News & Features

Want to keep kids occupied and reading all summer? Share these craft and activity books with them. In addition to offering an outlet for creativity, they'll have children working with numbers and decoding and interpreting diagrams and symbols. The books also make excellent resources for adults leading summer programs and year-round groups.

Teens appreciate variety in their choice of fiction. They may want to root for the underdog or climb through a magic mirror. Maybe heroes who fight evil creatures are their cup of tea. Perhaps they want to read about someone else who struggles with peer pressure or bad choices. Offering new realistic and fantasy fiction for teens provides an opportunity for your students to have choices about seeing their own issues in another world―whether it’s magical or not. The following new novels may be just what they are seeking.

When it comes to school libraries, Richard L. Allington, co-author of 'Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Achievement Gap' has a few things to say, including a few that you may not want to hear.

No stranger to the screen, Warner Bros. Pictures reboots the Superman film franchise with Man of Steel (PG-13), slated to premiere June 14 in conventional, 3D, and IMAX theaters. It will have teens flocking to libraries faster than a speeding bullet for comic book classics about this tried-and-true hero. Stock up on and display some of these Superman standards, guaranteed to grab the eye of YA moviegoers and graphic novel fans.

From a scratchy nib pen to splatter from a toothbrush, author illustrator Matt Phelan describes the special quality he derives from using traditional media in this clip recorded at School Library Journal's Day of Dialog.

Nothing is quite as it seems in this spring’s graphic novels, from the bad science in Darryl Cunningham's How to Fake a Moon Landing to the reality-show superheroes in Tiger & Bunny. But there are some familiar faces as well, with a new Star Trek story, a graphic-novel version of Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon, and the return of the classic Disney game manga Kingdom Hearts. There’s plenty here to keep readers sprawled in their hammocks all summer long.

Junior Library Guild editors select illustrated picture book biographies on remarkable Americans that are perfect for inspiring children in Grades 2 to 6. These include a new take on Albert Einstein and a brief look at how libraries became more accessible to young readers.

From rock icon David Bowie to relative newcomers, Paramore, music lovers can look forward to good summer listening and lots of choice in styles of music. Longtime fans of Luigi, Mario's oft-maligned brother, will be happy to see that he finally gets to demonstrate his mojo in ​Nintendo's ​new addition to the franchise, ​Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon​.

The creator of elaborate, fiery fantasies with“kick-butt” female protagonists talks with SLJ about her award-winning work.