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Here is a small selection of twenty books which score 8/10 or higher on my personal "Fear Factor" grading used in The YA Horror 400.
Let's see which books are on the NYT Bestseller lists
John Hendrix uses an unusual hybrid format to tell the complex tale of the interior lives of two friends who would become the most famed fantasists of the 20th century: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
35 new and upcoming titles to check out.
The age range for Newbery eligibility goes as high as 14-year-olds. Yet most books chosen are aimed at younger readers. Are there any Medal contenders this year that might push the upper limits in terms of reader age and maturity level?
A new kind of Kamala Harris picture book is on the horizon, slated for 2025, and today we're talking with the creators all about it.
To write this story I interviewed social workers and read work by social scientists and scholars of American child welfare. I learned three lessons that I believe are critical for writers, librarians, and other members of the book community.
Jess Hannigan visits The Yarn podcast!
By now a lot of us have seen some of the excellent contenders for the Newbery/Caldecott. Here's the fall prediction list in all its prediction-y glory.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Amelia Aierwood: Basic Witch from Z2 Comics and The Firelight Apprentice from Quill Tree Books.
As we near the end of the year, yes there’s new books still getting published- but with titles being nominated it’s time to begin the rereading process. This is when we look at titles again and with a more critical “Newbery-criteria” lens. I’ll be the first to say that sometimes I get suggestion happy and […]
"The Latinx Kidlit Book Festival, aims to provide a platform and space to support Latinx youth literature creators and connect them with their readers and other creators and educators."
In which the people who call themselves Teen Librarian Toolbox introduce The 2025 Project!
In my latest book, We Are Not Alone, I wanted to challenge that notion of humor being “inappropriate” in a book about grief and illness head on.
Talking with KAMALA RAISED HER HAND illustrator Supriya Kelkar.
"A ludicrous concept that is funny because it is ludicrous." We talk about a bony boy with a penchant for hiccup cures.
Gayle Forman takes us behind the scenes of how her middle grade novel NOT NOTHING was made.
“Museums hold all the things that people feel are valuable or important.” In the last few years, as I’ve thought more deeply about informal learning spaces, I’ve also challenged the assumption (and the marketing) that all spaces are meant for all people. How can they be, when so much has been built on stolen land, […]
In this month's "Author Spotlight," we look at Newbery "Powerhouses": Those amazing authors who have been awarded Newbery Medal and/or Honors for more than one book. What makes them special...and who might join their ranks someday?
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen shares a RA Tool of the Week she created based on an amazing idea shared by Librarian Kristina Uihlein Holzweiss
It's 1975 and 10-year-old Paul Gilligan has just seen the movie Jaws, giving him an acute case of sharkophobia...and emphasizing how far apart he and his braver, more grown-up best friend are becoming.
Readers can let their imaginations run wild thinking about how different their days would be if they attended a school focused on honing magical skills.
Can you guess the children’s book by its scathing one-star review on Goodreads?
We adults can offer prompts, reading suggestions, and support, but that what’s most important is that young writers own their work, discover their own processes, experience encouragement but not too much intrusion from adults.
Top 2025 Printz Award contenders include poetry, stories featuring characters at both the younger and older ends of the age spectrum, graphic works, and an author who could get her fourth Printz recognition.
When you work to preserve the work of great children's books of the past, so much goes into those efforts. A look at the work of the Kerlan Collection and their many exhibits.
Doc Ock's plans to escape death by transferring his consciousness go awry when he ends up sharing a body with a Japanese schoolgirl in this new manga from the creators of My Hero Academica: Vigilantes.
Powerful, affecting, and ultimately hopeful. Just beautiful.
Annually on heavy Medal, we form a mock award committee, make a final booklist and select a Mock Newbery winner. Here's a look ahead at when and how everything unfolds.
Do we talk about these enough? I don’t know. I feel like I don’t hear about them a lot, but maybe that’s because they’re so miserable. But any time I bring up friendship breakups, people always have a story to tell.
Revealing the cover for Drawing Is . . . by Elizabeth Haidle!
Today, take a trip back in time with me to 2016 when I first reviewed The Wild Robot. A glimpse into an assessment of a modern classic.
The world can be a hard and terrible place, and the world can be a fantastically whole and enlivening place. It’s both, and it’s where we live. We can survive the first, and even grow. We can rejoice in the second, and practice empathy.
Are nerds having a moment? You might say that.
Before all the leaves fall off the trees here in Michigan, I want to share ten books publishing in September, October, and November that I’m looking out for. Picture Books Pig Town Party by Lian Cho HarperCollins | October 29 | Grades K-2 A girl receives an invitation to a mysterious party. Great way to […]
It took all year but Evanston Public Library has released their 101 Great Books for Kids list for 2024. Are your favorites present? Come see!
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels featuring Swing from Feiwel and Friends and Science Comics Human Spaceflight Rockets and Rivalry from First Second Books.
Many 2024 titles feature ghosts as primary or secondary characters. Let's take a look at these titles and see if we'll have a spooky Newbery winner for 2025.
A powerful story about loss, justice, hope, and persistence. An important addition to library collections.
It’s important to address topics of death and loss in middle grade because children do go through those experiences.
While doing another Chris Van Allburg picture book may seem like a relative no-brainer around the Halloween season, maybe there's a reason we hadn't done this particular title before.
I’ve been reading and listening to quite a few books lately, but not taking the time to review them. I'm taking the time today!
COLBY: ‘Spider in the Well’ is one of my favorite 2024 pictures books. It is just so much fun to read aloud. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Spider in the Well debut author Jess Hannigan. Subscribe below to catch every episode of The Yarn: iTunes Spotify Stitcher
Author Jessica Vitalis discusses poetry and writing novels in verse
Given that October means endless talk about spooky stuff, Halloween ideas, and all things ghostly, I figured why not round up a few booooks featuring ghosts?
Sometimes the best way to evaluate a children's book in Newbery terms is to stick to the words on the page. Here are some examples of how looking at selected passages from a book can illuminate its qualities of excellence and maybe even help us decide if it might be true contender for the Newbery Medal.
I think the best stories are a reflection of life, with all of its messiness, pain, and beauty.
People sometimes ask me how much interaction the author and illustrator have while making a picture book. In my experience, it’s been pretty limited. I focus on the words and I completely trust the illustrator to bring their own vision to the story. That was the case with The Ship in the Window. And that’s […]
Middle-schooler Pablo Ortiz is no hero. But when a vengeful Aztec goddess and her army of monster pours through the magic portal in his locker, he may have no choice but to become one.
Fostering a love of reading in students is one of the most rewarding roles for me as a school librarian. However, in today’s fast-paced, tech-savvy world, it can be challenging to keep young readers engaged. In this post, I will explore a variety of strategies school librarians can use to captivate students’ interest in reading. […]
Kids don’t grow up in a vacuum; they are terrified and confused and experience great loss, too. If we want our children to feel safe and to grow into emotionally intelligent adults, they need to know that death is a part of living.
A look at the trailer for the film adaptation of OUT OF MY MIND.
Why is so little short fiction for older readers published in America today? We talk with two middle grade expert authors on the topic and get some insights into why that might be.
A student with a low power level must find a way to survive his new environment in this action-packed manga.
It's been nine years since a picture book won the Newbery Medal: that was LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET by Matt de la Peña. This year's notable picture books include palindromes, the Korean War, and a kitchen table. Which 2024 picture books are the strongest candidates for the Newbery Medal?
They say to “write what scares you,” and I often use my own fears and anxieties as a guide of urgency for determining what topics people need help starting conversations about.
The Undies and Endies are back for 2024!
Hope is hard to write in a book. Hope is particularly hard to write in a picture book. Still, when someone gets it right, there’s nothing else like it. Maybe it’s true. Hope? It really is a thing with feathers.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under featuring Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat from Andrews McMeel and Sidekicks from Graphix.
The truth is we need books that tackle tough topics because kids are already tackling them—whether they’re going through the issue themselves, supporting a friend, or just trying to understand how the world works.
The books I think will end up on the 2024 NYT Best Illustrated Books list.
The Tri-Interview Spectacular! Winkler! Oliver! Santat! It’s a Detective Duck Interview Extravaganza
Interviewing three people at once? It's a challenge but, by gum, not an impossibility! Watch! Amaze! Admire! As I talk with the creators of the Detective Duck series at once!
One of this year's recurring themes is moms that are dealing with a lot of personal issues.
The library didn’t give my mother, my sister, and me our strength. But the library was a place where we could learn to unlock our power ourselves.
One afternoon when my fifth-grade class was at the library for our weekly visit, my friend Jessica handed me a purple paperback book. “I just finished this,” she said. “It’s SO good. You have to read it.”
Tale of the Flying Forest is Narnia, if Narnia was grounded in Judaism rather than Christianity.
Sometimes adults shy away from discussing tough topics with children, but those conversations are necessary.
I recommended some voting/election books for the New York Times.
"He's a chonky baby and he has a good heart." We talk orange cats (NOT Garfield) and a legitimately spooky book from Brinton Turkle "purveyor of terror" (or so I called him on this blog back in 2011).
The future of school librarianship requires strategic legislative action to safeguard these vital roles. This article outlines seven key legislative and policy proposals designed to protect and strengthen school libraries, ensuring equitable access to resources and intellectual freedom for all students.
The future of school librarianship requires strategic legislative action to safeguard these vital roles. This article outlines seven key legislative and policy proposals designed to protect and strengthen school libraries, ensuring equitable access to resources and intellectual freedom for all students.
DC has announced six graphic novels and a box set for publication in Fall 2025.
While we've been building our list of possible Newbery Medal contenders on Heavy Medal, other Mock Newbery groups have been doing the same. Looking at other mock lists might help us identify outstanding books that need a closer look.
Undeniably one of the weirdest and best books I've read in my lifetime of reading.
If I had a dollar for every time I said something to the effect of "graphic novels are real books" or "reading graphic novels is reading" to someone disparaging them... well, I couldn't quit my job, but I would have a LOT of dollars.
You’re never too old to read a picture book!
Taking those books home allowed me to escape the entrapment of those silent days when I could not communicate in English. I will never forget the feeling of joy upon receiving that first library card!
One of Heartstopper’s central themes is that it’s rude, even dangerous, to speculate on someone’s else’s sexuality. But some fans aren’t getting the message.
This version of pillow fighting is a semi-professional fight club where anything goes as long as the pillow is the first point of contact. It’s more roller derby or WWE-style wrestling than a pillow fight in pajamas at a girls’ night sleepover.
The power of books, reading, and a good library help create brave spaces.
Checking in on potential Newbery/Caldecott contenders on Goodreads.
Caldecott Honor artist Cindy Derby joins us today to discuss her latest title, her process, the empowerment of creativity, and small bugs in blue berets.
Author Tina Athaide asks middle grade readers why middle grade books matter
In today's Wednesday round-up, we look at a genre that seldom receives Newbery glory, easy reader and early chapter books.
In the most recent Escape Room by Teen Librarian Cindy Shutts: Cryptids
I’m never going to be a marine biologist at this point in my life. But writing about sharks. . . educating kids about them, about why we need them, why we need to care about their declining populations . . . that I can do.
On the six-year anniversary of THE VERY LAST CASTLE, I'm giving away some copies.
Are you ready to repair the world or maybe just improve it and make it right? Ruth Spiro drops by to talk about her latest, as well as the concept of tikkun olam in today's society.
A conversation with Hanna Harms about researching her graphic novel Milk Without Honey, a meditation on bees and their importance to our world.
Librarian Jackie Eagleson shares middle grade books that talk about cryptids
When we write, research, and even read about things that truly excite us, the job is suddenly fun. In fact, it’s no longer a job. It is a joy.
Here’s to children’s books that expand our assumptions of what a children’s book can be.
Beatrix Potter meets Brian Floca in this latest title from the extraordinary Torben Kuhlman. I premiere his latest book cover in this one-of-a-kind reveal.
Beatrix Potter meets Brian Floca in this latest title from the extraordinary Torben Kuhlman. I premiere his latest book cover in this one-of-a-kind reveal.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring The Night Mother Volume 1 from Oni Press and Monster Locker from First Second Books.
32 unique titles were chosen in the first round of Heavy Medal nominations.
These authors show readers that grief is not something to “get over,” but something to adapt to, to work through. It’s OK to not know how to feel, what to do, or what to say.
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