Shannon Maughan

2 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Shannon Maughan

The PBS Kids’ “resident librarian” and TikTok sensation is adding a picture book to his resume. In I’m So Happy You’re Here! A Celebration of Library Joy (Random House, Feb. 2026), illustrated by Lorraine Nam, librarians introduce neighborhood children to the magic of the library. We spoke with Threets about his passionate advocacy for literacy and mental health, his publishing journey, and collaborations between librariesand bookstores.

3 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Shannon Maughan

How did 11 large, urban K–12 districts manage to add librarians and increase library services for their students when the U.S. is experiencing a decades-long decline in school librarian staffing? The School District of Philadelphia and the volunteer advocacy organization Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians teamed up to find out—and to create a replicable model that they and other districts could use to achieve similar success.

2 months ago | publishersweekly.com | Shannon Maughan

Prolific children’s author Jean Van Leeuwen, known for a broad oeuvre including her beginning-reader stories following the adventures of Oliver Pig and his baby sister Amanda, died on March 3 at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., of cancer. She was 87. Jean Van Leeuwen was born December 26, 1937, in Glen Ridge, N.J., to Cornelius, a minister, and Dorothy, a teacher. She grew up in Rutherford, N.J., experiencing a “book-filled childhood,” she wrote in an essay for Something About the Author.

2 months ago | publishersweekly.com | Shannon Maughan

In 2024, Union Square & Co. introduced its Everyone Can Be a Reader series, a line of books specially designed for struggling readers and using dyslexia-friendly tools including different paper tones and a proprietary font. The books are produced in partnership with Edinburgh, Scotland–based Barrington Stoke, a publisher founded in 1997 now operating as an editorially independent imprint of HarperCollins UK.

2 months ago | publishersweekly.com | Shannon Maughan

The results of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, were released on January 29, and reading scores for U.S. students have dropped to a worrying new low. In 2024, 31% of fourth graders scored above the NAEP’s proficient standard, compared with 33% of fourth graders in 2022 and 35% in 2019, the year prior to the Covid-19 disruptions.