8 YA Thrillers That Blend Influencer Culture with Page-Turning Plots

8 YA Thrillers That Blend Influencer Culture with Page-Turning Plots

What happens when teen influencers and streamers famous for their social #content end up dead or the main suspect in a murder case? These timely, topical YA thrillers will keep readers guessing.
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Title I School Libraries, Apply for the 2024–25 Mathical Collection Development Awards

SLJ staff, Oct 02, 2024
Presented by SLMath in partnership with SLJ, the Mathical Collection Development Awards will enable up to 36 libraries in K–12 U.S. schools with high numbers of low-income students to receive grants of $850 to purchase titles from the Mathical Book Prize list.

New Jersey Library Director Opens Used Bookstore

Kara Yorio, Oct 08, 2024
Brianne Colombo believes libraries and bookstores are complementary, each creating "third spaces" for community members.

Wednesday Round Up: Easy Reader/ Early Chapter Books

Emily Mroczek-Bayci, Oct 09, 2024
In today's Wednesday round-up, we look at a genre that seldom receives Newbery glory, easy reader and early chapter books.

SLJ’s Reviews of the 2024 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Finalists

SLJ Reviews, Oct 01, 2024
The National Book Foundation has announced the 2024 National Book Award finalists. Here are the SLJ reviews of the finalists for the Young People's Literature Award.

Marlaina Cockcroft, Apr 04, 2024
With budgets mostly flat, book challenges and rising costs pose hurdles for school librarians.

 

SLJ Staff, Apr 04, 2024
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center released its latest Diversity Statistics report on children's literature, showing another year of small increases in books with BIPOC primary characters and significant BIPOC content.

SLJ Staff, Apr 03, 2024
The State of K-12 Digital Reading breaks down the data for the 2022-23 school year, showing the popularity of comics and graphic novels in the digital format plus regional differences in reading habits.

Marlaina Cockcroft, Jan 04, 2024
Children are eager listeners—of audiobooks, according to a new Library Journal / School Library Journal survey. Libraries are keeping up with the demand as formats evolve.

Kathy Ishizuka, Sep 30, 2023
Twenty-four percent of school librarians have been harassed this past year over books or displays in their library. That’s according to a recent SLJ survey, which found the rate even higher among high school librarians, 30 percent of whom have experienced harassment.

Marlaina Cockcroft, Oct 03, 2023
If graphic novels are flying off the shelves at your library, that reflects a remarkable trend: The format’s popularity has shot up at over 90 percent of school libraries in the last few years, according to a new SLJ survey.

SLJ staff, Jan 19, 2022
Those dreaded summer reading lists. For eons, teachers have been handing out assigned reading, mostly comprised of old “classics.” With this survey, SLJ and NCTE invite teachers and librarians to choose the titles you’d like culled from required reading and those books you would urge students to read instead.

Shelley Diaz, May 10, 2022
SLJ and NCTE collaborated to create 18 booklists of titles to replace, or use as a companion to, canon "classics." 

Marlaina Cockcroft, Feb 21, 2023
More librarians find their work challenging, but most still love what they do, the latest LJ/SLJ Survey shows.

Kara Yorio, Sep 08, 2022
In the past year, school librarians have faced coordinated, hate-filled censorship campaigns that impact available books and collection development decisions. Here, they share their stories.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 08, 2024
This year has gone above and beyond with its middle grade offerings! From powerful historical fiction to hilarious magical mayhem, this list features our top titles so far.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 15, 2024
It's been a great year for YA so far! These starred titles include everything from contemporary coming-of-age stories to high-stakes fantasy to diverse romances, and more.

Offer registration help to caregivers, add voting activities to engage children and adults, and share these age-appropriate books about civic engagement. 

SLJ Reviewers and NCTE, Apr 17, 2024
In our last round of reviews of banned classics, SLJ and NCTE cover two of Jane Austen's works, the timely Fahrenheit 451, and the heartbreaking I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

Jul 08, 2024
We’ve starred 276 books, published from January 2024 to June 2024. Here’s what we thought of them.

Chance Lee Joyner, Jul 10, 2024
From multiplayer matches to couch co-op adventures, sometimes two (or more) heads are better than one. Here are six multiplayer video games to add to your collection for building community in the library and at home.

SLJ Reviews, Jun 24, 2024
As the world prepares for the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, here are a few nonfiction titles about the Games and some of the inspiring athletes who have competed in them.

From magical school fantasies to hilarious sibling stories, these 13 selections will keep middle schoolers turning pages during summer break. Complete with graphic novels, biographies, and poetry, this list has something for every tween.

SLJ Reviews, Jun 25, 2024
This print reference roundup features nonfiction titles for all ages, including a bird guide for kids, a volume on censorship, two research-ready tomes on women's history, and the ultimate bugopedia.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 15, 2024
From early reader to YA titles, these starred graphic novels showcase the very best of the comics medium so far in 2024. Use the downloadable spreadsheet to ensure your collection includes these superb graphic novels.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 29, 2024
Biographies for the picture-book set are in abundance, so we pulled out recent titles that got our reviewers' attentions and became stars in the first months of 2024. Use the link for the full review!

 

Elissa Malespina, Jul 23, 2024
A step-by-step guide to using generative AI for book summaries and recommendations.

Kimberly Olson Fakih, Jul 30, 2024
Inclusion and play seem to be the watchwords for this roundup. These books include children using cochlear implants, eye shields, prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other helpful tools and devices, but the text never points them out or even mentions them. Welcome to the world of children at play.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 25, 2024
Women's Equality Day, celebrated on August 26th, commemorates the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. In these titles, mothers and grandmothers take their daughters and granddaughters along with them to polls, to show the children the importance of exercising the hard-won right for women to vote.

From a TEDx Talk to a manga, these transmedia picks will entice young adults to keep their minds engaged this summer.

SLJ Reviews, Jan 23, 2024
January 27 is designated as a day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. Share these stories of resilience and hope about people of various ages, races, nationalities, and more with young readers today and throughout the year.

 

Rachel Owens, Jun 05, 2024
Stories of children with parents behind bars are as diverse as the millions of real-life kids familiar with the experience. These 19 fiction and nonfiction titles may offer an empathetic, metaphoric hand for young readers to hold.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 08, 2024
Get your purchase list out and make sure you include these picture books; we've found dozens of contenders for this year's Best Books collection.

SLJ Reviews, Jul 15, 2024
From early reader to YA titles, these starred graphic novels showcase the very best of the comics medium so far in 2024. Use the downloadable spreadsheet to ensure your collection includes these superb graphic novels.

SLJ Staff, Jun 17, 2024
As we find ourselves at the midway point of June, amidst the celebrations of Pride Month, it's an opportune time to reflect on the rich tapestry of narratives within the LGBTQIA+ community with 15 noteworthy graphic novels that can help us celebrate Pride this month, and year-round.

Brigid Alverson, Jun 13, 2024
In these stories, some grandparents are kind and loving, others carry the trauma of their past. Often, kids turn to them when they feel their parents won’t understand.

Brigid Alverson, May 21, 2024
From a fire-breathing corgi to bunnies with wings, characters in these fantasy titles for elementary and middle school readers hold strong appeal.  

From stunning memoirs to sustainability guides, this year’s Best Graphic Novels list features 25 unforgettable works that take comics to new heights.

Renee Scott, Jul 16, 2024
A nonbinary teen finds themselves in a complicated love triangle in this thought-provoking manga.
Lori Henderson, Jul 22, 2024
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring a new graphic adaptation of the Warriors novels from Harper Alley and the second volume of Meesh the Bad Demon from Knopf Books for Young Readers.
SLJ Reviews, Jun 03, 2024
Seven new manga releases that are sure to be a hit with YA readers. 

Rosemary Kiladitisis, Apr 23, 2024
Genre-blending books offer readers the opportunity to comfortably expand across boundaries and try something different while still in the safety of their preferred reading choice. Here are 14 middle grade graphic novels that blend genres to perfection.

Nine popular series for elementary and middle grade readers.

Lori Henderson, Jul 15, 2024
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Afro Unicorn Volume 1 The Land of Afronia from Andrews McMeel and Jackson's Wilder Adventures Volume 1 Habits and Habitats from Papercutz.
Brigid Alverson, Jul 11, 2024
Today we have a preview of Goblin: The Wolf and the Well, by writer Eric Grissom and artist Will Perkins. This is the second volume of their middle-grade fantasy series about Rikt, an orphaned goblin, and his companion, a wolf named Fish-Breath. Here’s the publisher’s description: After losing his parents, Rikt struggles with a fear […]
Brigid Alverson, Mar 27, 2024
Korean and Chinese comics reach English-language readers.

Kathy Ishizuka, Oct 15, 2023
The editors are planning for 2024, SLJ's 70th anniversary year.

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