On June 19, 1865 in Galveston, TX, enslaved African Americans were finally informed of their freedom, despite the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior. Juneteenth is also referred to as “Freedom Day”, “Emancipation Day”, and “Juneteenth Independence Day.” The first celebrations of Juneteenth were about honoring former enslaved people. Today celebrations of Juneteenth consist of gathering with family, BBQs, parades, festivals, beauty contests, and other celebratory events to remember the lives of their enslaved ancestors.
Jas Hammond’s stunning YA debut We Deserve Monuments is a swoon-worthy romance and a slow-burn mystery set in a smalltown full of secrets. This layered and powerful coming-of-age story is a love letter to queer Black teenagers. It celebrates the beauty of community and friendship, while also exploring generational trauma and how racial violence can ripple down through history.
Read on to learn more about Jas’s inspiration for their must-read debut + request a digital review copy of We Deserve Monuments on NetGalley!
We’re so excited to see our librarian friends on April 25-27 in Fort Worth, TX!
What’s inside our TLA Resource Center:
Make the most of your TLA experience+ meet your favorite authors & illustrators! Check our TLA schedule for a full list of in-person author programs and book signings.
We’ve collected our digital resources for you in this handy resource center! Download our digital catalogs, request digital preview copies, and fill out our checklist survey for your chance to win a collection of free books for your library!
Not attending TLA? You can still download digital resources, request preview copies, and more!
Get ready for an unforgettable summer adventure! With a second season of Netflix’s hit original series Shadow and Bone coming soon and the 10th Anniversary of the publication of Shadow and Bone approaching, now is the perfect time to revisit this bestselling series and introduce a new generation of readers to the Grishaverse.
Enter for your chance to win a classroom set of Shadow and Bone to share with your students before summer break begins!
All teachers who enter will also receive an invitation for their classroom to join a nationwide virtual Back to School celebration with New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo this Fall! Plus, we’ll share teacher’s guides full of discussion questions and lesson plan ideas to incorporate Shadow and Boneand Six of Crows into your classroom curriculum next year.
Download free educator resources and teacher’s guides (available in both English and Spanish!) to use alongside the book. Plus, enter to receive a free Latinitas art print to display in your classroom or library.
The Land of Stories meets Dominican myths and legends come to life in Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa, a blockbuster contemporary middle-grade fantasy duology starter from Julian Randall. Fans of Tristan Strong and The Storm Runner, here is your next obsession.
” Abreathtaking journey . . . readers better hold on tight.” —Kwame Mbalia, New York Times bestselling author of the Tristan Strong series
Twelve-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and she doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin Natasha—who vanished in the Dominican Republic fifty years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship.
When Pilar hears that Lorena’s professor studies such disappearances, she hops on the next train to dig deeper into her family’s mystery. After snooping around the professor’s empty office, she discovers a folder with her cousin’s name on it . . . and gets sucked into the blank page within.
She lands on Zafa, an island swarming with coconut-shaped demons, butterfly shapeshifters, and a sinister magical prison where her cousin is being held captive. Pilar will have to go toe-to-toe with the fearsome Dominican boogeyman, El Cuco, if she has any hope of freeing Natasha and getting back home
The phenomenally successful Bad Kitty series is purr-fect for fans of Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man and Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly series, reluctant readers, comic book fans, and cranky cats.Watch a storytime and drawing lesson with creator Nick Bruel and download free resources below!
Bad Kitty will not be good until her owners cave and get her a cell phone in this next, full color chapter book in Nick Bruel’s New York Times bestselling series.
Kitty has everything any cat could want–a warm bed, plenty of fresh litter, a machine that dispenses food whenever she wants! But Kitty isn’t satisfied. She has her eye on something that will make her the happiest, most grateful cat in town.
Something all the other cats have but that her owners refuse to get her!
Something she desperately needs!
Kitty wants…a cell phone. And she can have one if she does all her chores with zero complaints.
But can she handle the responsibility? What do you think?
A child’s plans are ruined when her parents have the gall to stop to talk to the neighbors in My Parents Won’t Stop Talking!, a laugh-out-loud picture book about patience by Emma Hunsinger and Tillie Walden.
It’s time to go to the park, and Molly can’t wait! It’s going to be awesome and amazing and—OH NO!
The neighbors have spotted her moms, and now they’re talking. A lot. And everything they say is boring. Minutes feel like hours, hours feel like days, and days feel like eons . . .
Will her parents ever stop talking?!
This is a clever, irreverent take on a universal childhood dilemma, written and illustrated by two stars in the comics world.
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group invites storytellers ages 10–14 to continue the adventure of literary legend Gary Paulsen’s final novel, the New York Times bestseller Northwind.
“Story, as far as I’m concerned, is everything. Simply everything.” —Gary Paulsen
Literary legend Gary Paulsen (1939–2021) takes readers on one last adventure with his novel Northwind, another stunning survival story from the author of Hatchet, set alongside a rugged mythical coastline centuries ago. All storytellers ages 10–14 are invited to continue the adventure in the Northwind Storytelling Contest. Entries are open February 4th through April 1, 2022.
The contest will be judged by Gary’s son, Jim Paulsen; Jennifer Flannery of Flannery Literary, his longtime agent, and Wesley Adams, Gary’s editor at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers. The judges will be looking for a unique voice and a strong sense of storytelling. The winning storyteller will receive a $500 AMEX gift card, journal, a class set of Northwind, admission to a writing workshop, and see their short story published. Five runners up will be invited to a writing workshop and receive a journal and a copy of Northwind.
Many will enter, few will win. Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., age 10-14. Parental permission is required to enter. Must enter by 12:00 a.m. on April 1, 2022. Void where prohibited. Subject to all applicable laws. For complete rules and requirements, visit bit.ly/NorthwindContestRules.
Writing Prompt: At the end of Northwind, Leif turns away from signs of civilization to head back off on his own in a canoe at sea with limited supplies. In 1,000–3,000 words, continue Leif’s story or write a story about your own character embarking on a journey alone at sea.
