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.
Review: Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
By on July 17, 2013
Star Wars: Jedi Academy By Jeffrey Brown Scholastic ISBN: 9780545505178 $12.99 Grades 3-6 In Stores September, 2013 Find it at: Schuler Books Books with ties to popular television or movie franchises are a dime a dozen. Well, maybe five dollars for 12, but you get the idea. They’re usually pretty straightforward affairs and more often [...]
Celebrate 15 Years of Harry Potter; Summer Reading for Latino Kids | News Bites
By on June 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
Libraries can win a Harry Potter party pack to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, complete with new paperback editions of the beloved series, illustrated by Kazu Kabushi. Entries are due July 17. Latinas for Latino Literature has launched a Summer Reading Program for summer camps, youth groups, and cultural centers serving Latino students and families, running through August 12.
Booth Browsing at BEA 2013
By on June 3, 2013
Dragging bags and bags of “goodies–” I mean books– around the Javits Center all day (in the first heat wave of the season no less!), probably means I’ll wake up with a charlie horse in the morning. I walked around the convention hall, concentrating on children’s book publishers, hoping to notice some sort of trend [...]
This Week’s Comics: Not the Usual Picks
By on May 31, 2013
I was so tempted this week to go with the easy titles. BOOM! Studios is releasing an Adventure Time annual, and IDW is releasing the next issue in their My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic micro series, which features fan favorite Fluttershy. Archie Comics is concluding its Archie Meets Glee arc, and the Sonic the [...]
Pick of the Day: Infinity Ring, Book 1: A Mutiny in Time (Audio)
By on May 24, 2013 Leave a Comment
A Mutiny in Time, the first audiobook in James Dashner’s “Infinity Ring” series, is a great kickoff for what is sure to be a rollicking adventure series for elementary grade students. Be sure to check out the review.
Review of the Day: Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
By on May 18, 2013
Hold Fast By Blue Balliett Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0545299886 Ages 9-12 I honestly don’t think you can be a reviewer without being honest about your own personal prejudices first. When I pick up a book for children I have to cut through a thick swath of issues infecting my brain that may have little to [...]
Pick of the Day: Growing Up in Coal Country (Audio)
By on April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
In Growing Up in Coal Country, Susan Campbell Bartoletti recounts life in Northeastern Pennsylvania coal country around the turn of the 19th century utilizing oral history and archival documents and focusing primarily on the lives of children. Don’t miss the starred review of this audiobook narrated by Suzanne Toren.
Pick of the Day: Hold Fast
By on April 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
From the author of Chasing Vermeer, an engaging mystery in which books are the problem and the solution. Read SLJ’s starred review.
SLJ Giveaway: Signed ARC of Matt de la Peña’s Infinity Ring Bk. 4: ‘Curse of the Ancients’
By on April 12, 2013 30 Comments
SLJ is giving away 25 author-signed copies of the latest book in the format-bending “Infinity Ring” series (Scholastic). Written by Matt de la Peña, the middle grade novel Curse of the Ancients continues the adventures of Dak, Sera, and Riq, who are on a quest to set history back on course by traveling to different cataclysmic events in time. Leave comment to enter.
Sesame Street’s “Maria” Opens Girls Write Now’s Reading Series
By on March 26, 2013 Leave a Comment
Girls Write Now, a nonprofit organization that mentors budding female writers, opened its CHAPTERS Reading series with Sesame Street’s ‘Maria’ and YA author Sonia Manzano as the first guest speaker. The ongoing 4-part event will showcase the works of teen girls from all over NYC, and will feature female authors like Gayle Forman, Adele Griffin, and Marcia Ann Gillespie.
Pick of the Day: Exclamation Mark
By on February 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
A fun treatment of punctuation
YALSA Hub Challenge: Drama by Raina Telgemeier
By on February 12, 2013
Our first title to discuss from the YALSA Hub Reading Challenge is Raina Telgemeier’s Drama. Drama has been singled out as one of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten for 2013, and was also selected as a Stonewall Book Award Honor book. As a refresher, the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection list [...]
10 to Note: Spring Preview 2013
By on February 12, 2013
It’s time to once again to look at the season before us and say “that looks good”. What follows are books coming out in March, April, and May that appear to have promise. Picture Book Giant Dance Party by Betsy Bird; illustrated by Brandon Dorman April 23 | Greenwillow | Grades K-2 Ever heard of [...]
Scholastic Plans ‘39 Clues’ Baldacci Webcast at Smithsonian American History Museum
By on January 24, 2013 2 Comments
Scholastic will offer a free, behind-the-scenes video tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History with author David Baldacci as a guide. The “Decoding History” virtual field trip coincides with the release of Baldacci’s new book, “The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Day of Doom,” the latest in the bestselling series.
Kids’ Ebook Reading Nearly Doubled Since 2010, Scholastic Reading Survey Finds
By on January 14, 2013
The number of kids reading ebooks has nearly doubled since 2010, according to Scholastic’s Kids & Family Reading Report, which was released today. The national survey of kids age 6–17 and their parents also found that half of kids age 9–17 say they would read more books for fun if they had greater access to ebooks—although 80 percent of kids who read ebooks say they still read books for fun primarily in print.
Review: Titanic
By on January 14, 2013
Titanic: Voices From The Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic 2012. Review copy from publisher. Finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award. It’s About: The sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic on April 15, 1912, resulting in the loss of over 1,400 men, women and children. The Good: I believe the first Titanic movie I [...]
Scholastic Launches New Multi-Platform Fantasy Series
By on January 10, 2013 1 Comment
Scholastic has announced it will release Spirit Animals, a new multi-platform, multi-author fantasy adventure series for readers ages 8–12, in September. The story arc of the seven-book series and online game will be established by New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull, with a second title launching next year from bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.
The Raven Boys, at Long Last
By on December 31, 2012
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater Scholastic Press, September 2012 Reviewed from ARC So, I’m ready to talk about The Raven Boys. I’ve read it twice. I really really like it. Maggie Stiefvater clearly grew up drinking from the same story well as I did, and this is one that hits pretty much all my buttons. [...]
