Teens

After our first/last highly successful poetry slam, demand grew for us to schedule a second event before the school year ended.  And last week we did. Although I worried that final projects, prom, graduation, finals, etc. would get in the way, the kiddos from my dear Literary Mag, Gay Straight Alliance, Book Club and Gallery [...]

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.

“Audio is a great doorway to a love of literature,” says Katherine Kellgren, award-winning young adult audiobook narrator, lifelong audiobook listener, and supporter of a SYNC, the free YA audiobooks program. SLJ caught up with Kellgren for a candid chat about her start in the field, the joys—and challenges—of narrating YA literature, the importance of audio in boosting kids’ literacy, and her upcoming projects. Kellgren even stopped by our offices to record a few video segments.

Gone are the dioramas of yesteryear. Times have changed, and students can ditch ancient techniques for new cool tools that can give them a deeper understanding of what they are studying. Here are a few resourceful ways to create and implement multimedia presentations that educators should explore during the summer.

It is my great pleasure to write about The Sea of Tranquility today. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book quite so much. I read it at the same time as a few other books because I wanted it to last. Each time I checked something while writing the review I got caught [...]

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.

Bookmarked, SLJ's teen review group, comes up with three terrific titles to recommend, each completely different from each other, but all compelling stories. Get Stephanie Kuehn's Charm & Strange, Maurene Goo's Since You Asked, and Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything on your library shelves-your teens will thank you for it.