Searching for the best YA books just got much easier, plus there are more awards to note, a new children's imprint, and a heroic campaign to get kids reading more at your library.

YALSA Launches New Teen Book Finder App and Database

YALSA has launched its new Teen Book Finder, a free database and app that can access nearly 4,000  titles. Users can search this free resource by award, list name, year, author, genre and more, as well as print customizable lists. This new resource will replace the individual award and list web pages currently on YALSA’s site that are not searchable and that are organized only by year. The app is Android and iOS compatible and features:

   a homepage featuring three titles from the database, refreshed each day

•    the ability to search for books by author, title, award/list year, genre, by award, and by book list
•    a Find It! button, powered by the OCLC WorldCat Search API , that will show users where to find the book in a nearby library
• a Favorites button, to create an individualized booklist
• the ability to share books from the Teen Book Finder on Twitter and Facebook

Amazon Publishing will launch Amazon Crossing Kids, a new imprint for children’s picture books in translation, “to increase the diversity of children’s picture books in translation and encourage young reading from a range of cultural perspectives.”

The first titles will be:

• Spiky, written and illustrated by Ilaria Guarducci and translated by Laura Watkinson (7/1/2019): First published in Italy in 2016 and is the story of a forest creature bully who must learn to change his ways.
• A Tiger Like Me by Michael Engler, illustrated by Joëlle Tourlonias and translated by Laura Watkinson (9/1/2019): First published in Germany in 2016, this is story of a boy who imagines he is a tiger.
• Along the Tapajós , written and illustrated by Fernando Vilela and translated by Daniel Hahn (10/1/19): First published in Brazil in 2015, this is the story of two children whose family must relocate each rainy season. When they realize they left their pet turtle Titi behind, the journey begins to go back and rescue him.

Three honor books were also selected: La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel; Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais, translated from the French by the author; Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lövestam, translated from the Swedish by Laura A. Wideburg.

DC Offers Resources, Activities with "Be a Hero, Read a Book" Campaign

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DC’s new campaign, “Be a Hero, Read a Book,” will promote graphic novels at libraries and schools across the country by providing librarians with DC Super Hero-themed materials, resources and activities.

As part of the program, DC will debut new, custom artwork each month on posters, bookmarks, stickers, and more. Each piece of artwork will depict an iconic DC character reading a DC Zoom (middle grade) or DC Ink (YA) graphic novel. In addition to promotional items, “Be a Hero, Read a Book” will also offer librarians excerpts from upcoming DC Zoom and DC Ink graphic novels. For more information about “Be a Hero, Read a Book” and to request a DC event kit for July’s “Graphic Novels in Libraries Month,” go to DC Resources for Educators and Librarians page .

Nine Broward County Library locations will offer the MERGE AR/VR headsets as part of a pilot program designed to bring new learning technology to the community.

Library card holders at participating branches can check out the headsets to access thousands of mixed reality experiences available online. Additionally, the MERGE Miniverse content portal offers more than 300 kid-safe VR and 360 video experiences from NASA, National Geographic, Disney, Google, and more. The pilot program builds on an earlier one launched in 2018 that allowed cardholders to check out iPads and the MERGE Cube.

Capstone and Amazon Alexa is launching a library of 50 "You Choose" titles for ages 8 to 12. Grouped in 12 story bundles by category—from Global Discovery and Space Exploration, to Extreme Sports and Epic History—kids can enjoy stories such as The Oregon Trail or The Race to the Moon. In keeping with the spirit of the reader-driven "You Choose" format, which features multiple story paths, Alexa users will decide outcomes from among several different path choices inside each story.