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.
When Jessica falls in love with her Shakespeare teacher, she begins to act like her studious twin sister Elizabeth to impress him. Now it’s up to Elizabeth to make sure that all’s well that end well – but with Jessica playing her role, will anyone be able to tell which twin is which?
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- The future of eBook pricing.
- The 2020 census may have a citizenship question on it after all.
- Burglar steals valuable comic books from the Friends of the Seattle Public Library.
- This library in Louisville, KY has a SLIDE!!
Cool Library Updates
- How libraries can support children & immigrant families.
- If your library is undergoing renovations, consider taking library services to the park!
- Best tabletop games for the library.
- No-fail slime recipes!
Worth Reading
- Visible or not: Library access for LGBTQ youth.
- Do’s and don’ts of supervising library volunteers.
- Self care tips for school librarians.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Ellen DeGeneres is producing a film adaptation of Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
- Netflix has a Dracula reboot coming.
- Tor.com put together a massive list of almost every SFF/horror/comic book adaptation currently in the works.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- The #BookstoresAgainstBorders campaign raised $48,000+ for RAICES over the holiday weekend!
- As of this fall, MAD magazine will no longer publish new issues.
- Amid growing pressure, Amazon removes books by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi that promote conversion therapy.
- Microsoft closes its eLibrary, erasing all user content.
New & Upcoming Titles
- Tor.com announces a new fantasy series from Seanan McGuire.
- Mackenzie Lee has postponed her upcoming book The Madness Blooms in response to concerns about transgender representation
- Sarah Sanders-Huckabee is writing a book. Of course she is.
- Most anticipated books for the last half of 2019.
- 50 must-read crime titles for July & August.
- 32 buzzy new debuts.
- USA Today’s best-reviewed titles of 2019.
- July round-ups for feminist nonfiction, poetry, indie books, psychological thrillers, romance, YA, and LGBTQ books.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- The Snakes – Sadie Jones (New York Times, Washington Post)
- The Need – Helen Phillips (New York Times, Vulture)
- Three Women – Lisa Taddeo (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
RA/Genre Resources
- Essential Florida and Illinois crime fiction.
- How these authors are moving the psychological thriller beyond Gone Girl.
- Genre spotlight on horror.
Books & Authors in the News
- The cover for The Poet X actually contains a plagiarized photo from an Afro-Latinx artist.
- The New York Times profiled Naomi Wolf about her book being postponed and recalled in the US.
Numbers & Trends
- This will probably come as no surprise to anyone working in a public library, but Where the Crawdads Sing is the #1 top seller in 2019.
Award News
- Organizers of the Staunch Prize, which honors books that don’t contain violence against women, have claimed that fictional depictions of sexual assault may influence the outcome of rape cases.
- 26 award-winning Canadian books in 2019.
Pop Cultured
- Did you see the trailer for Mulan yet??
- Halle Bailey (not Halle Berry) has been cast as the new Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake. Plus 10 black princess books to celebrate the news!
- New trailer for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
- Reading suggestions for Midsommar. (Did you see Midsommar? That movie MESSED. ME. UP.)
- Reading suggestions for Stranger Things, for your viewers who have torn through the entire season already.
All Things Comics
- What we talk about when we talk about comics: a breakdown of common comic terms.
- Boom Studios announces a Buffy/Angel crossover comic.
- The Walking Dead comic is ending. In related news, an Idaho high school bans the Walking Dead comics series.
- 6 classic baseball manga.
Audiophilia
- Renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson is creating an audio cookbook with Audible called Our Harlem.
- Glamour picks the best summer-listening audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 12 kids books that promote healthy habits.
- Abundantly illustrated books about the ocean.
- 21 YA books with love triangles.
- Stylized YA books filled with epic art.
Adults
- The top 100 most-discussed fantasy books on Reddit.
- 5 Southern gothic horror novels for summer.
- 7 anthologies that explore a range of Latinx experiences.
- African visions of the future by women and nonbinary authors.
- 50 must-reads from Iowa City.
- 50 must-read books recommended by Roxane Gay.
- 6 thrillers that hinge on split-second decisions.
- 5 books about women’s soccer.
- 6 nonfiction horror books.
- 5 novels recounted by the dead.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Jose Bello, a student activist, was arrested in California shortly after reading a poem critical of immigration policy at a public forum. The ACLU is supporting his legal fight, saying his arrest was in retaliation of his poetry reading, which violates his first amendment rights.
- 10 of the best-selling books in history.
- Fotis Dulos, a defendant in a missing person’s case involving his estranged wife, is trying to argue that this is a real-life Gone Girl situation. Gillian Flynn is NOT amused.
- Why local news outlets are embracing book clubs.
- 200+ literary names for your next cat!
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, and I’ll see you next week!
–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon.