News & Features

The Randolph County (NC) Board of Education is reconsidering its recent ban of Ralph Ellison’s classic novel Invisible Man in its school libraries, the local Courier-Tribune reports. The board voted 5-2 last week to remove the book from shelves, but it has agreed to hold a special meeting on Wednesday to reconsider the book's status.

Scholastic has announced that it is donating one million books to Reach Out and Read, the nonprofit organization that helps implement early-childhood literacy awareness during a child’s regular medical office visits. The donation comes just a day after Reach Out and Read was recognized by the Library of Congress as the recipient of the new David M. Rubenstein Prize for advancing literacy.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has announced it will give an additional $5 million in funding for up to 12 more public school library renovations as part of the Baltimore Elementary and Middle School Library Project, for a total of $10 million for as many as 24 new public school libraries.

Hey all!  Before I dive into the oddities of the world in which we live, I just wanted to give a bit of a shout out to two distinct groups that allowed me to sprawl my librarian self all over their respective gatherings.  First up, credit and love to Nancy Castaldo and all the folks [...]

Last week our pals Colby Sharp and John Schumacher finished reading every single Newbery Medal-winning book. In honor of their completing this impressive feat, I thought I’d write what has to be my most self-indulgent post ever: revisit my Covering the Newbery project (where I attempted to give a new cover to every Newbery winner) [...]

So I see the Man Booker Prize is opening itself up to Americans. I wonder why; my cynical side believes it has less to do with enhancing “its prestige and reputation through expansion” and more to do with trying to grab a piece of American publishing money (such as it is) through what has euphemistically [...]

The post More, more, more (How do you like it?) appeared first on The Horn Book.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has chosen the winners of the 2013 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, a new program originated and sponsored by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. The recipients are the Reach Out and Read early literacy program in Boston; MA, 826 National, San Francisco, a K–12 tutoring and literacy program; and the international program PlanetRead, based in Mumbai, India.

Early in the school year is a good time to help kids get into the swing of things and get to know one another and these apps can help.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has announced its creation of the Spark Award, an annual literary award that will recognize excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route. The award is open to current writer and/or illustrator SCBWI members who have published a board book, picture book, chapter book, middle grade, or young adult novel either independently or via an established self-publishing enterprise.