Online Book Communities

There are many websites that will help you create your own book collections and share your critiques with friends and social networks. I have explored a few sites and I hope that my views on them will help you to decide which is better suited for you.

First, I'd like to talk about the ones I felt were a little more on the personal side, much like a Facebook profile. These were not very kid friendly, so if you decide to incorporate these into lessons as a teacher, I really hope you continue reading to the end before you make a choice on which one is best for the classroom. For instance, BookLikes.com, has a beautiful wood like theme that looks a lot like Facebook. Nothing about it to me made me think of books though. Still, all in all, would be great as a personal booklisting and to share from there. The other would be GoodReads.com, very simple layout not much to see, even though I have expressed my appreciation for the more simpler things in life, I would think that in some cases, more would be better.

The next site I'd like to talk about is Shelfari.com. I really like this site, had a very elegant look to it and had many useful features, such as being able to add your book list to your blog. Other features that are that you can share and view what friends are enjoying about your book list.

Another website that you might find useful is LibraryThing.com. This site gives some of the same features plus a few more. You are able to view your book list in list format or by cover. Can change the size of your covers and create groups, a perfect feature for a secondary teacher. However, in list format you are also able to view many other details about each book, such as ratings and comments/reviews from other users.

The last website that I will discuss is BiblioNasium.com. This website is the perfect site for elementary level teacher/librarian. With features such as, creating a profile for student use, run reports, print reports and parent letters, and gives resources that can assists teachers. Allows you to make and share with your students which books are your favorites, a recommended reading, or a required reading for them. Awesome website with an appealing eye to any young learner of the elementary level.

All pictures were altered and edited using Evernote. A wonderful application that allows you to edit photos the way you want them. Love it and highly recommend it.