Read On!

This November, honor Native American Heritage Month by reading the following JLG Selections that pay tribute to Indigenous stories and voices. These lists have been curated by editorial experts for your library.

Current/Upcoming JLG Titles 

Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills    
Sports Elementary: November 2024  
“The pursuit of a dream will heal you. Do this and you could have wings of an eagle.” After Billy Mills lost his mother as a child, he followed his father’s advice, finding “strength when I move.” Coauthor Donna Janell Bowan and Mills, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, share the story of Mills’s childhood and his perseverance as a runner, eventually competing—and winning a gold medal—at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.  

American Indians’ Right to Vote  
Instructional Nonfiction History Grades 3-5: November 2024  
With voting rights and access commonly featured in today’s news, this book provides a timely, focused look at past and current issues facing...

Celebrate National Women’s History Month with a few recommendations from our esteemed editorial team!

Learn more about how our Editorial Team selects the best books for our Spanish categories, why representation in literature is so important for young readers, and the titles you can read to make Hispanic literature a part of your everyday life! 

Aprende más sobre como nuestro equipo editorial selecciona los mejores libros para nuestras categorías en español, porque la representación en la literatura juvenil es tan importante para los lectores y los títulos que puedes leer para hacer la literatura hispana parte de tu vida diaria.  

Maura Jortner is an author, educator, theatre extraordinaire, former puppeteer, lover of Disney World and Dole Whip, a mother, a wife, and an inspiring advocate for kindness. She is currently a literature and creative writing professor at Baylor University, holding both a bachelor's degree and master’s degree in literature, and a PhD in theatre history. During Maura’s interview, she explores the autonomy of names and identity, encourages us to look for a hidden figure on her book cover, and gets real about the messiness of life, love, family, and companionship.

“We all mess up from time to time,” Maura said. “We all make mistakes, and that’s just what makes us human, however, we must also repair our mistakes and fix what we have broken. That’s another part of being human: we must work to make things right.”

Read on to learn more about a special Cat-and-Mouse game, the life rule that Maura lives by, and why middle school novels deserve to be filled with difficult—yet authentic—themes...

Throughout elementary and middle school, I read nearly every title written by Margaret Peterson Haddix, so having the opportunity to sit down with my literary hero over coffee was naturally the best day of my life. When I met Margaret, she ordered an iced chai latte and immediately commented on the beautiful, summer weather that Ohio was producing. Everything about her screamed “author,” like the way she thoughtfully answered my questions, or the way she’d stop to think about her words and speak them in a calm, cool, and collected manner. She was humble, and loving, and cared deeply for the human spirit. “If kids are going through hard times themselves,” Margaret said, “I hope that this book can be healing for them to read.”

I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed speaking with Margaret, because getting to know more about her outlook on time travel, her Lego-piecing method for constructing a character, or the way she cares tirelessly for the middle school (and human)...