About 5 minutes
Find the right book
The full interview. Nineteen questions about who this reader is, what they love, and what they are ready for. This is the one that produces a list worth keeping.
Meet The Lit Librarian
Find books that match who you are.
The Lit Librarian helps readers discover books, comics, magazines, graphic novels, and audiobooks based on personality, interests, reading level, favorite people, favorite media, and real-life goals.
For kids, teens, adults, parents, and caregivers. In a hurry, or standing in a library? Quick Match asks six questions instead of nineteen.
What are you here to do?
About 1 minute
Quick Match
Six questions, including the content control. For when you are standing in a library and need a name to write down right now.
About 2 minutes
Check a reading level
A short passage and a few questions, then an estimated band you can match books against. An estimate, not a diagnosis.
Go to the reading checkStraight away
Look something up
Ask for a book the way you would ask a librarian. Our shelf answers first, then Open Library.
Go to searchHow it works
Three simple steps between a reader and their next favorite book.
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Tell us about the reader.
Age, reading level, personality, interests, favorite books, role models, and goals.
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The Lit Librarian finds patterns.
The match engine connects interests, identity, format preference, and reading confidence.
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Get a personalized reading list.
Each result explains why it fits and includes a working Amazon link.
Question 1 of 19
About 4 minutes left
You can go back anytime, and nothing is saved or sent.
Buy links on these matches are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, The Lit Librarian may earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Free feature
Not sure of a young reader's level? Find out in two minutes.
The reader reads a short passage, then answers a few questions. The Lit Librarian estimates fluency (reading pace) and comprehension, then matches books that fit just right. It works two ways: read silently and time it, or read aloud with the microphone. It is an estimate to start a book from, not a diagnosis.
- Adapts to the reader, stepping up or down to find the right level
- Pace benchmarks based on established oral reading fluency norms
- Feeds the result straight into personalized book matches
- Add a location to check availability at your local library
- Silent mode sends nothing anywhere. Read-aloud hands the audio to your browser speech service, never to us, and no recording is kept
Search the shelf.
Ask for a book the way you would ask a librarian. Our curated shelf answers first, then the search reaches into Open Library, the Internet Archive's catalogue of tens of millions of works, so an avid reader never runs out of shelf.
Try:
Age, reading level, and format filters come with Lit Librarian Plus, along with a library lookup on every result.
Catalogue data beyond our shelf comes from Open Library, a project of the Internet Archive. Reading levels on outside results are estimated from library classification and page count, and are labelled as estimates. Buy links are Amazon search links and we may earn a commission.
How outside results are chosen
Our own shelf is read by hand, a title at a time. Everything past it comes from Open Library, which is a community catalogue: it is wide, and it is uneven. So what comes back from it is filtered before it reaches you.
- Study guides, summaries, workbooks and other look-alikes are dropped, along with records that name no author.
- Editions are collapsed to one row a book, so a title with forty printings cannot fill the page.
- English-language records rank first, and titles libraries actually stock rank above ones they do not.
- Age and reading level on outside results are worked out from library classification and page count. They are estimates, they are labelled as estimates, and they are no substitute for your own read of the book.
- Nothing beyond our own shelf has been read by us. Treat it as a catalogue, not a recommendation.
The reading check that sets a level is explained in full in our methodology.
Two ways to read with us.
Matching and search are always free. Plus adds your local library to every result, so the next book can cost nothing.
Free
$0
No account, no card, no catch.
- The full 19-question reader interview
- Parent controls: you set what is age-appropriate
- 8 book suggestions every time
- Reading level check
- Your reading path, mapped out
- A buy link for every match
- Search our curated shelf, then the wider Open Library catalogue
Plus
Lit Librarian Plus
Coming soon
Cancel anytime. Secure checkout by Stripe. Plus switches on as soon as Stripe confirms the subscription, and switches itself off if you cancel.
- Everything in Free
- Local library availability on every match
- Search by ZIP code or current location
- A Find at a library link on all 8 suggestions
- Deeper search: 30 results a page, then keep loading
- Age, reading level, and format filters on search
- A library lookup on every search result
- Library links on your reading path too
- Supports an independent, ad-free site
Why families keep it. The shelf moves. As a reader finishes a book the dashboard picks new ones it has not shown them, and it checks each against the libraries near you before it suggests it. A second and third reader can live on the same subscription with their own shelf, their own level, and their own content ceiling, so a nine year old and a fourteen year old never share a list.
Manage my subscription Open Plus on another devicePayments are processed by Stripe. The Lit Librarian never sees or stores your card details. Library availability is powered by WorldCat, which shows which nearby libraries hold a title.
Plus switches on in the browser you check out with, so there is no password to keep track of. On a new device, use the link above and we will email you a sign-in link instead. For a refund or anything else, email hello@thelitlibrarian.com and a real person will answer.
Lit Librarian Plus
Everything Plus switches on, and the library it looks in.
Subscription
Checking your subscription…
Your library
No location set yet.
We ask WorldCat which nearby libraries hold a title. Your ZIP travels in that link so WorldCat knows where to look, and it is never sent to us.
What Plus switches on
- Local library availability on every match
- A Find at a library link on all 8 suggestions
- Library links on your reading path
- A library lookup on every search result
- Age, reading level, and format filters on search
- Deeper search: 30 results a page, then keep loading
Matching, the reading check, search and your shelf stay free for everyone. For a refund or anything else, email hello@thelitlibrarian.com and a real person will answer.
My Shelf
Set up a reader, then save books to them from any match or search. Everything here stays in this browser.
No readers yet. Add one and every match and search result gets a Save to shelf button.
Reading now 0
Want to read 0
Finished 0
Library ZIP code
Saved per reader and filled in automatically when you look up library copies.
Library lookups come with Lit Librarian Plus.
This shelf lives in this browser
There is no account and nothing is uploaded. Save a copy if you want this reader on another device or another browser.