Booklists

With controlled vocabularies and short page counts, hi-lo (­high-interest, low-readability) books present engaging, age-­appropriate options for students reading below their grade level. This roundup of new and forthcoming series highlights a wide range of titles for collections serving elementary, middle, and high school ­audiences.

Lively action-adventure tales that typically feature large casts of memorable characters, shonen manga is the best-selling manga in the United States. Brigid Alverson names her top picks in shonen manga, most for grades 7 and up.

From Kwame Alexander to Gwendolyn Brooks and Maya Angelou, we've selected some of our favorite poets to remind readers that summer is the time to slow down and savor the sounds of words. 

With evocative memoirs, complex love stories, and socially-conscious supervillains, these graphic books offer new windows into our world.

These scary stories should tide young horror fans over until spooky season.

Sometimes emerging readers want to sink into a slightly longer book, and one that looks a little more challenging than many picture books. Graphic novels are cool—and they help strengthen both print and visual literacy skills. These titles offer food fights and tender moments.

Exploring everything from collection development to programming to scholarly literary analysis, these titles will equip school and public librarians with plenty of ideas come fall.

From robots to Rube Goldberg machines to cosplay costumes, kids of all ages—and their grown-ups—will find plenty of inspiration in these works. 

From clowning skills to creating forts, here are some great books to help get kids (and their grown-ups) away from screens for a bit.