YES NO MAYBE SO by Becky Albertalli & Aisha SaeedAvailable 2.4.20 Dear Reader, In November of 2016, we watched in horror and panic as Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Like many people, we were anxious about...
ONE HUG by Katrina Moore; illustrated by Julia WoolfAvailable 12.10.19! A TEACHER’S JOURNEY TO WRITING PICTURE BOOKS Dear Teacher, I’ve been teaching elementary education for ten years—grades one through five, and over 250 students to date. It’s been the best,...
I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day - On Shelves Now! Dear Reader, Before we begin Edie’s story, I’d like to tell you about the day I realized who she was. And where she was from. And why I...
BUTTERFLY YELLOW by Thanhhà Lại - On Shelves Now! Dear Reader, At a Buddhist temple in San Diego, there is a memorial room filled with tiny photographs of those who have passed. Mostly, the portraits show people with gray hair...
How to Read a Bookby Kwame Alexanderart by Melissa SweetOn Shelves Now! A note from author Kwame Alexander: I wrote this poem for World Read Aloud Day in 2010. My friend Pam Allyn, founder of the global literacy organization LitWorld,...
The Sinister Motives of a Middle School Librarian by Z Brewer When I was twelve years old, my librarian taught me to steal. I know, I know. Not the greatest influence, right? She was also my dealer all through middle...
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga on shelves now! Dear Reader, Imagine that you are an Arab American girl who was born in the United States, and this happens: The boy sitting across from you in science class casually...
The Best At Itby Maulik PancholyOn shelves 10.9.19!Over the years, Pride has held various meanings for me. For many, the most recognizable symbols of this month are the Pride parades that happen all over the world. These parades are a...
The Disastersby M.K. EnglandOn shelves now! Who Gets to Save the Galaxy? When you write about Earth’s future, you’re making a statement: Who will be in power two hundred years from now? Who gets to fly the ship, save the...
A Normal Pigby K-Fai SteeleOn Shelves Now! What is normal? Who gets to decide what the word "normal" means? Pip is a spotted pig who grows up in an all-pink pig town. Pip is by her standards pretty normal; she...
Estranged on shelves now! Estranged: The Changeling King on shelves 10.1.19 PUTTING A NAME TO THE FEELING Everyone says that books are a door, an entryway into another life, another world, another point of view. For me, they were an...
Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada KellyOn shelves 9.3.19 Dear Reader, There's a reason why folktales and fables can be so frightening. They tell us something about our world — its beasts and monsters, curses and evils. We...
Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez; illustrated by Jaime KimON SHELVES NOW! Dear Reader, Although I have lived in the United States longer than I lived in my birth country, Argentina, and have been an American citizen since...
This June, we're celebrating Pride Month by highlighting some of our favorite books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters. From picture books to YA and spanning multiple genres, we've got something for every reader. Picture Books A blue crayon mistakenly labeled as "red"...
A KIND OF PARADISE By Amy Rebecca TanON SHELVES NOW! Dear Reader, I was walking along the main street of my town one evening when I noticed lights shining from inside an empty storefront. I peered inside to find a...
How to Library by Amy Rebecca Tan, author of A Kind of Paradise A Kind of Paradiseby Amy Rebecca Tan My debut novel, A Kind of Paradise, comes straight from my library-loving heart. I began working in a public library...
Protecting Our Most Vulnerable by Cassie Sheets, Educator Hello Library Advocates, During National Library Week, let’s celebrate the ways that libraries protect children’s privacy. During my brief stint working as a library assistant, I learned about the many ways that...
The Making of a Librarian by Tony Snyder, Copyright/Interlibrary Loan Associate at Kent State University Libraries It all started when automated public library catalogs were still a novelty. I had just completed a computer training course that would allow me...
Feed Them and They Will Come: Engaging Tweens at Your Library by Ashley Brown, Children's Librarian, and Cassidy Tanzella, Teen Librarian When we started working together at our current library, we looked for gaps in programming and how we...
Choosing Community by Morgan Rose Stewart, Children's Librarian for Memphis Public Libraries In August 2018, I had a choice to make, a very important “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” kind of choice (happy Poetry Month, everyone). I had...
Libraries = Strong Communities, Alabama Librarians, and the Civil Rights Movement by Molly Saunders, Children's Department Library Technician at the Homewood Public Library in Homewood, AL I first encountered the names Juliette Hampton Morgan and Emily Wheelock Reed in graduate...
