News & Features

The Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee has announced its 2012 young adult winners. On the flip sideWinners and honorees are based on the titles' popularity as determined by readers in school, public, and academic libraries. And the winner is... On the Flip Side, A Fab Life Novel (Kensington KTeen) by Nikki Carter.

a beautifully presented lesson on frogs

Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, is thrilled to offer readers a free ARC to introduce two of its spring debut titles, Bruised and In the Shadow of Blackbirds, and to welcome back Laura Lee Gulledge to its list. Gulledge is the author of Page by Paige, which received a starred review from SLJ. “Gulledge is a master of both words and images," wrote SLJ's reviewer. She brilliantly portrays poignant emotions.”

Today’s reviews are all notable debut novels by women. I spent part of my spring break tearing through Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia, and let me tell you — teens are going to eat this up. It came out just yesterday, so go order a couple copies now. There are several appeal elements here. First, the [...]

Our fourth title from the YALSA Hub Reading Challenge is Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm. Fetter-Vorm has found a solid career in creating nonfiction graphic novels with the publisher Hill & Wang, including the forthcoming Cartoon Introduction to World Civilization and a history of the Civil War. Trinity was highlighted as [...]

Aww, yeah – how’s that for a screencap? Don’t rub your eyes – you’re not watching C-SPAN2 in the year 2000 (wildest dreams just don’t come true that easily). It’s video of the 2000 Newbery/Caldecott Medal announcement. 2000 isn’t that far back, so it’s interesting to see the differences between these fairly calm “ALA Book [...]

There are some days when you are so utterly floored by delight that all you can do is throw up your hands and say to the universe, “I’m out!”  That was yesterday.  I’m out, folks.  I hit the top.  It’s all downhill from here.  And I’m so young!  It’s sad when you peak at 34. [...]

It’s spring! Just like the narrator says in the 1947 educational film Body Care and Grooming, "Ah, spring. When birds are on the wing, when flowers bloom... Spring, when a young man's fancy likely turns to...."—Author unknown. The answer has to be testing! High-stakes testing! Advanced Placement testing! American College Testing or even the SAT! Students feel pressured to work hard to prove themselves in this world of achievement.

My friend Hornberger and I are having a conversation about nonfiction ebooks. In a recent post I chatted about my students’ eager acceptance of the EBSCO e-Book Academic Collection. Karen, the librarian at Palisades High School, as well as our PSLA Tech Committee co-chair and blogger, decided to test drive the database herself.  She also [...]