News & Features

A library branch in Park Slope, Brooklyn, boasts a fleet of iPads, but some local parents aren't all that enthused. For his three-year-old, parent Josh Skaller says, "there's an immense opportunity to discover new things to read, and anything that's pulling her away from that gets in the way of the purpose of the trip to the library."

“March Madness” has taken on a secondary meaning in rural Pollok, TX, where 423 high school students have been closely watching, rooting for, and predicting the winners of a unique elimination contest this month—not basketball, but books. Under the direction of Donna Steel Cook, district library director and high school teacher-librarian, Pollok’s Central High School has incorporated our fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books contest into an engaging program to support reading.

Girls Write Now, a nonprofit organization that mentors budding female writers, opened its CHAPTERS Reading series with Sesame Street's 'Maria' and YA author Sonia Manzano as the first guest speaker. The ongoing 4-part event will showcase the works of teen girls from all over NYC, and will feature female authors like Gayle Forman, Adele Griffin, and Marcia Ann Gillespie.

Ruby is torn between her high school friends and a new girl who is aloof and refuses to follow the rules in Stephanie Guerra’s novel, Torn, that is authentically narrated by Casey Holloway in this starred audiobook production.

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin Little, Brown Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick Judged by Thanhha Lai

I usually have no problem sitting in judgment.  Years ago I zapped the writer’s guilt of finishing every novel because someone had bled to write it.  Now I give the first 50 pages my absolute attention.  If not enthralled, I advance to the art of flipping.

Still, my quick fingers proved useless while reading Starry River of the Sky and Splendors and Glooms.  I read every page, felt every dramatic pulse and closed the novels with Rendi and Madame Chang, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall embedded into the crevices of my mind.

Starry River drops readers into ancient China, yet its timeless theme of finding one’s self by returning to one’s roots will be understood by any video-game junkie living in, let’s say, Dallas.  This junkie will be introduced to a world where people make lanterns from fireflies and linger at the dinner table to hear stories—for entertainment.

Splendors and Glooms drops readers into 1860 London, where the details of rich lives and poor lives so infused the narrative that buttered toast and strawberry jam enter the nostrils as surely as the sour stiffness of one’s only dress.  Readers then step into the enchanting horror of icy Strachan’s Ghyll, where a puppet, a witch, two kids and a villain come together for a good vs. evil battle that rivals any video game.  In this …

» Continue Reading: Round 2, Match 3: Starry River of the Sky vs Splendors and Glooms

Can you guess the classic children’s book by its scathing one-star review on GoodReads or Amazon? [Author]‘s book is a piece of nationalist propaganda, using oversimplification, emotional appeals, and dualistic morality to shut down her readers’ minds. More troubling is that it is aimed at children, who don’t yet have the critical faculties to defend [...]

There are certain words and phrases that are instantly hilarious.  Kalamazoo is one of them.  Platypus is another.  All the more reason to combine the two.  That’s my logic.  When I heard that Jarrett Krosoczka (he of the Lunch Lady GN series as well as a stunner of a TED talk, amongst other accomplishments), had [...]

Nearly fifty authors gathered last week for the fifth annual NYC Teen Author Festival. The brainchild of author and Scholastic editor David Levithan, the festival includes author appearances and discussion panels at libraries, schools, and bookstores all around the city.

Long Island (NY) school librarian and tireless school library advocate eva efron died March 20 at the Tuttle Center in Port Washington, NY, following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 66. At the time of her death, efron—who spelled her name in lower case—was a candidate for supervisor section representative to the American Association of School Librarians executive board, and was serving as chair of the AASL supervisors section.