The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
This weekend, thousands of educators, parents, and kids of all ages will join the crowd of DIY enthusiasts flocking to New York City’s 4th annual World Maker Faire New York to see more than 650 makers present original projects celebrating such areas as technology, education, science, arts, crafts, engineering, and sustainability. The family-friendly festival of invention and creativity will also be offering a “How to Make a Maker Space” workshop ahead of the main event.
Beloved children’s book author Kevin Henkes has nearly 50 titles to his name, ranging from picture books to novels for young readers. On the heels of his turn as opening keynote speaker at our annual Day of Dialog (DoD), Henkes is joining SLJ again, this time for an exclusive live webcast. As we look forward to hearing him speak and answer questions from kids, parents, and teachers, we sat down with Henkes for an in-depth chat about his career so far, his creative process, and his next projects.
First Book has made significant strides this summer toward its new goal of dramatically expanding the market for diversity in children’s literature, its president and CEO Kyle Zimmer tells School Library Journal. Through its unprecedented launch this spring of “The Stories for All Project” and the project’s successful, gradual implementation over the past few months, First Book is now poised to lobby publishers and influence the kid lit industry like never before, Zimmer says.
Follett’s new back-to-school release of its FollettShelf hosted digital bookshelf—which includes a new HTML5 reading environment for econtent called Follett Enlight—is now available for schools to download this week via apps for GooglePlay and iOS, even though it does not yet appear in searches of Apple’s iTunes store, the company assures School Library Journal.
New York City’s librarians, teachers, and parents are prepping for a major battle with the city’s Department of Education on the heels of its official request to the New York State Education Department last week that it be exempted from state minimum staffing requirements for certified school library media specialists. The city’s move follows years of quiet noncompliance with the state mandate despite two petitions from the local teachers union to the State Commissioner of Education.
Nearly 50 children’s and teen librarians met last week at Darien Library (CT) for the fifth annual KidLibCamp, a free “unconference” in which the discussion topics, panels, and workshops are voted on by the participants. Attendees explored best practices in 12 interactive breakout sessions with several common takeaways: that innovative programming can be achieved at little start-up cost; librarians need to better market existing programs to their patrons; and partnering with schools and communities is critical to the future of our libraries.
Linda Lord, Maine’s state librarian, represented the nation’s 16,400 public libraries Wednesday in her call to Congress to provide a “proactive vision for meeting the educational and learning needs of our communities for the next 15 years and beyond.” Her testimony—at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation—also detailed the success of the E-rate program in helping serve more than 30 million people every week.
Can you imagine what the covers of classic literary works written by men might look like if those books had been reclassified as “by and for women”? How would the designs be different—and how would that impact how we perceive those books? These are the questions YA author Maureen Johnson posed to her fans in “Coverflip,” a challenge to gendered book covers that limit their audiences.
Digital technologies are impacting American middle and high school students’ writing in many ways, both good and bad, a new national report from the Pew Research Center shows. According to the survey, tech tools provide significant advantages to learning—although students are still having trouble with informal grammar and navigating the issues of plagiarism, citation, and fair use.
Holly Louise Meade, an artist and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, died on June 28, 2013, at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital near her home in Sedgwick, ME, the local Newburyport Daily News has reported. She was 56.
Members of the Association of Library Service to Children celebrated 75 years of the Caldecott Medal this weekend with a welcoming reception Thursday evening honoring authors and illustrators, and a day-long preconference on Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), an advisory group to the Colorado State Library, is launching the Bell Picture Book Awards, with the first honorees set to be announced on February 5, 2014. The program is designed to celebrate books that foster adult-child engagement around the early literacy practices of read, write, sing, talk, and play.
Tech-savvy younger Americans are more likely than older adults to have read printed books in the past year, are more likely to appreciate reading in libraries, and are just as strong supporters of traditional library services as older adults, a new national report from the Pew Research Center shows. And, according to the survey of Americans ages 16–29, a majority of young adults say it is “very important” for libraries to have librarians and books for borrowing.
Teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner, media specialist at Longfellow Elementary School in Columbia, MD, is having the year of his life. Thanks to his boundless enthusiasm for student learning and engagement, Maryland’s 2012 Outstanding User of Technology Educator can also claim a few more distinctions: Mover & Shaker, White House “Champion of Change,” and published author. Ahead of ISTE’s annual conference, Winner shared his thoughts on school libraries and his exciting plans for the future.
The White House’s announcement last week of the ConnectEd initiative, President Obama’s urging of the FCC to overhaul the E-Rate program, is only the first step in what must be a larger, committed effort to fully fund technology in our nation’s schools and libraries, the International Society for Technology in Education says.
The White House’s announcement Thursday that it is urging the FCC to overhaul E-Rate—the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries—is an important and nearly unprecedented step forward in closing the digital divide, the American Library Association tells SLJ.
Michelle Perera, assistant director of the Rancho Cucamonga Library (CA) and 2013 Mover & Shaker, has broken amazing new ground. Her efforts to expand programming, infrastructure, and professional development have garnered grant funding and awards, and her plan to build interactive exhibits for children—now trademarked as the Play and Learn Islands—is being expanded to other libraries. In this interview, Perera shares with us her inspirations and passions, and some of the secrets behind Rancho Cucamonga’s success.
“Audio is a great doorway to a love of literature,” says Katherine Kellgren, award-winning young adult audiobook narrator, lifelong audiobook listener, and supporter of a SYNC, the free YA audiobooks program. SLJ caught up with Kellgren for a candid chat about her start in the field, the joys—and challenges—of narrating YA literature, the importance of audio in boosting kids’ literacy, and her upcoming projects. Kellgren even stopped by our offices to record a few video segments.
More than 20 popular children’s book authors and illustrators were invited guests at SLJ’s annual Day of Dialog event on May 29 in New York City. There, they joined their publishers and about 250 children’s librarians for a daylong discussion and celebration of the latest releases and trends in children’s literature.
Librarian Christy Aguirre—supervisor of the Southgate branch of the Sacramento Public Library (CA), 2013 Mover & Shaker, and noteworthy neighborhood networker—knows how to stop the summer slide. Her literacy outreach efforts have helped triple the branch’s summer reading program to more than 2,000 participants. We caught up with Aguirre to learn more about her inspirations and passions, the ways she collaborates with her community, and her thoughts on the future of public library youth services.
