Lori Sabo
February 26, 2016
Issue #397
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Are you crazy about books? We are too. Professional books, picture books, and pieces of YA literature are collected, treasured, shared, and talked about daily. Where do we often find our next favorite book? On Goodreads. Before you say you don't have time for another social networking site, we are going to suggest that this one is worth it.
What is Goodreads? It is a free website designed for readers and book lovers—a place where bibliophiles can peruse the bookshelves and virtual libraries of friends, both new and old, to see what they've read and what they are reading, and view their ratings and reviews.
Here are 10 of the features that make it so great:
- Based on titles and genres we've enjoyed, the site recommends other books we might like.
- See the bookshelves, reviews, and ratings of friends and colleagues all over the world.
- Easily keep track of everything we've read, are currently reading, and want to read, and customize our own bookshelves (in categories such as Wordless, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, and more).
- Post our own ratings and reviews.
- Join a discussion group, be part of a book club, or ask an author a question.
- Once our books are catalogued, we can sort our lists by author, title, rating, and date read. This makes it easy to locate that book we can't quite remember the title of when we need it for a recommendation or a lesson.
- Use the Explore tab to browse and find popular books among friends or all of Goodreads.
- Find a ton of information about books of interest, like what awards it has received, average rating, how other people have shelved it, and where we can buy or borrow it.
- Enter the books from our classroom or personal library and easily export them to a spreadsheet.
- Recommend books read to any friends and followers on our list.
If you decide to check it out, here are a few kindred spirits whose ratings and reviews I love to follow.
- John—Also known as Mr. Schu, John is a K–5 teacher/librarian who is passionate about putting the right books in every child's hand. There are more than 7,000 books on his Goodreads lists and I've discovered that if he loves one, I usually do too.
- Donalyn Miller—Teacher, author, and prolific reader, Donalyn is my go-to for middle-grade and young-adult books.
- Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy)—Alyson is a teacher, blogger, and book aficionado. She is my go-to for picture books and nonfiction titles.
We are more likely to be effective reading mentors for students if we are truly readers ourselves. Our passion will be infectious, helping to produce lifelong learners and readers who may one day come back to share reading recommendations with us. It just happened to me, when a former first-grade student of mine, now a high school student, befriended me on Goodreads.
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