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Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Good as Goldie: A Breaking Cat News Adventure from Andrews McMeel and Dex Dingo: World's Best Greatest Inventor from Disney Hyperion.
Check out these seven forthcoming books!
Several excellent 2024 children's books look at World War II in creative ways. We look at four titles, two fiction and two nonfiction, and consider their Newbery potential.
It's easy to forget what a sanctuary nature can be when we need the space and time to decompress.
DreamWorks released the final trailer for THE WILD ROBOT, and it's looking good.
We search for a classic picture book and come up with this little Wong Herbert Yee number. Does it fit the bill? And will Fireman Small EVER get enough sleep?
I decided to create a reading challenge so we could all collectively learn about, read and/or revisit Latin American children’s literature.
Today the illustrious Kate Messner reveals the cover of her latest middle grade and talks with us about hiking, verse vs. prose, and why she's a dog person without a dog.
A young man returns to lion dancing after years away, only to discover his one-time partner is now his bitter rival in this graphic novel by cartoonist (and lion dancer!) Cai Tse.
We asked readers to rank their favorite Newbery contenders so far and share observations about current trends in children's literature. Here are the results:
These Take Five lists can help you with collection development, displays, reading lists, and more.
As we prepare for the launch of our new series, Westfallen, we get asked one question more than any other: “What was it like writing a novel with your sister/brother?”
The Unfinished is all about finding the bravery to face uncertainty in many ways – in one’s relationships, identity and creepy monsters that haunt the forest.
Earnest, funny, and evocative? Say those words together and you might be discussing the graphic novel memoir debut from picture book creator Ruth Chan. We discuss this changeover.
Here's a look at the graphic novels that publishers have been acquiring, and when we can expect to see them.
Filled with plenty of action, this look at feelings, strengths, found family, and friendship is a satisfyingly creepy fantastical story full of heart.
What does it mean when a book like THEY THOUGHT THEY BURIED US is praised for “strong queer Puerto Rican/Latine representation”?
School librarian Amanda Jones was recently featured in the New York Times.
Want to plan your reading schedule? Here's our plan for what genres we are planning on featuring on Wednesdays this Fall. And a survey about your favorite Newbery winners in select genres.
Books are being banned from libraries to eliminate the stories and the lives that they tell, but to win the long fight, librarians have to work to be anti-oppressive.
Two former outcasts find themselves helping each other navigate high school in this cute rom-com.
If you book talk this title, be prepared to have a hold list a mile long. Compulsively readable and creepy enough to satisfying even the most demanding of readers, this collection is a hit.
Library Girl took me back to the forgotten memories of my childhood and the Kalamazoo Public Library. It took me back to that time in childhood when you are let loose from your parents’ leash and begin to explore the world on your own.
If ever you have had thoughts or opinions or questions on nonfiction and informational books, these three posts constitute a wealth of information that's free for the taking.
I know there are readers who are tired of love triangles, and I don’t blame them. But I’m also a firm believer that no trope is overdone until everyone has had an equal chance to play with it, especially authors from marginalized backgrounds.
Told in verse and full of references to books Kareem has read, this is a beautiful story of hope, empathy, confidence, and courage.
Jason Chin's next nonfiction picture book is called HURRICANE and today we have a first look at the cover.
It's been ten years since the release of THE RIGHT WORD: ROGET AND HIS THESAURUS and we figured we'd have a chat with its creators about its creation and legacy.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back, from Roaring Brook Press, and Shock City, from Viking Books for Young Readers.
We have 82 books on our Mock Newbery list so far...but what are we missing? Lists and pie charts help us try to identify the genres, categories, and age levels that seem to be garnering the most...and the least attention among Heavy Medal readers so far.
Check out these titles by queer and BIPOC authors that will satisfy young readers as we approach spooky season
A good read that's a bit demanding, a fact that certainly won't scare off the library kids like Essie who love to read.
While driving home from a book event a couple weeks back, I turned on the recorder and talked about how THE SHIP IN THE WINDOW came to be.
This year Duck for President was not re-released alongside the presidential election. Is there a reason for that? We aim to figure it out.
While driving home from a book release event for The Ship in the Window, I turned on my recorder and talked about how the book came to be.
It's time to talk about early favorites on Heavy Medal and gauge our readers (that's you!)- please take our Beginning of the Year Check-In Survey by Weds. Sept. 11.
DC Comics' superstar writer Tom King joins artist Dan Parent for a special one-shot in which Archie tries to finally decide between Betty and Veronica...by tossing a coin.
As always, a list of five is only sharing a tiny bit of what’s new this month. Check your local library for other new releases!
How do we make the world safe for all of us to express our emotions? To begin with, we need to stick together as we cry and laugh our way through the world.
Mobilizing Alumni Networks for School Library Advocacy High school alumni are a potentially useful group for advocating about school library issues and initiatives. While some alumni have left your area, many towns and neighborhoods continue to have well-established networks of local graduates who can be mobilized for advocacy. With the current fight over censorship and […]
Is this a future classic? The answer may lie in the goats.
Authors Cathy Carr and JOanne Rossmassler Fritz discuss adults in middle grade fiction
A fantastic fast-paced environmental mystery with wide appeal.
These days, writing and recommending books about tough subjects can feel risky…but there’s never been a time when it’s more necessary to offer readers greater depth and breadth of subjects and diversity of characters.
How GUAVA AND GRUDGES Pays Homage to the Golden Age of YA Romance, a guest post by author Alexis Castellanos
When I started working on my novel A Second Chance on Earth, I wanted to capture, in verse, the beauty and complexity of a Colombia that I love so intensely.
It's time for Year 17 of the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Blog! We're looking forward to another season of discussing the best children's books of the year. Here's a look at what we have planned for the next few months on Heavy Medal.
Lisa Fipps returns to talk about her latest book And Then, Boom!
It is our honor today to host Violet Duncan (Kehewin Cree/Taino) and her guest post accompanying her new MG novel Buffalo Dreamer.
I’m thrilled to share the Team Canteen kids with this next generation of readers and hope the members of The Baby-Sitters Club would choose to sit with them in the mess hall.
Think of every awful disaster that could befall a middle schooler on picture day, and it happens to poor Andrew.
I wrote about books for kids beginning kindergarten for the New York Times
"To love palindromes is to be okay with a little bit of wiggliness when it comes to sense." Settle in for discussions of Borges, Calvino, and Legend of Zelda in our talk with Newbery Honor winner Daniel Nayeri on his latest.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12-and-under featuring Taxi Ghost from Random House Graphic and Hearing Things from Toon Books.
What if you told someone you wish they were dead...and then they died?" the thinking of writing about grief was there -- I was processing how to process.
We have finished up our final round of suggestions for Heavy Medal 2025 Mock Newbery. The real committee keeps suggesting all year, but here we focus on nominations instead. We have 337 suggestions for a total of 83 titles with FERRIS by Kate DiCamillo still leading the way followed closely by THE TENTH MISTAKE OF […]
Teen Librarian Karen Jensen looks at some recent discussions regarding children and teens in the labor force for Labor Day
It’s Labor Day. So whatever you do, DO NOT read these books today. But tomorrow? Go for it.
We finally tackle our first Bill Peet picture book. This one is what Kate would call a Choose Your Own Moral kind of book. Let's see if you agree.
As I've became more familiar with the flow of the Art Studio, my role in it and how children and their caregivers use it, I've taken moments to observe how people interact with the book areas.
We continue our series with David Jacobson's history of the work of Jella Lepman and Mildred Batchelder.
COLBY: Last spring I read aloud Lisa’s new book And Then, Boom! aloud to my 5th graders. It was a magical experience. I jumped at the opportunity to interview her for The Yarn. I hope you enjoy our conversation! If you would rather watch an unedited video of our conversation, you can check that out […]
Minnesota is a wonderful place for many reasons, not the least of which is our amazing children's lit community.
Today we are delighted to welcome David Jacobson to the site. If you ever wondered why the Batchelder Award was named the way it was, don't miss this series.
The digital manga platform Azuki announced at AnimeNYC that two of its series will be published in print by Graphix.
27 new and forthcoming books, including many graphic novels, to have on your radar.
An omnipresent icon, Swift has, with this latest album, offered up the term “poet” for mass consumption and contemplation.
Last week, The Ship in the Window set sail into bookstores. Today, I’m giving away three copies. Click that button below to enter. Enter by 11:59 pm ET on August 29th, 2024 to be eligible.
Life imitates art in this caravan inspired by a Roald Dahl classic.
Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono graduate from a Godzilla one-shot to their own original graphic novel featuring Godzilla's little friend Minilla and an endangered Monster Island.
This is the story of fifty-four authors, seven-hundred librarians, thirteen funny hats, and how (I hope) all of them come together to make book joy.
Picture, if you will, a book with a lovely story and fun illustrations that is also packed to the gills with small jokes. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Today I talk with The Dictionary Story's creators about what that entails.
Postapocalyptic stories have a strange optimism because the worst has happened. We are with the survivors and the Earth is in fragile recovery.
This quiet look at identity and loneliness will appeal to readers who appreciate the brevity of the verse format and who like a character-driven story.
From viral poem to picture book, we talk today with the creators of an upcoming book that was inspired by the historic election of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Being one of the few in our library working to alleviate any of this while calling out an unresponsive leadership team is a demoralizing blow from a faulty system. It erodes us and makes us feel we're working to change a broken system.
Check out this week's list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, featuring Mystery Science Detectives Volume 1: The Case of the Forest Fingers from Graphic Universe and The Inscrutable Dr. Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue from Iron Circus Comics.
And here goes another summer and our final suggestion piece for Heavy Medal! It’s your last time to suggest books to consider for our 2024 Mock Newbery, but don’t worry we will still be able to nominate books later in the year, so those late publication books won’t be left out. Our official Heavy Medal […]
A powerful story that likely will provide many readers with their first look at residential schools. A good book to add to all collections.
I wish we utilized more ways to show young people this, to bring history out from the dusty marble, and I applaud the many innovative educators who work to connect the the dots between history and today’s lived experience.
On Saturday I visited the wonderful McLean & Eakin bookstore in Petoskey, Michigan for the release of The Ship in the Window
Today we have not a single cover reveal but three at once!
Self-care is the prescription of the day, but what does that really mean? By prioritizing authentic self-care, we empower ourselves and our communities.
Blue Beetle wraps a story about immigration and conflict in a superhero tale of a teenage boy whose superpowers come with a command to prepare the earth for incoming aliens.
Let's jump in the (I can't really properly call it a) wayback machine and go to 2023!
Comfort media, at its core, tells its consumers that they’re not alone. All things end eventually, good and bad. But one thing that remains is the memories of those stories that stick with us early in life and provide comfort for years to come.
Can you guess the children’s book by its scathing one-star review on Goodreads?
"I wanted to celebrate this essential work, and more, as a Latina, I wanted to honor work that, in this country, is mostly done mostly by Black and brown women, just like Señora Mimí." Meg Medina discusses her latest title.
We've got the scoop on Skybound Comet's upcoming YA graphic novel lineup: The conclusion of Tillie Walden's Clementine, a story about a kaiju-fighting family, and a graphic novel about pizza magic.
Colby talked with Newbery Honor winner Gennifer Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts) on The Yarn podcast this week.
From British spooky stuff to proper cat procedures to a changing body book developed with a leading national LGBTQ+ organization, there's a little something for everyone here today.
Teen librarian Cindy Shutts discusses turning her library into a teen playground for an after hours event
Giant robots, environmental crises, and mental health come together in this action-packed sci-fi manga with a serious undertone.
Monitor lizard Zeke navigates bullies, friendship, grief, and self-image in this series starter, out September 24, 2024.
Teen librarian Karen Jensen reviews the new YA mystery/thriller GIRLS WHO BURN by M K Pagano
In Nora Dåsnes' latest graphic novel, Bao leads her friends and classmates in an effort to save a nearby forest from destruction and fight against the climate crisis, despite the grown-ups in her life all failing to take the problem seriously.
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