Teen Librarian Toolbox

Teen Librarian Toolbox (TLT) is a dedicated platform for the professional growth of teen librarians, founded by Karen Jensen. It brings together the knowledge of four MLS librarians with a combined experience of over 50 years in the library field. Our goal is to support libraries that cater to teens and anyone interested in their well-being, while also nurturing a community focused on professional development and resource sharing. We offer valuable information, engaging discussions, book reviews, and much more. We also invite guest contributions, and you can find our book review guidelines here.

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English

Online/Digital

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#691412

United States

#414107

Arts and Entertainment/Books and Literature

#1610

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Articles

Fast Five Interview: Nova Ren Suma

1 week ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Fast Five is an author interview series. The author is sent 10 questions and is asked to answer five of them. If you are an author interested in participating in the Fast Five Author Interview series, please get in touch. Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us and A Room Away from the Wolves, which were both finalists for an Edgar Award, among other acclaimed novels including Imaginary Girls.
Fast Five Interview: Erin Entrada Kelly

1 week ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Fast Five is an author interview series. The author is sent 10 questions and is asked to answer five of them. If you are an author interested in participating in the Fast Five Author Interview series, please get in touch. Erin Entrada Kelly was awarded the Newbery Medal for The First State of Being (2024) and Hello, Universe (2017) and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space (2020) She grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware.
Audiobook Review: Looking for Smoke by K. A. Cobell

1 week ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Karen Jensen

Publisher’s Book Description: When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren’s missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation. Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered. Because the four members of the Giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation.
Bringing People Together, a guest post by E.C. Myers

1 week ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

My 10-year-old son recently observed about a friend he games with: “It’s interesting that she can only play video games a little during the week, but has unlimited YouTube time. But I only get an hour of YouTube a day and can play games as much as I want.”I agreed that was interesting, but I try not to question or judge other parents’ choices, curious as they may seem.
Fast Five Interview: Riley Redgate

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Fast Five is an author interview series. The author is sent 10 questions and is asked to answer five of them. If you are an author interested in participating in the Fast Five Author Interview series, please get in touch. Riley Redgate is the author of four YA novels, including Seven Ways We Lie and Alone Out Here. Her fifth YA novel, Look No Further, was published under her real name, Rioghnach Robinson, and was co-written with her sister, Siofra Robinson.
Book Review: Maeve Mulvaney Has Had Enough by Kelly Mangan

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Publisher’s description Maeve Mulvaney goes from “family raincloud” to Feminist Superhero in this upper middle grade novel perfect for fans of Carrie Firestone, Julie Murphy, and Barbara Dee. Fourteen-year-old Maeve feels more at home in the pages of her comics and sketchbook than she does in “Nowhereville” (her maybe-not-so-nice nickname for the small Florida town where her family just moved). In the comic-book version of her life, she’s a brave superhero who always bests the bad guys. In reality?
Nothing Good Comes From Hiding Even the Ugliest Truths in the Closet, a guest post by Rob Costello

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

This month, I celebrate the publication of my debut novel, An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys. For me, this achievement is the culmination of years of hard work writing the book, followed by more years of dashed hopes and frustration as my agent, Marie Lamba, and I struggled to find a publisher willing to take on what is admittedly a difficult, edgy, and potentially controversial story.
Inspired by Scooby Doo: Character Creation in Love at Second Sight, a guest post by F. T. Lukens

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Hello again SLJ Teen Toolbox!I’m here today to talk about my new novel Love at Second Sight. Love at Second Sight is a paranormal romance mystery novel featuring psychics, witches, ghosts, sprites, werewolves, and pretty much everything else under the moon… um… sun. Inspired by teen paranormal television shows and movies, Love at Second Sight features many of the fun tropes found in the genre including my favorite—the friend group that must overcome their many differences to solve the mystery.
Book Review: The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Amanda MacGregor

Publisher’s descriptionBestselling and award-winning author Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing. One summer. 46 mountain peaks. A second chance to make things right. Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn is about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.
Sunday Reflections: My Daughters are Not Your Incubators

2 weeks ago | teenlibrariantoolbox.com | Karen Jensen

Several years ago, there was a teenage girl who lived next door to me. She was the youngest of three children and had two older brothers. I was acquainted with but not overly close to her and her family, but on occassion her mother and I would talk. One day she told me that this girl’s oldest brother may have gotten a classmate pregnant.