As a child, Lisa Owens aligned herself with the little ones depicted in these books; now it was the harried adults who ...

Those innocent bedtime stories you lovingly read aloud night after night contained sophisticated adult themes that sailed right over young heads but spoke directly to your parental experiences and ...

Behold, the picture book! The great and glorious literature hiding in humble places all around us: on the bottommost shelves of bookcases, in teetering stacks around kids’ bedrooms, inside plastic ...

Early-elementary teachers work hard all year to support their students’ emerging reading skills. The payoff—gains in literacy progress—tends to come toward the end of the school year, just as it’s ...

Why levels fall short: Reading level tests can be inconsistent and miss key aspects like comprehension, fluency, and motivation. What else to track: Combining oral reading fluency, phonological ...

The author of more than 60 books for young readers and 2011’s “Picture Book Manifesto” that challenged creators and their publishers to energize the category, Barnett became the 2025–2026 national ...

Picture book author Mac Barnett has been named the Library of Congress' new ambassador for young people's literature. He discusses what the role means when engaging kids in reading can be a struggle.

Keats once said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Some would say the same about a picture book. Many teachers and librarians believe that picture books aren’t just for the wee ones, and they are ...