Ideas

Summer reading is a whole new jam as SLJ and NCTE reveal the 2023 round of “Refreshing the Canon” selections. Check out these multimedia suggestions to enrich any reading experience of George Orwell's 1984, and change teenagers' minds about how "it could never happen here" and "it could never happen now." 

On the occasion of receiving the 2023 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens, Jason Reynolds took the reins on SLJ's Instagram. Here's the full AMA, your feel-good watch of the day.

From fighting period poverty to speaking out on the negative effects of gentrification, the kids in these forthcoming middle grade books take a stand.

Zines spotlight voices, opinions, and histories often missing from mainstream publishing. Here's what you need to know about curating, collecting, and creating these works at your library.

Self-publishing by marginalized people has always taken place outside the mainstream, even before the word zine existed.

Books need to leave room for a child’s feelings while normalizing divorce, encouraging questions, and teaching coping skills, experts say.

Elements of collaboration, relationship building, and creativity in the game world help shore up those strengths in the real world, including for kids whose SEL skills were dulled by pandemic-induced social isolation.

UK school librarian and author Lucas Maxwell describes why running Dungeons & Dragons clubs has positively impacted his life and his students'. 

Portland-based illustrator Kalila J. Fuller did the honors for our November 2022 cover story on the representation of Native people, stories, and culture in children's publishing.