Welcome to The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
We are one of the nation’s leading children’s book review journals for school and public librarians. We provide concise summaries and critical evaluations to help you find the books you need for your library’s collection.
May’s Big Picture
Gabe in the After
By Shannon Doleski
Fourteen-year-old Gabe is pretty certain it’s the end of the world after a virus ripped through and collapsed modern society. Yet when an upbeat newcomer joins Gabe’s small group of survivors, his cynicism is challenged by her reminders that life and joy can continue, even in dire times. Current readers of Doleski’s Gabe in the After might share Gabe’s sentiments, as events once relegated to history books—a global pandemic, an international war, an unstable world order—are now very much in the present, complicated by the existential threat of climate change. If it’s not the end of the world, life certainly feels unsteady, but this month’s Big Picture invites readers to find that tender, elusive spot between resigned nihilism and blind hope in a world that is both brutal and beautiful.
2021 Blue Ribbon Awards
In a year of continued uncertainty, a steady stream of brilliant books comforted, challenged, and charged us to push forward through difficult circumstances. We offer our guide of the best books of 2021 in the hope we can support those struggling to get the right books into the hands of the right reader.
75 Years of Children’s Literature
The 75th volume year of the Bulletin is being commemorated in a digital timeline exhibit at https://ccb.ischool.illinois.edu/ccb75/. As the Bulletin prepares to move into its future, take a look at its past, in glorious black and white and on bleed-through onionskin paper.
ALA Awards
The American Association has announced its Youth Media Awards. You can check out the full list on our awards page or at the ALA website.
The Center for Children’s Books
The Bulletin is partnered with the Center for Children’s Books, a research center whose mission is to facilitate the creation and dissemination of exemplary and progressive research and scholarship related to youth-focused resources, literature, and librarianship.
