SLJ Reviews

The pandemic habit that we hope will last—reading together! We pulled together some favorites that allow for exploration, discussion, or just lap time.

The young people featured in these middle grade novels are intrepid, confronting racism, grief, queer identity, and more. They’re relatable teens and tweens, making mistakes and stumbling as they find themselves. Looking for more summer reading recommendations? SLJ is publishing lists all summer long—from family stories to mysteries to teen reads. 

From Rome to Tokyo and summer camp to private school, these YA reads are as hilarious as they are heartfelt.

These delightful beginning readers feature simple sentences, accessible design, and text features that strengthen emerging readers' decoding and comprehension skills. 

From clowning skills to creating forts, here are some great books to help get kids (and their grown-ups) away from screens for a bit. 

Aimed at infants and toddlers through elementary school students, these titles introduce topics such as intersectionality and privilege, with explanations that are age-appropriate and honest.

Newly proficient readers in the longer form are always delighted to be in on the jokes. Here are 15 titles to get them started.

Boxers, fencers, track stars, and more give it their all in these YA novels. Recommend these titles to Olympics-obsessed teens and those who just love a winning story.

These swoon-worthy beach reads keep it light while diving into deeper themes.