News & Features

At story hours or in more casual settings, readers will come away from these two charming books about family and baking hungry. In each, family and friends—woodland animals or human dear ones—gather, and beautiful loaves of challah are enjoyed by all.

From board books that invite the littlest readers to hippity-hop to anthologies that encourage older readers to explore deep themes in narratives, these 11 titles celebrate the Festival of Lights in a variety of ways.

With these titles, young readers can see some of the many different ways people celebrate Christmas around the world.

Whether portraying a humble farming community, a home in the south of Korea, a synagogue filled with love and hope, or a neighborhood where more than small things are mended, the best picture books of 2024 celebrate how those working together are the models for humanity we want our children to witness.

From moving tales in verse to romantic romps to stories of monsters both real and fantastical, these 25 YA novels represent the best of teens living, loving, surviving, and thriving in worlds and times that do not always accept them. 

All of SLJ's 193 Best Books of 2024 have been revealed, and we are blessed with a gorgeous cover for the December Best Books issue by Ekua Holmes, the illustrator of Black Girl You Are Atlas. See the stellar cover here.

The blossoming ranks of stellar biographies for young readers continue to crowd the shelves. Japanese athletes hit their summits in two vastly different ways, an author attempts to right the record on Rosalind Franklin, and a forgotten sports hero at last gets his due. And that's just the start of the Best Books in the category of nonfiction for the elementary grades. Come have a look.

SLJ's 2024 best middle and high school nonfiction selections run the gamut from insightful memoir; thoughtful explorations of cultural, biological, and environmental phenomena; to unrelenting exposures of dark times in our world's sociopolitical history—and the crucial lessons we must learn from the past.

The best poems educate with their facts and inspire with their beautiful flow of words. These 11 titles contain poems that do both exceptionally for young readers of all ages.