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.
December’s Big Picture
The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 upended the discussion around women’s reproductive rights for anybody concerned with abortion access, regardless of political affiliation. This month’s Big Picture, Biology Lessons by Melissa Kantor, is a nuanced take on teen pregnancy post-Roe, one that could be rightly read as an update to the familiar YA problem novel, told from the perspective of a pregnant Texas teen who knows what she wants but accepts that there isn’t one right answer to an unwanted pregnancy. While the life-saving importance of abortion access is made clear, the book manages to highlight the personal without excluding the political and favors truthful pain over tragic histrionics, ultimately allowing a big, bright, and complicated future for its main character.
Coming Soon: 2024 Blue Ribbons 
Our best books of the year for 2024 will be available on January 1, 2025. In the meantime, view last year’s winners here, or check out our archive of winners from previous years.
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.
Cover illustration from Biology Lessons by Melissa Kantor. Illustration copyright © 2025 Reproduced by permission of the publisher Macmillan.
