It’s the first week of May which means it’s time to celebrate! Not only is school about to be out for the summer, but it’s also Children’s Book Week — one of the longest-running national literacy initiatives in the country. This year, Every Child a Reader has chosen the theme “Read Books. Spark Change” — […]

What better way to inspire and foster a lifelong love of reading than by connecting our younger readers with that perfect book. It seems simple, because it is! Books are transformative, they can take us to faraway places, open our hearts and minds, teach us to see each other, and bring us together. It all starts with a book. Here are 20 essential books (classics new and old) for every […]

Once upon a time, AOL was the internet (and we had plenty of free-trial discs to go around), hardly anyone had a cell phone (which could only be used for phone calls anyway), and there was no such thing as a tablet or an e-reader. This dark age was known as the ’90s. We were […]

Shelf Improvement is a monthly column that features three books guaranteed to improve your library and your life. From literary fiction, young adult, and humor, to spirituality, autobiography, and more, no genre is off limits. The only requirement of the selections featured here is they must be transformative and page-turning. If you’re hoping to build a better bookshelf, […]

If you’re like me, you fell in love with summer camp the first time you watched The Parent Trap. The kayaking, the pranks, the epic musical numbers, the excellent potential for romance—it’s the perfect plot just waiting to happen. And if you’re really like me, you’re a little too old to go to summer camp. Luckily, that’s where fiction comes […]