence, the Books for Youth editorial staff has chosen the titles as best-of-the-year fiction, nonfiction, and picture books for children from preschool through 12th grade.

  • Children's librarians recommend books for the holidays (Oct/Dec 2006). This is a list of new books recommended for holiday gift-giving, as well as reading about the holidays themselves. The gift-giving guide features titles suitable for readers from preschool age through 8th grade and includes picture books, novels, fiction and nonfiction.

  • Rainbow List - 2008. Annual reading list of books for beginning readers through 12th grade compiled by the Rainbow Project that validate same-gender lifestyles, including portraying GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning) characters in a realistic and prominent manner.

  • Schneider Award Select Bibliography of Children’s Books about the Disability Experience. This list contains some outstanding books that portray emotional, mental, or physical disability experiences, most published between 2000 and 2006. The grade level designations are intended as guidelines.

  • University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries. Compiled in consultation with ALA's American Association of School Libraries and Public Library Association, this annual collection development tools lets librarians know about the best and most appropriate books from publisher members of AAUP, the Association of American University Presses.


For Children

  • American Indian Youth Literature Award – previous American Indian Youth Literature Award winners. The children's book award was created by the American Indian Library Association (AILA, an affiliate of ALA) as a way to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians.

  • Building a Home Library. The ALA-Children’s Book Council (CBC) Joint Committee, with cooperation from the Quicklists Consulting Committee of ALA's Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC, a division of ALA), created this list to provide guidance to parents, grandparents, and others interested in assembling a high-quality library for their children at home.

  • Notable Children's Books. Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books. This list includes the current year's Newbery, Caldecott, Belpré, Sibert, Geisel, Printz, Batchelder and Coretta Scott King Award and Honor books, as well as those that have been awarded the Schneider Family Book Award and/or were named a Best Book for Young Adults.

  • (Mildred L.) Batchelder Award - previous Batchelder winners. The Batchelder Award is given to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.

  • (Pura) Belpré Award – previous Belpré winners. Established in 1996, this award is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

  • (Randolph) Caldecott Medal – previous Caldecott winners - Translated Caldecott Titles. This award is given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picturebook for children.

  • Coretta Scott King Book Awards – previous King winners. Given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream.

  • Dealing with Tragedy  (9/11/2001). Resources that were compiled to aid parents, teachers and caregivers in discussing with children and teens the terrorist attacks that took place in New York City, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

  • (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award – previous Geisel winners. The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States.

  • Great Early Elementary Reads. The ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children, a division of ALA) 2007-2008 School-Age Programs and Services Committee recommends these titles for children who are just learning to read and beginning to read on their own. The books included were published between 2005 and 2008. However, many are part of a larger series that young readers also will enjoy.

  • Growing Up Around the World. Books as Passports to Global Understanding for Children in the U.S. - Five Bibliographies by the ALSC International Relations Committee.

  • (John) Newbery Medal – previous Newbery winners - Translated Newbery Titles. This award is given annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

  • Resources for Dealing with the Hurricane Katrina Tragedy. Compiled resources for children and their parents and educators dealing with the Hurricane Katrina tragedy in September 2005 by the Quicklists Consulting Committee of ALA's Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC, a division of ALA).

  • Schneider Family Book Award – previous Schneider winners. The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.

  • (Robert F.) Sibert Informational Book Medal – previous Sibert winners. The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year. Information books are defined as those written and illustrated to present, organize, and interpret documentable, factual material for children.

  • (Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award – previous Wilder winners. The Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.


For Young Adults/Teens

  • Alex Awards. The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

  • Best Books for Young Adults. The list presents books that are recommended reading for young adults 12 to 18. It is a general list of fiction and nonfiction titles selected for their proven or potential appeal to the personal reading tastes of the young adult.

  • Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults. Selected by the Books for Youth editors, the following titles constitute the year’s best personal reading for teenagers among adult books. Updated yearly.

  • (Margaret A.) Edwards Award. The Margaret A. Edwards Award, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, that have been popular over a period of time.

  • Great Graphic Novels for Teens. List of recommended graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction for those aged 12-18. Updated yearly.

  • In Light of Hurricane Katrina. This list from ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA, a division of ALA) features fiction and nonfiction, was created to help librarians, educators and concerned adults guide teens to books that may help them cope after Hurricane Katrina.

  • Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners. The 2004 list is organized into five academic disciplines: history, humanities, literature and language arts, science and technology, and social sciences. The 1999 list has sections for fiction, non-fiction, biography, drama and poetry.

  • Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. A collection of lists by category, including read a-likes for stories like Harry Potter, Gossip Girl and Chronicles of Narnia.

  • (Michael L.) Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature – previous Printz winners. This is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.

  • Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. The list is for young adults (ages 12-18) who, for whatever reasons, do not like to read. The purpose of this list is to identify titles for recreational reading, not for curricular or remedial use.

  • Teens' Top Ten Books. Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year.


For Adults

  • Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Literary Awards. The BCALA Literary Awards acknowledge outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction for adult audiences by African American authors.

  • Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books. The Adult Books editors have selected the following titles as representative of the year's outstanding books for public-library collections. The editors’ choose books that combine literary, intellectual, and aesthetic excellence with popular appeal.

  • Sophie Brody Medal. This is an award for the U.S. author of the most distinguished contribution to Jewish literature for adults.

  • Notable Books for Adults: The List for America's Readers. Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the nation’s readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader.

  • The Reading List: Honoring the Best Adult Genre Fiction. This list highlights outstanding genre fiction that merits special attention by general adult readers and the librarians who work with them.

  • Stonewall Book Awards. The Stonewall Book Awards of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table of ALA are given annually to English-language books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experience.


Reference Books (for children, teens, and adults)


Reading Events, Programs, and Tips

  • Banned Books Week - Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, sponsored by ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), is observed during the last week of September each year. Since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

  • Born to Read: How to Raise a Reader - The joy of sharing books is a gift you can give children from the time they are born. Chanting nursery rhymes, singing songs, and reading stories can comfort and entertain even the youngest child. Listening to language lays the ground work for reading.

  • Boys Will Be... The Unique Reading and Development Needs of Boys - A resource guide for librarians, parents and educators providing perspectives and practical advice; successful library programs for boys, book lists for boys, and websites for additional resources.

  • El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day) - A celebration of children, families, and reading held annually on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

  • National Library Week - Observed ever year in April, this annual event celebrates the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

  • Products to Promote Reading from ALA Graphics at the ALA Online Store - The newest of ALA's celebrated READ posters and matching bookmarks, along with various other items, including banners, pens, and t-shirts.

  • Summer Reading and Learning for Children - Summer reading programs began in the 1890s as a way to encourage school children, particularly those in urban areas and not needed for farm work, to read during their summer vacation, use the library and develop the habit of reading. Numerous studies have shown that summer programs help ensure that school children retain reading and learning skills over the summer recess.

  • Teen Read Week - Teen Read Week is a national literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. It's aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults.


November 2008


For more information on this or other fact sheets, contact the ALA Library Reference Desk by telephone: 800-545-2433, extension 2153; fax: 312-280-3255; e-mail: library@ala.org; or regular mail: ALA Library, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611.