News & Features

Phillip Hoose describes a year in the life of a rufa red knot in the audiobook Moonbird and does a superb job of narrating the text.

Fifth grader Louie Burger figures that with a goofy name like his, he must be destined to be a king of comedy like his idol Lou Lafferman. One huge problem: he has stage fright. With the school talent show coming up, Louie’s wondering if now is his moment to kill (that’s comedian talk for “make actual people laugh”). Four lucky winners will receive a copy of The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger by Jenny Meyerhoff, and one grand prize winner will receive a Barftastic Backpack of Boredom Busters (great for summer reading programs!) filled with joke items including a whoopee cushion, a rubber chicken, Groucho glasses, and more, plus a copy of the book and a T-shirt.

Bill Gates, John Legend, and Sir Ken Robinson are among some of the bigger names joining TED next week to discuss education in the conference series’ first ever televised special. Here is a preview of the event, which was recorded earlier this month in New York City.

In the fifth and final installment of our series celebrating National Poetry Month, Jack Prelutsky, America’s first children’s poet laureate, offers us five of his top poetry collections for kids.

Kathleen Reif, director of St. Mary’s County Library, Leonardtown, MD, is the 2013 recipient of Peggy Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. The Sullivan Award, administered by the American Library Association (ALA), is presented annually to an individual in a library administrator role who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children. The award will be presented at the ALA President's Program, Sunday, June 30, at the Annual Conference in Chicago.

Jackie Robinson's story is a captivating, inspiring, and important one, and young moviegoers who have seen the new biopic 42 will want to know more about his groundbreaking accomplishments as well as his life and times. Here are some great books to recommend.

From San Antonio to Fort Worth, literacy educators and librarians converged on Texas last week to celebrate books and reading.

Kathy Ishizuka has been named executive editor of School Library Journal. Previously assistant editor of book review, Shelley Diaz has been promoted to SLJ associate editor.

Junior Library Guild editors offer a variety of stories for independent readers: a classic orphan story, a fantasy about nightmares, a Hollywood drama, a laugh-out-loud detective tale, and a mystery surrounding a missing camera. Also perfect for reading aloud, the following fiction titles will keep readers engaged with the characters, old and new.