Industry News

Uma Krishnaswami’s charming novels will have young readers tap-tap-tapping their toes as the colors and music of Bollywood dance through these madcap middle grade romps, and now five lucky people can win her two books featuring Dini, Maddie, and Dolly–The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, and The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic.

There was a spirit of optimism among attendees at the 2013 annual American Library Association (ALA) conference held recently in Chicago, especially among school media specialists and youth services librarians. Members of ALA’s three youth divisions were particularly energized and motivated by the dynamic programming and renewed advocacy efforts, they say.

The 2013 American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Chicago has come and gone, but the buzz is still with us from all that we saw, shared, and experienced of the exhibits, panels, committee meetings, and many special events with authors and colleagues. Out of all the memorable moments, following are the top ten sights from the event from Rocco Staino, SLJ contributing editor.

Ingrid Abrams, children’s and teen librarian at Brooklyn Public Library in NYC and Natalie V. Binder, a systems librarian at the Jefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library in Monticello, FL, teamed up virtually to create Libraries Changed My Life (LCML), a patron-driven Tumblr initiative, in direct response to Michael Rosenblum’s article “What’s a Library?”, which was published in the Huffington Post this past May.

In celebration of its 25th Anniversary of children’s publishing, Chronicle Books hosted a cocktail reception at the American Library Association Annual conference that included a raffle of original artwork inspired by the company's spectacles logo. The pieces were created by many award-winning and bestselling illustrators, including Tom Lichtenheld, who presented the prize to winner and children's literature professor, Susannah Richards.

Holly Louise Meade, an artist and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, died on June 28, 2013, at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital near her home in Sedgwick, ME, the local Newburyport Daily News has reported. She was 56.

Elaine Landau, author of more than 300 books that supported schools’ curriculum and children’s quest for information, died on June 29 in Miami, FL, due to complications from autoimmune disease. She was 65. Her death was announced by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Florida.

Do you know STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)? From hosting “parties” with traditional building blocks to using science kits with young children, ideas for STEAM programming in libraries were shared at a recent panel at the ALA (American Library Association) annual conference.

It’s the 4th of July and I am delighted to share another important declaration.   Our new ALA President, friend, former school librarian, and Syracuse iSchool professor, Barbara Stripling declares that libraries are essential to a democratic society. She shares: My presidential initiative, entitled Libraries Change Lives, will focus on increasing public understanding of the value of libraries, [...]