Vanessa Willoughby

The reviews for the fall 2020 issue of Series Made Simple have arrived.

Twenty sterling books made SLJ's list of the best nonfiction for children and teens published in 2020. 

"But though I’ve been deeply indoctrinated by the white imagination, I don’t invest in it." Junauda Petrus, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (Dutton; Gr 8 Up), discusses the power of speculative fiction, removing racist statues, and navigating whiteness.

These nonfiction books for elementary and middle grade readers celebrate and amplify Black scientists, thinkers, and inventors.

The viral hashtag #PublishingPaidMe has revealed the glaring disparities in author advances. It's not enough to publish books created by authors of color; change needs to happen on all levels. 

These picture books, with their exuberant illustrations and positive prose, offer portraits of Black joy, within and beyond the African diaspora.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Candy J. Cooper and 2006 ALAN Award-winning author and editor Marc Aronson discuss their new nonfiction book, Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation (Bloomsbury; Gr 6 Up), and the reality of the Flint water crisis. 

The reviews for the spring 2020 issue of Series Made Simple have arrived.

Author and Anti-Racist Montessori educator and consultant Tiffany Jewell discusses what it means to be anti-racist in a racialized society, how everyone can disrupt and defy racism, and how educators and teachers can decolonize their bookshelves.