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I know there are readers who are tired of love triangles, and I don’t blame them. But I’m also a firm believer that no trope is overdone until everyone has had an equal chance to play with it, especially authors from marginalized backgrounds.
Check out these titles by queer and BIPOC authors that will satisfy young readers as we approach spooky season
While driving home from a book event a couple weeks back, I turned on the recorder and talked about how THE SHIP IN THE WINDOW came to be.
As always, a list of five is only sharing a tiny bit of what’s new this month. Check your local library for other new releases!
How do we make the world safe for all of us to express our emotions? To begin with, we need to stick together as we cry and laugh our way through the world.
How GUAVA AND GRUDGES Pays Homage to the Golden Age of YA Romance, a guest post by author Alexis Castellanos
When I started working on my novel A Second Chance on Earth, I wanted to capture, in verse, the beauty and complexity of a Colombia that I love so intensely.
Lisa Fipps returns to talk about her latest book And Then, Boom!
I’m thrilled to share the Team Canteen kids with this next generation of readers and hope the members of The Baby-Sitters Club would choose to sit with them in the mess hall.
Minnesota is a wonderful place for many reasons, not the least of which is our amazing children's lit community.
An omnipresent icon, Swift has, with this latest album, offered up the term “poet” for mass consumption and contemplation.
Postapocalyptic stories have a strange optimism because the worst has happened. We are with the survivors and the Earth is in fragile recovery.
This quiet look at identity and loneliness will appeal to readers who appreciate the brevity of the verse format and who like a character-driven story.
Comfort media, at its core, tells its consumers that they’re not alone. All things end eventually, good and bad. But one thing that remains is the memories of those stories that stick with us early in life and provide comfort for years to come.
Colby talked with Newbery Honor winner Gennifer Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts) on The Yarn podcast this week.
It's not spelling that makes you intelligent—it's your ideas.
For all of your collection development and TBR needs, please enjoy these new titles from Holiday House and Pixel+Ink.
What if ghosts weren't scary at all? What if we as the audience, instead of being frightened by a ghostly tale, were left with a different feeling altogether?
For over 20 years, it has been my great joy to immerse myself in novels in verse. Middle grade novels in verse have had a long, continually developing history.
What would Crockett Johnson think of the new movie adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon? His biographer weighs in.
Johnson is working towards becoming a modern day Agatha Christie for teen readers, and that's one of the highest compliments I can give.
Overall, an enlightening look at how understanding and celebrating gender diversity has been a long-held belief for many people and cultures throughout history.
I think it’s important to inspire young girls to stick together, to stand up for one another, and to love each other even through the parts of life that are ugly.
Our heroes will survive to live another day, and even if the road is rocky, and even if their world doesn’t end up all rainbows and unicorns and Skittles, at a minimum the downpour will end, the sun will come out, and they will be left with that powerful thing called HOPE.
How far would you go to convince yourself that everything is fine?
Lost your democracy? How long does it take to get it back?
For the people of Portugal, that number was 48 years.
Before I was a Deaf, queer, and Disabled author, I was a Deaf, queer, and Disabled reader.
I really am trying to crank through my TBR cart, but it just keeps filling up. Here are a few quick post-it note reviews of new books that you may want to add to your TBR tower.
I did not know then that there was more dividing my parents and I than language; we literally had different worldviews and value systems.
This fantastic trio of audiobooks offers a picture book biography, a middle grade historical novel, and a propulsive YA sci-fi.
Everyone, including teens and tweens, should get to enjoy these fluffy books without judging themselves or feeling that these books somehow have less value than Crime and Punishment.
From multiplayer matches to couch co-op adventures, sometimes two (or more) heads are better than one. Here are six multiplayer video games to add to your collection for building community in the library and at home.
For July's Disability Pride Month and beyond, these 25 audiobooks featuring disabled characters are edifying and enlightening selections for elementary, middle grade, and YA listeners.
Life takes its own twists and turns, whatever the magic of the library intends. But the love of fantasy and writing and books ran deep, deep, deep. The power of the library would not be denied in the end.
I wanted to show that we can still be happy and chronically ill. We contain multitudes. I wanted to show that there’s balance.
Choosing to end a series is choosing to give your characters to your audience.
Science has shown that stories are engines for empathy. My hope is that with non-fiction, novels and picture books, we remind ourselves that stories are our best antidote to the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
My hope is that the book might help both protagonists and antagonists in the world give each other the time and patience to jump some horizons. My second, smaller hope is that it might soothe the aches and pains that come with the hard landings that sometimes follow those jumps.
Over on The Yarn podcast, Colby talks with author Abby Cooper about her middle grade novel TRUE COLORS.
Here are 18 new and forthcoming titles to help you build your TBR for the rest of the year!
Pangu’s Shadow is about the power of science to reveal the truth and who should hold that power (hint: anyone and everyone). Science needs diverse perspectives to investigate the truth from every angle.
Hand this to readers ready to get high school over with or those who just need a reminder that there are people in your corner (even if your corner is wedged in a storage room behind a locked door at school).
Well-chosen videos contribute a hard-to-ignore spark to educational lessons and add novelty and visual stimulation that young learners crave. No matter the topic, these videos are sure to engage classrooms and stimulate discussion with elementary, middle grade, and high school students.
They don’t have all the answers. They make mistakes. There’s no sugar-coating their pain or flaws here. And there shouldn’t have to be. Give me all the unlikeable girls.
The authors talk wrestling, Orange Julius, kayfabe, identity, grief, and more.
Every Happily Ever After is going to look a little different. Stories, in any form, can be an escape. But within unfamiliar settings and struggles we see the truth of the world around us.
Just like art, coming up with the ideal discussion questions involved a lot of trial and error. As I get ready for my next career phase with the upcoming launch of my YA book, TAKE ALL OF US, I’ve decided to take a look back at what ended up being the five worst and five best library whiteboards overall.
It's time for rapid-fire Q&A with Peter Brown, Dashka Slater, Chris Baron, and Jarrett Lerner!
I knew I wanted to convey insights into Jamaican life with YOUR CORNER DARK and now with BETTER MUST COME. So, when it came to showing YOUNG PEOPLE how economic policies, the issues of abandonment, police brutality, and others affected the island nation, I had to make the stories EXCITING!
It started with the title—Past Present Future popped into my head one day, and I couldn’t ignore it. I’m a sucker for parallelism.
Playaway products have long been a staple in libraries as an audio option for accessing materials. SLJ reviews its Wonderbook, a preloaded audiobook device.
Books that cover the themes of grief and loss are so important because sometimes it can feel so lonely to lose someone and you might not even want to talk about it, but it might help to read about it.
47 new and forthcoming books to help build your TBR!
More LGBTQ+ youth are feeling comfortable coming out at earlier ages, and that’s a wonderful thing. But for the many queer kids who still can’t—and for the LGBTQ+ adults who couldn’t—I don’t think we recognize the loss caused by that suppression nearly enough.
In an industry (and more widely, society) which narrows our modes of self-expression to the economically viable, I consider myself very privileged to have enjoyed the time and space to tell my story via a medium so tied to my authentic self.
14 speedy little reviews of new and forthcoming books!
For both May’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and beyond, consider lining shelves and adding to TBR piles with some of these edifying, entertaining 2024 audio choices.
I’m thankful that there’s room on our bookshelves for the vast array of teen-centered stories we have to tell, whether romantic or not.
I know I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren’t for the people who helped me get through that early, rough period of trying to figure out how to be a writer.
A writer once told me that when I’m not feeling inspired, I should go out and collect life experiences so I would have things to “add to the pile of stuff” I could write about. I thought it was odd advice at the time, but now I get it.
Celebrating Asian American Native Hawai’ian Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Comic Books for Kids with Angela Frederick
Part of why we're focusing on middle grade this year on TLT is because discoverability can feel so challenging, with chain stores stocking less MG than ever before. New authors face an even bigger challenge because kids (and their grown-ups) often gravitate toward established authors they know they will like.
Without The Diamond in the Window introducing me to chambered nautiluses all those years ago, I might still be sitting at my laptop staring at a blank page.
Narrative nonfiction has the same goals as any novel – to use these same techniques of conflict, setting, characterization, etc. to build a world that a reader cares about.
Teen librarian Rachel Strolle shares new YA LGBTQIA+ titles to help you read and build book rainbows for Pride (and all year round)
To celebrate this unexpected milestone I thought I’d reflect on the six most interesting facts about this weird, bittersweet, wild ride of a story.
When kids at school say there are "no good books" to read, I send them to two places: graphic novels or the list of short books/books under 250 pages.
I started making up this story with my brother when I was in middle school, and it’s taken all these years to finally finish it.
Everyone—children, teens and even adults—need safe outlets to explore their emotions, fears and unspoken curiosities. Whether you’re writing a book or reading a book, stories can be that safe harbor.
We are lucky to live in a time where there is just so much wonderful middle grade coming out. There's no reason to hear a middle schooler say "I'm bored" this summer.
This month kicks off a celebration of books featuring or by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders. I am excited to shine a spotlight on the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander portion of that lengthy acronym.
Five women of Asian descent discuss the joy of telling resonant stories, handling vocabulary in unfamiliar languages, and other topics.
As an author, how do I approach the potential for pain in the lines I write? How, as a reader, do we make these mostly well-intended but sometimes trivial-feeling statements actually hold meaning for us?
52 (!!!) new and forthcoming books to build your TBR ever taller!
These kinds of books are a great way to "taste" stories from a bunch of authors and discover new favorites!
I hope my work will encourage others to think about disability in a broader context, whether that’s rethinking how disabled characters are portrayed or creating more opportunities for disabled writers to tell their own stories.
You know what is a terrible term? Sandwich Generation. Because I like sandwiches, but I for sure do NOT like being part of the Sandwich Generation. Yes, this is related to this post. Bear with me. This post has LOTS of post-it reviews because I have spent LOTS of time at my mom’s helping care […]
It’s crucial to empower teens to find their voice and their community while advocating for their rights. It’s just as crucial to highlight queer joy and friendship, especially when readers are coming of age during turbulent times.
So here’s my challenge: I dare you to get outside, in your community. Connect with your neighbors. Make a project out of it — get some extra credit or community service hours in.
In Finally Fitz, I wanted to write a mental health representation that felt true to my experience, one where the symptoms aren’t so obvious in a culture that conflates perfectionism with ambition.
My mission is to create stories that teens can see themselves in and be entertained by so I can help them find a way through life despite what may have happened to them so far.
What a wonderful world we live in to see so much great representation in middle grade.
You know, what we’re really talking about is empowerment—feeling like even the smallest parts of us have power and worth. That could be super important to a middle school kid.
These books all share anxiety as a theme, but in conversation with each other they feel like they are capturing something essential about the power of middle grade books.
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen outlines a poetry themed album release party for Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen outlines a poetry themed album release party for Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department
Librarian Angela Frederick discusses graphic novels perfect for foodies and those who like to cook, or eat, food
Just in time for National Poetry Month, check out these novels in verse!
It's been an embarrassment of podcast riches over on The Yarn recently. Here are five recent episodes for your listening pleasure.
Isabel in Bloom will be my fourth middle grade novel (my first one in verse). When I began writing it, a few intriguing images had come to me: a girl on a plane, a dried-up school garden, and a balikbayan box.
These Take Five lists can help you with collection development, displays, reading lists, and more
It's a quiet story, but one that makes it clear that Cecil is seen, that kids like Cecil are seen. I look forward to more from Jonathan Todd.
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