Authors & Illustrators

Artist and author Molly Idle talks about her latest book, her life, and her obsession with Prismacolor pencils.

In honor of National Poetry Month, acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye—whose anthology This Same Sky (Simon & Schuster, 1993) continues to be used in both college and fifth grade classrooms—offers us five of her “very favorite lovingly-used poetry collections.”

“The power of books is profound, but power does start in the children’s room. When we connect children with books...we are introducing them to the world,” says Pam Sandlian Smith, director of Colorado’s Anythink Libraries and opening keynote speaker at our first Public Library Leadership Think Tank on Friday. Among the day’s emerging themes: dreaming big, collaboration, innovation, creating community, and believing in the power of kids (and kids’ librarians) to change the world.

Junior Library Guild Editors select some of the best new fiction for middle grade students. From birthday wishes to Broadway show auditions, these picks have a little bit of everything for kids in Grades 5-8.

Check out images from the SLJ 2013 Public Library Leadership Think Tank, our first leadership event dedicated to those working in children's services in public libraries.

A grassroots coalition of 70 writers and illustrators of kids’ literature, Authors for Earth Day, is committed to raising funds and eco-awareness; during the entire month of April, they pledge to donate at least 30% of their school speakers’ fees to a non-profit conservation organization voted on by students.

As a self-described nonreader, Matt de la Peña could never have imagined as a kid that books would play an important role in his life. But key encounters with libraries and, more importantly, librarians, who actively sought to engage him, helped open a new world to de la Peña. The author of novels for young adults, including Ball Don’t Lie and Mexican Whiteboy, de la Peña recounted his "path to books" in the closing keynote of SLJ's Public Library Leadership Think Tank, held April 5 at the New York Public Library.

Lemony Snicket (also known as Daniel Handler) and Jon Klassen at a Book Launch Party for their new picture book, The Dark.

“We’re bringing services to people who either would not or could not access them otherwise….[it] truly does change lives,” says Library Journal Mover & Shaker Richard Lyda, outreach librarian at Arapahoe Library District in Centennial, CO. In our follow-up interview, Lyda shares with SLJ his strategies for effective community outreach, what’s next for him in his district, and much more.