Tool for finding children's books with particular names inside?
May 16, 2023 9:42 AM   Subscribe

Is there any sort of database or website whereby one can search for children's books that contain a particular name?

My small kids (toddler and preschooler) love when we find picture books that have their names featured (i.e., as a character in the story). I can't imagine they're the only ones! This got me thinking - is there one central spot anywhere to search children's books by what names they include? Searching for things like "children's books with particular names" mainly turns up companies that will put your child's name into a pre-written book, which isn't what I want.

Basically, I'm looking for a way to go to a site, search for say, "David" (not one of their names), and turn up a list of kids' books that include that name. Searching the library catalog only goes so far, as it would pull up things like, say, David Goes to Camp, but not things like My Summer at Camp (featuring a character named David).

I'd be surprised if something like this exists but if it does, please point me there!
posted by Synesthesia to Grab Bag (12 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I tried Googling children's books with characters named [name] and got some answers for one of my kids. My other kid has a name that is in the title of a popular series of children's books so it just told me that those books exist, which I already knew. I would also be interested in such a thing.
posted by madcaptenor at 9:58 AM on May 16, 2023


Best answer: There's this, which seems to have a list for each letter. Also, I know you're looking for that joy of discovery so it's not quite the same, but I bet your kids would love Wonderbly books, particlarly the boy/girl who forget his/her name. It doesn't just paste in the name. Worth checking out (Put the name into the website and you can see/read the whole book. This one also has some places where you can choose between options).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:00 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]


Best answer: There's a database called NoveList that many public libraries subscribe to, so your library might well have a subscription to it.

It doesn't let you search for particular character names... but you can do a search for picture books for children that have "David" somewhere in the entry, but don't have "David" in the author field.

Unfortunately, this turns up a lot of chaff along with the wheat (one book, for example, that's "perfect for budding David Attenboroughs"), but it also turns up a lot of fictional Davids!
posted by Jeanne at 10:02 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]


Best answer: LibraryThing’s Common Knowledge includes character names. I’m unclear on wherever there’s any sensible way to filter for children’s books, or if the kidlit coverage is sufficient.
posted by zamboni at 10:03 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]


(You must be signed in to LibraryThing to use Common Knowledge.)
posted by zamboni at 10:24 AM on May 16, 2023


Best answer: I do this at Amazon via Advanced Search. Just put the name you're looking for in the Title field and choose Children's Books as the subject.
posted by picopebbles at 10:35 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]


ChatGPT. prompt: top 10 children's books with characters named "david", exclude any that have "david" in the title
Then do "more" as needed

Do note, it does seem to sometimes hallucinate:
> "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle: Although not the main character, David is one of the creatures encountered by the caterpillar as it eats its way through various foods.
posted by pyro979 at 11:10 AM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]


Although not the main character, David is one of the creatures encountered by the caterpillar as it eats its way through various foods.

This is not correct.

I would not ask Chat GPT for something like this.
posted by Jeanne at 1:29 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]


Although not the main character, David is one of the creatures encountered by the caterpillar as it eats its way through various foods.

That may be the funniest Chat GPT hallucination I've seen yet, considering that there are no characters other than the (unnamed) caterpillar in that book.
posted by Ragged Richard at 1:31 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]


Does fanfic count? Because I think we can now surmise that somewhere out there there is self-insertion Very Hungry Caterpillar fanfic written by someone named David.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:03 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]


Best answer: The best tool will be a children's librarian! They have access to databases and the skills to use them properly.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:45 AM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks so much, everybody - lots of great ideas I hadn't considered!
posted by Synesthesia at 8:52 PM on May 19, 2023


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