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Vibrant illustrations, illuminating representations of basic math concepts, and dynamic storytelling add up to offerings that entertain as they educate.

Inquiry and nonfiction are closely related and books that explore the work of scientists can be ideal mentor texts as students develop skills that are essential for learning.

There's just enough on Josh Groban's new release, All That Echoes, to keep his groupies happy, though he may be stretching it. Fans of Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers can add the "breakout rock band of 2012" Imagine Dragons to this sound canon. The popular Japanese role-playing game (RPG) Emblem: Awakening makes an impressive debut here in the States, with our reviewer promising "countless hours of serious entertainment."

SLJ's grades 5 and up section has several great novels, including a new one by Ruta Sepetys.

Permanent Record by Leslie Stella. Amazon Children’s Publishing. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Bud Hess is starting a new school: Magnificat Academy. The official story is to give him a better education than he was getting in public school. The real story is a bit more complicated. It has to do with [...]

Students are invited to enter the annual National STEM Video Game Challenge, and organizers are hoping school librarians will help mentor and support kids throughout the process.

BOMB

Pick me up and look at my cover. Read a bit of me. What am I? An historical fiction? An adventure? A mystery? All wrong! I am something that none of the other books are: a history. That’s right, I belong up there on the shelf among all the other great history textbooks. I am the best kind of textbook: very epic, awesome, courageous, cool, fun-loving, and modest. You can’t forget modest. (So, pick me?)

– mb, 6th grade

CODE NAME VERITY

To whomever may read this, I reveal the cruelty of The Battle Commander in putting me in this war…who will most likely read these words. But please, God, let Maddie somehow find this. I have three weeks to complete my story to the most minute detail and win the Battle of the Kids Books. My work will end up being beautifully poetic yet very direct, and utterly engrossing. It will contain shades of horror and love, so wonderfully intertwined that it’s hard to distinguish your emotion, hard to know a thing at all.

– rgn, 8th grade

ENDANGERED

I am a grim reflection of human and animal mortality, survival, and love. Relating the dangers of poverty and war in developing countries, I enlighten readers about the horrors of life and survival more emotionally than most non-fiction books. In doing so, I tell a beautiful, personal story of Sophie and her family, which includes, of all things, cute, endangered bonobos!  Don’t let me …

» Continue Reading: 2013 Contenders Speak – Day 1

For many teens, prom night is the biggest night of their high school lives. There are so many things to think about—what to wear, who to ask, and how it’s all going to fit on a budget. Some things (like who’ll make their entrance in a pink Hummer limo or who’ll be elected prom queen andThe Prom Book king) can’t be planned for, but for everything else, there’s The Prom Book: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need (Zest Books, distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 paperback; 9781936976287).

Series update lists the latest installments in ongoing fiction series. This month's titles include fast-paced adventures, hilarious middle-grade reads, and more.