Industry News

The White House’s announcement Thursday that it is urging the FCC to overhaul E-Rate—the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries—is an important and nearly unprecedented step forward in closing the digital divide, the American Library Association tells SLJ.

Capstone Publishing has created different ways that the library community can help the children and school libraries affected by the recent tornado in Moore, OK. The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation’s Minigrant Program has awarded 59 grants to teachers and librarians in 29 states. The World Almanac for Kids Online has been relaunched by Infobase Learning to include a new streamlined interface and new content. Benjamin Alire Sáenz won a Lambda Award for his acclaimed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe in the LGBT Children’s/Young Adult category.

Morning, fellow plebes!  And isn’t the weather just fine and dandy these last few days?  It has been in New York anyway.  Which is to say, it feels like we briefly stole San Francisco’s temperatures for our own use this week.  Giving it back is going to be awful.  To take my mind off that, [...]

Nearly 200 authors were recognized on May 30, 2013, at the 15th International Latino Book Awards ceremony, which was held at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City during BookExpo America. The largest awards in the US celebrating achievements in Latino literature, the event is presented by Latino Literacy Now in partnership with Las Comadres para las Americas and the Instituto Cervantes. See which titles were honored in the Children, Youth, and Young Adult categories.

Ancient winged beasts, giant scorpions, and mysterious silver owls are just a few of the creatures that populate Christine Brodien-Jones’s compelling fantasy books for children. Five lucky winners can receive a Christine Brodien-Jones Fantasy pack—one copy each of her middle grade novels: The Owl Keeper, The Scorpions of Zahir, and The Glass Puzzle.

A panel of YA authors shared with nearly 250 children’s librarians what inspired them to write about “tough stuff” at SLJ’s annual pre-BEA Day of Dialog event. Moderated by Karyn Silverman—SLJ blogger and librarian and educational technology department chair of the Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School—the panel’s discussion flowed from dark to light, touching on topics such as school shootings and Nazi Germany.

I am a big fan of the talented, adorable and slightly wacky author/illustrator/kidlit blogger/podcaster Katie Davis. I am also a big fan of the slightly wacky, digital animation tool PowToon with its cool themes, props, animated characters and transitions. So what happens to the equation when a popular picture book author/illustrator partners with digital, comic-based presentation/video maker platform? [...]

Tired of scraping the sticky stuff off desks, shoes, and water fountains? According to a report in Crain's Chicago Business, gum no longer has a hold on teen tastes, despite experiments with wild flavor combinations and smaller, less expensive packages. Apparently, with the cost of a pack of chewing gum hovering close to $2.00, teens are choosing other snacks to get them through the day.

Few things go together better than a summer-shade tree and an award-winning read. That’s why The RoadRunner Press is offering 10 teen readers a free autographed copy of M. Scott Carter’s The Immortal Von B., recipient of both the Oklahoma Book Award and the 2013 IPPY gold medal for young adult fiction.