Industry News

Kristin Elizabeth Clark recently sat down with her mentor, Ellen Hopkins, to talk about writing, her transition from middle grade to young adult lit, and just how her book Freakboy was born.

Navigating the transition from high school to college can be really tough, and debut YA author/illustrator Ramsey Beyer has turned her experience into Little Fish. It is an honest look at making those first step into an exciting world, with new friends and discoveries around every corner. Five lucky SLJTeen readers will win a copy of Little Fish from Zest Books.

From educational equity and fan fiction to Kanye West and serious games, educator Antero Garcia brought it all together in a rousing keynote, inspiring attendees of the September 28-29 School Library Journal Summit in Austin, TX. The complete presentation is viewable here, along with additional comments from Garcia and related resources on participatory culture.

Innovative school librarians invaded Austin, Texas en masse from September 28-29 for School Library Journal’s ninth annual Leadership Summit. With invigorating presentations by journalist Annie Murphy Paul, author of the forthcoming Brilliant: The New Science of Smart (Crown, 2014) and Colorado State associate professor Antero Garcia, library leaders gathered together to discuss and plan for the future of education and the profession. Take a sneak peek at some of the scenes from the weekend with a slideshow from the Summit.

She’s not a teacher or a librarian but, during the more than 25 years that Sesame Street’s Sonia Manzano has spent talking about kindness with Big Bird, letting the Count number her toes, and singing about trash to Oscar the Grouch, she has observed quite a bit about how kids learn. The actress, education advocate, and children’s book author was presented with the Américas Award in Washington, D.C., on September 23, given annually by the Consortium for Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP).

Star Wars fans around the world—from the youngest padawan to the wisest Jedi—along with authors, artists, and costumed volunteers will be flocking to libraries and bookstores this Saturday, October 5, for the 2nd annual Star Wars Reads Day (SWRD), an event that harnesses the appeal of the popular franchise to celebrate literacy and reading. The day is being sponsored collaboratively by Star Wars creator Lucasfilm’s publishing partners: Abrams, Chronicle, Dark Horse Comics, Del Rey, DK, Random House Audio, Scholastic, and Workman.

October is Connected Educator Month (#ce13). The CEM calendar is packed with opportunities for growth and, of course, connection. The Starter Kit, by Sheryl Nussbaum Beach and Powerful Learning Practice, in collaboration with the Connected Educators initiative, is packed with links and videos and takes a 31 days approach for this special month, giving you one simple way to [...]

In a quick reversal of its position on Kindle lending, Penguin on September 26 loosened the terms of its renewed agreement with OverDrive, announced only the day before. The publisher has agreed to allow library patrons to download ebook titles wirelessly via OverDrive’s “Get for Kindle” function instead of, as initially announced, first downloading titles to a computer, and then side-loading those titles to their Kindle classic or Paperwhite using a USB cord.

Young adult author Patty Blount was inspired to write her debut novel Send after her son was bullied, and was then accused of being a bully himself. Blount has come to realize that "perception is the root of most bullying."