The Reading Culture

Our Job is to Live: Jasmine Warga on Belonging and Radical Hope

Slow Reveal: Gayle Forman on Friends, Flaws, and Finding Immortality

Stories Left Untold: Ibi Zoboi on Secrets Lost and Found

Touched for the Very First Time: Soman Chainani on Books That Turn Scrollers into Readers

Mixtape: Mychal Threets Lays Out His Life in Books

Good Luck, They’re Yours: Sharon Draper on Giving Students Room to Read

We Contain Multitudes: Debbie Levy on the Dangers of Reductionist Thinking

Art Against the Machine: Aida Salazar on Writing for the Resistance

In the Heights: Jerry Craft Subverts Expectations

Porch Stories: Jewell Parker Rhodes on Ghosts, History, and Staying Open to Love

Scratching the Surface: Vashti Harrison on Going Past Skin Deep

Indomitable: Yamile Saied Méndez on Puberty, Dictatorship, and Brave Women

The Reading Culture: Yearbook 2024

We Are Always Rising: Andrea Davis Pinkney Spreads Stories and Hope

Revisit - Hero of the Anti-Heroes: Gregory Maguire on the Value of Second Chances

Tiny Spaces: Mac Barnett on Why Kids Are Better Than Adults at Reading Picture Books

Keep Me Out of It: Eliot Schrefer on the Costs and Benefits of Self-Erasure

A Quiet House: Katherine Marsh on Why We Need to Turn Down the Noise

Rebel With Claws: Zoraida Córdova on the Pleasures of Nonconformity

Always in the Room: Elizabeth Acevedo on Ancestors, Neighbors, and Secret Mentors

Worthy of Protecting: Ari Tison Faces Down Monsters With Words

Surreal Talk: A.S. King on Validating Teen Trauma

Natural Resources: Katherine Applegate on the Wisdom and Solace of Animals

Revisit - Mixed Feelings: Matt de la Peña on Balancing Being Stoic and Sensitive

Revisit - Ignorance Isn’t Bliss: Sabaa Tahir on the Need to Bear Witness

You Are Flawed, You Are Messy, You Are Loved: Shannon Hale on Hope and Heroines

Unstoppable Force, Movable Object: Dhonielle Clayton on Levering Children's Books Into the 21st Century

Summon the Tiger: Minh Lê Blurs the Boundaries

Twilight Zone: Julie Murphy on Self-Doubt and Self-Love

Filling in the Blanks: Cece Bell on the Comedy of the Absurd

Hero of the Anti-Heroes: Gregory Maguire on the Value of Second Chances

Simple Thing, Felt: Nina LaCour on Unwrapping a Moment

The World As It Should Be: LeUyen Pham Illustrates an Ideal

If Your Heart Breaks, It’s Working: Nicola Yoon on Love and Other Risky Behaviors

The Blackest Book Ever: Derrick Barnes on Writing Unapologetically

Rabbit Holes: Brandy Colbert on Deep Research and Deep Characters

The One and Only John: Mr. Schu Turns His Heart Inside Out

A Gut Punch and a Hug: Mark Oshiro on Practicing Vulnerability

The Reading Culture: Yearbook 2023

The Things We Know: Oge Mora on Finding the Magic in the Everyday

Visibility Cloak: Hena Khan on Commonality Over Conformity

A Good Guest: Daniel Nayeri on the Obligations of a Storyteller

Revisit - The Gift of Fear: Lamar Giles on How Horror Helps Kids Cope

Family Ties: Dan Santat on Childhood, Parenthood, and Finding Himself

Inner Section: Kacen Callender on Trauma, Healing, and Magic

Cool To Be You: Kwame Alexander On Authenticity

Here, Extrapolated: Neal Shusterman on The Art of World Building

Negative Space: Jon Klassen on Restraint

Revisit - The Heart of the Story: Karina Yan Glaser Talks Empathy in Writing

Revisit - Voice Through Verse: Renée Watson on Poetry as Empowerment