Resources
From Category: Resources and Contests for Students and Educators
Chill Subs List of Magazines That Publish Young Writers
Writing resource site Chill Subs posted this list on their Instagram in 2024, with 43 journals that regularly accept work by authors under 18. Some, like Lunch Ticket and Gigantic Sequins, also publish work by adults, while others are youth-only.
Active Voice Magazine
Active Voice Magazine is a youth-led literary journal publishing creative writing that inspires progressive social change. The editors are American high school and college students, with poets A.B. Spellman and Eduardo Martínez-Leyva as adult advisors. See their website for submission periods and themes.
Story Monsters Ink
Story Monsters Ink publishes a glossy monthly magazine with children's book reviews, author interviews, and industry news. They also offer contests and publicity packages for indie authors of children's books.
Tablet Magazine’s Pride Reading List for Kids
Tablet is a Jewish magazine of politics and culture. This 2016 article by Marjorie Ingall recommends contemporary books with positive LGBTQ representation for kids, tweens, and teens. As Ingall says, "Teaching tolerance is a Jewish value. And it's never too early to read to your kids about different kinds of families and different identities, and to model why kindness is important. Everyone is created b'tzelem Elohim, in the image of God."
Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature
The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature at the University of Florida offers 7,000 children's books to read online or download for free, spanning the 19th century to the 1950s.
Preventing Plagiarism: A Guide for Students and Educators
Software company Adobe's blog offers this useful overview of plagiarism: how to detect it, and how to avoid it. Questionable practices include not only verbatim copying, but summarizing or closely paraphrasing others' work without attribution.
How to Read to Children
In this excerpt from his book The Art of Teaching Children (Avid Reader Press), elementary teacher and education expert Phillip Done gives tips for making story hour as engaging as possible. He encourages reading aloud to children in upper grades as well, since it keeps students engaged with literature and allows them to experience what good writing feels like.
Diverse BookFinder
Diverse BookFinder is a searchable collection of children's picture books with characters who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Books can be requested from DBF by inter-library loan. DBF strives to collect all books in this category that have been released by trade publishers since 2002, in order to track publishing trends and encourage conversations about improving representation. This is not a "recommended books" archive. They accept donations of eligible self-published books, as they do not have the resources to find all qualifying books on their own. Other website features include an archive of author interviews, topical groupings (e.g. books on intercultural friendships), and articles on curating and teaching from a diverse book collection.
BlackFacts
BlackFacts is an online portal for Black history and culture, offering a searchable historical database, video profiles of important figures and events, and a current events newsfeed drawn from over 160 news sources in the UK, US, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Embracing Our Differences
Embracing Our Differences is a nonprofit in Sarasota, FL that hosts an annual arts festival and offers lesson plans and educational resources "to expand consciousness and open the heart to celebrate the diversity of the human family."
Balloons Lit. Journal
Balloons Lit. Journal is an English-language online journal based in Hong Kong that publishes creative writing and art for readers aged 12-16. BLJ particularly invites submissions from schoolteachers familiar with this age group. Editors say, "We prefer something that is surprising, explosive, unforgettable, extraordinary, mind-blowing, humorous, bold, unique, layered, witty, educational, original." Read back issues on the website to see their taste.
Magic Dragon
Published since 2005 by the nonprofit Association for Encouragement of Children's Creativity, Magic Dragon is a quarterly magazine featuring art and creative writing by children aged 12 and under.
College Consensus Ultimate Campus Guide for LGBTQ Students
While not a literary website, this guide to thriving as an LGBTQ college student merited a link at Winning Writers because it is comprehensive and clear about what an affirming academic environment should look like. Links include grants for queer students, free art therapy, and how to protect your civil rights. College Consensus is a resource site that ranks colleges on various metrics and can be used to search for the top degree programs in different academic fields.
The Hub
The Hub is a project of Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. They review YA literature, including audio books and graphic novels.
Poetry by Josie Whitehead
Yorkshire poet Josie Whitehead has written over 1,450 poems suitable for children and adults. Her work ranges from humorous to inspirational. Visit her site to search by subject and age group. Whitehead has had many poems published by educational publishers, as well as poems adapted for an animated film and set to music.
The Poem I Wish I Had Read
This YouTube channel, curated by the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College, features acclaimed contemporary poets reading and discussing poems that they wish they would have encountered as a teenager. The Poetry Center created this video series as an outreach project to spark high school students' interest in poetry.
Essayist App
Essayist is an app for academic writers. It will automatically format your text in the standard citation style you choose. Currently supported are Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association formats, with others such as Chicago Manual of Style coming soon. The software allows you to create a list of references that you can click to cite within the text, as well as adding tables and images in the proper format.
The Weight Journal
Launched in 2020, The Weight Journal is an online literary space for the best poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by high school students. Editor Matthew Henry ("MEH") is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and the author of Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020). Read an interview with him about The Weight Journal in Frontier Poetry.
SuperSummary Poetry Writing and Analysis Guide
SuperSummary is an online compendium of plot summaries and study guides for notable contemporary and classic literary works. This page on their website features resources to begin your basic education in poetry writing and analysis. Links include tips for understanding a poem, glossaries of literary terms and poetic forms, and sites with kid-friendly poems.
Auroras & Blossoms
Launched in 2019, Auroras & Blossoms is dedicated to promoting positive, uplifting, and inspirational art and creativity. They accept short stories, flash fiction, essays, drawings, paintings, photography, and digital art. As a family-friendly platform, they want work with no swear words, dirty words, politics or erotica. Payment (adults only): ongoing royalties and complimentary copy of publication. No simultaneous submissions. Reprints are eligible if you own the rights. There is no submission fee as of 2023, but they require a small donation if you would like a digital copy of the issue where your work appears.
Storyline Online
Storyline Online features picture books being read aloud by well-known actors such as Kristen Bell, Ernest Borgnine, Viola Davis, James Earl Jones, and Kiernan Shipka.
The School Reading List
The School Reading List is a UK-based resource site that recommends books, magazines, and newspapers for children and young adults, sorted by grade level. For British students, there are also resources for taking school entrance exams.
Storyathon
Storyathon offers free competitions for students in grades 3-6 to write stories that are exactly 100 words. The challenges are designed to get young people excited about writing and teach them how to tighten their language, experiment with words, and focus their message. See website for new themes offered every semester.
This Book Is Anti-Racist
By Tiffany Jewell. This social justice handbook for middle-grade and young adult readers offers tools for understanding your identity and social position, unlearning myths of American history, affirming yourself in a prejudiced world, and using your privileges to disrupt racism. Upbeat, energetic illustrations by Aurelia Durand create a mood of hope and momentum for dealing with tough truths. Jewell's background in Montessori education is reflected in her trusting and empowering young people to make mature moral choices.
Reading Well for Children Booklist
Reading Well, a project of The Reading Agency in the UK, recommends books to help you understand and manage your health and wellbeing. Their booklist for children features titles aimed at ages 7-11 on topics such as anxiety, mindfulness, emotional regulation, bereavement, bullying, and having a disability.
Learning English Language Arts with the New York Times
This feature on the New York Times website collects archived content that can be used to teach writing skills such as dialogue, narrative, and criticism.
The Reader Teacher
Scott Evans a/k/a "Mr. E", an elementary school teacher in Wales, reviews and recommends children's books for parents and teachers on his site The Reader Teacher. His main focus is middle-grade fiction (ages 8-12).
Children’s Diversity and Justice Library
Rooted in values of equity and compassion and hosted by the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Children's Diversity and Justice Library empowers young people to celebrate diversity and seek justice in their lives and communities. Browse their online catalog for book recommendations in 12 categories: African American, Bodies & Abilities, Cultures & Traditions, Diversity, Gender, Families, Hispanic/Latino/Spanish, Justice, LGBTQ+, Refugees & Immigrants, Religion, and Women & Girls.
Rare Children’s Books Digital Archive at the Library of Congress
To celebrate the centennial of Children's Book Week in 2019, the US Library of Congress has made available a free digital collection of 100+ out-of-print, public-domain children's books from before 1924. These historically significant works include examples of the work of American illustrators such as W.W. Denslow, Peter Newell, and Howard Pyle, as well as works by renowned English illustrators Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane, and Kate Greenaway.
London Undercurrents
By Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire. This collaborative collection by two British poets creates a people's history of London spanning five centuries, through persona poems in the voices of women from diverse backgrounds. Notable athletes, activists, and literary figures share these pages with imagined characters who represent factory workers, strikers, and working-class girls enjoying a hard-earned holiday. This book would be a good resource for junior high and high school history classrooms.
Polyphony Lit
Polyphony Lit is an Illinois-based nonprofit that publishes a high school literary magazine edited and written by high school students from around the globe. Since launching in 2005, they have given feedback to over 15,000 submissions from 68 countries. Polyphony sponsors the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards, a free writing contest with cash prizes for high school students.
Tint Journal
Tint is an online literary journal for ESL (English as a second language) writers. They publish poetry, fiction, essays, flash prose, author profiles, and articles with writing advice.
10 Tips for Creating Your First Children’s Picture Book
In this 2018 article from the blog of self-publishing and marketing vendor BookBaby, Michael Gallant interviews Jill Santopolo, an executive editor at Penguin Young Readers Group, about the essential elements of a successful picture book. Key advice: keep the text short and make every word count, like a haiku, but don't dumb down the narrative. The fundamentals of storytelling—a relatable character, emotional arc, and plot through-line—apply to books for all ages.
The Telling Room
Based in Portland, Maine, the Telling Room is a nonprofit writing center for youth aged 6-18. Their programs seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for their students. The website includes a list of magazines, contests, and conferences for young writers.
NewPages Young Writers Guide
NewPages is a resource site showcasing independent presses, literary magazines, bookstores, and creative writing programs. This page on their site offers a vetted list of publications and contests that accept work from youth and teens.
University of Arizona Poetry Center
The website of the University of Arizona Poetry Center features reference materials such as a digitized collection of writers' portrait photos, a blog with articles and interviews about poetry and education, and a basic guide to the poetry publication process.
Enchanted Lion Books
Enchanted Lion Books is a Brooklyn-based publisher of children's picture books. "Independent and family owned, we love books, well-told stories, and illustrations that open up the visual world and deepen a child's sense of story."
Scott Woods Makes Lists: Black Children’s Picture Books
Scott Woods Makes Lists is a librarian's blog about African-Americans in popular culture, literature, and current events. This list and its 2016 precursor recommend children's picture books with black protagonists "that aren't about boycotts, buses or basketball". Woods says he wanted to showcase stories outside the familiar civil rights narrative, "featuring Black children doing what all children do: play, make up stories, learn life lessons, and dream."
UCLA Children’s Book Collection
The UCLA Children's Book Collection online archive offers free downloads of over 1,800 digital titles, from classics like Little Women and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to lesser-known public domain works from the 19th century and earlier.
Body Without Organs
Launched in 2017, Body Without Organs is an international English-language online literary journal for teen writers. They publish poetry, literary fiction, essays, and artwork, and are also looking for teen editors. "Pieces that are character-driven and/or emotion-focused have a higher chance of acceptance. Genre fiction including science fiction, fantasy, and romance is almost never accepted, and we strongly prefer free verse poems over those that rhyme, but feel free to challenge or change this." The journal's name comes from a term coined by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, and he used it to reference this essential question: if you stripped an object of every physical trait it uses to define and communicate itself, what would be left? What is the "real" truth at the object’s core?
American Literature
American Literature is a free online archive with the complete text of hundreds of classic public-domain short stories, poems, and novels for adults and children. There are also study guides and writing exercises for young readers.
The Rest of the Iceberg
This chart from education blog Janine's Music Room will be useful for writers who want to create accurate, well-rounded characters from a culture other than their own, as well as teachers with a diverse classroom population. Beyond surface differences like folklore, clothing, and holidays, consider cultural distinctives such as body language, manners, concepts of justice, family roles, notions of modesty, and sense of humor.
Wilgefortis Press
Launched in 2016, Wilgefortis Press publishes the Good News Children's Book Series, a line of religious picture books that feature and affirm children and families who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and genderqueer. The press is sponsored by Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Debut titles by Megan Rohrer, pastor at Grace Lutheran and the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, include Faithful Families (co-authored with Pamela Ryan and Ihnatovich Maryia), which teaches that God loves all types of families, and What to Wear to Church, celebrating diverse gender expressions. Read a profile of the press at Jesus in Love Blog.
Rattle Young Poets Anthology
Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century is a well-regarded literary journal that produces this annual anthology of writing by young people. The editors select the top 52 poems from thousands of submissions from all over the world. Entrants must have been age 15 or younger when the poem was written, and 18 or younger when submitted. See website for guidelines, privacy protections, and online submission form.
TOON Books
TOON Books publishes high-quality comic books for children, designed to teach verbal and visual literacy in a more engaging format than traditional books for first readers. Editorial Director Françoise Mouly is the Art Editor of The New Yorker magazine. Notable contributors include Art Spiegelman, Hilary Knight (creator of Eloise), and Neil Gaiman.
The Sports Museum
The Sports Museum is a nonprofit educational institution housed in the TD Garden in Boston, which draws on the heritage and values of the New England sporting tradition to help build character in kids. Their programs include the annual Will McDonough Sports Writing Contest for youth in 4th-12th grades.
Dawn Drums
By Robert Walton. Set in 1864, this historical novel tells the story of the bloodiest year of the American Civil War, brought to life with a chorus of voices both real and fictional. The cast of narrators includes President Lincoln, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and the women and escaped slaves who fought for the Union and cared for the wounded in field hospitals. This book would be a good addition to a history curriculum for young adults.
Laura Thomas Communications
Laura Thomas Communications hosts a blog with writing opportunities for authors aged 21 and under. There are free poetry and fiction contests (no cash awards) and a personal essay prize based on Thomas's book Polly Wants to Be a Writer, a YA fantasy novel that is also a creative writing manual. The LTC online store sells workbooks inspired by the novel, with writing prompts and an overview of basic concepts.
Google Lit Trips
Google Lit Trips is a computer-based resource that uses satellite and street view data from Google Maps to visualize the travel routes of characters in hundreds of great books for readers of all ages. Parents and educators can use Google Lit Trips to enliven lessons about geography, history, and foreign cultures.
Foothill: A Journal of Poetry
Foothill, a publication of Claremont Graduate University, accepts unpublished poetry by graduate students enrolled anywhere in the world. Submit 1-5 poems by email. CGU administers the prestigious Kingsley Tufts and Kate Tufts Awards for poetry books.
