Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Dynamite Entertainment.
Nancy Drew is seventeen and good at everything, but life hits a snag when a mysterious message drags her back to the hometown she left behind. There she’ll have to find out which of her friends are still her friends, which are enemies, and who exactly is trying to kill her…and (hopefully) stop them before they succeed.
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Libraries & Librarians
- IMLS responds to the White House’s proposed FY 2020 budget.
- Seattle Library overdue fines may be eliminated as part of a proposed property tax levy.
- Changes to the Wichita Library’s policy would ensure that the library is able to keep offering diverse programs like Drag Queen Story Time.
- In related news, the Houston Public Library discontinues its Drag Queen Story Time program in response to recent scandal.
- An op-ed in response to the programming decisions made by the Board of Trustees for the Anne Arundel County Public Library: Let librarians run the library.
- The uber-conservative Florida Citizens Alliance has a list of 100 books that it’s angling to ban from schools.
- Skokie (IL) Public Library hosted an all-day event about how to protect librarians from different forms of harassment.
- (TW: active shooter scenarios) Libraries boost training to strengthen security.
- The Cebu City Public Library (Phillipines) celebrates its one-year anniversary of being open 24/7.
- Introducing senior library visitors to virtual reality.
- New York Public Library is introducing its first permanent exhibition.
- Book fairs: bane or blessing?
- A librarian’s perspective on all the books they do not want to read…but have to.
- 5 reasons to start a podcast in your high school library.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Apple officially orders a TV series for Pachinko.
- American Gods gets a third season.
- There’s a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark documentary coming in July.
- The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is coming to television.
- Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman’s being adapted for film.
- Freddie Prinze Jr. is playing Nancy Drew’s dad in the upcoming CW pilot.
Books & Authors in the News
- We’re getting a sequel to Bird Box!
- Joni Mitchell is releasing a book of poetry, lyrics, and paintings.
- Martha Wells is writing the first full-length Murderbot novel.
- Alicia Keys is publishing a memoir in November.
- First look at the sophomore novel from Sarai Walker, author of Dietland.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson will return to National Geographic after sexual assault investigation.
- Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, author of Nate the Great, dies at age 90.
- Laila Lalami wrote an op-ed for the New York Times on immigration.
- Mystery & suspense fans, add Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden to your lists: a badass #ownvoices Native American thriller!
- Voice actor Rob Paulsen’s autobiography is coming this fall.
Upcoming Books in 2019
- O Magazine: 10 of the best YA books you’ll love in 2019.
- Crime Reads: March’s best debut crime & thriller novels
- Buzzfeed News: 37 new books to add to your spring reading list.
By the Numbers
- Scholastic releases results from the 7th edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report. You can read the full report here.
- Goodreads ranks the top 28 books published so far in 2019, based on how many times the titles have been read, added to “Want to Read” shelves, and their overall rating.
- Cooperative Children’s Book Center releases publishing statistics on children’s books about and by people of color and First/Native Nations.
Award News
- Winners for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Lukas Prize.
- Tommy Orange wins the PEN/Hemingway Award for There There.
Pop Cultured
- Google announces plans for a video game streaming service.
- It’s the first official trailer for season 3 of Stranger Things! I’m so excited!!
- We’re getting a Die Hard board game this year, and just like that, I’ve found a Christmas gift for about half of my husband’s family.
All Things Comics
- Authentic indigenous representation in comics.
- 10 graphic memoirs for people whose parents kept secrets & told lies.
- How to make the comics world better in 2019.
Audiophilia
- 6 meditation audiobooks to help you harness your inner peace.
- 3 great audiobooks to distract you from the news.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- 10 children’s books to inspire kids for Women’s History Month, and new nonfiction to read for Women’s History Month.
- 20 picture books so visually engaging, you don’t even have to read them.
- Books that turned the POPSUGAR editors into lifelong readers.
- Read Harder: A children’s or middle grade book that’s won a diversity award since 2009.
- YA climate fiction, and a list of 7 books that provocatively tackle climate change from O Magazine.
- Reading pathway for Jason Reynolds.
- 10 new “enemies-to-lovers” YA novels.
- Genre-bending YA novels.
- 50 more must-read YA mysteries.
- A reading list for anyone interested in Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes.
- Books about the immigrant experience.
- Reading suggestions for fans of One Day at a Time.
- 50 must-read classical mythology retellings.
- Crime novels where past & present crimes are connected.
- The best romantic books to read with your book group, plus 5 new diverse romantic comedies.
- 5 books where women in space take center stage.
- 10 of the most absurd deaths in classic fiction.
- If you like family-centric novels, try this list of books about blended families, or books featuring complex mother/daughter relationships.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Arthur A. Levine, the editor who brought Harry Potter to the United States, is leaving Scholastic to launch his own independent publishing company.
- Words have power: using books to combat Islamophobia.
- The fate of the book review in the age of the algorithm.
- Why we should all read screenplays.
- The stinky heroines of repulsive realist fiction…now there’s a headline you don’t see every day!
- Bibles designed for the Instagram era……I honestly don’t know what to say about this.
- Why this reader isn’t reading about WWII anymore.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA