As schools rethink screen time, school librarians have an opportunity to ask a better question: What do kids need more of? From books and technology to LEGO, hands-on learning, and play, this post explores how librarians can move beyond the “tech or no tech” debate and create meaningful experiences that help kids imagine, wonder, build, connect, and read.

Here’s the thing about picture books, y'all. They may be written for kids, but they’re so often experienced in community. A child sits beside a grown-up caregiver, teacher, or librarian, and they enter the story together. That makes picture books a uniquely communal art form, one in which the grown-up turning the pages is often as much a part of the audience as the young person listening. That idea is woven throughout my conversation with author and journalist Pooja Makhijani

Once, when John Schu and I were presenting together, I introduced each of the five other panelists as my "best friend." When we got to John, who was sitting at the far end of the table, he stood up and said, "I'm John Schu, and I really am Jennifer LaGarde's best friend!" He's not wrong! John and I have been friends for nearly fifteen years now, which means I've had a front-row seat to his journey from an incredible school librarian, to Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libr

It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, our curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all. As a reminder, Martha Hickson and I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals: Booklist Horn Book Kirkus School Library Journal* *This also includes SLJ Express Reviews Publishers Weekly The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books We realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals we've chosen to focu

This is Rex Ogle's second visit to The Reader's Heart. If you listened to our first conversation, then you know that my not-so-secret goal for that episode was to convince Rex that he and I were destined to be friends. Well... I'm happy to report that not only was that mission accomplished, but I think you can really hear our growing friendship in this episode. Rex and I laugh a lot during this conversation, but it's the moments when we dive into tougher topics that I continu

As I work to publish this season of The Reader's Heart, I can't help but notice patterns. This probably has something to do with the routine I go through leading up to every episode: gathering all the books I have by the authors and illustrators, purchasing a few that I want to read (or read again) before the conversation, and then immersing myself, to whatever extent possible, in their work in the days just before pressing record. Although I start each episode with the same

Although she has authored and illustrated nearly 150 books for kids, I am almost ashamed to admit that I don't think I really became aware of LeUyen Pham as an illustrator until I read Lunar New Year Love Story. It's not that I didn't know her work prior to that; I think it's more that I hadn't pieced together the sheer vastness of it. Lunar New Year Love Story wasn't just one of my favorite books the year it came out, it also helped me realize that LeUyen Pham was the artist

Recently, I've noticed how my own transient and often traumatic childhood continues to inform the way I read literature for young people. Even when books aren't explicitly about those things, it is hard for me not to consider how my own reader's heart may have responded to or been healed by the story and how it is told. This may be why I've always responded to Cynthia Leitich Smith's work and to her anthology, Legendary Frybread Drive-In, specifically. Certainly these things

One of the things I love most about children's literature is its ability to help us wrestle with difficult questions while still leaving room for hope. It's also one of the reasons I really wanted to have Tae Keller as a guest on The Reader's Heart. Tae joined me to discuss her latest novel, When Tomorrow Burns, a story that follows three young people as they navigate climate anxiety, social media, questions of identity, and the complicated realities of growing up in a world

I've had the pleasure of teaching a Young Adult Literature course in the MLIS program at Rutgers University for several years now and it's one of my favorite things. Although I don't get to teach it every semester, I use the time between semesters to update my reading list, assignments, and course resources, which I suppose is a gift, despite the fact that I really miss diving into YA lit with people who are eager to learn about new books and innovative methods for connecting

It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, our curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all. As a reminder, Martha Hickson and I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals: Booklist Horn Book Kirkus School Library Journal * * This also includes SLJ Express Reviews Publishers Weekly The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books We realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals we've chosen

Someone asked me recently about the origins of School Library Month , and I had to admit that I didn’t really know. Beyond the basics like it’s celebrated each April as a way to recognize the vital role school librariansl, my cognitive tank was empty. So, like any good librarian, I decided to do some research. Here’s what I learned: First established by the American Association of School Librarians, this month-long celebration grew out of earlier efforts like School Library D

A couple of years ago, I was inspired by a social media post from middle grade author Erin Bow in which she shared that she was giving up billionaires for Lent. Now, being a non-religious type myself, I don't know much about Lent beyond the fact that it's observed by Christians and involves giving something up for a specific period of time. My understanding is that the sacrifice should be meaningful. For example, giving up chocolate for Lent is (essentially) meaningless if y

The year I was first hired as a school librarian, my district allotted a book budget of $14 per student to every school. When I share this with school librarians today, they are shocked and often comment on how lucky I was. These days, school library budgets are a little like unicorns, mythical concepts that a lot of people have heard of but no one has ever seen. At the time, though, what stood out most was just how quickly that money disappeared. It wasn’t enough to maintain

It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, our curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all. As a reminder, Martha Hickson and I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals: Booklist Horn Book Kirkus School Library Journal * * This also includes SLJ Express Reviews Publishers Weekly The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books We realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals we've chosen

Recently, my inbox and DMs have been filled with messages containing the same images. Sometimes they arrive with a short note like, “Have you seen this?” or “What is happening!??!” Sometimes they come with a worried emoji or GIF (like this one from Schitt's Creek, which is a personal favorite). And a few include stories from teachers and librarians who are noticing something unsettling: boys at school parroting the same "alpha male” rhetoric they are encountering online. "Boy

My first classroom had been strip-mined of almost everything potentially useful before I arrived. Beyond rows of the traditional one-piece student desk-chair combos, there was only: a teacher desk and chair (both older than I was) a single empty cabinet, and... a small bell , like the kind you might see at a hotel front desk. That was it. No stapler. No paper. No pencils. Never mind books or teaching materials. Even the pencil sharpener had been ripped off the wall. The cind

It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, our curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all. As a reminder, Martha Hickson and I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals: Booklist Horn Book Kirkus School Library Journal Publishers Weekly The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books We realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals we've chosen to focus on. Just Look At The Stars “When you

I once overheard two elderly women chatting (over their New Year’s Day collard greens and black-eyed peas at the K&W #IYKYK) when one of them said, “you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a hot take,” which I thought was incredible as I associate the phrase “hot take” with influencer culture. In fact, I was so taken aback by this statement that I found myself checking my ageism, as I definitely did not expect either of these Southern ladies to be fluent in inf

It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, our curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all. As a reminder, Martha Hickson and I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals: Booklist Horn Book Kirkus School Library Journal Publishers Weekly The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books We realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals we've chosen to focus on. Forgive Me, But... I need to ran