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I am fairly certain that everyone has probably encountered NoveList in some form or another through their MLIS so far, but I thought an evaluation of the sites young adult content was still warranted. As a recap for those who might need it, NoveList is a readers advisory website that features many useful functions for librarians. I was fairly familiar with the options it had for adult readers, but was unsure how much content was YA specific.

I was initially disappointed that their didn't seem to be a "Author Read-alikes" section, as there is for adults. On further investigation, I found a "If You Like..." list in the "Recommend Reads" area, which give read-alikes for popular books. There are only 31 read-alike lists so far, though the list has only existed for slightly over one year, so that must be taken into consideration. And yes, there is a read-alike list for Twilight.

For those running book clubs, there are currently 220 book discussion guides for teens in NoveList, providing an expansive database for those looking for a little help generating their questions. I glanced through the guide for Whale Talk, having just discussed it on Tuesday, and it was fairly expansive, containing a plot summary, author biography, discussion questions and read-alikes. After looking at the NoveList entry for Whale Talk, I noticed a "Related Features" part of its entry that showed all related NoveList content dealing with the book. Learn from my mistake: when you know the title, look up the main entry instead of wasting your time searching through the lists.

For a fun activity, click on the "YA Fiction Checklist" tab on the right side of the homepage. On the next page, you can download a checklist of YA authors and titles, compiled by that Adult Reading Round Table, which will let you test your knowledge of authors in YA genres. The checklist allows you to find out if there are certain genres where you need to increase your knowledge (or you can simply use it as a cheat sheet if a patron comes up to you and asks for a sports novel). The list from 2002, so it's not the most current, but still features a number of well known authors and books.

They do have some articles, but they're really just glorified reading lists, nor are they frequently added to the site (only one article in each of 2007 and 2008). Other than this, I was impressed by the scope and quality of YA content on NoveList.