Kathy Ishizuka

Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster have extended permissions for online story time and classroom read-aloud videos to March 31, 2021. Publishers can submit their policies to SLJ for inclusion in our COVID-19 Publisher Information Directory.

Serving on the front lines, engaging with the public, libraries can be a critical asset to mental health.   

Here we are. Well into a new school year—sort of. The fall has brought no relief from uncertainty, and we have a ways to go. So we asked, and Jarrett Krosoczka and Jerry Craft were on board to illustrate our October 2020 issue.

Ten longlisted titles are all newcomers to the National Book Awards and include three debuts. 

Seven months of learning loss. That’s the impact wrought by the pandemic, and low-income, Black, and Latinx children stand to suffer the most. Some cities are adapting the pod concept, working with community partners to serve at-risk students.

"Now is an especially critical time to inform readers," writes Kathy Ishizuka, SLJ editor in chief. "That means publishing stories centered on the people who power libraries and schools. We are here for it, and we hope you are, too."

“He taught me that it is OK to get into ‘good trouble,’ and we all have a moral obligation to speak up and fight against injustices,” says school librarian K.C. Boyd. We remember Rep. John Lewis, including his full address at the 2016 SLJ Summit.

While we're rethinking everything, how would you better serve youth in your community? SLJ is supporting a project to devise a new, crowdsourced vision for libraries. 

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