News & Features

Though the reviews of the recently released film, The Great Gatsby, are remarkably mixed, the soundtrack gets high praise from our teen reviewer. It's hard not to like Lady Antebellum, with their sweet sounds and finely wrought lyrics on love and heartbreak, on their latest album Golden. What happens to Star Trek when it just becomes a shoot-em-up and logic goes by the wayside? Read on for our reviewer's take on Star Trek: The Video Game.

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.

Angela Carstensen, Adult Books for Teens blogger, had a hard time putting The Sea of Tranquility down, even after reading it all the way through. Debut author Katja Millay put the book together by gathering scribbles, random lines, and characters in her head, calling her attempt to create an outline "laughable."

On June 22, The Alameda Shore Center will be hosting The Alameda Youth Ethical Fashion Show. As a way to advocate recycling and sustainability, the fashion show challenges area teen designers to create high-fashion wearables using only clothing purchased at second-market outlets, such as used clothing stores and thrift shops.

Teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner, media specialist at Longfellow Elementary School in Columbia, MD, is having the year of his life. Thanks to his boundless enthusiasm for student learning and engagement, Maryland’s 2012 Outstanding User of Technology Educator can also claim a few more distinctions: Mover & Shaker, White House “Champion of Change,” and published author. Ahead of ISTE’s annual conference, Winner shared his thoughts on school libraries and his exciting plans for the future.

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is June 27th . First established in 2005 by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, NHTD seeks to bring attention to the importance of HIV testing, and through its website, make resources readily available to those who are looking for testing locations, disease facts, and more.

The American Library Association on Monday revealed its much anticipated strategic plan for school library advocacy, based on findings from its School Library Task Force’s midwinter 2013 report.

Attendees of SLJ’s annual Day of Dialog received an information boost from the pre-BEA event’s first panel of authors and illustrators. Moderated by Kathleen T. Isaacs, author of Picturing the World: Informational Picture Books for Children, the lively discussion offered Jim Arnosky, Jennifer Berne, Elisha Cooper, Thomas Gonzalez, and Jonah Winter the chance to share with librarians more about their creative processes, who they write for, and why they choose to create nonfiction for young readers.

Only a few nonprofit organizations will get up to $7,500 in funding from Better World Books, and the public can decide which one will get the prize. In 2012, approximately 3.5 million dollars worth of grant requests and more than 50 applications were reviewed by the Better World Books Literacy and Library Council, and three very worthy projects were selected. Now the clock is ticking for 2013—voting closes in just a few days!