NEA Releases October Calendar for Young Readers

The National Education Association (NEA) has released its October calendar as part of Read Across America 2024-25. The calendar features books for varying ages of young readers.

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Each month, the NEA features three books - one each for young, middle grade, and young adult readers - that explore a topic relating to diversity and inclusion.

October’s theme is Know Your Power. This month, students are encouraged to find and use their unique strengths, interests, and skills to envision and create success for themselves and for a better world.

The month’s book for elementary students is “Benita and the Night Creatures/Benita y las criaturas nocturnas” by Mariana Llanos. In that book, the titular character loves to read in bed but keeps getting interrupted by a whistling Tunche, a scary Supay and other monstrous creatures from Peruvian lore.

The middle grade selection is “A Little Bit Super: With Small Powers Come Big Problems” by Gary D. Schmidt, Leah Henderson, and  other authors. In each of the book’s stories, young characters are coping with a minor superpower. The characters also discover that their powers can change themselves and their community as they find their voice.

Sajni Patel’s “A Drop of Venom” is the young adult selection. It follows a teenage girl who has been running from monsters for years and meets another teenage girl, who slays them. Their meeting offers the possibility of a new path forward.

About the NEA

The NEA aims to ensure that every student has access to age-appropriate books that show they are reflected and respected. It also opposes efforts to limit students’ access to such books.