People

A coming-of-age story about music, passion, and the search for identity

Anythink's dynamic director explores how children's services librarians will shape the future of libraries, libraries as places of discovery and experience, and the shift toward participatory librarianship.

Pam Sandlian Smith's ongoing reinvention of library service at the Anythink Libraries in Colorado shows what leadership exercised in a spirit of wonder and playfulness can achieve. John Hunter's World Peace Game takes playing to a new level for learning. We can all learn from both.

Be sure to check out May's starred reviews for two DVDs and five audiobooks that are must-haves for you collection.

Burn Note gives users the feeling that they can talk to anyone about anything because each text conversation “self-destructs,” much like Snapchat (the real-time picture chatting application) does with images.

As librarians, our role is often one of instructional coach. We are called on to help teachers and students find solutions to challenges. Recently, a teacher asked for assistance in locating 35 iPads for a great lesson idea she had. She teaches Read 180, a class dedicated to helping struggling readers improve their literacy skills. She and two of her colleagues who teach our English Language Learners wanted to use the new app from Apple, iBooks Author, which allows you to create interactive, multi-touch books that incorporate captions, links, and even video. It’s a great tool, but we had a major problem—we don’t have any iPads.

Johnsonville Sausage wants to learn about the educators that make your school, town and community a better place to be. If you or a colleague are helping to "create better places to live through actions taken both inside and outside the walls of the classroom," are a U.S. citizen over the age of 18, and are employed in a school or organization that supports education, you're eligible to apply for the 2013 Johnsonville Best of Us award.

National Screen-Free Week has finally arrived—and, if you’re reading this, you probably haven’t yet taken the pledge to dramatically reduce the time you spend using a computer for the next few days. But many educators (and a kid lit publisher or two) are doing just that, encouraging kids to explore a range of non-screen activities this week, including reading books, going outside, and having fun the old-fashioned way.

In the fifth and final installment of our series celebrating National Poetry Month, Jack Prelutsky, America’s first children’s poet laureate, offers us five of his top poetry collections for kids.