Reviews+

I hadn’t thought about it till today, but our summer reading list is a snooze. A dinosaur. A relic of a time when reading lists looked like, well, reading lists. Today, two things woke me up. 1. Finished with her AP exam, Sierra asked me for a book recommendation.  I excitedly booktalked Libba Bray’s The [...]

Junior Library Guild editors select picture books that are perfect for storytime; these titles are destined to become favorite read-alouds and will delight the imaginations of kids in kindergarten and first grade.

Fifth grader Louie Burger figures that with a goofy name like his, he must be destined to be a king of comedy like his idol Lou Lafferman. One huge problem: he has stage fright. With the school talent show coming up, Louie’s wondering if now is his moment to kill (that’s comedian talk for “make actual people laugh”). Four lucky winners will receive a copy of The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger by Jenny Meyerhoff, and one grand prize winner will receive a Barftastic Backpack of Boredom Busters (great for summer reading programs!) filled with joke items including a whoopee cushion, a rubber chicken, Groucho glasses, and more, plus a copy of the book and a T-shirt.

Junior Library Guild editors offer a variety of stories for independent readers: a classic orphan story, a fantasy about nightmares, a Hollywood drama, a laugh-out-loud detective tale, and a mystery surrounding a missing camera. Also perfect for reading aloud, the following fiction titles will keep readers engaged with the characters, old and new.

Whether it’s a class assignment or a novel in verse, poetry expresses our deepest desires and fondest memories. It's National Poetry Month, and the editors at the Junior Library Guild have selected the following new titles to motivate students to voice their own poetic thoughts.

Junior Library Guild Editors select some of the best new fiction for middle grade students. From birthday wishes to Broadway show auditions, these picks have a little bit of everything for kids in Grades 5-8.

Junior Library Guild editors select new and fun wordless picture books that provide an opportunity for children to focus on meaning, characters, and plot without the impediment of vocabulary.

Junior Library Guild editors select picture books perfect for the younger set who beg for a scary story, but are safe enough to prevent nightmares.

Though facts and figures often grab the interests of middle school boys, adventure, fantasy, and reality stories also weigh into their decision-making when it comes to choosing books. The following titles selected by Junior Library Guild editors will not only entertain middle grade readers, but help them see that they are not alone in trying to survive middle school.