Justin Hoenke, Portland Public Library’s very first teen services librarian, has had a super productive few years, with even bigger plans on the horizon. In this first of a dozen interviews with the youth services librarians named as 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shakers, we explore in more detail what makes Hoenke tick—his inspirations, his passions, and his vision for the future of teen services.
SLJ's very own version of March Madness, our fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books (BOB) elimination contest between 16 of 2012’s best children’s and teens’ fiction and nonfiction books, kicked off on March 12 and has been going strong for eight consecutive matches. Here's an update on which titles will advance to Round Two.
Tim Wadham highlights nonfiction titles that speak directly to the interests of Spanish-speaking youngsters.
Note: At the bottom of this post, after today’s DPLA news, make sure to look at a brief overview of the Smithsonian Collections Database. This searchable and browsable resource comes direct from the SI and is available today (free). From the DPLA Announcement: The Smithsonian Institution will join with the Digital Public Library of America [...]
How are New York's librarians doing when it comes to Common Core? Find out as SLJ columnist Marc Aronson talks to educators who are in the trenches.
We have a huge backlog of wonderful reviews right now, so this week we’re giving you even more weekly reviews. The great film reviewer Jonathan Rosenbaum once commented that “it’s pretty safe to say that there are more serial killers in movies than there are in real life” and puzzled over why so many viewers [...]
No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Nelson Carolrhoda Books/Lerner
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate HarperCollins
Judged by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
What does a self-educated radical bookseller have to do with a depressed 35-year-old strip-mall gorilla? More than it would appear. Both suffer violent childhoods and initially muddle through adulthood. Both grow to identify the oppression around them and decide to challenge it. Both rely on words, and the power of words, to seek justice. Both ultimately make a huge impact. And both No Crystal Stair and The One and Only Ivan, while fiction, are based on real-life tales of perseverance and victory.
No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller is written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, the great-niece of Lewis Michaux. Lewis Michaux’s story requires this “documentary novel” format rather than a typical non-fiction biography, as so much of his life was fabricated, mysterious, or now unknown — beginning with the date of his birth (sometime between 1884 and 1895) and his name (William Lonnell or Lewis H.; some family members use the name Micheaux, with an e). As a child, he was publicly lashed for stealing a sack of peanuts, and as a young man spent time on a chain gang for theft. At some point in the 1930s, he decided to open a bookstore in Harlem because “the so-called Negro needs to hear and learn from the voices of black men and women.” By …
Among the latest offerings from Capstone’s fruitful relationship with DC Comics are a line of hardcovers reprinting some of the latter’s kid-friendly comics. Not collections of groups of comics, but single-issue reprints, differentiated from the original comics only by their hard, sturdy covers and spines—actual comic books never seem to last long in libraries, no [...]
If you’ve received your latest edition of Horn Book Magazine then you may see that Roger and Co. had the clever notion to ask a bunch of folks what their favorite weirdo children’s books were. And as luck would have it, I was asked too. You can see my choice here if you like. If [...]