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Created and hosted by Jordan Lloyd Bookey, co-founder of the reading motivation app Beanstack, that is used by schools and libraries worldwide, The Reading Culture podcast explores authors’ personal stories and their insights into motivating young people to read.

As school librarians assess their needs for the 2024–25 school year, publishers are coming out with a broad range of content for the back-to-school season.

Because of their inherent language constraints, many of the decodables being published today lack what children would consider an engaging and coherent storyline. But this is an area where New Jersey-based publisher ReadBright excels.

While social and emotional learning (SEL) has become a politically charged term in these highly polarized times, educators understand the value of having students of all ages learn self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Since 2004, Flashlight Press has published picture books that explore and illuminate different social and family situations. The Brooklyn-based publisher’s in-demand books are available in hardcover, eBook, and paperback, and have appeared 73 times on 33 state award lists and been translated into 19 languages.

More than 47 percent of the titles targeted [for book bans] represent LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC voices and experiences. Publishers are responding to book challenges by endorsing Right to Read acts, contributing book résumés to the Unite Against Book Bans initiative and continuing to prioritize titles representing LGBTQIA+ individuals and families.

Just a few years removed from a global pandemic that saw the intense politicization of public health initiatives, the U.S. public’s faith in science has declined. Books that help students understand complex issues and inform them about important scientific advancements and the critical role that STEM plays in our society can help produce more informed citizens who support the need for scientific investment.

While it’s well known that summer reading provides benefits well past summer, perhaps the greatest benefit of summer reading for kids is choice. In fact, trusting kids to pick their own books is essential. And publishers of children's books provide a plethora of choices for summer reading.

Publishers have long been dedicated to creating books that appeal to struggling and reluctant readers. Even before the pandemic, two-thirds of fourth graders were reading below grade level, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress. Now, the need for such books is even more crucial.