FYI, The Children's Book Committee (CBC) at Bank Street College of Education has released its 2022 edition of [1]The Best Children's Books of the Year. This list contains more than 600 annotated tiles divided into age ranges and categories. Published every year for more than a century, the list is designed to guide parents, teachers and librarians in choosing the highest quality literature for children. The Committee is composed of educators, librarians, authors, illustrators, psycholo ...Continue Reading

Hi, Everyone, I know that many of you work with your local schools and the school library media specialists. Here is your chance to support them, as they struggle with book and curriculum challenges, not to mention the loss of jobs and lack of having or recognizing the certified library specialists in their schools. Anyone can submit comments to the State Board of Education. There are templates provided to assist you. Thanks! ~Sharon Opportunity to Have Your Voice Heard by State Board o ...Continue Reading

Please excuse cross-postings FYI, Floyd Cooper Day – May 6, 2022 During [1] Children’s Book Week, share with young people Floyd Cooper’s bountiful body of work in the voices of beloved and well-known authors. KidLit TV has produced original videos of Crystal Allen, Tameka Fryer Brown, Judy Allen Dodson, Patti Gauch, Nikki Grimes, Leah Henderson, Cheryl Willis Hudson & Wade Hudson, Sharon Langley, Torrey Maldonado, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Charles Smith, and Don Tate reading ...Continue Reading

FYI, Brooklyn Library Offers Access To Banned E-Books to Teens Across the U.S From BookRiot, April 13, 2022: In response to all the books being banned, the Brooklyn Public Library, one of the largest library systems in the U.S., has launched the Books UnBanned initiative, which allows anyone across the country between the ages of 13 and 21 to get a free eCard from BPL, which will give them access to 350,000 ebooks and 200,000 audiobooks, as well as access to databases. Teens can appl ...Continue Reading

Good morning, I am sorry to bother you but I cannot find the link to the final survey that we are supposed to complete once all the workshops are done. I have completed each workshop report but I think there was a longer, more comprehensive survey at the end? I’ve logged into the LEAP website and I don’t see it there either. Thanks! Karen Richards, Children’s Programs Coordinator McCowan Memorial Library 15 Pitman Ave. Pitman, NJ 08071 (Phone) 856-589-1656 (Fax) 856-582-498 ...Continue Reading

FYI, ALA’s Graphic Novels & Comics Roundtable (GNCRT) launched a survey to collect data about comics challenges. This is part of GNCRT’s [1]current work to create a toolkit for addressing challenges to comics in libraries. This survey is open to ALL — educators, library workers, administrators, library students, public libraries, academic libraries, and K-12 school libraries. All of the survey information will be kept and shared anonymously unless we have the explicit permission of ...Continue Reading

FYI, May 19 (9 am – 6 pm ET) School Library Journal Day of Dialog 2022 Spring Join us May 19, 2022 for the most anticipated librarian gathering of the spring 2022 publishing season—fully virtual and free to attend. Our daylong program of author panels, in-depth conversations, and keynote talks will keep you informed, inspired, and entertained, and provide insight into industry trends as you work to grow and diversify your collections. Come hear about the latest and most exciting forthc ...Continue Reading

FYI, Register for the Free Inaugural NJ State Library Virtual Digital Literacy Forum The NJ State Library is holding a free statewide Virtual Digital Literacy Forum, May 10-13, 2022, 10 am – 12 pm to foster an open and encouraging environment for NJ public libraries to expand capacity in response to digital literacy needs in their communities. Each day’s focus will be on digital literacy as it pertains to a particular service population or topic of interest in public libraries – i.e. adu ...Continue Reading

Please excuse cross-postings FYI, CSLP 2025 Slogan Listening Sessions The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) theme/slogan committee has compiled a list of the suggested 2026 theme and 2025 slogans from all across the U.S. Thank you for all the wonderful theme and slogan suggestions that you shared with me that I submitted! [1]Click here for the list of themes that are ready for voting and slogans that have been grouped together for wordsmithing. CSLP invites you to be a par ...Continue Reading

Magician/illusionist Anthony Salazar will launch the summer reading challenge on 6/22/22. He is an excellent performer For youth and adults. Please consider asking him to perform for your North Jersey library from 6/21-6/23. Thank you very much. Kind regards Joanne Friedman Joanne M. Friedman, B.A., M.S. Children's Librarian Kearny Public Library, 318 Kearny Avenue, Kearny NJ 07032 201.998.2666 ...Continue Reading