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Science fiction is fun, curious, and adventurous. It bends the reality of our world and stretches our imaginations to explore all the “what ifs” floating within our universe.
The new Caldecott Medalist on The Yarn podcast!
Author Jenna Voris joins us to talk about her new book, Say a Little Prayer.
Today’s guest post is by an Illinois youth services librarian known online as RAE, sharing her knowledge of queer YA coming out stories. Juliet Takes a Breath Latina Queer Lesbian Experience “Juliet Takes a Breath” is a coming-of-age teen book that digs into the curtails of a Puerto Rican college student from the Bronx, as […]
Today I'm sharing a few titles from the beginning of this year that I hope to read, even though the one that is partially set in 1987, when I was 10, pains me to think of as "historical fiction."
16 quick reviews of new and forthcoming books.
Things are so grim these days. But we still have books. We still have wonderful people writing diverse and inclusive stories and all kinds of people working to connect readers with those books.
This roundup features an assortment of tabletop role-playing games that are easy to learn, easy to play, and have something for everyone.
If someone wants to ask if I planned the significance of these objects, you can tell them yes: with plane flights and research and a lifetime of reading about boats and sand and magical balloons that make large distances small, I planned it all.
Hopefully by drawing attention to these debuts, they will end up on more TBR lists and collection development orders, helping them find readers just looking to discover a new favorite author.
I truly, firmly, believe that anyone can write a book. The thing that stops most people, isn’t talent, it’s time.
In uncertain and scary times, these recent audiobooks for kids, tweens, and teens can inspire much-needed resilience and joy.
Teen librarian Karen Jensen reviews the Morris Award Finalist AISLE NINE by Ian X. Cho
Teen Librarian Jennifer Rummel shares some of her favorite romance books
Today I'm sharing five new middle grade books coming out this month. Check in every Friday for themed Take Five lists of middle grade books!
We create the place we live in, but it also creates us, and it’s impossible to tell where one influence starts and the other begins.
Whether to deliver information in an enjoyable format, provide analysis of historical events, or dispense an innovative look at the future, multimedia continues to grow as a meaningful component of curriculum.
Most people can’t imagine a world without the worst of human nature because that would be the purview of a different species: a post-miserable humankind.
Doing something a little different here this week and instead of sharing 5 books, I'm sharing 5 publishers putting out hi-lo books for young readers.
Get ready to add a bunch of new titles to your TBR. If it's anything like mine, it's probably already bursting with 2025 titles!
Covert agents, penguin besties, undocumented siblings making it on their own, a good badger, and a kitty-girl!
Yesterday was YMAs day — ALA’s Youth Media Awards day, aka the only Monday a year I willingly set my alarm to wake up early (I work afternoon/evening on Mondays). I’m not an awards panelist person but I love a good awards show–and I also love lists like “Oscars Snubs and Surprises”, so I usually […]
I’m convinced that pumping books instead of iron is a better way of dealing with the insecurity and isolation affecting so many kids these days, especially boys.
I can’t believe it either. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is our guest on the latest episode of The Yarn podcast, talking about her new book, True Gretch (Young Adult Edition). Subscribe below to catch every episode of The Yarn: iTunes Spotify Stitcher
This is what I’d like to pass along to young readers: No one is perfect. Every one of us has our flaws, but we can grow and change, make a difference and achieve great things.
I’ve been thinking for a while about the question of how stories relate to truth.
Deeply affecting and beautifully written, this look at the lengths women will go to to protect and aid one another is a necessary and exceptional read.
If there’s one takeaway I’d like all readers to get, it’s that they matter, just as they are, and they deserve to follow their dreams.
Being a late bloomer is not a sign of failure, but a testament to the unique growth that is allowed when we give ourselves the grace to bloom in our own time.
My hope is that my book adds to the canon of mythological stories so that more kids can find themselves reflected in the story, especially kids that might have grown used to feeling “othered.”
Truthfully, although I write about destroying giant, horrible monsters, I’ve never quite been able to vanquish the imposter beast. But I’ve learned how to work around it.
On the last day of 2024, Colby Sharp and I got on a call to look back at the year in children’s literature. This episode of The Yarn podcast is always one of my favorites (and not just because I get a chance to talk about things like The Great British Baking Show). We talk […]
Once upon a time, a reader asked me that age old question: "Where do your ideas come from?" I leaned into the mic and with complete sincerity gave them the best answer I could: "Keanu Reeves."
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen shares 5 of her favorite YA reads for 2024, and 2 Printz Award predictions
A handful of 2024 releases and a bunch of 2025 releases round out this final book mail post of the year.
Sometimes the simple act of adding some books to my own personal endless TBR stack or list is all it takes for me to want to do a Take Five list.
Check out these 25 middle grade titles coming out in 2025!
Kwanzaa is an African American and pan-African holiday that celebrates family, community, and culture. These board books, picture books, and audiobooks will help young children learn more about it and get into the spirit of the holiday.
Being vulnerable on the page hasn’t been easy. Opening myself up to judgement—both good and bad is terrifying.
This Thanksgiving season, I’ve been thinking about all the ways libraries have influenced my life.
It was a huge week in the movie world this Thanksgiving, as Wicked and Gladiator II continued their streaks and Moana 2 premiered to huge numbers. So I thought, while listening once again to the Wicked soundtrack, why not recommend books that I think fit some of the characters from these huge films? After all, […]
Book mail continues to trickle in as we get ready to wrap up 2024!
I am very grateful for the books here that managed to hold my wandering attention and pull me into their fictional worlds.
I am essentially making comfy nests where other tired hearts can rest, books with arguably naive but stubborn resilience against tough odds, and books with kind power in them.
After a busy bookish September and October, we’re combining the posts for November and December! Here’s 10 fabulous titles that release before the end of 2024. The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis Sequel to: The Davenports by Krystal Marquis The Davenports Pitch: The Davenports live in 1910s Chicago, one of the few Black […]
The trick is to not give up while the slow burn runs its course.
Among this year’s outstanding listens—with publication dates from November 2023 to October 2024—are two picture books, two volumes of a graphic trilogy (they count as one entry), a head-smack must-read history, and several laugh-out-loud novels.
As it turns out, becoming a writer for teens—and teen Jan—is about the most thrilling and rewarding answer to the question: who am I?
Writing Lucy was our way of coping with the years Teghan lost: both the years trapped in self-denial about her identity and the years she spent in prison. The book is a badge of honor for those tough years we survived, and it’s a love letter to each other.
I discovered that if told with some heart and soul, history can be as compelling as fine fiction. And before long I found myself on a mission to make history come alive for young people.
Anthologies are the literary equivalent to a buffet dinner. They offer a wide selection of different perspectives (both in story telling and in personal background) and writing styles on the same theme.
You know what rules? Dogs. I sure do like them. Here are a few middle grade books featuring dogs, all approved by my rescue chiweenies, Charlie and Spot.
Shakespeare’s greatness can live on, but we can also give space to new voices - and both can happen at the exact same time with the power of a retelling.
The Donut Prince of New York isn't just about donuts or theater or football. It's about the revolutionary act of accepting yourself in a world that often suggests you shouldn't.
Author Gayle Forman is over on The Yarn podcast, taking us behind the scenes of her new middle grade novel NOT NOTHING
Middle grade may not have been in my initial career plans as an author, but now I can’t imagine writing without it.
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.
35 new and upcoming titles to check out.
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!
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.
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.
Powerful, affecting, and ultimately hopeful. Just beautiful.
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?
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.”
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.
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.
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.
What I really loved about this book is that it shows a really good, healthy, positive relationship steeped in friendship, respect, and support.
Ah, October. Hoodie weather. Pretty leaves. Apple and pumpkin everything. Impending long, cold, dark winter. Needing to get out my Happy Light. Okay... maybe I should stop listing things fall brings. But it does bring a nice batch of new books!
Charlotte was my student in a university fiction course during the pandemic. A couple years later, I was delighted to find out that my publisher had chosen Charlotte to illustrate my cover!
Ruth Chan talks about her graphic novel memoir, UPROOTED
With a mother who grew up in Istanbul and a father who grew up in Montana, I spent much of my childhood traveling between those settings, figuring out how to exist in both, and grappling with questions of identity and belonging.
Spooky month is here, and not only am I thrilled for the fall breezes and pumpkin decor, but I’m also excited for so many incredible YA releases that arrive this month. And there are so many. I cut this list down at least four times, and we’re still at 16 books! So here’s the 16books […]
A rundown of 17 new and forthcoming books. Plus wild chiweenies excited for book mail!
Can you imagine a better way to find inspiration, insight, or the compassion necessary to write stories for this age than having been in the classroom?
15 quick reviews of new and forthcoming books!
Keep chipping away at your current TBR, but be sure to add these titles to your lineup for next year!
When I think of a writer’s toolbox, I get a picture of Batman’s utility belt. No matter what situation Batman is facing at the time he has exactly what he needs in his utility belt.
I want to tell you about one of Hungry Bones' ancestors. A spirit that haunts her pages.
These books here today show the secrets libraries can hold, the worlds of adventure they can provide, and the controversy that can sometimes happen in and around libraries.
The wilderness, more than anything in my life, has taught me that my body, my fat body is miraculous. And your body, it is miraculous too.
Katie Cook shares her three favorite comics AND drew an original comic for us!
This video game roundup features an assortment of sequels and remakes, perfect for catching gamers up on beloved, long-running series they may have missed or revisiting revamped favorites.
Check out these seven forthcoming books!
These Take Five lists can help you with collection development, displays, reading lists, and more.
As we prepare for the launch of our new series, Westfallen, we get asked one question more than any other: “What was it like writing a novel with your sister/brother?”
The Unfinished is all about finding the bravery to face uncertainty in many ways – in one’s relationships, identity and creepy monsters that haunt the forest.
What does it mean when a book like THEY THOUGHT THEY BURIED US is praised for “strong queer Puerto Rican/Latine representation”?
Library Girl took me back to the forgotten memories of my childhood and the Kalamazoo Public Library. It took me back to that time in childhood when you are let loose from your parents’ leash and begin to explore the world on your own.
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