By Kara Yorio

The Cooperative Children's Book Center has released its annual publishing statistics—and announced a new methodology—while offering observations about the status of children's publishing and diverse titles.

The new initiative with "Dog Man" and "Captain Underpants" creator Dav Pilkey focuses on the importance of reading being fun. This year the week is March 25-29.

In this 50th anniversary year of the award, Heather Thompson joins the 50-50 Initiative with a family reading program spotlighting past CSK winners.

Teens Mena and Zena Nasiri started Girls of the Crescent to donate books with female Muslim main characters to local school districts, libraries, and mosques.

A variety of online resources can help with planning for Women's History Month.

A survey showed 70 percent of teens seen the mental health issues as a significant concern among their peers.

Paper published in Research on Diversity in Youth Literature questions representation in Dr. Seuss's children's books. Researchers Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens cited racist and other problematic depictions in classic Seuss picture books, ranging from The Sneetches to Horton Hears a Who!.

At Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, NJ, the Popkin Innovation Lab has brought a new curriculum and problem-solving approach, along with a different culture, to  school this year.