- ...children's and young adult books on a particular reading level or age/interest level?
If you wish to find book titles that are written on a particular reading level or age/interest level, a couple of approaches might be used. Titles found can be searched in UCLID to see if they are available in CRC or OhioLINK or possibly the Public Library.
• One approach involves conducting a search using the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD).
Containing approximately 500,000 records of children's and young adult books and audiovisual materials, the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) provides a useful tool for researching children's and young adult books. The database provides award information, reviews , books in various genres , reading and interest levels , annotations , and audio and video formats of books.
To access this database go to the University Libraries homepage www.libraries.uc.edu and click on “A – Z List of Databases” (center of page/upper right). Next, click on “C” in the alphabet list and then scroll down the list of databases until you come to Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database. Click on “Connect.”
The opening page of CLCD gives you various options to choose for your search. Some of these options are “category” (fiction/nonfiction), “genre”, “keyword”, “author/illustrator”, “age”, etc. The following examples describe how to locate various kinds of information in the database.
CLCD can be used to find books on a particular reading level. For example, you want to find fantasy books on a fourth grade reading level. Go to the opening page of CLCD as described above. Click on “Fantasy” under Genre and type “Reading Level 4” in the “Full-text search word(s) window. Also, be sure that “exact phrase” is clicked on under Word Search Qualifiers and that “all of the words” is clicked on under Select Records Containing. Next, click on “Search” which will net you a list of fantasy books on the 4th grade reading level.
Another example, might be that you are looking for mystery books on the seventh grade reading level for 11th graders. Follow instructions above, but check “Mystery” under genre and in the search window, type, “reading level 7.” Select “16” in the “Age” pulldown menu as the typical age of many 11th graders. Clicking on “Search” will net you a list of mysteries on the 7th grade reading level and of interest to eleventh graders.
If you wish to find books of interest to a range of grades, you might follow the above directions but instead of typing “Reading Level,” type “Interest Level” followed by one of the following terms used in the database: “K-2”, “3-5”, “6-8”, or “high school.”
For other uses of the CLCD database consult Guide to Using Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD).
• Another approach involves searching reference books that list titles with corresponding reading/interest levels.
| High/Low Handbook: Books, Materials, and Services for the Problem Reader | CUR/ Ref/Z1039/.S5/H/1985 |
| High/Low Handbook: Encouraging Literacy in the 1990s | CUR/ Ref/Z1039/.S5/H54/1990 |
| The Best: High/Low Books for Reluctant Readers | CUR/ Ref/Z1039/.S5/P53 |