Staying Current with Great Literature

I need to make a considered effort to stay current on all the new and wonderful children’s literature being released. It can be hard when you have many things to complete each day, week, month, and year as an educator, and then you need to find time to relax and take care of your family and friends.

I am lucky because I find reading and losing myself in a book relaxing and invigorating.

If you can find the time, many awesome books are out there. You can do a search and find many books on Juneteenth. How exciting is this for our young kids and adults! Juneteenth

Places like GoodReads and other book recommendation sites are very helpful for this.

We also have people like Colby Sharp who share great books they use in their classrooms. Checkout his YouTube channel. Colby Sharp

Checkout his list of great 2024 books: https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2024

The International Literacy Association (ILA) announced their winners of the ILA 2024 Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards, a program that highlights new authors who have published only their first or second book and already show exceptional promise in the literary world.

This year’s winners are as follows:

Primary Fiction

• Winner: Ruth Whiting for Lonely Bird (Candlewick)
• Honor: Kevin Johnson for Cape (Macmillan)

Primary Nonfiction

• Winner: Jessica Lanan for Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider (Macmillan)
• Honor: Shannon Earle for The Penguin of Ilha Grande: From Animal Rescue to Extraordinary Friendship (Charlesbridge)

Intermediate Fiction

• Winner: Zach Weinersmith for Bea Wolf (Macmillan)
• Honor: Malia Maunakea for Lei and the Fire Goddess (Penguin)

Intermediate Nonfiction

• Winner: Willie Mae Brown for My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement (Macmillan)
• Honor: Katharina Weiss-Tuider for Mission: Arctic: A Scientific Adventure to a Changing North Pole (Greystone Kids)

Young Adult Fiction

• Winner: Angeline Boulley for Warrior Girl Unearthed (Macmillan)
• Honor: Ari Tison for Saints of the Household (Macmillan)

Young Adult Nonfiction

• Winner: Sarah Myer for Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story (Macmillan)
• Honor: Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge for Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself (Lerner)

More information about this year’s selections can be found in ILA’s Literacy Now blog coverage.

Congratulations to the winning authors!