News & Features

A first novel about an angry young man turned role model for younger boys

Today’s reviewed novels are most likely to appeal to strong, mature teen readers looking for a challenge. Yet each includes a teen character, an authentic teen voice, that will keep the adventurous reading. The starred review belongs to A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This novel is difficult to categorize. It begins [...]

I know that an author or illustrator visit is not something that every school can swing. So each year I have to rub my eyes, blink a couple times, rub them again (repeat, if necessary), and make sure that what I’m seeing is real – we get the chance to host a children’s book creator. [...]

As a self-described nonreader, Matt de la Peña could never have imagined as a kid that books would play an important role in his life. But key encounters with libraries and, more importantly, librarians, who actively sought to engage him, helped open a new world to de la Peña. The author of novels for young adults, including Ball Don’t Lie and Mexican Whiteboy, de la Peña recounted his "path to books" in the closing keynote of SLJ's Public Library Leadership Think Tank, held April 5 at the New York Public Library.

Lemony Snicket (also known as Daniel Handler) and Jon Klassen at a Book Launch Party for their new picture book, The Dark.

Death and the Civil War utilizes historical photographs and primary sources, especially letters written by soldiers, to present the history of the war from Fort Sumter to Appomattox. Don’t miss the starred review of this DVD.

Relish: My Life In The Kitchen by Lucy Knisley. First Second. 2013. Review copy from publisher. It’s About: Relish is a memoir/coming of age book about food and cooking, told in a graphic novel format. The Good: It’s a memoir. And coming of age book. About food. And cooking. In a graphic novel format. What else [...]

In our continuing series on first encounters with adult literature, here’s a guest post from reviewer Diane Colson: My mother’s collection of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books was my first library. By third or fourth grade (circa 1965,) I had pretty much read all of the chapter books in our tiny juvenile section at the public [...]

“We’re bringing services to people who either would not or could not access them otherwise….[it] truly does change lives,” says Library Journal Mover & Shaker Richard Lyda, outreach librarian at Arapahoe Library District in Centennial, CO. In our follow-up interview, Lyda shares with SLJ his strategies for effective community outreach, what’s next for him in his district, and much more.