News & Features

Acclaimed young adult fantasy author Tamora Pierce headlined SLJ’s SummerTeen online event on July 24, and shared her love for libraries and books during the conference’s opening keynote. The 2013 Margaret A. Edwards Award-winner regaled the virtual audience of librarians and teens via webcam with a presentation about her writing process, her inspirations, and other fantasy novels and writers that readers should be adding to their to-be-read piles. The following is a list of the titles that were cited in Pierce’s talk.

The very language of the Common Core State Standards calls for librarians’ key skills: research; equipping students to access, evaluate, and synthesize information; and strengthening literacy. Paige Jaeger, a coordinator of school library services in Saratoga Springs, NY argues that librarians can build a strong case for a seventh shift in the CCSS: research.

A screencast tour of four free applications to help kids learn how to code: Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch, Scratch, and Tynker.

Enter a contest to determine who will voice Four in the Allegiant audiobook, the final book in Veronica Roth’s young adult dystopian trilogy. RIF and Macy’s have donated 10 million books to kids in need. Visit the Library of Congress’s 2013 National Book Festival in Washington, DC, in September.

Lessons on life, love, and vegetable gardening

Shilpa, Roya, Ahran, and Karan Mission: Club Academia strives to organize existing knowledge in ways that make learning easily accessible while simultaneously inspiring people to discover and innovate. Sometimes you meet a group of kids for whom being college and career ready is simple not enough.   As a high school librarian, I am often honored to work with [...]

I realized it’s been a while since I’ve checked in on the latest New York Times bestsellers. I snuck a peek, and I must say: encouraged. I’ll post the top 5 and you can click to see the whole thing. First up, picture books (click the list to see the entire top 10): A nice mix [...]

No hard-hitting article to ponder today – just a t-shirt. This one’s for all the librarians living in the era of Wikipedia. I think I need to add this to my student research teaching wardrobe. Click here to view it. (Thanks to LISNews for ...

Based on a report recently released by the National Center for Literacy Education (NCLE), Working Together is Working Smarter, visually demonstrates the role of school librarians as highly involved leaders playing a critical role in their schools through consistent and sustained collaboration with other educators.   The infographic reveals our dedicated, voluntary leadership in the delivery of [...]