Libraries, Literacy, and Artificial Intelligence: Books for International School Library Month

Every October, International School Library Month gives school librarians an opportunity to celebrate the important role libraries play in learning. For 2026, the International Association of School Librarianship has chosen an especially timely theme: “Libraries, Literacy and Artificial Intelligence.”

Artificial intelligence is already part of students’ lives. They encounter algorithms in games, recommendations, search results, digital assistants, creative tools, and increasingly in the classroom. That makes the school library an ideal place to help students understand not only what AI can do, but how to ask questions, evaluate information, think critically, create responsibly, and recognize the continuing value of human ideas and imagination.

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The following books provide starting points for those conversations from picture books through high school. Some address artificial intelligence directly, while others use fiction to raise bigger questions about technology, identity, creativity, truth, and what it means to be human.

Picture Books and Primary Grades

ARTificial Intelligence — David Biedrzycki

Fiction https://link.amazon/B03QIPxg4

Robot isn’t very successful at the job he was built to do. When he ventures into the city, however, he discovers art—and begins exploring creativity and finding his own place in the world.

Possible library uses: Pair this with a discussion about whether computers can be creative. What is the difference between making an image and having an idea? Students could create their own artwork and explain their choices.

What Is AI? The Curious Kid’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence — Neal Layton

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B0j4xaDAi

A colorful, accessible introduction that answers young children’s questions about artificial intelligence while emphasizing the human brain’s capabilities.

Possible library uses: A good choice for introducing AI vocabulary before doing other International School Library Month activities.

ABCs of Artificial Intelligence — Chris Ferrie

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B0bVYoSZm

An alphabet-based introduction to concepts associated with artificial intelligence and computing. The familiar ABC format can make a complicated subject less intimidating for younger students.

Possible library uses: Have students create a class or library AI alphabet after reading. Older elementary students could research and write definitions for the younger grades.

ABCs of Artificial Intelligence$6.99 · Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Should Leif Trust Birdie the AI? — Stella Storytime

Fiction / Digital Literacy https://link.amazon/B0412QiL1

When an AI character gives Leif information that doesn’t seem quite right, he has to figure out how to determine what is true. The book is designed for ages 5–8 and emphasizes questioning information, checking facts, and consulting trusted adults.

Possible library uses: This one connects especially well to the literacy part of the theme. Ask, “How do we know if something is true?” Then let students practice checking a simple fact using library resources.

Elementary Books

A Kids Book About AI — Neha Shukla

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B0aCajVGN

Rather than treating AI as either something magical or something frightening, this introduction encourages children to understand the technology that is increasingly part of their world.

Possible library uses: Use it to begin a KWL activity: What do students already know, what do they want to know, and what did they learn about AI?

See Inside Artificial Intelligence — Alex Frith and Victoria Williams; illustrated by Beatrix Hatcher

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B00aWZQ1B

This interactive lift-the-flap book explores questions such as how machines can produce stories, how AI works, and how computer intelligence compares with human intelligence.

Possible library uses: Excellent for a browsing display or STEM station where students can explore independently.

What Is Artificial Intelligence? — Cody Crane

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B06dhdrxi

Part of the A True Book: Our Digital World series, this title introduces students to what AI is and how it is affecting everyday life.

Possible library uses: Pair it with a scavenger hunt asking students to identify places they encounter AI during an ordinary day.

The Wild Robot — Peter Brown

Fiction https://link.amazon/B05cNpEVN

Roz is a robot who unexpectedly finds herself on an island populated by animals. Although this isn’t a book about today’s generative AI, the story provides an accessible way to explore intelligence, learning, adaptation, relationships, and what qualities we consider “human.”

Possible library uses: Ask students: Can a machine learn to care? Their answers can become the basis for a library discussion or writing activity.

The One and Only Ivan — Katherine Applegate

Fiction / Literacy Connection https://link.amazon/B06vRM0F5

This isn’t an AI book at all—and that’s precisely why I would consider including a few titles like it in an ISLM display. Ivan’s story demonstrates the power of storytelling, observation, memory, art, and communication.

Possible library uses: Pair it with AI books under a display question such as “What Can Humans—and Stories—Do?”

Middle School Books

12 Uses for Artificial Intelligence in Education — Marne Ventura

Nonfiction https://link.amazon/B07bR4ZOR

This 2026 title looks specifically at ways AI is changing education, including personalized learning and intelligent tutoring systems. It is part of the AI in the World series, which uses a hi-lo format with middle-grade content written at approximately a fourth-grade reading level.

Possible library uses: Particularly useful for discussing the technology students may encounter in their own schools. Students could debate where AI might be useful in education—and where people should remain central.

Artificial Intelligence: A Graphic History — Emma Carlson Berne

Nonfiction / Graphic https://link.amazon/B04yp3RY1

This graphic-format introduction covers machine learning, generative AI, the technology’s development, and some of the concerns surrounding it.

Possible library uses: A good option for students who might not choose a traditional technology book. It could also support a timeline activity on AI history.

The Wild Robot Escapes — Peter Brown

Fiction https://link.amazon/B06v4QqeC

Students who meet Roz in The Wild Robot can continue considering questions about autonomy, intelligence, belonging, and the relationship between humans and machines.

Possible library uses: Compare Roz with today’s AI. Which things Roz can do remain science fiction? Which resemble technology we already have?

The Last Cuentista — Donna Barba Higuera

Science Fiction https://link.amazon/B09X1VjzF

Petra Peña awakens centuries in the future to discover that humanity’s past has been erased. Her memories of her grandmother’s stories become something extraordinarily valuable.

Possible library uses: An excellent addition to the literacy side of this theme. What happens when stories and human history disappear? Who preserves knowledge—and why does that matter?

The Giver — Lois Lowry

Fiction https://link.amazon/B081BuXYX

Lowry’s classic dystopian novel offers another avenue into conversations about memory, knowledge, choice, and societies that let systems make decisions for people.

Possible library uses: Ask students to consider the difference between having information and possessing wisdom.

High School / YA

Scythe — Neal Shusterman

Science Fiction https://link.amazon/B033f1mEw

In a future where disease and natural death have essentially been conquered, an advanced artificial intelligence called the Thunderhead manages much of society. Humans, however, retain responsibility for one particularly consequential area of decision-making.

Possible library uses: Excellent for discussing whether AI should make decisions simply because it can. Where should human judgment remain necessary?

The Illuminae Files — Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Science Fiction https://link.amazon/B0jkVBGRa

This YA series combines unconventional storytelling with an artificial intelligence whose decisions raise serious questions about logic, ethics, survival, and trust.

Possible library uses: Older students can examine how an AI might reach a logically defensible conclusion that humans nevertheless find morally troubling.

Feed — M. T. Anderson

Science Fiction https://link.amazon/B0iRp3qUT

In this dystopian novel, people are continuously connected to a digital “feed” that delivers information and advertising directly to them.

Possible library uses: Particularly valuable for information literacy. Who chooses what information we see? How do algorithms influence what we know, buy, believe, or pay attention to?

I, Robot — Isaac Asimov

Classic Science Fiction / Short Stories https://link.amazon/B0dnU9TQo

Asimov’s interconnected robot stories introduced generations of readers to questions surrounding artificial intelligence, rules, reasoning, and unintended consequences.

Possible library uses: Compare older visions of artificial intelligence with today’s technology. What did science fiction writers anticipate correctly—and what did they miss?

Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines — Joy Buolamwini

Nonfiction / Advanced YA https://link.amazon/B06PGsR4N

For mature high-school readers, Buolamwini’s work provides an important counterpoint to books focused primarily on AI’s possibilities. It examines algorithmic bias, facial-recognition technology, and questions of accountability.

Possible library uses: Excellent for research, media literacy, ethics, and discussions about the data used to train technological systems. Technology Books for Children also highlights Unmasking AI among its AI resources.

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You — Janelle Shane

Nonfiction / Older Students https://link.amazon/B09lTbn72

Shane provides an entertaining introduction to how machine-learning systems actually operate—and how strange their results can become when we assume that a machine understands more than it really does.

Possible library uses: A great antidote to the idea that AI “knows everything.” Use examples to introduce hallucinations, training data, pattern recognition, and the importance of verification.

Bringing the Theme Together in the School Library

“Libraries, Literacy and Artificial Intelligence” doesn’t have to mean turning International School Library Month into technology month. In fact, the theme gives librarians an opportunity to show why traditional literacy and information-literacy skills matter more as powerful new technologies become readily available.

Students need to know how to read closely, formulate good questions, locate reliable information, compare sources, recognize bias, distinguish fact from fabrication, credit the work of others, and think for themselves. Schools have long taught and reinforced those skills in libraries.

Artificial intelligence simply gives us a new context in which to practice them.

Consider pairing AI nonfiction with science fiction, books about creativity, and stories that celebrate distinctly human experiences. Create displays that ask questions rather than provide answers: Can a computer be creative? How do you know something is true? Can a machine understand a story? Who should make important decisions? What makes an idea yours?

International School Library Month celebrates more than the resources sitting on library shelves. It celebrates the school library as a place where students learn to read, question, investigate, imagine, create, and think. In an age of artificial intelligence, that role may be more important than ever.

I have not read all of these books. Please preview them for yourself before adding them to your school library.

Library Lady