Reviews+

These excellent middle grade titles illustrate the significance and complexity of tween friendships.

From literacy instruction to battling book bans and censorship, the subjects of these titles will inform and inspire librarians and other educators.

In this Q&A series, SLJ poses five questions and a request for a book recommendation to a debut YA author. In the latest installment, Myah Hollis shares about Not About a Boy. 

This month's starred titles include a first day of school story by June Sobel, biographies on Mae Jemison and Roberto Clemente, and a new picture book from Kyle Lukoff.

Nonfiction books account for many of this month's stars, along with several middle grade and YA novels, and one holiday book.

Gifted translators are not celebrated as often as authors or illustrators, but their work is vital to a book's success. SLJ profiles Aida Salazar, the award-winning author who also translated this year's starred book La panza de mamá by Isabel Quintero.

Women's Equality Day, celebrated on August 26th, commemorates the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. In these titles, mothers and grandmothers take their daughters and granddaughters along with them to polls, to show the children the importance of exercising the hard-won right for women to vote.

These individual poems and collections about animals, outer space, feelings, and more will satisfy a wide range of budding poets and other interested readers.

From looking out the window and appreciating wildlife in the city to recognizing the emotions involved with moving and growing up, the poems in these books offer much to young readers.