News & Features

Learning history is learning about the rise and fall of empires. And what type of stories are our students pursuing in their leisure reading? Could it be the rise and fall of empires? This author has some theories.

The Port Washington (NY) Public Library will host an exhibition of kid lit illustrators. Arizona State University wins REFORMA’s 2013 Mora Award. YALSA’s 2013 Teens’ Top Ten list is announced. The Gale Virtual Reference Library adds nearly 200 children’s Encyclopedia Britannica titles. Apply for a ALSC/Candlewick Press Grant. A research fellowship is available at the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

A new survey by the YMCA of its Early Learning Readiness Program reveals “impressive” school readiness results for participating preschoolers, the organization announced on Tuesday. The Y’s program, which launched two years ago and recently expanded to now more than 40 locations, serves children up to 5 years old, particularly from low-income communities.

The Tucson, Arizona, school board on Tuesday voted 3-2 to reintroduce seven books by Latino and Native American writers to the curriculum as supplementary classroom materials, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) announced today. The books had been removed from the curriculum two years ago when the district dissolved its acclaimed Mexican American Studies program.

More than 100 children’s book authors and illustrators have asked President Obama to ease the country’s mandates for “excessive" standardized testing in our nation’s schools. Such an emphasis has a negative impact on kids’ love of reading and literature, they say.

Baker & Taylor's Axis 360 platform has been selected to partner with the Illinois State Library and its Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) program to provide ebook circulation services for the new eRead Illinois project. The project gives Illinois library users, including K–12 libraries, access to an immense collection of titles.

The Young Adult Library Services Association has announced its official 2013 Teens’ Top Ten list, a “teen choice” selection of favorite books—published the previous year—chosen by teens for teens.

Rosoff captures this mature adolescent’s view of adults without condescension or judgment.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers always offers interesting programs at its book previews in New York City, courtesy of Victoria Stapleton, director of school and library marketing, who builds the excitement at each event with the tease of a special guest appearance. Who was it this time?