News & Features

Like all youngsters, kids learning to read benefit from exposure to high-quality titles that blend well-written narratives with eye-catching illustrations. Formatted to support the needs of emergent readers, this year's crop of offerings also capture the interest and imaginations of their audience with enticing subject matter and stirring storytelling.

Medical experimentation, conflict resolution, disappearing honeybees, and dinosaurs are just some of the topics that make our list of nonfiction titles publishing this month that you'll want to share with students and teachers.

Not only did the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy send a shock wave through the country, it was the first time the public watched on-air television coverage of an historic event as it unfolded. Fifty years later, today's students can learn about the president's life, death, and legacy through a number of quality books and online resources.

Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan Alfred A. Knopf. August 2013 Reviewed from ARC Sometimes a book packs such an emotional whammy that every other aspect becomes irrelevant to 99.9% of the readers. Two Boys Kissing is seriously packing. Before I go any further, a disclaimer: I just read this for the first time last week. [...]

In a quick reversal of its position on Kindle lending, Penguin on September 26 loosened the terms of its renewed agreement with OverDrive, announced only the day before. The publisher has agreed to allow library patrons to download ebook titles wirelessly via OverDrive’s “Get for Kindle” function instead of, as initially announced, first downloading titles to a computer, and then side-loading those titles to their Kindle classic or Paperwhite using a USB cord.

“Penguin will resume doing business with OverDrive as of this morning,” Penguin spokesperson Erica Glass told LJ on September 25. According to a blog post by Karen Estrovich, collection development manager for OverDrive, 17,000 Penguin ebooks are already “live and available for purchase in OverDrive Marketplace.” Although Estrovich refers to the transaction as a purchase, the books are being offered for a one year term on a one copy/one user lending model.

YALSA and Dollar General Literacy Foundation are offering two $1,000 grants for Summer Reading programs: one for employing a teen intern and another for purchasing resources. The Library of Congress has launched a new Twitter feed for K–12 educators which can be found @TeachingLC. ALSC members are encouraged to send suggestions for the 2013 Theodor Geisel Award to the committee chair, Penny Peck. Capstone Interactive ebooks are now compatible with the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, Lucy Knisley First Second, April 2013 Reviewed from Final Copy I was diagnosed with Celiac disease on Halloween eight years ago. That’s eight years of politely saying, “no, thank you” when offered a delicious pastry, forgoing mom’s signature stuffing on Thanksgiving, and checking restaurant menus ahead of any dinner [...]

This wordy picture book will introduce children not only to the joys of spelling but also to words like “lulu” and “crackerjack.”