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
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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Ready, Set, Go! Storytime Can Help Children (and Parents) Become Kindergarten-ready. By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 09/01/2009
On these early autumn days, in communities big and small, kindergarteners are stuffing backpacks with colored markers, glue sticks, tissues, and sometimes a favorite book or stuffed animal. Getting ready to start school requires so much preparation that it often eats up the last few weeks of summer. But as we know, preparing for kindergarten entails a lot more than one month of gathering suppli...
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The Equal Opportunity Disorder: Autism is on the rise, and it can affect any family. Here's what you need to know. By Debra Lau Whelan - 08/01/2009
Marco Robertiello arrived on schedule in October 2000, weighing in at five pounds, seven ounces. Apart from being a little underweight, he had a near-perfect Apgar score, and by the looks of things, the brown-haired, brown-eyed newborn was healthy. In fact, everyone thought Marco was a perfect baby. He was quieter than most and didn’t need much attention.
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Model Behavior: Children (and Adults) Often Learn Best by Seeing and Doing By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 07/01/2009
Watching our Commander-in-Chief read Where the Wild Things Are (HarperCollins, 1964) at the White House Easter Egg Roll gave us chills, even though we had to experience it vicariously on YouTube. We had often heard the new president suggest to parents that they “turn off the TV and read to your child.
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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
Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (unabr.). 9 cassettes or 9 CDs. 11 hrs. Recorded Books (recordedbooks.com). 2009. cassette, ISBN 978-1-4407-3888-3: $67.75; CD, ISBN 978-1-4407-3892-0: $97.75. Gr 7 Up–Seventeen-year-old Jessica Packwood was adopted as an infant and raised in rural Lebanon County, PA, by a socially conscious vegan couple.
Celebrity decorator Evette Rios reads to enthusiastic second graders at the Brooklyn Brownstone School library as part of a First Book donation event. The Eight O' Clock Coffee brand and Candlewick Press are teaming up to contribute 20,000 books to children across the country through their partnership with First Book, an organization that provides new books to children in need.
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Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (unabr.). 9 cassettes or 9 CDs. 11 hrs. Recorded Books (recordedbooks.com). 2009. cassette, ISBN 978-1-4407-3888-3: $67.75; CD, ISBN 978-1-4407-3892-0: $97.75. 
