HERNDON, Virginia—Middle-schoolers in search of a good book don't have to look far at Rachel Carson Middle School. An online book database allows students to check out which books their peers are reading—and which ones are worth a second look.

According to teacher Katherine Fitch, two students came up with the database idea after taking the school's advanced technology class. The school has four computer labs along with digital cameras and camcorders. Every classroom has at least one computer.

The student volunteers created the database in the school library. "Students first built the structure of the database," Fitch says, "then put it online." The database includes several fields: title, author, reviewer, rating of 1-10, genre, comments about the book, a one-sentence summary, and the date of the review.

Student participation is the key to a project like this one. "To give the database a jump start, the two students and I entered 34 book records," Fitch says. Then the organizers printed blank review slips and posted them around the library—right where students who were returning books would likely spot them. The planners organized the new entries each week, building the number of titles while expanding the range of reviewers to include more voices and perspectives.

"You can search the database by genre or by how other students rate the book," Fitch explains. Rachel Carson Middle School enrolls a diverse suburban population. Most students have a computer at home, so they're never far from a tip on a good book to read.

The technology project is sparking student interest in literature in other ways, too. Fitch plans to launch a student book club to keep interest high.