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Follett announced today a partnership with U.S. publisher Hachette Book Group (HBG) to provide preK-12 school libraries and students expanded access to popular children’s titles. Award-winning books such as Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ninth Ward and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will be available in an ebook lending format for the 2013-2014 school year. The company recently announced a similar agreement with Random House Children’s.
The inclusion of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian—winner of the 2007 National Book Award—on a required summer reading list for sixth graders has raised the ire of a group of parents in Belle Harbor, NY, who have successfully called for its removal, the Daily News has reported.
American Library Association (ALA) President Barbara Stripling unveiled the “Declaration for the Right to Libraries” on Monday during a signing ceremony at Nashville Public Library, the first in a series of signing events the ALA plans to host across the country in the coming months.
Follett has partnered with Random House to offer new and popular ebook titles to school libraries. The partnership gives librarians the opportunity to enhance their collections with popular titles such as Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina and Christopher Paul Curtis’s The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963.
Be sure to check out the starred audiobook review of Holly Black’s Doll Bones, a tale of friendship and the trials of growing up set against the backdrop of a spooky ghost story. Nick Podehl expertly voices all the characters.
On July 31, 2013 (Harry Potter and author J. K . Rowling’s birthday), Scholastic unveiled a new look for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi created new covers for each of the titles in the beloved series. The book covers were revamped in time for the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Rowling’s series opener.
From Walter Dean Myers’s latest to a new early reader series by Pam Muñoz Ryan, highlights from Scholastic’s Fall preview, which is also available online.
Enter a contest to determine who will voice Four in the Allegiant audiobook, the final book in Veronica Roth’s young adult dystopian trilogy. RIF and Macy’s have donated 10 million books to kids in need. Visit the Library of Congress’s 2013 National Book Festival in Washington, DC, in September.
The Big Brain Club is now offering its how-to manual for student publishing programs to any schools interested in participating. The manual provides a blueprint for the program, making it easy to get organized and up and running quickly, especially key with the new school year just weeks away.
MTV recently surveyed its core audience, the Millennials, in order to better understand the younger subset of that group, ages 13-17, as they age into the older group, ages 18-24. And while the results may not be surprising, MTV’s deft interpretation of the responses divides the Millennials into two distinct archetypes as represented by the two biggest names in fiction over the past 15 years—Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen.
Leonard Marcus might just be the busiest man in the world of kid lit. In June, the children’s literature historian and scholar launched a critically acclaimed exhibition at the New York Public Library (which he curated) and had a book published that celebrates the life and work of Maurice Sendak (which he edited). Marcus shared with SLJ some of the details of his recent projects, insider knowledge of children’s literature history and icons, and his belief that picture books might be the solution to saving all physical books.
The Kids in Need Foundation is calling for applications for its classroom grants program. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund released Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love to Read, a free resource that promotes comics’ positive impact on readers’ literacy skills. Apply for the Estela and Raúl Mora Award, which recognizes exemplary programming that celebrates El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Edie Parsons has won the first Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award that celebrates authors over the age of 50 who have not been traditionally published in the children’s literature field.
Lizzie Skurnick Books, a new imprint from Ig Publishing, brings back beloved YA titles; Laurie Halse Anderson wins the Empire State Award; nominate your favorite librarian for the “I Love My Librarian” award; and more.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hosted the first Let’s Read! Let’s Move! event of 2013 on Wednesday, July 10, at the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C. Along with Rep. John Kline of Minnesota; Sam Kass, executive director of Let’s Move!; and Michelle Kwan, member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition and Olympic figure skater, the celebrity guests read to a group of students. Kwan then led the children in a session of fun, physical activities.
The book traces the advent of cross-country train travel, focusing on an early trip from Omaha to Sacramento.
Findaway World launches the Playaway Bookpack program, which features preloaded audiobooks and their print versions. There are currently more than 200 titles available for preschool through young adult readers. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is now accepting nominations for the 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Book Foundation’s Up All Night online exhibit showcases National Book Award Winners and Finalists in Young People’s Literature. Educators interested in integrating educational games into the K-12 curriculum are invited to attend a one-day workshop on August 19 during the Serious Play Conference.
Are there lessons to be learned from those perennial state assignments? On a road trip, Marc Aronson reconsiders his position.
With her aunt’s wedding day fast approaching, 16-year-old Ann Gilardi is determined to lose ’45 pounds.’ In her effort to do so, she learns more about herself−and her family−than she expected. Author K. A. Barson talks about the genesis of the book.
On June 24, the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City kicked off its first annual National Pajama Party Week with the book launch of Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late (Fiewel and Friends) by Laura Overdeck, author and founder of the Bedtime Math nonprofit, an organization whose mission is to make nightly the math problem as common as the bedtime story. The event included math focused games for families and a book giveaway and signing by the author.
The nominees for the 2013 Teens’ Top Ten have just been announced by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Kids Read Now combats summer slide with a summer reading program focusing on children in first through third grades. Channel One News is expanding its digital distribution so that its education content can be accessed inside and outside the classroom. Chronicle Books celebrates its 25 years in children’s publishing with a tween and teen book giveaway, with entries due July 3. A school librarian at Hitchin Boys’ School in the UK has discovered a poem incorrectly attributed to William Blake.
