ALA Reports Record Spike in Book Titles Challenged in 2023 (publishersweekly.com)

Walmart announced all U.S. store locations will close for Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, as a ‘thank you’ to associates for their continued hard work during the pandemic. Associate Elizabeth Brown, a people lead from Store 5260 in Rogers, Arkansas, shared the exciting news before a crowd of approximately 1,000 associates during the retailer’s Associate Celebration meeting. This is the second year running that Walmart has closed stores on Thanksgiving Day to give time back to associates. Throughout the pandemic, Walmart has continued to place a heavy emphasis on the well-being of its associates. Recently, the company expanded access to no-cost counseling and extended its COVID-19 emergency leave policy through Sept. 30. Closing its stores on Thanksgiving Day is an additional way the retailer is thanking associates for their dedication to serving customers and their perseverance throughout the pandemic.

Learning technology company HMH and NWEA, a not-for-profit, research and educational services organization serving K-12 students, announced today they have signed an agreement for HMH to acquire NWEA. Upon closing, NWEA will operate as a division of HMH, with its current offerings, including its flagship assessment—MAP Growth—remaining under the NWEA brand. NWEA assessment solutions will be integrated with HMH curriculum on HMH’s platform to create a combined offering that links interim assessment to instruction. HMH is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, a private investment firm that focuses on companies that provide technology and technology-enabled solutions to government and commercial customers worldwide. By combining NWEA’s assessments with HMH’s curriculum, HMH is expected to deliver a holistic solution for educators that helps them understand how students are growing academically and what areas need the most focus to maximize that growth. Most importantly, this solution will turn insights from assessments into content recommendations that help teachers address student-specific skill gaps and advance student learning.

Remember when Banned Books Week used to be billed as a “celebration” of the freedom to read? This year, Banned Books Week (running October 1–7) will once again be more like a call to arms, as new surveys and reports show that a well-organized political movement is continuing to drive record numbers of book bans across the nation. For more than 40 years, the ALA’s Banned Books Week has spotlighted attempts to censor books in libraries and schools, uniting librarians, booksellers, publishers, and readers in support of free expression. Reading advocate, writer, and actor LeVar Burton is leading this year’s Banned Books Week as honorary chair.