Renaissance Learning has released its annual report on what children are reading. The NYDaily News books blog takes offense at some of the more popular books named in the report, suggesting that kids and teens deserve to be challenged by better literature. The Huffington Post mines through the report to discover that American teenagers on average are still reading at or near the level of fifth graders.
Against Captain Underpants
Afraid of Everyone
Recommended Reading: This moving essay for The Rumpus by Elizabeth Weinberg on depression and The National’s 2010 album High Violet. To satisfy any further musical urges, check out our Torch Ballads and Jukebox Music features section.
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Cellpoems Poetry and Reviews
Poems and reviews in 140 characters or less. NY Book Bench has a great article about Cellpoems, and how they fit into the swiftly changing literary landscape of today.
Gigantic’s Giants
The latest issue of Gigantic–featuring interviews with Lynne Tillman and Gordon Lish, and fiction by Diane Williams, John Haskell, and Kim Chinquee–lives up to its name in content in spite of its portable (i.e. subway-friendly) size.
High Praise for Rebecca Solnit
In a new issue of N1BR, Nikil Saval takes a look at Rebecca Solnit‘s latest, calling its predecessor River of Shadows “surely one of the best books of the past decade.”