News & Features

Spurred by recent findings by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, the topic of diversity (or rather, lack thereof) in children’s books has been receiving a lot of attention lately. The BBC has picked up on the topic and recently ran t...

SLJ has compiled an expansive page of diversity resources—including materials on people of color, non-American cultures, LGBTQ issues, and disability—to help librarians better serve children and teens. From author interviews to collection development tools and from blogs to news coverage, these articles and reviews aim to give insight into issues that are becoming more relevant for kids each day.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. Book II of the Raven Cycle. Sequel to Book I – The Raven Boys. Scholastic. 2013. Reviewed from ARC. The Plot: In Book I, Blue Sargent became friends with the “Raven Boys” — Richard Campbell Gansey III, Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish, and Noah Czarny. All had become involved in [...]

Being able to easily locate LGBTQ-friendly materials for children is an important task for librarians seeking to support their diverse reading communities. Kids must be given opportunities to explore literature from multiple points of view, yet it’s sometimes challenging to meet this need, especially for grades 3–5.

The Moth in the Mirror stands alone, but also provides a tantalizing glimpse of what’s to come in Unhinged, the sequel to A.G.Howard's Splintered. Abrams is letting you in for a look with a free online excerpt.

The heroes of this fall's crop of graphic novels face an array of situations, from battles to invading monsters to parents with issues, with surprising grace. But they aren't plaster saints; every one of them has flaws as well as strengths, which makes for some interesting reading.

ABC’s Once Upon a Time continues to enchant viewers with its imaginative mashup of modern-day elements and beguiling fairy tale fundamentals. This collection of behind-the-scene looks at OUAT and fairy tale retellings are perfect for teen (and adult) fans of the growing franchise.

A parent in Marietta, Georgia, has lodged a complaint with his local school board about the inclusion of Hena Khan’s picture book Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors at his daughter’s Scholastic Book Fair on October 17. Thomas Prisock claims that the book is “an indoctrination of Muslim culture,” according to the The Marietta Daily Journal.

Like most people who have grown up in southern California, author Matt de la Peña has always feared the arrival of the “Big One”—a massive earthquake that would decimate the US West Coast. In his latest young adult novel, The Living, de la Peña explores issues of race, class, and identity, set against the backdrop of a cataclysmic event that hurls humanity into a fight for survival.