News & Features

In order to see what kids are lining up to read, The Bill Clinton of Children’s Literature (John Schumacher) and I host a monthly gallery of hold shelf pictures. This month the gallery (including my Jane Mount-inspired illustrated shelf) is over at John’s blog Watch. Connect. Read. Click here to hear on over and have [...]

Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan Alfred A. Knopf. August 2013 Reviewed from ARC Sometimes a book packs such an emotional whammy that every other aspect becomes irrelevant to 99.9% of the readers. Two Boys Kissing is seriously packing. Before I go any further, a disclaimer: I just read this for the first time last week. [...]

The exciting news this week was that I got to host a couple panels regarding Banned Books (it being the week of ‘em and all).  The first was at the Brooklyn Book Festival with David Levithan, Francesca Lia Block, and Lauren Myracle.  I then cannibalized my own questions and used them in this, a Google+ [...]

In a quick reversal of its position on Kindle lending, Penguin on September 26 loosened the terms of its renewed agreement with OverDrive, announced only the day before. The publisher has agreed to allow library patrons to download ebook titles wirelessly via OverDrive’s “Get for Kindle” function instead of, as initially announced, first downloading titles to a computer, and then side-loading those titles to their Kindle classic or Paperwhite using a USB cord.

Young adult author Patty Blount was inspired to write her debut novel Send after her son was bullied, and was then accused of being a bully himself. Blount has come to realize that "perception is the root of most bullying."

The books come by the hundreds almost daily. Boxes dropped off from yoga clubs, suburban book drives, and schools to be handed out at the Mighty Writers Street Libraries—pop-up libraries recently launched in Philadelphia to offer books to the city’s students and parents who watch as their access to titles diminish.

Both Keith Urban and Nine Inch Nails are stretching their musical wings in new releases. On ​Fuse, listeners will hear more than a classic country sound from Urban. ​Hesitation Marks​ doesn't include a single scream from Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. ​Splinter Cell Blacklist​ relies on its classic formula—"seek and destroy while staying out of sight."

WHEN SEUSS AND POLITICS COLLIDE I’m a sucker for seemingly standard news stories where children’s literature unexpectedly pops up. That’s just what happened when Sen. Ted Cruz read Green Eggs and Ham from the Senate floor Tuesday night in the midst of an all-night speech against Obamacare. This seemingly incongruous choice of books (since Green [...]

Since 1982, Banned Books Week has been an annual opportunity during the last week of September for librarians and other freedom fighters around the country to celebrate banned and challenged books, shine a spotlight on censorship, and honor those heroes working for open access to materials and the right to read for all. This year’s campaign is proceeding in some unique and wonderful ways. How are you marking the occasion?