Book Selection Tools by Dayna Derichs

2026-03-28 13:59:20 UTC

I like this tool because of the social aspect. I follow my friends and fellow librarians and teachers on goodreads and being able to look through their read and to-be-read lists gives me a lot of ideas and we comment on kids or YA books that the others have read and ask if they know any kids that have read them and what they thought of them -Sammie

Rachel

2026-03-28 14:00:12 UTC

Widely accesable and familiar to general public. Good for sharing book reccomendations with other people. Has a lot of book lists.

Myla

2026-03-28 14:00:39 UTC

I use Kirkus for work to find upcoming books to order for the library I work for. I like how many genres and subjects they provide. The only version is available and free to view. My library used to pay for the magazine subscriptions, but that was costing too much, so we now use the website. I find Kirkus very helpful.

Josie

2026-03-28 14:01:02 UTC

I honestly love Goodreads. I use it to track the books I'm currently reading and books I've read. I also use it to look up books I've heard about and even get recommendations from those I follow. Plus, you can use Goodreads on your phone via the app and on your computer.

-Josie

2026-03-28 14:01:05 UTC

School Library Connection is helpful because it gives teachers and librarians useful ideas, lesson plans, and resources to support student learning and reading. However, it is not very helpful for students because most of the content is made for educators and can be hard to understand or access.

Ava-Brynn

2026-03-28 14:01:54 UTC

I am slightly obsessed with Good Reads. Good Reads is a great way to organize what you want to read, plan to read, and have already read. It is a great resource that also provides suggestions and I personally love reading reviews on books I've read and then checking out the reviewer's profile to find what they liked and maybe check it out for myself. I also find Good Reads to be a huge motivator for me to finish books as I like to move books to my "read: list.

2026-03-28 14:03:08 UTC

I have never used this source before, and when I learned about it through this class, I liked how organized the site was. It is broken down in a way that makes it easy to understand. There is also a section that covers the basics of the website, which was super helpful for someone who hadn't used it before. There are things about equity and inclusion which was my favorite. I do think it works better for teachers or librarians than for students. I am going into elementary education, so I think that for the future, this site will be helpful. - Carol VL

Jacob McDorman's immediate test

railmaster777 — 2026-03-28 14:33:24 UTC

I immediately checked for two book series that aren't always present: Mr Lemoncello's Library, and The Railway Series. That's a classic series of children's books, plus another series I would highly recommend. Being able to find all the books in a series is always great, as it's practically guaranteed that there's more of the same elements for kids to read, which also gives more time and books to base recommendations off of.

CC

2026-03-28 14:45:28 UTC

I typically lean towards Good Reads because of familiarity bias, but also because I think it is the most user friendly as well as community driven.

Andrew Asplin

2026-03-28 14:45:41 UTC

The recommendation tool in Goodreads has led me to discovering a plethora of new books. As someone who doesn't read a ton of new releases, it seems to me to be the best way to find new old stuff.

Rachel

2026-03-28 14:48:21 UTC

I really like the format of Kirkus. It is more of a personable experience and feels like someone who really knows and cares about the books is providing the information...instead of a more clinical description/ summary of the books. It is more long form so if you have time to really research what you're looking for I think it's wonderful.

2026-03-28 14:48:42 UTC

Not as refined in search features as some other resources, but has good quality reviews - at least those I've read. I hadn't used this source before class, but its useful for finding reviews. Compared to Goodreads, which I've used before, the two platforms are for very different things. - Destry W.

Itzel

2026-03-28 14:49:31 UTC

I never really used Goodreads until now and it is pretty easy to navigate which helps a lot. Being able to find all sorts of different books is so cool and it is nice to be able to read and talk to other people about said books.

Shevi

2026-03-28 14:50:29 UTC

I haven't done as much work with these tools as I would like to, but I have used Kirkus for assignments that require book reviews. I find it helpful, and I have also found that it is very commonly a source for the reviews that I need. I seem to run across it more often than the other review tools. Whether that is based on the particular books I am drawn to, or that it is just more readily used, I am not sure.

Itzel

2026-03-28 14:53:04 UTC

I used Kirkus a lot when doing the book list assignment and it was pretty helpful. They have many many books on there and it was fun to just look at reviews too. Sometimes though the book I wanted to look up was not there. But overall I think the website is pretty easy to use.

Josue Reza-Rivera

jr030328 — 2026-03-28 14:53:26 UTC

I've never used this site before but from what I saw, it can give teachers lesson plan ideas to get kids interested in reading. It also connects you to articles about the personal stories about teachers and librarians getting kids to read more and have fun with it. The site also has links that give ways of helping English language learners so they don't feel alone.

Abbie Downer

2026-03-28 14:55:27 UTC

I've used this resource for another class as well as this one. It's good for finding reviews, but definitely not my favorite. Their news letters are useful for finding new books.