San Antonio Kicks Off Early Literacy Bilingual Program by Rocco Staino - 02/09/2009
In an effort to combat the 25 percent illiteracy rate in San Antonio, TX, and to get families involved in early literacy, the San Antonio Public Library has begun a multifaceted bilingual initiative called Leer da Poder (Reading Empowers). More
Digital Resources: Early Learning Made Easy By Shonda Brisco - 01/01/2010
Finding new tools to meet the educational needs of early childhood educators and their students can be a difficult task. With hundreds of toys, games, and software programs available for instruction, it becomes a major research project to identify the best resource for an individual child, along with a measurable outcome.
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Humor Us: Fun and laughter are essential to children's lives By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 01/01/2010
The desire to be with people who laugh or make us laugh must be universal. In our office, we’re fortunate to have our own resident giggle bug. At 16 months old, our colleague Martha’s little guy laughs at the drop of a hat. It’s such fun to hear Kieran laugh that when he comes into the office, we all compete to see who can make him laugh first.
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Miami-Dade Public Library Helps Kids With Reading Readiness By Lauren Barack - 11/23/2009
The Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) has a kicked off a new program that equips each of its 49 branches with brochures, bookmarks, and even laminated placemats covered in nursery rhymes that allow librarians to wrap the wonder of reading and early childhood literacy skills into freebies that bring those lessons home.
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Do You Believe in Magic? There's a good reason why so many families love storytimes By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 11/01/2009
A colleague put a lovely image into our heads at a recent discussion of best practices for family storytimes. Librarian Maria Lowe offers family storytimes in the evenings, and she always includes a time for “family boats.” A mom and dad sit on the floor, join hands and encircle their children, or a single adult clasps his child in his arms, and they all begin to rock as Maria leads...
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Librarians: Forget Baby Einstein; Try Reading By Lauren Barack - 10/29/2009
Librarians and media specialists are secretly saying "I told you so" about the Walt Disney Company’s decision to issue a full refund on the Baby Einstein videos that parents have bought by the millions over the last five years.
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Indianapolis Library Lands $1 Million for Early Literacy By SLJ Staff - 09/18/2009
Nearly 2,600 preschoolers in Indianapolis will get a head start in reading each year, thanks to a $1 million gift to the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library to expand its “Ready to Read” early childhood literacy initiative.
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The Odd Couple: An Interview with Author-Illustrator Jerry Pinkney By Rick Margolis - 09/01/2009
You’ve won five Caldecott Honors and five Coretta Scott King Awards. But a lot of folks are saying this is your best book yet. You often hear authors and artists say, “I respond to and I’m inspired by the child within me.” And a lot of my career was about that. I was reaching down to find that part of me that spoke not only about my childhood but what I thought about chi...
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2009 National Book Awards On the red carpet with nominees in the Young People's Literature category.
Photos by Rocco Staino.
SLJ Covers 2009 A bigger and better view of SLJ's covers from 2009
BookExpo America 2009: SLJ's Day of Dialog School Library Journal held a Day of Dialog in conjunction with the annual BookExpo America on May 28, 2009 at the Brooklyn Public Library. Full story: bit.ly/1a0G7o
Rockin’, Rollin’ and Ridin’ with Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck. CD. 23 min. Prod. by Big Truck Music. Dist. by CDBaby.com. 2009. $8.99.
Gr 1-5–A veteran of Noggin Channel and PBS Kids, Frezza created these eight exceptional rock ‘n roll songs for elementary grade children who are too old for Raffi, but not old enough for adult pop music.
Friends and colleagues of the late Effie Lee Morris may enjoy this photo of the children's librarian, which Nicholas Glass, founder and executive director of Teachingbooks.net, recently found on his computer. It was taken at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, and features (from left) Ashley Bryan, Christopher Myers, and Morris, also an advocate for children's literature and library service to youngsters with impaired vision, who died of cancer on November 10, 2009.
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Rockin’, Rollin’ and Ridin’ with Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck. CD. 23 min. Prod. by Big Truck Music. Dist. by CDBaby.com. 2009. $8.99. 
