News & Features

Here is a list of the 2021 Youth Media Awards winners announced during the virtual ceremony at the ALA Midwinter conference.

Illustrator Michaela Goade became the first BIPOC woman and first Indigenous illustrator to win the Caldecott medal when the 2021 Youth Media Awards were announced. Goade was one of many women creators recognized as women swept the Caldecott and Newbery medals.

Tae Keller's When You Trap a Tiger is the "book of my heart," the author says, and it earned her a Newbery Medal on a day when women swept the prestigious award.  

Ask your students about book preferences, access, and more to create personal goals, plan spring lessons, and motivate for summer reading.

Author Phil Bildner shares a meaningful moment with a young reader during a school visit early last year.

The children's literature world was shocked by the unexpected death of author Kathleen Krull, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Also in this edition of News Bites, Ibram X. Kendi makes a deal with Netflix; opportunities for funding; and more.

One school library's Graffiti Books program lets students connect and have "conversations" by writing in books. It also keeps some previously weeded titles in the stacks.

Four first-time YA authors tell SLJ about the inspirations behind their novels, their paths to publication, and their hopes for young people in 2021.

Some educators abandon teaching the Bard's work, while others update and enhance Shakespeare curricula.