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I’ve been thinking about horror fiction lately. What are the secrets of its appeal? Why are teens so drawn to it? How can we know which adult horror novels will appeal to teens and which won’t? One of the reasons I’ve been thinking about this lately is because I enjoyed The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper [...]

Junior Library Guild editors select new and fun wordless picture books that provide an opportunity for children to focus on meaning, characters, and plot without the impediment of vocabulary.

Today we review three novels with famous people as their subjects. The first is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Teens continue to be fascinated by the Jazz Age and they read the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, not only in literature classes but also for fun. (So I learned in a recent discussion with [...]

Tim Wadham highlights nonfiction titles that speak directly to the interests of Spanish-speaking youngsters.

We have a huge backlog of wonderful reviews right now, so this week we’re giving you even more weekly reviews.  The great film reviewer Jonathan Rosenbaum once commented that “it’s pretty safe to say that there are more serial killers in movies than there are in real life” and puzzled over why so many viewers [...]

from Francisca Goldsmith, graphic novel guest blogger extraordinaire: Coding How We Speak Family Secrets Rutu Modan has proved to be an adept storyteller as well as creator of visually rich images of both characters and their settings. She’s been published to some acclaim in the US as the author and cartoonist of a collection of [...]

Nobody's Secret, the latest offering from Michaela MacColl, continues to get rave reviews. School Library Journal's reviewer says, "The fast-moving plot makes this a well-crafted page-turner. The dialogue rings true, both to the historical time and to the chronological ages and social status of the characters." And SLJTeen's reviewer agrees. M.G. Higgins's Bi-Normal is going on my to-read list. I just finished listening to David Levithan and John Green's Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and I'm wondering what advice their openly gay jock Tiny Cooper would give Higgins's protagonist, Brett Miller.

After surveying the kids in my facility, I created the following system to rate the books that they're reading: one star = Wack, two stars = Bootsy, three stars = Koo, four stars = Clean, and five stars = That book Go! A book that’s “clean” is “real.” A book that “goes” has action. For my readers, a book is ideally both action-packed and real. What makes a book either or both? As usual, it’s not that straightforward, but here’s one attempt to decipher the question.

The books below will effectively sharpen readers’ knowledge and understanding of the Roaring 20's, from carefully researched nonfiction to perceptive examples of historical fiction.