children's books

Missouri lawmakers cut the Imagination Library's budget for the upcoming fiscal year by more than half — from about $6 million to $2 million. The state education department said it won't have the money to enroll new children in the program after next month.

More than 200 students across Kansas City worked with artists and fabricators from the children’s literary museum to create models of what their own exhibits could look like based on a book of their choosing.

Looking for a powerful memoir, a cozy bedtime story, a creepy collection — or all of the above for a potential holiday gift? KCUR's Up To Date invited a librarian, professor and bookstore owner to offer the favorites titles they read in the last year.

The now-void law, passed by Missouri lawmakers in 2022, expanded the state’s regulations on pornography to create the offense of providing explicit sexual material to a student. The state's library associations sued, arguing that it undermined the First Amendment rights of students.

Fairway’s independent bookstore Rainy Day Books has been going strong for 50 years, thanks to the large community it’s built. To celebrate, Rainy Day’s founder will share highlights and stories of the big name authors who have helped propel the small Kansas shop to the national stage.

Derrick Barnes felt there wasn't wide enough representation of Black people in the books he read as a kid. The Kansas City native's new picture book, “I Got You,” is his latest effort to write characters who can "just be human," he says.

When the school year ends, the need for literacy support does not. Here’s help in finding in-person and online summer reading programs around the Kansas City area.

Find books in every genre, hard to find titles, works by local authors and reading clubs and other events at Kansas City's many indie shops. Ahead of Independent Bookstore Day this April, here are some bookstores around the region to shop at.

Soman Chainani’s best-selling “The School for Good and Evil” series was adapted into a Netflix movie in 2022. His debut graphic novel, “Coven,” marks the return of a trio of witches from the successful series.

A special Kansas City kickball tournament offers a chance for blind and visually impaired students to play — using beeping balls and bases. Plus: A former Hallmark artist has a new graphic novel that shows how being a "Mexikid" can be universal.

Pedro Martín will discuss his graphic memoir, “Mexikid,” which follows his family's trip to bring his grandfather to the United States from Mexico, on Oct. 12 during the Kansas City Public Library and Missouri Humanities' Heartland Book Festival.

Missouri legislators this year approved $11 million to fully fund Parton's program that sends free books to children ages 5 and under. Parton came to Kansas City's briefly-renamed Folly Theater to celebrate — and sing a few songs.