Children’s and Youth Programs and Services
Children's librarians will feel informed and get inspired by this book's many innovative, research-backed strategies for helping kids succeed and families prosper.
Designed to support state curricula and teaching standards, this full-color book combines facsimiles of primary sources from the Library’s unparalleled collections with source citations, information about the sources’ origins, teaching strategies, and guides to additional online resources.
Librarians and educators will find this ready-to-use programming book a powerful time-saving tool for presenting sustainability-themed events, discussions, community service opportunities, and much more.
Generation Z and Alpha youth are facing mental health crises that many adults are unprepared to address. There have been dramatic rises in the numbers of young people reporting feelings of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought such a devastating impact on mental health of young people that it sparked national and global conversations, but experts say that the pandemic only exacerbated problematic trends already well underway. One small silver lining is the proliferation of new fiction and nonfiction geared towards children who are struggling, including books with themes related to social and emotional learning, psychological wellbeing, and specific mental health challenges. Edited by former public and school librarians, this important resource explores the exciting landscape of recent children’s literature and provides helpful frameworks and strategies for adults to think about the evaluation, curation, and use of these books with young people. Readers will discover
- books for children dealing with the cancer diagnosis of a relative, illnesses, death, loss, and grief, with suggested activities that can be paired with these titles to further assist young readers in the grieving and healing process;
- fantasy bibliotherapy to help children understand, process, and cope with anxiety-provoking situations in their lives;
- graphic novels that promote mental and emotional wellbeing, including those that depict common childhood mental health conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder;
- guidance on reaching historically underserved population groups such as Black girls, Muslim children, and young Latin American migrants; and
- using children’s literature to support the unique needs of autistic mental health.
"Bratt keeps this text laser focused on the practical application of celebrating difference and making race explicit when working with pre-readers and their caregivers."
— Intellectual Freedom Blog
Exploring practices that have proved beneficial and effective, and explaining why, this book will provide readers with suggestions on developing good practice.
"A businesslike and comprehensive defense of manga in today’s library and classroom that requires no prior knowledge of the format and will provide library professionals the framework to develop a manga collection, program, or course from scratch. "
— School Library Journal
"Thorough and easy to use, this guide should be something read by anyone working with (or raising!) children of any age."
— School Library Journal
Named a 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
"This timely handbook provides creative opportunities for teen librarians and libraries to connect with teens and with their surrounding communities. A great choice for young adult librarians."
— School Library Journal
"[This book] unequivocally achieves its purpose of providing guidance, best practices, and examples of successful library services for autistic children and youth to public and school librarians and library staff."
— The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion
Clarifying the relationship between planning, program development, and evaluation, the five simple steps outlined in this book will help youth services staff conduct solid community assessments and integrate OBPE into their work.
"This is a well-organized title with very specific strategies for success and a gentle, conversational tone ... Recommended for any school or public library professional who has felt trepidation about introducing an RPG program."
— School Library Journal
