News & Features

Acclaimed kid lit creators Patricia MacLachlan and Steven Kellogg chat with SLJ about their new picture book Snowflakes Fall, a celebration of life and a lyrical message of hope for children and their families following the tragic events that took place in Newtown, CT, in December 2012.

Superb choices for sharing aloud or reading independently, picture book biographies make useful starting points for investigations of subjects that span the curriculum. This year's selections includes artists, activists, and an aviatrix.

The “Good Comics for Kids” (blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkids) bloggers were burning the midnight oil this year, with a batch of top-notch fall releases that kept us reading—and debating—right up to our deadline. The top trend this year: kids’ books with adult appeal.

Sherman Alexie’s award-winning young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indiancan no longer be taught in classrooms at West Virginia's Harpers Ferry Middle School, English teacher Dawn Welsh—who had assigned the book to approximately 120 eighth graders—tells SLJ. The often-challenged title was removed from the curriculum at Jefferson County Schools after parent Misty Frank objected to its profanity and sexual content.

For the sixth time, Scholastic is offering librarians—and the nation—a sneak peak of its upcoming titles via an online video. The publisher’s spring preview for 2014 presents “38 Books in 38 Minutes” with appearances by more than a dozen authors, illustrators, and editors.

Authors Rebecca Fjelland Davis, Jill Kalz, Nancy Loewen, and Trisha Speed Shaskan helped the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minnesota celebrate its 29th anniversary on November 23 and 24 with signings and storytimes.

Why should we study primary source documents? These are artifacts created by the people who lived through the events and time periods under study. Providing students the opportunity to study primary sources can give rise to student inquiry and encourage them to speculate about each source, its creator, and the context in which it was produced. The Library of Congress has millions of primary source documents and tools for teachers and students to dig into, 24/7.

Snow has already fallen across the country, and now that the calendar page has turned to December, kids have winter on their minds―no matter where they live. The following selections chosen by the editors at Junior Library Guild are just the ticket for cold wintry days.

Curriculet (formerly Gobstopper), a digital reading platform designed for teachers and stocked with interactive educational and social media features, has teamed up with HarperCollins to offer a flexible book buying program for schools.