Sponsored by Owlkids Books, publisher of A Likkle Miss Lou and other children’s books.
A Kirkus Reviews most anticipated picture book of fall 2019. The uplifting story of a girl finding her own voice, A Likkle Miss Lou is a modern ode to language, girl power, diversity, and the arts. Louise Bennett Coverley, or Miss Lou, was an iconic entertainer known for popularizing patois in the arts—helping to pave the way for artists like Harry Belafonte and Bob Marley. This picture book tells the story of Miss Lou’s childhood in Jamaica, trying to find her own voice. “This joyful book celebrates the importance of language and taking it as your own.” —Kirkus Reviews
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).
An enormous thank you to Liberty for stepping in last week – while she was putting together Friday’s newsletter, I was in the ER after slipping and hitting my head on a patch of ice. Thankfully, hard heads run in my family and I did not give myself a concussion, but I’m now enormously sick of winter.
And now, onto libraries!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- Amazon Crossing, Amazon’s publishing imprint focused on literature in translation, is now the largest publisher of translated titles in the U.S.
- In order to deal with warehouse congestion issues, Amazon has been cutting book orders to publishers.
- Poisoned Pen Press announces its Haunted Library of Horror Classics line.
- Barnes & Noble announces a new store redesign, its first under the new CEO, James Daunt.
New & Upcoming Titles
- John Bolton has a book deal with Simon & Schuster reportedly worth about $2 million.
- Updates on the Mariah Carey’s forthcoming memoir.
- L.L. McKinney has a queer YA adaptation of Jane Eyre coming out, called Escaping Mr. Rochester.
- Town & Country: Best books of November.
- 5 international crime reads for November.
- Best YA for November.
- Best cookbooks for the holidays.
- Best books this winter.
Best Books of 2019
- Best books of 2019 from Amazon, O: Oprah Magazine, Time, Vogue.
- Kirkus: Best fiction of 2019.
- Best LGBTQ books of 2019 (O: Oprah Magazine) and the best queer debuts (Bookmarks).
- Best children’s books of 2019 (Amazon).
- And keep an eye on this master list of every online end-of-the-year best books list, which is updated DAILY.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston – Robyn Crawford (People, Vanity Fair, Washington Post)
- Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge – Sheila Weller (USA Today, Vulture, Washington Post)
- The Andromeda Evolution – Michael Crichton & Daniel H. Wilson (USA Today, Washington Post)
- Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo (New York Times, NPR)
- The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History – Nathalia Holt (Fortune, Los Angeles Times)
RA/Genre Resources
- N.K. Jemisin on why world-building is an exercise in oppression.
Found on the Riot
- Global historical fiction for 2020.
- An introduction to the books of Isabel Allende.
All Things Comics
- Tananarive Due announces a graphic novel of her latest horror screenplay, which she co-wrote with her husband, Steven Barnes.
- Spike Lee is adapting the graphic novel Prince of Cats by Ron Wimberly, which is described as an 80’s hip-hop take on Romeo and Juliet.
- DC Universe releases a trailer for the animated series Harley Quinn, which premieres on November 29th.
- An interview with Laurie Halse Anderson, whose DC graphic novel, Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed is out in June 2020.
Found on the Riot
- Short graphic novels and memoirs to read in one sitting.
- Cute graphic memoirs about relationships.
- 10 of the best nonfiction comics to read on Hoopla.
Audiophilia
- Laura Dern will read the Audible edition of Little Women, which will be an original dramatization.
- 8 audiobooks about inspiring lives of service.
- Best audiobooks for marathon training.
Found on the Riot
- The history and current decline of abridged audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- Great cookbooks for kids.
- Keep count: 26 YA novels with numbers in the title.
- 14 YA novels about family.
Adults
- 9 books about life for women on the campaign trail.
- Best cookbooks for beginner home cooks.
- Top 10 golden age detective novels.
- 21 books to read after you finish Becoming by Michelle Obama.
- 25 celebrity memoirs worth reading.
- 8 books about queer monstrous women.
- 9 books about dysfunctional families with big secrets in big houses. (That is a MOOD and I’m here for it!)
- 7 choose-your-own escapade books for adults.
Found on the Riot
- 7 YA novels with unconventional narrative structures.
- 25 must-read YA & middle grade books with Asians on the cover.
- 3 YA books about gaming.
- 7 books to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street.
- Books that will change the way you think about education.
- Genderbent Sherlock Holmes novels for the 21st century.
- 6 powerful books by disabled authors.
- 7 short books to read at the end of the year to hit your Goodreads goal.
- 10 books to add to your TBR for #NonfictionNovember.
- 9 books that started as NaNoWriMo works.
Best Books of the Decade
- Entertainment Weekly names Elena Ferrante’s Neopolitan Novels as the best series of the decade.
- Best translated novels.
- Best fiction and nonfiction.
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! Watch your step and protect those noggins!
–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia.