Benefits of Reading

Tools where you enter a title or author you enjoy, and you get ideas of new books to read:

Gnooks & Literature Map: Gnooks is similar to Pandora, but for books! Go to Gnooks, and enter up to three authors whose work you enjoy reading.  Gnooks will suggest one author; click the "I like it!", "I don't like it!" or "I don't know it!" to help Gnooks suggest more authors that will fit your preferences.

The Staff Recommends: Created by professional readers, editors, and authors, TheStaffRecommends calls itself an "advertorial publication". This is because publishers send them books they would like them to review; and publishers pay for the books that do make it on their website. 

WhichBook: ​More targeted towards high school students and adults, WhichBook gets you to use the sliders on the left hand side of the screen (up to 4 sliders) to describe the kind of book you want to read: happy or sad? Funny or serious? Safe or disturbing? Expected or unpredictable? You can also change the sliders to focus more on character, plot or setting.

​Reader2: ​Enter a title in the "What book to read next?" box on the right-hand-side of the screen, and you will be given a list of books related to your search. You can continue looking for books by clicking on any title in the results page, or by following the tags that interest you.​

Yasiv: Based on the "Frequently Bought Together" bar you can find in each product page on Amazon, Yasiv offers you a visual guide of what people purchased in conjunction with the item you looked up (Yasiv is not limited to books!).

​What Should I Read Next? One of the simplest tools out there, What Should I Read Next allows you to enter the title of a book or the name of an author and find books related to your search. You can register (it's free) to create booklists.  Once registered click on the titles in your results page, and it will lead you to the Amazon page for that book.

Websites to check out for new books:

YA Lit Guide -- Teen Reads -- GuysRead -- YA Reads -- YA Series & Sequels -- readergirlz -- YA Book Nerd

Still not sure what to read?

Here are a few resources to get you started:

• The Young Adult Library Services Association Book Awards and Lists, including the Teens' Top Ten, Great Graphic Novels, Outstanding Books for the College-Bound students, books for students who do not like to read, and best Nonfiction titles.
• The California Young  Reader Medal winners
• Project Gutenberg allows you to read all the classics for free
• LibriVox has those classics available for free as audiobooks
• if you search for your favorite title in Goodreads, it will let you know what other readers (who enjoyed that same title) have liked as well.
• Use Destiny to search for titles available in our library; if you choose to use Destiny Quest, you can see the 15 newest books!
• Download Adiobooks, eBooks, Videos and Music (SPL)
• Teen Scene Book List (SPL)
• Kids Book List (SPL)
• The Internet Public Library Reading Room
• New York Public Library
• Library of Congress
• Spotlight on Kids and Family (Library of Congress)
• International Children’s Digital Library
• WorldBook Online
• Authorama
• Classic Literature Library
• Free eBooks