Industry News

The American Library Association’s News Know-How initiative has selected the teen services department of the San Antonio Public Library to receive more than $50,000 to train and support kids in grades 10–12 in learning how to distinguish fact from opinion, check news and information sources, and distinguish between propaganda and news, the library announced this week.

Antonio Frasconi, the award-winning illustrator best known for his woodcuts, died on January 8 at age 93. Among his notable contributions to children's literature are his bilingual picture books The House That Jack Built, a Caldecott Honor Book, and The Snow and the Sun, an ALA Notable Book.

Librarians who serve children in predominantly Latino communities were shocked this past December to read a New York Times article claiming that there is a dearth of Latino characters in books written for young readers—a notion that is at odds with their own experiences. In fact, they tell School Library Journal, there is actually a wealth of resources currently available to these kids, and librarians have the power (and the responsibility) to make those meaningful connections.

If we build it well, a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) can help school libraries meet the information needs of students even as local budgets shrink. The DPLA can provide important resources to the partnership between library-based and classroom-based teachers, especially during this period of rapid change in education, in libraries, in technology, and in the world of information generally.

The Association of Jewish Libraries has given its 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Awards to Hannah’s Way, by Linda Glaser; His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg, by Louise Borden; and Intentions, by Deborah Heiligman.

Lisa Graff’s sixth middle school novel, A Tangle of Knots, which debuts next month, incorporates an unusual feature: a range of carefully selected cake recipes that help illuminate the various traits of its key characters. School Library Journal spoke with Graff about this unique idea, the baking skills she honed for months while writing the book, and what's next on her to-do list.

Fans outside of Carnegie Hall display their loot from John and Hank Green's An Evening of Awesome.

Sixty percent of publishing executives believe that tablets have become “the ideal reading platform,” and 45 percent believe that dedicated e-readers will soon be irrelevant, according to a recent online, by-invitation survey conducted by global research and advisory firm Forrester.

Gerald McDermott, award-winning author, illustrator, and filmmaker who died on December 26 at age 71, will be fondly remembered for his unique style of vibrant, visual storytelling, which has inspired and engaged generations of kids. Highlights of McDermott’s career, which spanned a 49-year period, include a Caldecott Medal, two Caldecott Honor books, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award.