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Best of the Year Lists Are the Best!

This article was last updated 16 January 2026 What’s better than a book award? A list of best books! Why? There are more titles to choose among and to compare and contrast. While judges who determine book awards are looking at lots of competing titles critically, with a list of bests, we get to see

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A Smorgasbord of Series for Middle Graders

As a librarian who has provided readers’ advisory support on the front line with kids, teens, and adults, and now trains library staff in both public and school libraries to deliver support for readers and would-be readers, I have come to recognize some salient differences among the age ranges: Genre fiction written for and engaging

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Fimo dough constructed penguin pair and their stack of books tucked into a rocky niche, Kelvin Walk, Glasgow

Celebrating Titles Featured on 2024’s Best Books for Kids Lists

It’s the end of another publishing year and the best lists are snowing upon us! What we love about the plethora of these lists from children’s literature experts, review publications, and national press resources is how so many perspectives pop into focus: diverse list makers see “best” in so many different—and complementary—ways. Some of the

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Women Who Connect the World of Books to Readers

August is celebrated annually as Women In Translation Month. This is the time when we turn specific attention—and give gratitude—to the women writers  and the women translators who make possible access to stories from many languages to readers who can access them only in their own home languages. Professional translation is an art, just as

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Kids using magnifying glass examoning grassy area

Perfect Pair: Un-Bee-Lievable Bug Books

Summertime brings with it many wonderful things. In most places you get longer days, warmer weather, and no matter if you like them or not…more bugs! Outside our doors there is an entire society of fantastic critters going about their day in a miniature world that could easily go unnoticed to the untrained eye. This

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Antique eyeglasses in a heap

Look Here! These Books Are Spectacular!

Sometimes it appears that attention from many quarters comes to rest on one theme or an object with unanticipated universal agreement that this is the IT topic for the moment. This year in kids’ books we’re seeing that happen with—eyeglasses! In books that come to us from Spain, the Netherlands via New Zealand, the United

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Bank Street Books Announces Newest Best Children’s Books of the Year

The newly released list from Bank Street College of Education reflects their Children’s Book Committee’s choices from 2023’s publications. Bank Street’s seal of “best” is recognized by librarians, teachers, teacher training programs, and parents as a gold standard guide to children’s books. The selection committee is composed of more than two dozen members who are

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