News & Features

The Book That Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed and illustrated by Hatem Aly is the winner of the Irma S. Black Award. Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale by Lynn Brunelle and illustrated by Jason Chin earned the Cook Prize.

To inspire students, Tim Jones proves a little fun goes a long way. For his work transforming the school library into a hub of learning and inspiring students and staff with compassion and humor, Jones has been named the 2025 School Librarian of the Year.

What's the favorite part of her job? Turning reluctant readers into bookworms, says Tatanisha Love, library media specialist at Southwest Academy Magnet School for Science and Engineering in Baltimore.

At the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, Jennifer Mathews built a library from scratch and learned American Sign Language and braille to better serve her preschool through 12th grade students. 

Jones, a library media specialist at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Louisville, KY, received the 2025 award, announced today by SLJ and sponsor Scholastic. Two School Librarian of the Year finalists were also selected: Tatanisha Love of Southwest Academy Magnet School for Science and Engineering in Baltimore, MD; and Jennifer Mathews of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs, CO.

Bank Street College of Education has revealed the 2025 Margaret Wise Brown Board Book Award honorees, along with the Best Board Books of the Year.

While winning the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards often leads to a bump in sales and a spot on school library shelves, censorship legislation, librarians afraid of challenges, and the growing anti-diversity movement could change that this year.

The 2025 Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award went to Breanna J. McDaniel for Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller. X. Fang won the Illustrator Award for We Are Definitely Human.

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Inc. and School Library Journal have revealed the winning titles in the 2025 Children & Youth Literary Awards, which celebrate the diversity of the Black experience.