News & Features

The nine picture books cited in Mahmoud v. Taylor are not pornography. Nor are they obscene. What is obscene is a Supreme Court decision that denies the basic humanity and equality of LGBTQIA+ people.

This year, we awarded dozens of books a prestigious star—and among this distinguished group, several clear commonalities shine bright. From fresh approaches on topics like grief to specific recurrences, such as characters taking on another person’s identity, here are the key trends among 2025's starred books.

These eight forthcoming board books and picture books will be available long before December. Turn on some Christmas tunes, grab a Santa hat, and peruse these holly, jolly offerings.

The July issue—“the stars so far”—is our halfway point on the path to Best Books in December. SLJ reviews editors stand back to take a look at a beautiful, blossoming list of notable books.

This funding can help with everything from collection development and programming to disaster recovery and more.

Lavonnia Moore lost her job after including the Kyle Lukoff book in a summer reading display at the request of a young patron; new law gives school boards in Texas authority over collection development; Ohio governor vetoed bill that would have restricted public library access to titles "related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."

 AI-generated booklists are possible—and even published. So what is the value of human curation?

These six titles show that good things come in small sturdy packages. Board books, for the pre-literate and newest readers, continue to surprise and delight in equal measure, and fly off the shelves for story hours.