For immediate release | December 16, 2013
Book Links magazine announces top 30 titles from 2013 for K–8 classrooms and libraries
CHICAGO - Book Links magazine announces the annual annotated Lasting Connections list, considered an essential resource for children’s librarians, school library media specialists and K–8 educators. The list spotlights the editors’ selections of the 30 best 2013 picture books, novels and informational titles for the K-8 classroom, all selected for their natural connections across the curriculum and to the Common Core State Standards.
“It’s tough to choose only 30 selections from among the excellent fiction and informational youth books published each year,” said Book Links Editor Gillian Engberg. “The titles on our 2013 Lasting Connections list lend themselves to broad use across the curriculum and range from a stirring, picture-book portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahalia Jackson to a fantastical thriller about a young goblin-catcher in Victorian England.”
2013 Lasting Connections selections
Language Arts
“Brush of the Gods.” By Lenore Look. (Random/Schwartz & Wade)
“Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists.” Ed. by Chris Duffy. (First Second)
“Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems.” By Marilyn Singer. (Dial)
“Ghost Hawk.” By Susan Cooper. (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry)
“How to Catch a Bogle.” By Catherine Jinks. (Harcourt)
“Little Red Writing.” By Joan Holub. (Chronicle)
“P.S. Be Eleven.” By Rita Williams-Garcia. (Amistad)
“Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War.” By Helen Frost. (Farrar/Frances Foster)
“Stardines Swim High across the Sky: And Other Poems.” By Jack Prelutsky. (Greenwillow)
“The Thing about Luck.” By Cynthia Kadohata. (Atheneum)
“Year of the Jungle.” By Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic)
Mathematics
“The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos.” By Deborah Heiligman. (Roaring Brook)
“Millions, Billions, and Trillions: Understanding Big Numbers.” By David A. Adler. (Holiday)
Science
“The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest—and Most Surprising—Animals on Earth.” By Steve Jenkins. (Houghton)
“Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives.” By Elizabeth Rusch. (Houghton)
“Flight of the Honey Bee.” By Raymond Huber. (Candlewick)
“Locomotive.” By Brian Floca. (Atheneum)
“On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein.” By Jennifer Berne. (Chronicle)
“Things That Float and Things That Don’t.” By David A. Adler. (Holiday)
Social Studies
“Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty.” By Russell Freedman. (Holiday)
“Boxers.” By Gene Luen Yang. (First Second)
“Saints.” By Gene Luen Yang. (First Second)
“Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909.” By Michelle Markel. (HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray)
“Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers.” By Tanya Lee Stone. (Candlewick)
“Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People.” By Susan Goldman Rubin. (Abrams)
“Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty.” By Tonya Bolden. (Abrams)
“Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II.” By Martin W. Sandler. (Bloomsbury)
“Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song.” By Andrea Davis Pinkney. (Little, Brown)
“Master George’s People: George Washington, His Slaves, and His Revolutionary Transformation.” By Marfe Ferguson Delano. (National Geographic)
“Parrots over Puerto Rico.” By Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore. (Lee & Low)
“When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders.” By J. Patrick Lewis. (Chronicle)
The list is announced in Book Links, a quarterly supplement to Booklist, and also in the free e-newsletter Booklist’s Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries, which delivers easy, practical ideas and activities that help librarians and teachers integrate children's and young-adult books into the curriculum. Each monthly e-newsletter also features a sneak peek at what's coming up in future issues of Book Links and Booklist magazines.
Book Links helps librarians, teachers and parents connect children with high-quality books. This practical, easy-to-use magazine puts a new spin on how to introduce books and media that capture and hold children’s interest. With thematic bibliographies, author features, reviews of new titles and articles that tie books to the Common Core and STEM, Book Links is a one-stop resource for librarians and teachers who want all the teaching sources on a subject at their fingertips. Individual copies of the Book Links “Lasting Connections” issue may be purchased for $9 (prepaid) by writing to Book Links Back Issues, 50. E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.
Booklist is the book review magazine of the American Library Association, considered an essential collection development and readers’ advisory tool by thousands of librarians for more than 100 years. Booklist Online includes a growing archive of 135,000+ reviews available to subscribers as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media.
Related Links
Booklist announces influential 2013 Top of the List selections
Featured News
May 15, 2025
ALA raises alarm over termination of Digital Equity Act grants
The American Library Association (ALA) raised alarm over the Trump Administration’s cancellation of the Digital Equity Act grant program as of May 9.
May 1, 2025
Federal Court Halts Dismantling of Federal Library Agency in ALA Lawsuit
Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a temporary restraining order to block the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
April 7, 2025
American Library Association, AFSCME Challenge Trump Administration Gutting of Institute of Museum and Library Services
American Library Association, AFSCME Challenge Trump Administration Gutting of Institute of Museum and Library Services
April 7, 2025
American Library Association kicks off National Library Week with the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 and the State of America’s Libraries Report
The American Library Association (ALA) today released the highly anticipated Top 10 Most Challenged Books List.
March 15, 2025
ALA statement on White House assault on the Institute of Museum and Library Services
An executive order issued by the Trump administration on Friday night, March 14, calls for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the nation’s only federal agency for America’s libraries.
February 10, 2025
American Library Association launches public supporter program
The American Library Association launched a new supporter program on February 10, 2025, inviting the public to join the fight to protect libraries and library professionals at a pivotal moment in our country’s history.
January 26, 2025
ALA to U. S. Department of Education: Book bans are real
The American Library Association responds to the Department of Education's dismissal of complaints about censorship and discrimination: the "effort to terminate protections... advances the demonstrably false claim that book bans are not real."
January 22, 2025
New ALA Initiative Asks Advocates to “Show Up for Our Libraries”
Today the American Library Association (ALA) launched Show Up for Our Libraries, a campaign to harness the collective power of library advocates to influence elected leaders and policymakers.
January 13, 2025
American Library Association extends support to libraries affected by Los Angeles wildfires
The American Library Association extends our deepest sympathies to those who have been affected by and to those who have lost everything during the Los Angeles area fires.
December 10, 2024
PLA provides funding to more than 100 public libraries as part of $2.7 million effort to boost digital literacy
The Public Library Association (PLA) has selected more than 139 public libraries across 42 states to host digital literacy workshops, powered by a generous $2.7 million contribution from AT&T.