Characters and storyline always come first, but I knew very early on that I wanted #Odder to be in free verse. There's so much you can do with line breaks, rhythm, and sound in verse — and it just felt right for a book about the ocean. 💙🦦 #mglit MacKids Books

We're excited to announce that "Weird Kid" by Greg van Eekhout is one of our 2025 IL Bluestem Award nominated books! #BluestemAward AISLEd

We're excited to announce that "Wretched Waterpark" by Kiersten White is one of our 2025 IL Bluestem Award nominated books! #BluestemAward AISLEd

Illinois educators...don't miss this!

We are looking for an Illinois class who would love to announce the winner of the 2024 Bluestem award! Enter for the chance to win the opportunity here: forms.gle/9QoU61z3DN7r2b…

If you’re near the Glenside Library you MUST drop everything & go there now! Matthew Swanson & Robbi Behr are there signing books! 😱😱

Exciting news! 🎉🎉

If you’re in the Chicago area, you’re going to want to attend this amazing event!!

We love connecting readers to our nominated authors! We are so grateful to all of our authors & illustrators who have taken the time to meet w/ our readers through our author chats! 💙

Today is the last day to get your votes in!

Allergic has won the 2024 Bluestem Award! Congratulations to Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter. Special thanks to all the students who participated by reading the nominated books, & to the librarians and teachers who promoted the Bluestem Award program. AISLEd

Congratulations to our top 3 Bluestem Award winning books! Thank you to all the readers who participated by reading our nominated books. A huge thank you to all of the amazing authors who took the time to talk to our readers during our Bluestem Author Chats. AISLEd

We are looking for volunteers to help create resources for our 2025 Bluestem List! If you are interested, please fill out this Google Form tinyurl.com/2025ResourcesV….

💦 Slide engineering at our Edison Elementary Bluestem Award Challenge Reward Party! Maybe it was more of a pool slide…

Our Edison Elementary Bluestem Award Challenge Reward 🎉 partygoers 🎈 absolutely 💕 doing the circuitry for the solar panels to make their Brown Dog Gadgets Solar Critters! #newpet

What a fun way to celebrate Bluestem readers!

Which Bluestem nominated books have you read this summer? 📚

Which Bluestem nominated books have you read this summer? 😊📚