The Lerner Blog

I like this. Not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because of a certain “aesthetic coarseness” on my part. http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/embedRead more "“Children, believe it or not, are the first line of defense for every community.”"

Did you miss the May issue of School Library Journal? Don’t worry, here’s a recap of the Graphic Universe titles that were profiled. The Ferret’s a Footby Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue This makes an amiable addition to the series. Guinea pig detective Sasspants and his manic hamster assistant, Hamisher, are among the […]Read more "More Scooby Doo Than Nancy Drew"

  Cities around the country are preparing for their annual Gay Pride festivals this month. I was a teen when my hometown—Madison, Wisconsin—had its first gay pride parade. It’s amazing to have seen the shift, in my own lifetime, from the parade as a controversial, even risky enterprise to just another summer festival. Nonetheless, the […]Read more "Coming Out"

Once upon a time, Andrew Karre and I took a fiction writing class together. From time to time, someone in the class would criticize part of a classmate’s story for containing events or details that were unbelievable. Inevitably, when the writer had a chance to respond to the critique, he or she would say, “But […]Read more "“But It Really Happened!”"

You know how you hear about baseball players who eat scrambled eggs for good luck before games or always wear red socks when they’re pitching? Well, I’m sort of the same way with editing. Now, I’m not quite as extreme as Mark Fidrych of the Tigers, who talked to baseballs during games and insisted a […]Read more "Very Superstitious"

<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Iv0MKTW5jJs/Tee69o_4GGI/AAAAAAAAAuc/pX21PgbpnXs/video68a735eecdd3%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('6ef4b090-dd69-4bb5-9da3-c90aedb943b3'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = " http://www.youtube.com/v/Sbqv3MwwVd8&hl=en“;” alt=””> There was a flurry of discussion on #yalitchat last week about the indispensability (or not) of romance in YA. I think this was the match that sparked the tinder: @cafecliche: Do you think YA without a central romance can sell? I […]Read more "“Skip to the End.”"

The School Library Journal recently reviewed Detective Frankenstein by Alaya Johnson and Yuko Ota, book 17 in the Twisted Journeys series. In addition to their review, they offered some history on the interactive genre known as gamebooks. this piqued my interest, so I went searching for more information. Did you know there are three types […]Read more "Gamebooks and Twisted Journeys"

There is room on the web for all kinds of obsession, and this is one of the things I love about it. I have an RSS reader full of lovingly collected and cultivated obsessions, and not a day goes by when I don’t happily flip through them. And not a week goes by when I […]Read more "You want what for $9.99?"

My neighbor’s social studies teacher worked with some of his eighth-grade boy students to pull together a variety show about the evolution of dance. The students put it on for their school, and it was a huge hit, as you’ll hear when you watch the video below. I think you’ll agree that any teacher who […]Read more "The Evolution of Dance: T(w)een Style"