Categories
Giveaways

032523_HCWomen’sHistory_Giveaway

We’re giving away five audiobook bundles to five lucky Riot readers!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Star of Fixer Upper, Joanna Gaines reminds us that every piece of our story matters to who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow in The Stories We Tell. In Fitter. Calmer. Stronger., global superstar Ellie Goulding shares her tips for making simple changes in your daily routines that add to foundational changes in approaching health and well-being. Then from Tony- and Emmy-Award-winning actress, Kristin Chenoweth, comes I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts, a meaningful and meme-worthy philosophical journey to inspire you to live the best life you can with the one chance you got.

Categories
Today In Books

Brenda Romero Says It’s Unacceptable She Was Not Credited in TOMORROW, TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW: Today in Books

Prince Harry’s Book Spare Gets Spoofed in Spare Us!

Prince Harry’s bestselling memoir Spare is getting the parody treatment with the book Spare Us! A Harrody. The joke book is very real, and it will be available to buy in the U.K. on April 5. The book cover features an image of Harry with tape covering his mouth, and it was written by Bruno Vincent. It’s still unclear whether the book will be available in the United States.

Brenda Romero Says It’s Unacceptable She Was Not Credited in Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

One of the games developed by the characters in Gabrielle Zevin’s popular, bestselling novel Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has become the center of a real-life debate about crediting ideas is novels. On Thursday, game developer Brenda Romero wrote in a Twitter thread that Zevin had pulled the ideas for the novel’s game “Solution” from Romero’s board game Train, which was developed in 2009. “A theme in the book is how women struggle to get credit for their work,” Romero wrote in her tweet. Zevin has acknowledged that she was inspired by Romero’s game, and yet Romero was not given credit for her contribution to the novel.

In response to Romero’s tweet, Todd Doughty, Knopf Doubleday’s senior vice president for publicity and communications, said in a statement, “The entire world, characters and themes of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow are solely Zevin’s fictional creation and the only games listed in the author’s acknowledgments are video games. Again, ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ is a novel and not an academic or nonfiction text containing indexes, notes, or works cited. Knopf stands behind Gabrielle Zevin and her work.”

Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist Includes Four Debuts

The shortlist for Swansea University’s Dylan Thomas Prize includes four debuts. The £20,000 award is for writers aged 39 or under and is open to all forms of literature. Di Speirs, chair of the judges and books editor at BBC Audio, said the list exemplified “not only the talent and excitingly fresh, often startling, writing we were seeking, but draw the reader in and on.” This year’s list is comprised of three novels, two short story collections, and one book of poetry. The winner of the prize will be announced on May 11, ahead of International Dylan Thomas day on May 14.

BookBeat Review: Better Than Scribd but Not Widely Accessible

In this in-depth BookBeat review, let’s find out what makes this service better than Scribd for English-language audiobook listeners.

Categories
Kissing Books

Pride & Prejudice Retellings

Hello and welcome (back) to the Kissing Books newsletter. I’m PN Hinton, here to give you the rundown on the world of romance, including new releases, recommendations, and other entertaining ways to pass your time.

It’s the last Monday in March y’all. I am just in disbelief at how fast this year seems to be going. It’s like I look up and, boom, another month has passed. I suppose that, considering what this month is the anniversary of, I should be thankful that it is not going on for-ever like the years past. But it is still a bit hard to believe we’re almost done with the first quarter of 2023.

Are you on the hunt for fascinating insider stories from long standing experts in the book and publishing world? Then you should check out The Deep Dive, Book Riot’s latest newsletter. For just $5 a month, you’ll be receive exclusive content via email twice a month. You can also try The Splash Pad for free, which will round up the same news once a month. Read more about this and your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com.

Bookish Goods

picture of Romantic Comedy Candle

Romantic Comedy Candle by BriarWick

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a bookish candle and it seemed time to rectify that. Whether or not you enjoy this particular sub-genre, you’re sure to love this candle that combines strawberries and raspberries with vanilla and cake. This comes in wax melts, a 4 ounce metal tin, or an 8 ounce glass jar and is priced respectively at $5.00, $9.50, and $18.00.

New Releases

cover of The Build Up

The Build Up by Tati Richardson

Ari moves to a new artichect firm, determined to have a new start on her career. However, she ends up showing up looking rumpled and less than fresh, and then one of her new and hot co-workers, Porter, walks in on her as she is changing. To add insult to that injury, she finds out she’ll be working with Porter on a project that could revitalize both of their careers. They have to balance working together for success and fighting the attraction that is brewing between them.

cover of Pirate's Queen

Pirate’s Queen by Riley West

Even though Captain Alessandra is no fan of the monarchy, she is not pleased when her crew kidnaps Queen Lucia and is not interested in taking the flirtatious lady up on her offers of pleasure. When circumstances end up with them being stranded alone on an island, the temptation level cranks up and becomes impossible to ignore.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I just finished an ARC of Just As You Are and I adored it. I know I’ve mentioned before that, even if I can’t get through the source material, I love Pride and Prejudice retellings. So this was right up my alley.

Even if you don’t like the source material or are like me and have never actually read it all the way through, it cannot be argued that it gave us one of the essential blueprints for romance novels that is still used today. That leads me to today’s recommendations, which are all retellings of the love between Lizzie and Darcy.

That said, for the most part, the plots are the same: there is the initial meeting, followed by Lizzie overhearing some not kind words that Darcy says about her, and the not-really-dislike takes over from there.

cover of Pride and Protest

Pride and Protest by Nicki Payne

In this retelling, Liza is a DJ who is working to stop her neighborhood from being taken over by gentrification and Dorsey is the CEO behind the property development firm. Of course, the sparks fly, even if the two are on opposite sides of that line.

cover of The Story of Lizzy and Darcy

The Story of Lizzy and Darcy by Grace Watson

Like Just As You Are, this spin on the classic tale is a F/F match up of the two lovers. What does make it stand out a bit more is that Lizzy and Darcy actually date in this one, so we get to see their relationship develop more in that regard.

Jonathan Majors looks paired with romance novel covers? Yes please!

Take this quiz to find out your Fictional Character Compatibility. Y’all, it told me I was compatible with Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit, and I about lost my mind.

And that’s all I have for y’all today. I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday with a fresh edition and in the meantime, I can be found floating around Twitter under @PScribe801. Until our paths cross again, happy reading and stay hydrated.

Categories
What's Up in YA

A YA Spin on Arachne, A Call to Action, and More YA Book Talk: March 27, 2023

Hey YA Readers!

I’m out of the office this week while my kid is on spring break. Our plans include going to the local zoo, maybe a museum, and lots of coloring, playing outside, and cleaning. Erica will be here to talk all things YA over the next week — look forward to that!

Before getting to the meat of this newsletter, a reminder about Book Riot’s new newsletter, The Deep Dive. If you are looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading, Book Riot’s newest newsletter, The Deep Dive, is a way to get exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com.

Time for some new YA books and a call to action.

Bookish Goods

you are safe with me enamel pin

You Are Safe With Me enamel pin by GoodGoodCat

Show your solidarity with queer readers and for queer stories with this enamel pin. $11.

New Releases

I am on this week’s episode of All The Books, airing Tuesday. I’ll be sharing two YA titles over there that should be on your radar, including the new Mark Oshiro that taps into so many current topics that I know it’s going to make a lot of people mad.

Because I don’t want to limit to talking about just those two books this week, here are 2 other YA titles hitting shelves this week. You can find the roundup of all this week’s YA releases over here.

saints of the household book cover

Saints of the Household by Ari Tison

Bribri American brothers Max and Jay have grown up in a house with an abusive father and they stick together to protect themselves and their mother. So when they discover a classmate in trouble, they react on instinct, enacting violence on the soccer star at their high school.

Now the boys are in trouble…and they know what they did does not truly represent who they are or their ambitions for the future. The way they’ll get to the truth of what happened and who they are is by revisiting that day and everything that led up to their decision to turn to violence.

This one is told in vignettes and verse and tells the story of Indigenous Costa Rican American brothers — voices we rarely get to hear in YA.

spin book cover

Spin by Rebecca Caprara

I’m bummed I did not get to this one yet but it’s on my spring break reading list. If you like Greek mythology, this is right in your wheelhouse.

Arachne has been outcast, except for her family and best friend Celandine. By learning how to weave, Arachne is able to find herself, her talents, and even her voice. When her family is tragically lost, and she and Celandine leave for the city of Colophon, wherein Arachne is challenged by Athena. Arachne refuses to give in to Athena, so the two of them will engage in a weaving contest that will alter both of their fates.

Bonus: it’s in verse.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

It’s the last Monday of March, and we’re still in the midst of nonstop book bans across the U.S. (& other countries, too — recent stories out of Canada, Australia, and Ireland make it clear the emboldened bigotry is spreading). Because it is women’s history month and I’ve focused on topics relating to feminism, I’m taking a bit of a different approach this week.

We know that books by and about people of color and queer people are the books being banned. There have been videos of books being burned by white supremacists floating across social; adults are showing up to school and library board meetings engaging in crisis acting over books in these public institutions; and legislators are implementing policies to ban everything from drag to books, putting bounties on educators and librarians who may permit young people to browse materials the state deems “inappropriate” (“the state” refers here to legislators who’ve drunk the Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn, Turning Point, and gads of other organizations claiming a decline in morals and decency and increase in pornography and explicit books in these systems).

I don’t need to tell you what the books are. If you are paying any attention at all, you know.

The most marginalized voices continue to be those under attack. They continue to be the ones labeled as inappropriate. Indeed, groups like Moms For Liberty consider Lolita more appropriate for students to read than the graphic novel adaptation of The Kite Runner (it’s funny, isn’t it, the book about the actual act of grooming is not seen for what it is by the very people who are spending countless hours calling underpaid, overworked, and undervalued public servants such things for….providing books about people who are not white and/or not straight?).

So what can or should you do?

I’ve made a bunch of toolkits. I write a weekly roundup of book bans. I have developed a ton of templates. You can access all of those things right here; if digging through the years of content is not your jam, we pulled together so much of our material at Book Riot into a $3 ebook, How to Fight Book Bans and Censorship.

But do two things this week — do them as soon as you finish reading this newsletter — and you’re going to make a huge impact.

  1. Schedule 20 minutes to…write a letter to your local school board and library board telling them to continue fighting for the rights of marginalized students and to continue providing books and classroom lessons on these topics. You can be short and sweet here. If you have more personal anecdotes about your experiences in those institutions — you love their Pride book displays or appreciate that their collections have a wealth of Black YA books, feel free to add that. You can use and adapt this template to create your letter. When you send a letter to these boards, it goes on the public record. It goes into the board packets. This is incredibly valuable.
  2. Take 10-20-30-40 minutes to…find out how to request books for purchase at your local library. There might be a form on their website and if there isn’t, call or go in person to the library and ask. If you have anxiety around this, bring a friend. Then, the fun part: request the library purchase more books like the ones being banned around the country. Peruse recent LGBTQ+ releases and/or recent BIPOC books; look at the books coming out over the next few months. Put in a few requests for purchasing these items. By doing this, you are showing that there is community interest in these titles; this community interest counters the narratives being put forth by the book banners. Bonus: often if the library buys the book — and in many libraries, patron requests are prioritized — you’ll likely be the first one able to borrow it.

In an ideal world, you can do this every month. In a world where there are 5,000,000+ important issues pulling at you every moment, these 30 minutes now/this week will make an impact if that’s all you can commit to.

End Women’s History Month with feminist action.

Know if you’re part of the groups being targeted right now, it may seem lonely, scary, isolating, and dangerous. It certainly is. But it’s also worth articulating that there are untold numbers of people, some of whom you’ll hear from and most you’ll never know about, working day in and day out to ensure you get to live your life on your terms and not those dictated by white supremacy. Stay safe, and know that you are seen and loved tremendously for who you are…even if the loudest voices say different.

As always, thanks for hanging out. I’ll be out of the office next week to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of the Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez and reading my eyeballs out with some warm lavender lattes. Erica will take good care of you.

Until then, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, currently reading Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Medical Horror Books That Will Put a Chill in Your Bones

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌and‌ ‌grim‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌world‌ ‌of‌ ‌Horror.‌ ‌Whether‌ ‌you’re‌ ‌looking‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌backlist‌ ‌book‌ ‌that‌ ‌will‌ ‌give‌‌ you‌ ‌the‌ ‌willies,‌ ‌a‌ ‌terrifying‌ ‌new‌ ‌release,‌ ‌or‌ ‌the‌ ‌latest‌ ‌in‌ ‌horror‌ ‌community‌ ‌news,‌ ‌you’ll‌ ‌find‌ ‌it‌ ‌here‌ in‌ ‌The‌ ‌Fright‌ ‌Stuff.

Hello from the sick room, horror friends. I’m a bit under the weather as I pen this week’s Fright Stuff, so in the interest of keeping things thematic, our topic today is medical horror! It’s a classic category of horror fiction, going all the way back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Medical horror, like a lot of categories in the genre, is mutable, and blends easily with everything from body horror to sci-fi horror. Personally, medical horror gives me the willies! That’s probably why I like it so much.

So while I down hot tea and cold meds like they’re going out of stock, let’s have some fun.

Before we jump into this week’s picks: Book Riot has a new subscription service for you to check out! If you are looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading, Book Riot’s newest newsletter, The Deep Dive, is a way to get exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com.

Bookish Goods

frankenstein is not the monster tshirt by theumlauteddenver

Frankenstein Is Not the Monster T-Shirt by TheUmlautedDenver

I’m sorry, but this t-shirt made me laugh so hard that I had to pick it for this week’s Bookish Good. So to all my Victor Frankenstein apologists out there, this one’s for you. I’ve always been of two minds when it comes to Frankenstein Jr. On the one hand: What the actual hell, Victor?! That is not how we treat people, or dead bodies, or people that we made out of dead bodies. On the other hand, well, this is why you don’t leave undergrads unsupervised in the lab.

$27+

New Releases

Lone Women Book Cover

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

After months of waiting (im)patiently, Lone Women is out this week! If you’ve been missing some historical/western horror in your life, make sure you pick up a copy when it hits shelves tomorrow. Set in the American West of the early 20th century, LaValle’s newest novel is about a women fleeing her past by taking up the government’s offer of free land in Montana to any homesteader who can settle and keep it. And Adelaide isn’t the only one. There are a number of these “lone women” taking their chances on the Montana frontier. But not all of them have Adelaide’s secrets, like the massive steamer trunk that travels with her but which always remains locked. It was Adelaide’s secret that destroyed her family and drove her out of her hometown, but out there in the wilds of Montana, it may be her secret that will help her survive.

a house with good bones book cover

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher is back with another house full of horrors in her newest novel A House With Good Bones. When Sam Montgomery arrives at her mother’s house in North Carolina, she’s expecting a quiet, extended stay, bonding with her mother over their shared love of murder mystery shows. But what she finds is a house that’s vastly different than the last time she visited, stripped of all the warmth and comfort she remembered. And her mother, paranoid, jumping at shadows. The strangeness only multiplies when she stumbles across, of all things, a jar of teeth buried in the garden out back. It’s clear that something has happened in the house, to her mother, and if Sam wants to find the truth, she’ll have to risk unearthing even darker secrets than a jar full of someone’s teeth.

For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

cover of leech by hiron ennes

Leech by Hiron Ennes

Yes, I’m talking about Leech again. No, I’m not apologizing because I love this book so much and I want everyone to read it. Leech is a queer medical Gothic horror novel set in a fictional Northern town locked in the depths of a terrible winter that keeps the residents trapped in their homes out of fear of the deadly cold. In the estate that overlooks the town, the house doctor has died violently by his own hand, and it’s up to the newly arrived Doctor, a member of the Institute just like the deceased, to discover the cause. In fact, all of the bodies of the Interprovincial Medical Institute are doctors, because for centuries the Institute has been systematically replacing all the unreliable human doctors with its superior bodies, whose mind(s) can overcome any challenge or puzzle the Institute might encounter. Until they can’t. Because the parasitic creature that our Doctor discovers lurking in the cold might finally be a problem beyond the Institute’s ability to solve.

lakewood by megan giddings

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

Inspired by the story of Henrietta Lacks and a long and terrible history of medical experimentation on Black bodies, Lakewood begins with death and debt. Lena drops out of college after her grandmother dies in a bid to help support her family as they navigate the debts revealed by her grandmother’s passing. When a high paying job opens up in the little, isolated town of Lakewood, Michigan, promising not only a place to live but also full coverage of medical expenses, the offer is too good to refuse. The only catch? Lena can never tell anyone, friend or family, about the strange experiments she’s being paid to undergo. She’s been told that the work being done at Lakewood could have massive, positive impacts on the world. But the longer the testing goes on, and the risks of participation increase, Lena will have to make a choice between her family’s financial security and her own life.

Cover of Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy is a YA historical medical horror novel with a Frankenstein twist. A bit of gothic romance, a whole heap of body horror, and piles of dead bodies. What’s not to love? Hazel Sinnett’s only desire in life is to be a surgeon, healing bodies and maybe even finding a cure for the terrible Roman Plague that claimed her older brother’s life. She will do whatever it takes to overcome the barriers in her way, even dressing as a boy in order to attend classes on anatomy. When her ruse is discovered, however, Hazel finds herself thrown out of the classroom, leaving her no choice but to continue her studies of the human body in private. By any means necessary.

As always, you can catch me on twitter at @JtheBookworm, where I try to keep up on all that’s new and frightening.

Categories
Book Radar

Angie Kim’s HAPPINESS FALLS Gets a Cover Reveal and More Book Radar!

Bonjour, Book Babes!

How are we doing today? I had a fun weekend attending wedding events and I am, yes, still in New Orleans, enjoying the warm weather. I’ll probably pop on over to my favorite Nola bookstore today: Octavia Books. And then I’m going back home tomorrow! Can’t wait to see my cats. In the meantime, here’s some stuff about some books that I thought might interest you.

Book Deals and Reveals

Angie Kim, author of Miracle Creek, has a new novel coming out this year, and here’s the cover reveal! Kim’s new book Happiness Falls is out from Hogarth Press this September.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced that a stamp honoring the Strega Nona author Tomie dePaola will be released on May 5.

Questlove’s new book imprint will be launching with a memoir from funk legend Sly Stone. The memoir, named Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) after the Sly and the Family Stone song, will be out on October 17.

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive first look at The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda. This one is out on October 3.

Fifth Season is developing a series based on Jean Kwok’s 2014 novel Mambo in Chinatown and her upcoming book The Leftover Woman, which comes out in October.

Amazon has handed out a series order for a new drama series based on the YA novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Netflix has just released the first trailer for the Bridgerton prequel series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

Kodansha, the publisher of widely popular manga like Attack on Titan and others, is launching a manga app this year.

From sweet romances to dark family stories and even historical fiction, here are 11 books Colleen Hoover recommends that fans will love.

Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading? Subscribe to Book Riot’s newest newsletter, The Deep Dive, to get exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com

Book Riot Recommends

Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!

Prepare Your Shelves

tell me what really happened book cover

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti (Sourcebooks Fire, April 4)

Let’s talk about what makes this YA mystery/thriller so exciting. It’s the way this story explores truth and perspective. And it’s the way the story is told at a pulse-racing pace, through the first person accounts of four teens all being interviewed by the police.

It all started with a weekend camping trip. Down by Salvation Creek, five teens take a few days to get away from their parents, make s’mores, share secrets…but something goes wrong. Around midnight, one of them vanishes. Now all four of the remaining friends are suspects. And each of them has a different story about what really happened out there in the woods.

Who is lying? Who is hiding secrets? And what really happened to their friend? The clock is ticking, and through these first-person interviews as told to the police, the mystery will begin to unravel. The answers to what really happened that night will surprise you.

What I’m Reading This Week

cover of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez; image of red hand with long pointed yellow-painted fingernails that are on fire

Our Share of Night by Marian Enriquez

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

Do you need help finding your next great read? Subscribe to Tailored Book Recommendations for really great reads year-round.

Monday Memes

This meme makes me think about every time I’ve recommended Earthlings by Sayaka Murata to someone. Oddly enough, it’s mostly worked out. So if you haven’t yet, give it a read.

And Here’s A Cat Picture!

Hanging with my favorite New Orleans cats this week, and here’s Crash. I love that Crash has chosen to sit in his little window seat, but rather than looking outside at the world out there, he’s choosing to look back in at us. We love you, Crash!

And that’s all for Monday’s Book Radar. I hope you have a lovely week. See you again soon!

Emily

Categories
The Kids Are All Right

Spring is Coming! Plus New Releases and More!

Hi Kid Lit Friends,

Daffodils are some of my favorite flowers, and they have been bursting into bloom in New York City over the past few weeks. I love their cheerful trumpets, and it’s been wonderful to get some more sunshine every day. Spring is here in NYC, and I’ve some picture book recommendations celebrating gardens!

Speaking of things to look forward to, Book Riot has a new newsletter! Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading? Subscribe to Book Riot’s newest newsletter, The Deep Dive, to get exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

Stacks of books on a poster for guests to sign in lieu of guestbook

Bookish Guestbook Poster by SaraAart

Looking for a fun alternative to a guestbook? Check out this wonderful library stack poster! $45+

New Releases

Check out these new chapter books! Both are new stories in a series!

Zara's Rules for Living Your Best Life cover

Zara’s Rules for Living Your Best Life by Hena Khan

In this third book about the irrepressible Zara by award-winning author Hena Khan, Zara is looking forward to spending spring break with her best friend Naomi. But plans are destroyed when Naomi is sent to camp and Zara and Zayd (who has his own series!) are sent to their grandparents’ house. Can Zara save spring break?

Too Small Tola cover

Too Small Tola Gets Tough by Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinke Iwu

Too Small Tola loves her life in Nigeria living with her two siblings and grandmother. But when a dangerous virus begins to circulate, everything changes. Her Grandmommy can’t go out to work so Too Small Tola fills in. Tola begins work for a wealthy family and quickly wins the hearts of the household staff. This is a great series!

For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

I’m writing this on a beautiful, chilly, sunny day! The birds are chirping, the sky is blue, and my mind is filled with SPRING!

Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves cover

Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Angela Mckay

In this unique book that combines science, poetry, and art, readers will be gifted with fascinating information about trees — from their genesis as tiny seeds to their growth over decades to be giants.

Eco Girl cover

Eco Girl by Ken Wilson-Max

In this beautiful book filled with vibrant paintings, a young girl lives among the baobab trees and takes care of them, just like her dad and grandma did before her. She enjoys watching the birds that shelter in the tree branches and stretches her arms high to imitate the trees. This is a joyful book about land stewardship!

Wildflower cover

Wildflower by Melanie Brown, illustrated by Sara Gillingham

This book cover makes me smile! In this story, a daisy is told by a rose that she’s just a weed. The rose tells the daisy that she is always in the way and not stunning like the other flowers around her. But Daisy learns that her part in the garden is so much more and finds her own purpose and beauty in the world.

Uncle John's City Garden cover

Uncle John’s City Garden by Bernette G. Ford, illustrated by Frank Morrison

When a young girl visits her family in the city, she finds that a handful of seeds can transform a dirt patch in the middle of a dense housing area into a beautiful and nourishing garden for everyone to enjoy! This book is inspired by the author’s own experience as a child.

The newsletter writer and her tri-color corgi

What are you reading these days?

Let me know! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at  KarinaBookRiot@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Karina

*If this e-mail was forwarded to you, follow this link to subscribe to “The Kids Are All Right” newsletter and other fabulous Book Riot newsletters for your own customized e-mail delivery. Thank you!*

Categories
Today In Books

THE GREAT GATSBY Gets A Graphic Novel Adaptation: Today in Books

Book Ban Attempts Hit Record High in 2022

According to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday, book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries were at a record high in 2022. Apparently, there were more than 1,200 challenges last year, nearly double the amount in 2021, and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago. In 2022, over 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and 566 in 2019. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”

The Great Gatsby Gets A Graphic Novel Adaptation

Clover Press is releasing a graphic novel adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. The graphic novel, entitled The Great Gatsby: The Essential Graphic Novel Adaptation, comes from writer Ted Adams and artist Jorge Coelho. The book is currently being crowdfunded through Kickstarter. Clover Press has teamed up with charities so that certain pledge tiers will include donations to schools, libraries, and the charity Reader to Reader, Inc.

Book Fraudster Filippo Bernardini Spared Jail

Filippo Bernardini, the man who stole more than 1,000 manuscripts so he could be “one of the fewest to cherish them before anyone else,” will not be facing jail time. The former rights coordinator plead guilty to one count of wire fraud in New York in January. On Thursday, judge Colleen McMahon sentenced Bernardini to time served, meaning he will not be imprisoned; however, Bernardini has agreed to pay $88,000 to Penguin Random House to cover legal and expert fees. Bernardini will also be deported from the US.

An Overthinker’s Guide to Giving Book Recommendations

Do you question every book you recommend? Spiral immediately after giving a book your stamp of approval? This overthinker’s guide is for you.

Categories
Giveaways

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We’re giving away three bundles of Women’s History Month titles from Macmillan to three lucky Riot readers!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

This Women’s History Month and all year long, Macmillan is proud to spotlight inspiring stories, voices, and perspectives of women creators. Enter for a chance to win a selection of these outstanding reads and get a firsthand look into the lives of some incredible women!

Categories
True Story

ALL the New Books!

Here in Kentucky, the grass is a lush green across the yard. The Corgis happily frap about, bickering over sticks and racing each other to see who can reach the ball first. I love seeing them enjoying my hometown. There’s always something special about being back home again, crossing the many bridges over the Ohio River and watching the Appalachian hills roll by the car window.

This week in the newsletter, it’s all about new books! Before we get to that, make sure to check out Book Riot’s newest newsletter The Deep Dive The Deep Dive. It’s full of informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

a photo of a sticker featuring stack of books on a black background. The text reads, "Books Are Magic."

Books Are Magic Waterproof Sticker by Meaggie Moos

I adore stickers. I’m not sure what it is, but I definitely feel like 30s me may even like stickers more than 13-year-old me. This one has one of my favorite book-isms: “Books Are Magic.” That’s a true story in my book. $3.50

New Releases

a graphic of the cover of Black and Queer on Campus by Michael P. Jeffries

Black and Queer on Campus by Michael P. Jeffries

Michael P. Jeffries examines how Black queer students are treated across the U.S. In mostly white queer spaces, they face microaggressions and outright racism. In predominantly straight Black spaces, they feel ignored and deprioritized. Jeffries then ponders what campuses can do to make spaces more welcoming to Black queer students.

a graphic of the cover of Homegirls & Handgrenades by Sonia Sanchez

Homegirls and Hand Grenades by Sonia Sanchez

In 1984, Sonia Sanchez first published Homegirls & Handgrenades. In this stunning collection centering around the Black Arts movement, Sanchez includes prose, prose poems and lyric verses.

For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

In case you missed it, here are a couple of my top nonfiction books of the year — so far!

a graphic of the cover of Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Like much of the bookish world, I became engrossed by Matthew Desmond’s Evicted. Now Desmond is back with Poverty, By America, which delves into how America has systematically built itself around keeping the poor, well, poor. While Evicted is a very structured book around the people Desmond meets during his research, Poverty, By America is structured thematically around his ideas. Desmond’s latest is a very slim book, but in its pages, he continues his discussion of America’s economically disadvantaged and the structures in place to keep them from building wealth.

a graphic of the cover of Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

When she is 14, Lamya H is sitting in her high school classroom in a country in the Middle East when she realizes that she’s gay. After she moves to the U.S. for college, she begins to find a life of her own as a queer, hijab-wearing Muslim. She finds a community of other queer Muslims, some of whom become her found family. Lamya’s book is my favorite memoir of the year so far. She writes in such beautiful prose and possesses this incredible ability to create intimacy between the text and her readers.

a photo of Kendra, a white woman with brunette hair, standing in a tree. Gwen, a black and white Corgi, is caught mid-bark as she tried to follow Kendra up the tree.
Kendra and Gwen in Kentucky

That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.

Happy reading, Friends!

~ Kendra