Kara Yorio

1 day ago | slj.com | Kathy Ishizuka |Andrew Bauld |Kara Yorio

SLJ wants to know what's on your mind as you think about the next school year. Fill out our Google form to share your hopes, concerns, and plans for 2025-26. It's summer. Time to relax and recharge, maybe participate in some professional development or tap your PLN for ideas and support. But here at SLJ, we can't help looking ahead. As we work on back-to-school stories, we want to know what you're thinking about heading into the 2025-26 school year.

1 day ago | slj.com | Kara Yorio |Kathy Ishizuka |Andrew Bauld

In a ruling that educators, authors, and free speech advocates were anxiously awaiting, on Friday, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor. In the 6-3 decision, the Court decided in favor of the parents over the Maryland school district, ruling that the government burdens parents' religious exercise when it requires their children to participate in instruction that violates the families' religious beliefs.

1 week ago | slj.com | Kathy Ishizuka |Andrew Bauld |Kara Yorio

What titles stand out as the greatest in literature for children and young adults? That’s the question School Library Journal (SLJ) has posed to our readers. Toward identifying the best books of the past 25 years, respondents are invited to make their selections via our poll. SLJ will report the results and facilitate related conversation. Taken together with engaging the poll itself, we hope this will be an enjoyable, thought-provoking experience. This project comes at a particular time.

1 week ago | slj.com | Kara Yorio |Kathy Ishizuka

Photo courtesy of Julia Garnett Julia Garnett never wanted to get involved. The high school junior disliked public speaking, and, as a competitive athlete, didn’t want to skip soccer practice. But the 17-year-old couldn’t sit by silently while her school district, just outside Nashville, TN, considered a ban on A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliott—a picture book that deals with a young Black boy’s emotions after a police shooting.

2 weeks ago | slj.com | Kara Yorio |Kathy Ishizuka |Jess deCourcy Hinds

As of September 1, 2026, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) will no longer exist. At ALA Annual in Philadelphia at the end of June, the ALA Council will vote on a recommendation for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) to absorb YALSA, which would be dissolved as a division of ALA. It is expected to pass, and governing bodies for both divisions are working under that assumption and planning for the future as they mourn the loss of YALSA.