The new generation of children, often referred to as digital natives, are growing up in a digital world, exposed to electronic gadgets and technology from an early age. Many everyday activities, including playtime, have shifted to digital environments. Digital picture story books, as a significant example, are becoming popular among children.…

The "emergence of literature in eighteenth-century France" changes our understanding of when, how and why modern ideas of literature emerged in France. Using a unique blend of literary and digital methods, it argues that it was in the mid eighteenth century, rather than the nineteenth (as many have claimed), that the word littrature…

Celebrating books published in 2023, now finishing its fifth award cycle, the Whippoorwill Award continues to recognize quality rural literature for young people. Each year, the award committee selects books that portray and honor the complex experiences of rural culture and communities. The award serves to help highlight the diversity of rurality…

Nudge theory, a strategy to influence decision-making, holds promise for enhancing an adult's use of evidence-based strategies during a read-aloud experience with a young child. This study examined the effectiveness of a nudge theory approach in increasing adult gesture use during a book-reading activity with a young child. Notably, 31 U.S.…

Adolescence is complex and confusing. Identity development during the transition from adolescence to adulthood, or coming of age, is unique and is strongly influenced by each individual's gender and social class, as well as factors relating to culture and the social, physical, spiritual, and economic resources all used to survive. The author read…

In this manuscript, I lift Black feminisms as a methodological intervention on a holistic meaning-making theory and its relationship to anti-Blackness. Specifically, I employed a Black feminist literary criticism, which presumes that Black people have cultivated living and survival practices throughout their history in the United States. I…

Bullying begins in the preschool years and presents a public health concern for children of all ages with negative outcomes observed for victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. With an eye on intervention, research suggests that reading and discussing books may help to encourage perspective taking and compassion for others, even at an early age.…

Familiarity is a crucial element in narrative fiction reading for children, playing a significant role in social learning from storybooks. Nevertheless, distinct studies greatly vary in their interpretation of what renders a storybook familiar to a child, researchers' methods for measuring familiarity, and how researchers link familiarity to…

In early education, reading difficulties can lead to negative outcomes. Augmented reality (AR) storybooks combine the benefits of e-books and print books, significantly aiding children's reading skills and gaining recognition from scholars and educators. However, the existing AR storybooks often overlook the design of interactive features, which…

The five young adult "Honor List" books of 2023 are all visual texts. These award-winning books offer tremendous stories in both pictures and words in the genres of realistic fiction, memoir, and historical nonfiction.

In informational texts, when the identities of the narrators are inconsistent with the identities of the writers, can such text be classified as nonfiction? In this article, we examine the relationship between the writer and the narrator of informational nonfiction books in alignment with the ELA Common Core State Standards for reading in grades…

We investigated adult-child shared book reading of olfactory books that stimulate the sense of smell through scratch-and-sniff surfaces. We observed ten adult-child dyads reading olfactory books at home and documented the characteristics and quality markers of their olfactory engagement. Drawing on the principles of learning sciences and…

Relationships are all about connection. Teacher librarians are more effective at positively impacting learners when they have established relationships with them. There are a myriad of ways to build these bonds, and even small efforts can yield great results. In this article, the author presents the power of relationships when building bonds with…

This unit activity describes a series of lessons designed to enhance STEM students' technical communication abilities. The lessons culminate in two separate yet interconnected projects: (1) the development of a children's book explaining a complex topic and (2) presentations of those books to members of the local community. Students learn the…

This manuscript explores the trends of the American Library Association's (ALA's) Rainbow Book List Top Ten Titles for Young Readers for 2023. It provides an overview of the titles and curricular connections. The authors discuss how the 2023 Rainbow Book List offers a diversity of genres and topics and also delves deeply into portrayals of queer…