TCH 208 - Reading and Language Development

Story elements in NoveList Plus try to tell you a lot of information about a book in an abbreviated format. Not all books are assigned every story element. These include:

• Storyline - Storyline is a quick way to determine a book’s focus and structure. (ex. Action-packed, Character-driven, Own voices)
• Pace - Pace is the rate at which a story unfolds for the reader. We identify books at either end of the spectrum. We also tag those that start slowly, then accelerate as the story progresses. (ex. Fast-paced, intensifying, Leisurely paced)
• Tone -Tone is the feeling that a book evokes in the reader. In many cases, this category best answers the question, “What are you in the mood for?” (ex. Creepy, Feel-good, Hopeful)
• Writing Style -Writing style terms tell us how a book is written, from the complexity of the language to the level of detail in the background. (ex. Descriptive, Engaging, Witty)
• Character - Character terms are especially for those readers who love books because of the characters. Only applied to fiction books. (ex. Courageous, Culturally diverse, Relatable)
• Illustration - For books that feature a lot of illustration, these terms identify elements like color, drawing style, or the mood evoked in the reader by the illustrations. (ex. Cartoony, Realistic, Detailed)
• Genre - Genre terms associated with the book. (ex. Romance, Science fiction, Horror)
• Theme - These terms describe popular and recurring plot elements found in the book. (ex. Chosen one, Framed!, Road tripping)

As an example, here are the story elements of On the Trapline:

Under the story elements in NoveList Plus, books also have a Min/Max grade level. This grade range identifies the grades of students which are likely to be engaged by the content in the book. 

There also might be a Lexile measure or Accelerated Reader designation. These identify the text complexity, meaning how complicated it is to read the book. To learn more about how to interpret the text complexity, revisit the Independent Reading Text page. 

For example, see the interest level and text complexity for On the Trapline:

NoveList Plus also aggregates book reviews from major publishers such as Booklist, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Hornbook, and more. This can be tremendously useful to learn more about the content of the book, but also to see how the book was received by professionals. Beginnings of reviews will have /* Starred Review */ if it is a highly positive review from that publication, where the reviewer thought the book likely to be one of the best of the year. Most reviews will summarize the book and also include some evaluation which you may use to support your rationale for using the book.

For example, see the reviews included for On the Trapline:

NoveList Plus will also indicate whether a book has won any awards by a blue ribbon above the description. If there is not a ribbon there, then the title you are investigating has not won an award identified by NoveList Plus. 

If interested, you may see a list of the award(s) a book has one by changing over from the Reviews tab to the Lists & Articles tab. 

For example, On the Trapline shows:

In addition to story elements, books are also tagged with subjects which communicate the key details about the story. To see these, you need to scroll nearly to the bottom of the page for a book in NoveList Plus. These can be excellent to inform you on the main ideas of a book, but they can also be used as search terms in the "Search for More" book to find related titles. 

In the example below, you can see the subjects listed for On the Trapline, but you could also also select any of the tags and click the search button to see more books with those tags. 

NoveList Plus also highlights read-alikes that are for a similar audience and tackle similar themes or subjects. This can be helpful to look at if you decide the book you are evaluating is not quite right, or it can be used as an extension for the book you have already identified as being strong.