What luck when a friend asked me for picture books tips for family readings with two different aged children. With no child in sight and very few guidelines, I had a realization.
Tag: children’s books
Hi, I’m New Here
New kid. Outsider. For young people who may feel like they have a foot in two worlds, such familiar social emotional themes touch on experiences that resonate with all kind of youth. That’s why they continue to be popular! With July 4 on the horizon, summer is a great time to honor the many kinds of journeys families take to the United States. Sharing stories opens doors!
More Great Books for Young Readers
Monday was an unexpected snow day, as half the country was digging out of Winter Storm Fern, so I was lucky enough to watch the 2026 Youth Media Awards comfortably at home. If you are anything like me, your TBR list is now out of control as you added a bunch of titles.
DCPL’s Illustrator Collection: An Interview with Wendy Lukehart
From 1919 to 1948, Louise Payson Latimer was the Director of Work with Children at the Washington (DC) Public Library. Latimer received frequent requests for “hard-to-access visual material” as well as general community members who were interested in the illustrations within children’s books during her tenure with the system. This prompted her to initiate the DC Public Library’s Illustrator Collection. At the time, Latimer recommended that the library purchase upwards of 800 picture books that she deemed worthy of “merit”. The collection now houses upwards of 20,000 primarily British and American books, many of which are first editions. To find out more about this interesting and unique collection, I interviewed Wendy Lukehart. Wendy is the Youth Collections Coordinator at DC Public Library and author of the article Louise Payson Latimer: Pioneer of Library Service to Children in Washington, DC. Wendy has become a fierce advocate for the collection, and one…
Reading More Children’s Books
So many books, so little time! As a youth librarian doing tons of reader advisory, I want to read more of the books in our collection. Librarians know what is popular with kids, but avid readers have already read all of those. I want to be able to recommend books to everyone who comes in and I feel like I need to read more children’s books to successfully do that. I started this journey by reading some physical copies and listening to some audiobooks. Peeking through the new books and reading their summaries and their professional reviews is a great place to start. Reading a few chapters and diving into the stories we purchase for our patrons is even more helpful. I don’t do all of the ordering for our library system and don’t always know what books are coming in. If a child asks for a book about magic,…
Tackling racism in children’s books #PLA2020
How did Nashville Public Library tackle racism in classic children’s literature? What they didn’t do… They did not take books like The Story of Little Black Sambo, Little House on the Prairie, Five Chinese Brothers and The Thanksgiving Story off the shelves and throw them in the trash, which was Lindsey Patrick’s (Regional Manager) first impulse. Acknowledging the issues that her lens as a white woman would bring to the work, she invited Klem-Mari Cajigas (the Family Literacy Coordinator and a Puerto Rican woman) to help her take some steps. They didn’t want to censor these and other problematic books, essentially shoving our racist and sexist history under the rug. And they knew that the crucial starting point was to listen to and respect the opinions of people from marginalized communities. They created a Racist Children’s Book Task Force with a diverse group of people from different library departments. There was…
Let’s Talk About Diversity… with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Those of you familiar with my ALSC posts will recognize a definite trend, but in case you’re late to the party or somehow stumbled here by mistake and have decided to stick around awhile, I’ll catch you up: I’m passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusivity – especially when it comes to children’s literature. So once a month, an author/illustrator who shares that passion stops by my library to booktalk diverse reads they love. This year, I’ve posted lists from Melissa Iwai and Isabel Roxas, and I’ve heard from a lot of you who are interested in seeing more.
Apply for the Bookapalooza Program by 2/1
Every year, the ALSC office receives almost 3,000 newly published books, videos, audio books, and recordings from children’s trade publishers. The materials are primarily for children age birth through fourteen and are submitted to ALSC award and media evaluation selection committees for award and notables consideration. After each ALA Midwinter Meeting in January, these materials (published in the preceding year) need to be removed from the ALSC office to make room for a new year of publications.