News & Features

Star Wars: Jedi Academy By Jeffrey Brown Scholastic ISBN: 9780545505178 $12.99 Grades 3-6 In Stores September, 2013 Find it at: Schuler Books Books with ties to popular television or movie franchises are a dime a dozen. Well, maybe five dollars for 12, but you get the idea. They’re usually pretty straightforward affairs and more often [...]

Libraries can win a Harry Potter party pack to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, complete with new paperback editions of the beloved series, illustrated by Kazu Kabushi. Entries are due July 17. Latinas for Latino Literature has launched a Summer Reading Program for summer camps, youth groups, and cultural centers serving Latino students and families, running through August 12.

Capstone Publishing has created different ways that the library community can help the children and school libraries affected by the recent tornado in Moore, OK. The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation’s Minigrant Program has awarded 59 grants to teachers and librarians in 29 states. The World Almanac for Kids Online has been relaunched by Infobase Learning to include a new streamlined interface and new content. Benjamin Alire Sáenz won a Lambda Award for his acclaimed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe in the LGBT Children’s/Young Adult category.

Dragging bags and bags of “goodies–” I mean books– around the Javits Center all day (in the first heat wave of the season no less!), probably means I’ll wake up with a charlie horse in the morning. I walked around the convention hall, concentrating on children’s book publishers, hoping to notice some sort of trend [...]

I was so tempted this week to go with the easy titles. BOOM! Studios is releasing an Adventure Time annual, and IDW is releasing the next issue in their My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic micro series, which features fan favorite Fluttershy. Archie Comics is concluding its Archie Meets Glee arc, and the Sonic the [...]

A Mutiny in Time, the first audiobook in James Dashner’s “Infinity Ring” series, is a great kickoff for what is sure to be a rollicking adventure series for elementary grade students. Be sure to check out the review.

Penny Warner's The Code Busters 2: The Haunted Lighthouse won the 2012 Agatha Award. Capstone is adding 60 more Presidential titles to the K–3 PebbleGo Biographies module in August 2013. ABDO’s will publish library editions of IDW’s "Jurassic Park" and "Star Trek" graphic novels this fall.

Hold Fast By Blue Balliett Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0545299886 Ages 9-12 I honestly don’t think you can be a reviewer without being honest about your own personal prejudices first. When I pick up a book for children I have to cut through a thick swath of issues infecting my brain that may have little to [...]

Author Michael Dahl helped give away hundreds of copies of his new picture book Goodnight Baseball (Capstone, 2013) on “Educators Day” at a Saint Paul Saints baseball game on May 9. The day is exclusively for teachers and students, and was the first exhibition game of the minor league baseball team this season.