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Check out the hot titles this past year at my elementary school!
I write books about grief not to make the reader sad, I write them to give readers a safe space to heal.
I wrote a book that would please a middle school kid who wants to hear his pen cluck just one… more… time.
With offerings from Weston Woods and productions about conservation and immigration, these works both entertain and break down complex topics for educators and students.
The idea bubbled up practically overnight: the story of a young, gay, Hispanic teen (that’s me), who falls in love with a cowboy (that’s Texas), who may or may not be a killer (and that’s Jane Austen).
This companion novel allows me to tell another one of those untold stories—uncovered through videos and memoirs and articles—of a young boy yearning to, one day, reunite with his father.
Our latest video game reviews feature a vengeful god, a speedy bipedal hedgehog, a laser-wielding space bounty hunter, and a squishy pink puffball.
I’m a sucker for a good happily ever after. I believe that most people deserve one, and deserve to see people like themselves have one. Which is one of the reasons I wrote Rhythm & Muse, to fill a void that I wasn’t finding at the time. A black, teenage boy finding his.
This is my love letter to all the equestrians who haven’t seen themselves on the page. I’m going to need your help and support to get my books into the hands of kids who want and need them, so I hope you go on this ride with me.
A Podcast Experiment: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Dan Santat, Doug Salati, and Amina Luqman-Dawson.
Listen to our first-ever SPEED ROUND episode of The Yarn podcast!
Crilley talks about writing and illustrating a novel paying tribute to Taiwan more than 30 years after living there to teach English.
Even if the road ahead is scary, we’re optimistic for the future and grateful for how far we have come. TIME OUT, ultimately, is filled with that optimism.
Can I tell you it beautifully captures the delicate yearning that marks so much of adolescence? And will you know what I mean by that? Because it just does.
I'm down to a handful of days of school left and cannot wait to start digging into the TBR Mountain Range currently in my office.
Ever Since and When Oceans Rise are about telling stories. More importantly, they’re about the power of telling your own story, even when it’s hard, even when society pushes back.
The LIA PARK series blends Korean art, history, landmarks, mythology, and language into an action-packed middle grade contemporary fantasy, creating an easily accessible entry point into Korean culture.
I wanted to validate any readers who might also be struggling to find the words to express their identities, or just don’t care to put themselves in a box at all.
Buttigieg wants readers to know they are never alone. He shows that you get to write your own story. A hopeful and comforting look at a life that finally feels like it fits.
We have a couple new episodes up over at The Yarn podcast. Author/illustrator Jon Agee takes us behind the scenes of his latest picture book, My Dad is a Tree: And Brad and Kristi Montague talk about their husband/wife collaboration on The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination:
It took eighteen years for this book to find its proper ending. I dedicated it to my mother who has shared her family history and the history of her country with me. Talking about Guatemalan history and listening to my mom’s stories is one of my favorite ways to spend time with her now.
This book was a joy to write – possibly the easiest one I’ve written so far. And it all came from the central idea of embracing the wildness within a girl.
I wanted to write about kids like me, who know what it feels like to grow up in a place other people spend a week or two at for vacation in the summer; a place that, for them, for me, is home all year round.
This Saturday, April 29, is Twin Cities Teen Lit Con in Mendota Heights, MN at Two Rivers High School. Check out the amazing lineup for the day!
The idea of what is universal has been on my mind a lot. Too often universal means "You must get over here" rather than "We will meet you there."
For readers who enjoy or want to explore reading novels in different formats, here are 15 titles about AAPI characters or by AAPI creators to recommend for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
If you have inherited a story from your progenitors that you think might make a book, go for it. It’s worth a little detour through hell.
Bust out those TBR lists! It's time to see what's new and forthcoming in the worlds of middle grade and YA!
The author shares how a school visit gave her a new character name and a new connection with one young reader.
A poem about the dreams and fantasies, the anticipation, the doubts and insecurities, the frustrations, and finally, the pride of seeing something that I wrote actually out there in the world for others to read.
A pandemic mystery, a speculative memoir, an anthology about periods, and so many other great new books!
Get out those TBR lists!
In every piece of art or writing, I’ve found a new truth layered in shadow, or dispelled old bitterness in an unexpected turn of phrase, or tugged an answer from a tangle of threads.
An entertaining and, certainly for Sam, illuminating read about life in the 1990s and what it's like to see someone through a different lens.
These selections celebrate dinosaurs, silliness, social justice, and more. Perfect for library programming, dancing, and exercise, these albums guarantee a rollicking good time.
Titles in verse are an especially welcoming genre, blending poetry and storytelling to create immersive experiences for any type of narrative, including fiction, history, memoir, and more. The audiobook format presents these works the way poetry is meant to be enjoyed—out loud.
We meet Celeste, our ghost, on page one. What happened to her? What's really going on in this town? And can Hughie and friends help Celeste find peace and finally help her tell her story?
Author S. A. Patrick speculates on the future of AI-written novels. "Whatever an AI creates, the human experience of reading will still be the final destination - the entire point of it, the arbiter of its success."
Through the practice of Kung Fu, Heera discovers the power of her body and learns that her body is not an object to be preyed upon but a vessel to take control of her life.
To me, this is one of the best parts of writing and reading stories—getting a chance to visit some wonderful places on earth, even (maybe especially?) if it is from the comfort of my own snuggly bed.
Here’s a look at some new YA lit releases coming out in April of 2023 that are on my TBR list. You might want to add them to yours. Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre […]
Buckle up for another round of NEW BOOKS to put on your TBR list (or add to your TBR tower, which is how I think of mine).
Grief is weird. It’s hard. It’s a process.
When my therapist told me I was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum, I sobbed with joy and relief. There was something. Not wrong, but something that could explain why I was the way I was. I wasn’t just making it up.
In expanding my perspective to learn as much new information as I could, to listen to as many voices as I could, I became more aware than ever of how much I didn't know.
Get out your TBR lists, friends!
Quick reviews of 11 new and forthcoming releases.
Book Mail: A memory-devouring monster, a teen dating show, a Snow White retelling, and so much more!
Check out more than 25 new and forthcoming titles for all ages!
There is a place for quiet, always. And there is space for quiet ones like me—who feel so very much—to say what they need to say.
For all of your collection development and TBR needs, please enjoy some new titles.
Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey are on the latest episode of The Yarn podcast, talking all about their new chapter book/comic hybrid, Link & Hud.
I always say that there’s a fine line between the stories authors choose to tell, and the stories that choose us.
I always say that there’s a fine line between the stories authors choose to tell, and the stories that choose us.
Pull out your TBR lists or get ready to add to the orders for books that stock your library or classroom shelves.
Middle grade author Stuart Gibbs launches a new video series designed to help teachers and librarians inspire and educate a young generation of writers
There are people out there–often whole communities–just waiting to embrace and celebrate you for who you are.
Amina Luqman-Dawson takes us behind the scenes of her 2023 Newbery Medal-winning book, FREEWATER, on the latest episode of The Yarn podcast.
To some readers—mostly adults, who are under some fallacy that teenagers will remain innocent so long as we shelter them from difficult themes—my book will be one giant red flag.
Once we let go of the concept that characters can only be inherently good or inherently bad, we can start creating complex book characters who are both and neither.
This raw, emotional, experimental story is a powerful read. In turns melancholy, brutal, and funny, this is an innovative look at loneliness and sexuality.
I asked my mom a question I was given for a blog interview: “What the hardest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?” My mom looked at me for a moment, then said, “Ah, how about the fact you couldn’t read until fourth grade!”
An extremely thoughtful and moving examination of death that focuses on the honor of being with someone when they die. A complex read that isn't easy but is worth it.
Children of the Black Glass began some years ago on a family road trip, when we found an obsidian deposit near a dirt road on the wild side of a jagged mountain range.
Back matter, as well as a nod in the publisher's description, explains that often female victims of white supremacy and lynching are overlooked in history. Here, they take center stage, and the stories of Lamb, Marion, and their family will stick with me for a long time. A brutal but beautiful read.
Nightbirds is a fiercely feminist fantasy: a potent cocktail full of intrigue and glamor, but also questions about girls trying to claim their power and find their voices.
Dan Santat is on the latest episode of The Yarn podcast!
For the first time ever, SLJ is offering reviews of video games. Here, we review Pokémon Scarlet, Pokémon Violet, Pokémon TCG Live, and Marvel Snap.
A Latinx pirate fantasy, a scavenger hunt, magical creatures, queer power, and more!
Happily Ever After’s, in the current state in which they are offered, should come with a big disclaimer: BELIEVE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
With the unprecedented rise in book bannings and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation targeting marginalized youth, I feel the need to use this opportunity to talk about books and their significance to me.
A look back at some of our posts discussing YA literature
I ended up burning through this super-readable book about love, identity, and trans joy and can't wait to see what else Underhill does.
It's I Love to Read Month and post-it note reviews would be a great way to allow students, staff, and librarians to show off their recommended reads!
Lizzy Mason puts it all here on the page---the grief and guilt are palpable. The despair is crushing. It's not an easy read. But it's an important one.
I chat with the brand-new Caldecott Medalist for The Yarn.
I’ve learned more about myself on road trips than I ever did in a classroom, and all of the experiences I’ve lived through were worth more than all the miles combined.
From the doldrums of winter I offer you this look at titles from Wednesday Books that will be released this summer.
My name is Ponti. James Ponti. I am awkward, goofy, and if I’m being completely honest, a little scared of lizards. There’s absolutely no way that I was ever a real-life spy.
Explore 14 new and forthcoming books from Holiday House and Pixel + Ink!
Marla Frazee stops by to talk about IN EVERY LIFE.
Artemis Sparke is an invitation for all ages to join a brigade or, even better, to rally up their own brigade and experience the power of resurrected voices.
In The Carrefour Curse, I have revisited my gothic obsessed childhood and had a great deal of fun doing so.
These recent audiobooks offer irrefutable proof and auspicious validation that our youth are our most promising changemakers today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Kendare Blake talks Scoobies old and new, a Buffy-less Buffyverse series, and more!
Life would be so much easier if it came with a map that contained all the right answers. But as Ocean and I have learned, mapmaking is sort of the point.
This well told story explores racism, the criminal justice system, activism, restorative justice, loss and grief, and so much more.
Riley Jensen shares a look at some upcoming YA mysteries that are on her TBR list
Transitions are tough, and they never stop coming. It’s a good thing we have great books to help us through them.
Teen librarian Karen Jensen takes a look at YA publishing for 2023
I believe there is an important place for serious dramas but why does culture and immigration always come with tears and seriousness? Often, we are the fiesta!
There seems like an awfully long distance between the past and future and yet, whether it is 1940 or 2040, the questions I continue to find most intriguing are timeless. Who are we in the worst of times? What does it mean to survive? And, What do we want our world to look like?
What does 2023 hold? Colby Sharp and I discuss on The Yarn podcast.
I didn’t set out to make the library so central in Another Dimension of Us, but as I was writing this book, the library became the one place where the characters felt safe — just like it was for me when I was like Tommy: a gay-but-definitely-not-out 15-year-old in the 80s.
If you told elementary-school me that one day, I’d have my own published books on those very library shelves, I would’ve been thrilled. It’d be a dream come true. But high-school me wouldn’t have believed you.
People love to make fun of romance. Isn’t it embarrassing to have huge, vulnerable feelings for another person? Gross! I hope you’re catching my sarcasm, because no! Not gross!
This very busy book is a funny, heartwarming look at community, identity, family, and theater.
May I recommend these delicious young adult novels (and graphic novels) to satisfy your cravings?
A heartfelt and thoughtful look at a fractured friendship and the transformative capability of love and compassion.
Writing Sincerely Sicily was very liberating, as it allowed me to thoroughly share my background in a way I have never been able to do before.
Our last episode of 2022 takes a look back . . .
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