What exactly were we looking for? The most innovative apps? The most interactive or entertaining? Personal favorites? Trend-setters? Titles that best explore the platform’s potential? In the end, our choices fit neatly into at least one, if not more, of these categories. Above all, the selections will amuse, entertain, educate, or challenge kids-even after repeated viewings.
SLJ’s Top 10 2011: Graphic Novels
For years, we’ve been hearing that comics are no longer for kids. Well, we’ve got some good news for you. Comics for young readers are back (not that they ever really left)-and they’re better than ever.
SLJ’s Top Ten 2011: Technology
These picks aren’t so much about products, things you should run out and buy, but rather the overarching concepts that’ll potentially shape and be shaped by our collective imagination.
Our list spans the K-12 curriculum and offers something for everyone. The following DVDs, culled from this year’s 64 starred reviews, cover everything from hot health issues to fun topics in science and social studies and from outstanding picture books to you-won’t-want-to-miss historical anniversaries.
SLJ’s Best Books 2011: Fiction
We are pleased to present this year’s 65 choices for the Best Books of 2011, chosen from the more than 6,000 books reviewed this year. Novels were a standout, particularly those for teens, with themes of leadership, coming-of-age, and facing tough situations presented in powerful narratives with memorable characters. Fantasy and science fiction genres made a strong showing for middle grades and YA, featuring taut page-turners and selections laced with humor. And we were impressed by the number of novels with exciting visual components that enhanced the storytelling.
SLJ’s Best Books 2011: Picture Books
Stunning art appears in all genres, from Vicky White’s evocative work in Can We Save the Tiger? to Shane W. Evans’s outstanding and haunting Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom to extraordinary and highly appealing picture books from masterful veterans and exciting newcomers to the field.
SLJ’s Best Books 2011: Nonfiction
This was a particularly fine year for nonfiction across the board, from forensic scientists tackling what George Washington really looked like to the collective power of one community to determine its source of energy to 19th-century voyagers setting out to circumnavigate the globe.
The year of 2011 has been a particularly strong one for adult books with appeal to young adult readers. It was a challenge to narrow down our list to the titles displayed here. Genre fiction is well-represented, as are debut authors and literary fiction, likely to appeal to the most ambitious of teen readers. Full reviews can be found on SLJ’s website.
Library Journal Best Books 2011: YA Lit for Adults
Reading a book photo by the bbp.
