News & Features

Education buzzwords—whole language, multiple intelligences—come and go, but 45 states chose to adopt the Common Core Learning Standards. The questions educators now face are what types of instruction help students develop these skills? And how do librarians insert themselves into these critical discussions?

In the last 12 years, the fantasy genre has dominated the middle grade market. Thanks to “Harry Potter”, children worry less about the number of pages, and authors have been happy to comply with longer imaginative offerings. These lengthy tomes are fast-paced reads, full of magical creatures, daring adventures, and loyal characters that fight for the good of all. In the following titles selected by JLG editors, themes of family and friendship are woven into sets of enchanted lands, and fans can escape to a place where their own problems seem far away.

The Mystery Writers of America celebrated Edgar Allan Poe's 204th birthday with the announcement of the Edgar Awards. Pictured here are the nominees for the Juvenile Fiction category, including winner Jack Ferraiolo for The Quick Fix .

Check out School Library Journal's reader responses to Rebecca Miller's editorial, "The Cost of Cuts," the review of Dig Those Dinosaurs, and more.

Archie Comics’ openly gay character Kevin Keller gets his first kiss in August—and provokes the ire of a Riverdale mom, whose reaction Veronica catches on video. Archie writer and artist Dan Parent discusses the storyline at USA Today, and Archie co-CEO Jon Goldwater notes that the remarkable thing about Kevin’s kiss is not that he [...]

The Association of Educational Publishers and the Association of American Publishers have agreed to merge. The two professional groups will combine their programming, professional development, and public policy advocacy operations serving the preK–12 educational publishing industry. Once the merger is complete, AAP will create a new pre-K division.

Author/illustrator Bernard Waber, creator of the iconic character Lyle the crocodile and more than two dozen picture books for children, died on May 16 after a long illness. He was 88.

We’ve all endured “death by PowerPoint.” It’s a painful experience for the audience and probably not all that fun for the presenter either. To help students deliver effective presentations—free of those deadly bullet points—SLJ columnist Richard Byrne cites his go-to applications.

A novel about two siblings and their presumed-dead father that captures the nuances of family dynamics in spare prose