Young Adult Literature
Top sites for YA Lit:
Cataloging & Reviews
"Meet Your Next Favorite Book" at Goodreads. Add a star rating, review, or simply collect the titles you have read in this virtual library website. You can also connect with friends, take fun quizzes, and organize your reading.
"Create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books – all for free."
With over 1.8 million users, Library Thing connects readers and books. You can catalog your entire book collection, or simply add the book you are reading. You essentially create a high-quality catalog that reflects who you are as a reader.
Literature Websites
Authors & Illustrators on the Web
A list of links to individual authors and illustrators' websites. Not especially current, but good for "older" authors.
Author Name Pronunciation Guide
Love talking about books with friends, but just not sure how to say an author's name correctly? Listen to clips of authors saying their names, so you never need to make a pronunciation mistake again.
"Post a review of a recent book you read, add a book to our database that isn't there, join (or start!) a book club or discussion group, upload an avatar, send some friend requests, enter our giveaways, browse book listings, check out some community videos."
Published and maintained by HarperCollins Publishers, Epic Reads promotes the latest publications from HarperCollins Teens. Also includes reviews and quizzes.
Blogs
A fabulous YA blog maintained by a mid-twenties British bookseller (Jenny). Go here for what to read next, check out author interviews and see "US vs UK book covers."
Library Sites
The Free Library of Philadelphia
Philadelphia's public library system runs a lot of programs and has a good website in general, but this link will direct you to their staff picks for teens. Be sure to check their page for author visits and book signings.
Our Nation's Library, (The Library of Congress) has an overwhelming amount of information, but this link takes you to Read.gov, which celebrates reading, and "the book." Hear author interviews, get recommendations, and get absorbed in everything reading. The Library of Congress sponsors an amazing book festival every Spring. Be sure to visit their page for details.
eBooks (mostly free)
Project Gutenberg has thousands of free domain titles in eBook or audiobook format. You can download titles using the following formats:
- HTML
- EPub (with or without images)
- Kindle (with or without images)
- and more...
Once titles are downloaded, they are yours to keep (no returns, no late fees).
Open Culture provides free access to a ton of culturally important "things," from art, to literature, to music, to lectures. You can also enroll in free courses designed and taught by top universities.
Amazon (sorry, blocked at school)
Everyone knows how Amazon works, but it's especially useful if you're looking for professional or customer book reviews. Also, there are some free ebooks available.
Like Amazon, B&N is great for professional and customer book reviews. Also, there are some free ebooks available.
Interactive Fiction
"Pottermore is a website focusing on the unknown parts of the Harry Potter series and re-telling the story in an interactive way." The author, J.K. Rowling, partnered with Sony to develop the site. Get sorted into a Hogwarts House, purchase items from Diagon Alley, and meet characters and settings in ways you've only imagined.
Fan Fiction and Self Publishing
"World's largest short story, fiction, and poetry archive and community where writers and readers around the globe gather to share their passion."
"Write Yourself In." Sign up to upload your own creative fiction, or read works by other aspiring writers. You can also take quizzes or join a chat.
"Harry Potter fanfic, fanart, vids, essays, meta, discussion, podcasting, fanfilms and more." Read, view or create your own.
Fanfic inspired by Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Only "high-quality" admissions are accepted and posted.
Kindle Worlds (sorry, blocked at school).
Explore the Kindle Worlds Store for stories inspired by books, TV shows, and comics.
"LiveJournal (LJ) is a social networking service based in San Francisco, California where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. You can join to read others' entries, and/or write your own."
"Wattpad is a writing community in which users are able to post articles, stories, fan fiction, and poems about anything either online or through the Wattpad app. The content includes work by undiscovered and published writers. Users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the website."
*Any descriptions that have quotation marks around them indicate they were copied and pasted from Wikipedia, or directly from the described website.