News & Features

Be a Super Hero, Read! is a writing contest for kids in grades 3–6 sponsored by DC Entertainment and Capstone. Children are encouraged to write about a real super hero in their lives who has amazing human qualities such as courage, generosity, or imagination. Entries must be approved by the child’s librarian, teacher, parent, or guardian. Judging criteria includes originality, creativity, and heroism displayed.

Junior Library Guild editors select picture books perfect for the younger set who beg for a scary story, but are safe enough to prevent nightmares.

A rollicking tale of a swashbuckling rat, inspired by Alfred Noyes's Highwayman.

This is Sonia Sotomayor’s 8th week on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list, up to #4 from #5 last week. (Sandra Day O’Connor’s book, Out of Order, debuts at #11.) I am particularly excited to write about My Beloved World this week because I recently had a chance to booktalk it to a [...]

Picture book author Jon Klassen, Little, Brown editor Susan Rich, and Little, Brown Art Director Patti Ann Harris at the Little, Brown picture book celebration.

National Poetry Month is nigh, and I’m posting a book spine poem every Friday until April. Want to try it? Maybe give it a shot with kids? Click here for some tips on creating your own. If you do give it a go, take a picture and post it to your blog, or send it [...]

As a part of YALSA’s year-long National Forum on Libraries & Teens project, the association is sponsoring three virtual town halls via its Adobe Connect space. The first session, scheduled for March 19 at 2:00 PM ET, will focus on partnerships. As facilitator Linda Braun explains, library staff are encouraged to invite stakeholders from their communities to join the conversation. YALSO also be using Twitter (#yalsaforum) and Facebook to encourage participation.

It’s March, and do you know what that means? It means the March/April 2013 Edition of  Horn Book is available! Making this more exciting than usual, at least for me, is what can be found on page 47: “Reading: It’s More Than Meets The Eye, Making books accessible to print-disabled children” by “Elizabeth Burns.” Yes, [...]

Award-winning poet, author, and photographer Nancy Wood, who devoted her career to exploring the culture and lives of the Native American people of the Southwest, died this week in Santa Fe, NM.