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A love triangle, a foster kid, a GATSBY reimagining, book banning, a hurricane, and more.
Want the 411 on the new ALA YMA winners (Newbery, Caldecott, etc.)? Well, I've been interviewing a lot of their creators for a while. Here's a collection of behind-the-scenes info on these books!
In this illustrated work of fiction, Baptiste connects with her roots in Trinidad and Tobago to write about the experiences of Fia Hosein whose family just moved to Peppermint Falls.
The 2026 Newbery Medal winner is ALL THE BLUES IN THE SKY by Renee Watson. Share your reactions to this news and to the other award winners that were announced.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Unfairies from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers.
I like bold statements, so here's one: The Moon Without Stars is one of the best books I will read this year.
A classic Boynton gets our official podcast treatment. How has it aged? I'll let you guess our answer to that one.
Nearly 100 people cast ballot on our Heavy Medal Reader's Poll, and the winner is: THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES by Kate Messner.
By Don Everts, author of Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs Hey, Dad! Can you help me find a book to read? I’ll never forget the day that text came in from my youngest son. I was surprised because Victor, a young teenager, had never caught the bug for reading (except for Harry […]
Thanks to all who participated and attended our annual webinar. It was surprising to see the HMAC and viewers poll Mock Newbery winners.
A teenage matchmaker is reborn as a gun-toting cupid in this fun manga.
A ghost story, a teen investigative podcaster, a Great Gatsby reimagining, a Sundown Town thriller, and a reimagining of The Winter's Tale.
To wrap up our Pooh coverage, we end today with two Winnie-related releases and what they have to say about the silly old bear in the 21st century.
ALA's Youth Media Awards will be announced on Monday, including the Newbery, Caldecott, and many more. We have no idea what will win, but it's fun to guess, so....Predictions!
Meet Lottie: My nemesis. For several years I was at war with this sweet little pearl-wearing otter. Sit back, kids. because I've a tale to tell.
We've waited long enough. Bring on the Caldecott. Bring on the Newbery.
Here's a look at the graphic novels that publishers have been acquiring, and when we can expect to see them.
I wrote this relationship because I believe that love is limitless and that traditional expectations can be severely limiting. This theme can be applied to so much more than someone’s sexuality. What better takeaway can a teen have than the notion that their future is full of infinite possibilities?
Today I pull two entirely different Pooh-related posts from my archives. One the one hand, a statue you can visit. On the other, a book you may have forgotten.
All Heavy Medal readers are welcome to vote in our 2026 Mock Newbery Reader's Poll. It is open until Friday afternoon JANUARY 23rd.
In the middle of all the chaos, 2016 is calling. Despite it all, this can be a nice way to have some fun.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Fact-Finders Rainforest from DK Children and Cats with Jobs Volume 2 from Seven Seas Entertainment.
Books about Crohn's disease, jinns, a Nigerian village, puberty, and more!
After reading today's book I realized that it's showing kids that just because someone's name is on a book, they're just one of a large group of people, all working in tandem to make it the best possible literary experience. Naturally, questions abound.
After reading today's book I realized that it's showing kids that just because someone's name is on a book, they're just one of a large group of people, all working in tandem to make it the best possible literary experience. Naturally, questions abound.
Digging into the data . . .
It's our annual consideration of three potential Caldecott winners. I guarantee you'll be shocked by some of these reactions.
COLBY: When I heard that Kelly Yang and Kate DiCamillo were coming out with a new podcast, I got very excited. Then I reached out to Kelly to learn more about the new show. She agreed to hop on a call to chat about her new adventure with Kate. I hope you enjoy our conversation. […]
Announcing the Final 5: the titles that will be discussed and voted on during our Live Webcast on SLJ this Friday!
In celebration of Winnie-the-Pooh's 100 anniversary, we're taking the week to consider his legacy. Today's tales concern the complicated feelings Pooh's creators felt towards him when his success became extraordinary, as well as the later fights over where he'd make his permanent home.
The arguments for removing books from libraries and curricula haven’t changed all that much but the context has. There’s much more emphasis on dismantling the institution because they contain materials that people find upsetting.
I’ve built a King Day reading list to recommend books that are accessible to young readers that were written by Dr. King, and by those who worked alongside him.
The powerful protectors of the multiverse are hot on the heels of the last Sidney Poblocki in existence, and only a mischievous inter-dimensional girl gang can save him in this wild adventure.
Today we discuss our final title on the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery list- ALL THE BLUES IN THE SKY by Renee Watson.
Nothing to See Here is about four very different eighth graders who team up to take action after cruel online gossip forces another student to leave school.
Misfits #3, a whodunnit, a magical beasts meets body-swap story, new Chanel Miller, and a story set during the 1885 expulsion of Chinese Americans from California.
Can you guess the children’s book by its scathing one-star review on Goodreads?
What are young readers living through right now, and which books are brave enough to meet them there?
Teenagers Rosie and Mira babysit their little sister, Peanut, who starts shapeshifting uncontrollably.
Our Mock Newbery discussion continues with Lauren Wolk's CANDLE ISLAND.
"I wanted my readers to accept themselves, and speak their truths. And so I had to speak mine first." Shifa Safadi joins us today to talk about what it truly takes to write an honest book for kids and also to reveal the cover of this new middle grade work!
Civil Rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, who died yesterday at the age of 86, was inspired by the actions of anti-slavery crusaders. Two graphic novels tell the story of her bold refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman, and why she was passed over in favor of Rosa Parks for a historic test case.
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen reviews the audiobook of the recently released BETH IS DEAD by Katie Bernet, a contemporary retelling of Little Women
Today's Heavy Medal Mock Newbery finalist is HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN CUBAN by Daniel Miyares, a graphic novel.
"They aren’t the cookie-cutter tweens and tweens, or cookie-cutter Black characters, or cookie-cutter parts of cookie-cutter families. They are complicated and outsiders and more admirable and loveable for it."
"CELEBRATE PERSON!" That's what I've always felt that this Doreen Cronin series (and their Big Face Book Jackets) says. But this book is, to my mind, the Martin Luther King book to beat all other Martin Luther King books. Agree?
This is an important collection to have in school and public libraries to examine craft, the realities of our climate and what might be next for all of us.
The spirit of a teen girl is always formidable. There’s so much to explore. It’s a gift to spend time inside the mind of one who has a lot to say, who wants many things, who gets plenty wrong—and who does not have to shrink to be loved.
Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Quade Kelley Derrick Barnes’s THE INCREDIBLY HUMAN HENSON BLAYZE is a middle-gradecoming-of-age novel that combines sports, tall-tale folklore, and allegorical history into acompelling narrative about identity choices and their influence on community. 13-year-old Henson is a football prodigy in the small, mostly white town of Great Mountain,Mississippi. When his […]
Breaking down the Caldecott data . . .
Am I right? Does it matter? Let's have some fun blindly throwing darts at a wall.
This month's PENGUIN TBR reviews include a look at THE MOON WITHOUT STARS by Chanel Miller, SIBYLLINE by Melissa de la Cruz and POSTSCRIPT by Cory McCarthy
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels featuring Extraordinary Voyages Volume 1 from Papercutz and Wallflower from Viking Books for Young Readers.
Today's featured title in our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery: THE NINE MOONS OF HAN YU AND LULI by Karina Yan Glaser
As moving as it is educational, this breathtaking story is one that will stay with readers.
What if you could assign any illustrator to any out-of-print children's book?
The announcement of the Newbery Medal is just a couple weeks away. Find out what's coming up on Heavy Medal before then, including book discussions, a webcast, and three Mock Newbery votes.
A rare sequel made the Heavy Medal Book List this year with MAX IN THE LAND OF LIES by Adam Gidwitz.
Today we've got a baby announcement—Baby Garfield, that is! He'll be starring in a new miniseries from BOOM! Studios launching in March.
Today's Heavy Medal Mock Newbery discussion book is POCKET BEAR by Katherine Applegate, the 2013 Newbery Medalist
New Dan Santat, a girl gang, a friendship break-up, a story inspired by Armenian and Persian mythology, and a memoir.
This book works its way into the fissures and cracks of children's gray matter, affecting their reading preferences for, potentially, their entire life. For that to happen, you need something a little weird, and special. You need a book like this.
May we have empathy and respect for Latinx families living through political turmoil and exile, no matter which side of the political spectrum they reside without dehumanizing those we see as opposing our ideologies- understanding that the Latinx story is not a monolith.
Periwinkle, a “space cat,” explores the world with a creative, curious spirit.
RETURN TO SENDER by Vera Brosgol is now up for discussion in our 2026 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery.
Imagine taking something as devastating as bullying and turning it into joy and hope. That is my goal with The Right Back at You Project. I want to bring the conversation about bullying out of the shadows and into the open in as many classrooms as possible.
"How do I acknowledge the harm without letting it dominate the story or overshadow the light? How can I stay truthful about the past while keeping the focus on queer joy?" Learn the answers to these questions in this glorious cover reveal and Q&A.
I give young characters in my novels the power of choice, the ability to fall and rise again to conquer a situation, their fears or something that may have a strangle hold on them for the moment.
Next up in our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery discussions is the book that already won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature: THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND by Daniel Nayeri
Roshani Chokshi joins us to talk about her new book, THE SWAN'S DAUGHTER.
Today we turn again to the small publishers, seeing what they have coming out. Get ready for books from Beaming Books, Eternal Tree Books, NSTA Kids, and Shout Mouse Press
Today we turn again to the small publishers, seeing what they have coming out. Get ready for books from Beaming Books, Eternal Tree Books, NSTA Kids, and Shout Mouse Press
THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES has received positive buzz and led the Heavy Medal suggestion list all year. Does the buzz hold up? Is it truly worthy of the 2026 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery?
Author V.T. Bidania joins us to talk about her new book, A YEAR WITHOUT HOME.
Every year, Colby Sharp and I like to record an episode of The Yarn podcast looking ahead to the upcoming year in children’s books. In our 2026 preview, we talk about books we’re excited to read, books we’ve already read and loved, and make some predictions for the year. You can listen here: Subscribe below […]
With absolutely ZERO experience ever deciding a Sibert Medal or honorees, but with a full-blooded appreciation for informational books for kids in all their glory, here's what I'm loving right now and what I think has a fightin' chance.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas The Shiver of Christmas Town #1 from Dynamite Entertainment and Luna Sisters Battle for the Moon Blossom from Holiday House.
Now up for discussion in our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery: THE UNDEAD FOX OF DEADWOOD FOREST by Aubrey Hartman.
Now up for discussion in our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery: THE UNDEAD FOX OF DEADWOOD FOREST by Aubrey Hartman.
I’ll always be a Jo, but I’m trying to be a little more like Beth March.
Since the Vietnamese new year of Tet occurs in January/February, I took that as permission to finally tackle this fascinating 2003 publication. We go over our past predictions and resolutions, Tet, bananas, embroidery, and what a "leather mouse" might be.
Travis: In the latest episode of The Yarn, Colby and I look ahead to 2026. We talk about upcoming books, make some predictions, and realize that fanclubs don’t exist anymore. We hope you enjoy this episode. Subscribe below to catch every episode of The Yarn: iTunes Spotify Stitcher
A war orphan must save a kingdom and avenge his best friend in this war epic.
Today's Mock Newbery Finalist is WILL'S RACE FOR HOME by Jewell Parker Rhodes, a historical fiction novel set during the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush.
Usually on Fridays I do Take Five lists, recommending five books to read. But this first Friday of the new year is a Take 268 list. That’s right, this past year I read 268 books.
Some lived here in the States and some abroad, but we do our best to remember the creators of books that have made changes to the minds, hearts, and general beings of children worldwide.
But as books continue to be challenged, we have to continue to find ways teach all the literacies that are necessary simply to survive because these literacies will provide ways to challenge narrow mindedness and this is critical when stories are no longer as representational as they should be.
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