Young Readers Database of Literature (YRDL)
The Young Readers Database of Literature (YRDL) is a collaboration between Literary Lab members and affiliates in Education, English, and the DLCL.
The database contains rich metadata for over 25,000 works of children’s, middle-grade, and YA fiction novels from the 20th and 21st century, including publisher information, Goodreads data, Horn Book reviews, readability metrics, and awards status, as well as a full-text corpus. Our initial database-building stage prioritized several subgenres—including “Hi-Lo” novels, LGBTQ+ novels, and popular series for girls—that have often been overlooked in favor of prestige literature, opening up new possibilities for quantitative research on young readers’ fiction that reaches beyond award-winners and immediately-recognizable titles.
The Young Readers Database of Literature is a project of the Literary Lab.