Classroom

Vibrant Voices: A Booklist Celebrating Stories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color is selected by New York Public Library staff to help students, parents, and educators discover a world of new perspectives and narratives through literature.

Those dreaded summer reading lists. For eons, teachers have been handing out assigned reading, mostly comprised of old “classics.” With this survey, SLJ and NCTE invite teachers and librarians to choose the titles you’d like culled from required reading and those books you would urge students to read instead.

After over a decade, the much-awaited sequel to the Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee has arrived–and at just the right time. The return of fastidious zookeeper Amos and the beloved animals he cares for feels like coming home to an old friend.

The post Life’s Simple Problems Are Solved with the Help of Steadfast Friends in Amos McGee Misses the Bus: Teaching Ideas for this Much-Awaited Sequel appeared first on The Classroom Bookshelf.

This hopeful story of language, leadership, and love has so much to offer readers as an independent read, a whole class read aloud, or a book club exploration. Our weary, virus-laden world needs the goodness and joy this book conjures. “What does, then, change the world?....Love, and also stories” (p. 247).

The post Exploring Language, Leadership, Love, and More: Teaching Ideas for The Beatryce Prophecy appeared first on The Classroom Bookshelf.

As we start a new year together, facing challenges that have carried over from last, Change Sings provides a source of optimism and beauty that we can share with students not just across multiple content areas, but across our world and for years to come.

The post Presidential Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman’s Debut Picturebook Rings and Sings in the New Year appeared first on The Classroom Bookshelf.

SLJ is reporting on the surge of book challenges across the country and telling the library's perspective on this important story. What is your story? Responses can be anonymous. 

Margarita Engle, Meg Medina, Yuyi Morales, and Raúl the Third are just some of the children's literature creators set to take part in the free, virtual festival.

Penguin Young Readers is offering an educator guide for teaching the 1619 Project’s picture book, Born on the Water, along with Change Sings and The Hill We Climb; ALA speaks out against censorship; and other industry news.