SLJ Staff

The Newbery Medal winner and National Ambassador of Young People's Literature will speak with SLJ reviews director Shelley Diaz about her time as Ambassador, Latinx representation in children's books, her latest projects, and more.

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.

The new California law prohibits public libraries from banning books based on "race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation of a book’s subject, author, or intended audience"; New Jersey legislators move "Freedom to Read Act" forward; and more. 

The five finalists include a debut novel, a poetry memoir, and a novel in verse.

As we seek ways to aid recovery and rebuilding of Hurricane Helene impacted communities, the devastating scenes from Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia are a reminder of the need for individuals and institutions to prepare for natural disasters.

A group of parents in Montgomery County, MD, has asked the Supreme Court to review their school district's decision not to allow them to opt their children out of seeing books with LGBTQIA+ characters; and Sarah J. Maas books and other titles removed in Cobb County, GA, and Rutherford County, TN.

PEN America released a memo with preliminary book banning numbers, showing a huge increase in banned titles from the previous school year; Carole Boston Weatherford is the 2024 Young People's Poet Laureate; We Need Diverse Books honored by Library of Congress; and more.

Documents show the high cost of book challenges and legal battles over censorship in Utah and Florida school districts; challenged books stay on shelves in Watertown, NY, and Buncombe County, NC; and more.

And Tango Makes Three is one of three dozen books that will be back on school shelves in Nassau County, FL, thanks to a settlement of a lawsuit against the district. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed against a Texas public library is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.