The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Amy Cheney is constantly on the look-out for books that will engage her incarcerated teens, but estimates that only about one in five that she encounters will pass muster. That’s why she is so excited about a new self-published title, From Crack to College & Vice Versa.
Know a deserving school librarian, media specialist, or teacher-librarian? AASL has many opportunities for recognizing their smarts, bravery, and innovative style through its 2014 Awards program. And the online awards database promises to make the nomination process easier than ever.
I’m not sure what was more of a surprise to me—that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for 30 years, or that the John Madden videogame football franchise goes back twenty five years! John Mayer has some ground to make up; his first album debuted in 2001, an Internet only album titled Room for Squares. Hopefully he’ll have the longevity of the turtles and one particular earthbound former football coach.
Do you have plans for recognizing Anti-Bullying Month in October? One great way to wrap up the month is to join the national Mix It Up at Lunch campaign. Mix It Up at Lunch Day is set for October 29, but you can plan it for any day, any time of the year.
Looking for career guidance resources for your teens? The “Be What You Want” series from Beyond Words may be just the ticket. To whet your appetite, the publisher is giving away 50 copies of the latest title, So, You Want To Be a Chef?!
Looking for a break from the paranormal genre? The only monsters you’ll find in these books are of the human variety—a maniacal kidnapper, an abusive boyfriend, elitist survivors, and one’s own memory.
If your teens went crazy over A.G. Howard’s debut YA novel Splintered, it’s a sure bet that the second book in the just-announced trilogy will have them Unhinged.
A good library orientation can make the rest of the year easier for students and teachers, as well as for you and your staff. Make it fun and the facts will be more memorable. This year, the Guybrarian is using the scavenger hunt method, with a few tech twists.
Sierra did the right thing, and finds herself about to be expelled from school, all because of a zero tolerance no-weapons policy. But are the rules really that black and white? Five lucky winners will have the chance to explore Claudia Mills’s take on this with their own copy of Zero Tolerance.
Four favorite YA authors―Holly Black, Chris Crutcher, Nancy Farmer, and Neal Shusterman―have new titles out, and fans will be clamoring for them. From a study room that’s run like Las Vegas to the cruise of a lifetime gone bad, you’ll find suspense, humor, horror, and thrills in this selection from the editors at Junior Library Guild.
Superheros, extraordinary science, and unexpected twists keep readers on their toes in Jessica Freely’s debut novel All the Colors of Love. Thirty lucky SLJTeen readers will get a copy for their library, adding to the LGBT collection.
Both Luke Bryan and The Civil Wars are award-winning country western artists. After all, what’s not to like about an album titled Crash My Party? But a mid-tour breakup has fans wondering if The Civil Wars will ever make another album. SLJ’s teen reviewers weigh in.
Joy Fleishhacker, our media maniac, looks ahead to the October release of the motion picture Parkland, based on the 2007 book Four Days in November which examines the goings-on at Parkland Hospital following the shooting of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. She’s put together a selection of nonfiction and fiction titles which will can help middle grade and teen readers get the facts surrounding the event as well as the feelings of those young people who experienced it.
Gina Damico wraps up her Croak series in “cracktastic” style with the fall release of Rogue. If you loved Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, it’s a good bet you’ll be smitten with Fangirl, “written by a writer writing about a writer writing.” The question posed in After Eden, from Helen Douglas, circles around when it is or isn’t right to keep a secret, especially when a loyal friend and a whole planet depend on it.
Do you know of an an outstanding educator whom you’d like to send to the head of the class? The International Reading Association (IRA) is now accepting applications for both its Arbuthnot and Jerry Johns Award.
Teens at the Ypsilanti (MI) District Library’s Michigan Avenue Branch and the Jasper County (MO) Juvenile Detention Center will soon reap the benefits of YALSA’s Books for Teens grant awards, thanks to local dedicated young adult and teen librarians.
After the storms last spring devastated the Moore (OK) community, Capstone recently sent a shipment of 3,000-plus books to support the city’s two elementary schools, Briarwood Elementary and Plaza Towers Elementary.
Imagine a day in your library devoted to the basics of coding in Python and sending a roomful of teens home with computers they can keep. Now imagine doing this for about $30! It’s completely possible, because it happened at Southwest Regional Library, a regional branch of the Durham County Library system in Durham, North Carolina.
Do you know an innovative teen/youth services library professional making a real difference? Then Library Journal needs to hear from you to help identify emerging leaders in the library world.
Fans of Gina Damico’s titles Croak and Scorch don’t have much longer to wait for the final title in the series, Rogue, due on shelves soon. To keep readers’ baited, Damico has just announced her 2013 Rogue Blog Tour. You’ll need strong powers of observation to keep up with her on this tour, and you’ll need to know all the letters of the English alphabet, too.
