Articles

October 12, 2026 by Travis Jonker

Where Are All the Caldecott Winner Sequels?

I was assuming that there would be more Caldecott Medal winner sequels than Newbery Medal sequels over the same time period, but I was wrong.

October 8, 2026 by Travis Jonker

What’s Your Chaos Tolerance Level? or When the Read Aloud Works TOO WELL

Every school librarian has a different chaos tolerance level when it comes to storytime, and I've seen them all.

October 6, 2026 by Travis Jonker

The Most Popular Books in Our School Library RIGHT NOW

Here it is, the unfiltered, up-to-the-second look at the most popular books in our school library. For context: our school serves kindergarten through third grade. In this popular titles list you’ll find some Jasper the Rabbit, some American Girl and Ripley’s, and of course, a solid showing from Dav Pilkey (with a sprinkling of Dory, […]

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Notes on September 2026

September 30, 2026 by Travis Jonker

In September . . . . . . we checked in on some Newbery and Caldecott prospects. The Mock Newbery and Caldecott lists over at Goodreads are always worth a peek. . . . I shared 10 (and then a lot more than 10) books I’m looking forward to this fall. Why share just 10? […]

Books for WHO WOULD WIN? Fans

September 25, 2026 by Travis Jonker

Over at the New York Times, I shared 10 books for fans of the the Who Would Win? series. I leaned into the “versus” aspect of those books, with some fiction, nonfiction, picture book, and early reader options. FYI: I’m sharing the gift link to read below, but the New York Times website has changed […]

Halloween is Coming! 17 New Books to Celebrate Spookytime

September 22, 2026 by Travis Jonker

A roundup of 2026 Halloween books.

Every Single Thing About This ‘AI Tool’ Is Wrong

September 21, 2026 by Travis Jonker

When I saw the headline, “Have a Book Idea? This $40 AI Tool Can Handle the Story, Art, and Layout” one word popped into my head: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I could do a sentence-by-sentence reaction to this article (in, ugh, “Entrepreneur” no less), but my feelings can really just be summed up by Oscar’s reaction to Angela’s […]

It’s Dot Day! Here Are Some Ways to Celebrate

September 15, 2026 by Travis Jonker

Today (September 15) is International Dot Day – a day all about celebrating creativity. It’s based on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. We celebrate every year in our library, and here are some of the things we do. We visit the website I like to show this to students first, so they […]

Cover Reveal! LITTLE TURTLE POND by Carter Higgins and Me

September 14, 2026 by Travis Jonker

How It Started: How It’s Going: (Click to enlarge) Little Turtle Pond (written by Carter Higgins and illustrated by me) publishes on May 4th, 2027. Carter calls it Chicka Chicka Boom Boom meets Rosie’s Walk, and I think that sums it up perfectly. Little Turtle Pond is a rhythmic, rhyming, read aloud and I can’t […]