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Story behind the Story: Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch
By Gillian Engberg

The Changing Faces of Fantasy

Speculative fiction allows for infinitely diverse world building, but there is often a puzzling sameness about its human characters, an overwhelmingly Caucasian bunch. Nnedi Okorafor’s award-winning youth novels offer a refreshing contrast: wildly imagined adventures rooted deeply in Africa and parallel worlds.

Quick Tips: Groundbreaking Books of the Last 20 Years
By Gillian Engberg

In celebration of Book Links magazine’s twentieth anniversary, we’ve asked our regular contributors to name the most groundbreaking books published in the last two decades. Their choices have appeared throughout the past year in Book Links, and we’ve collected all of them here in one celebratory list. Taken together, they represent some of the most exciting directions in books for children and young adults over the past 20 years. —Ed.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey

Action! Thrills! Underpants! The wildly popular saga begins with The Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997) and features George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two young smart alecks who pull pranks and create their very own hilarious superhero: Captain Underpants. Full of Flip-O-Rama comics and toilet humor, Pilkey’s series has mesmerized elementary-school students, including even the most-reluctant readers, around the world.—Ernie J. Cox

Book Links June 2011 issue

In the latest issue of Book Links, we bring to a close our year-long celebration of the magazine’s twentieth anniversary with a look at the most groundbreaking books and authors of the past two decades. Authenticated Booklist Online subscribers can access all of the articles listed below, while the articles “Katniss, Harry, and Percy: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the Lure of Fantasy Series” and “The Changing Art of Storytelling” are available to anyone visiting the site. —Ed.

Hot Topics: Batter Up!
By Anastasia Suen

On sandlots across the nation, teams of all ages are playing baseball during these warm months. For young fans searching for summer-reading suggestions, offer the following recent baseball biographies, which reflect the diverse backgrounds of players throughout history. Batter up!