Sponsored by Paula Chase
In the companion to her acclaimed So Done, Paula Chase follows Simp and Rollie as their friendship is threatened by the pressures of basketball, upcoming auditions, middle school, and their growing involvement in a neighborhood drug operation. Dough Boys is a memorably vivid story about the complex friendship between two African American boys whose lives are heading down very different paths. Full of basketball, family, and daily life in The Cove, a low-income housing project, this universal story is perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds’s Track series, Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ghost Boys, and Renée Watson.
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).
I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and are starting 2020 with some renewed energy! And now, to business. Library business.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- The Seattle Public Library board postpones its final decision on an upcoming public event that many are saying is hostile towards transgender people.
- Publisher’s Weekly’s Top 10 library stories of 2019, in case you missed anything.
- Libby now offers push notifications to let borrowers know instantly when their holds are available.
- Mesa County (CO) Libraries will go fines free in 2020.
- IMLS receives a $10 million budget increase for FY2020!
- Newport Beach libraries weigh rules against bathing in restrooms and leering.
Cool Library Updates
- Operation Warm brings new coats, books, and library cards to children and families in need.
- The Moncton Library in New Brunswick provides tampons and maxi pads to address menstrual insecurity.
- The Denver Public Library reports a 35% increase in patron engagement after eliminating late fees.
- A private UFO enthusiast donated his collection of 30,000 Canadian government documents and UFO reports to the University of Manitoba.
- Houston Public Library launches a mobile technology lab.
- The Phoenix (OR) Library has a collection of vintage…toilet paper.
Worth Reading
- No holds barred: policing and security in the public library.
- 14 tabletop games your library should have.
- “Thank you to the librarian who saved my life before I knew it needed saving.”
Book Adaptations in the News
- FX is developing a limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. Early reports say that Carrie will likely be played by either a trans actor or an actress of color, rather than a cis white woman, which adds an entirely new dimension to the story.
- Here’s the trailer for Little Fires Everywhere.
- Nicole Kidman’s next project in development is Kimberly McCreight’s upcoming domestic thriller, A Good Marriage.
- Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay is on the way to its own TV series.
- Signs look good for season 3 of You, while Sweetbitter has been canceled after two seasons.
- Here’s a casting update for HBO Max’s adaptation of Americanah and Netflix’s Shadow and Bone adaptation.
- This interview with Netflix’s VP of International Film has news about adaptations of Munich by Robert Harris and The Last by Hanna Jameson.
- Melissa de la Cruz’s book Beach Lane is headed to HBO Max.
- Trailers for The Woman in the Window and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You.
- Library Journal has your guide to all the film & TV adaptations of 2020.
- A look at why some of the big-name literary adaptations of 2019 majorly bombed at the box office.
Books & Authors in the News
- (TW: transphobia) J.K. Rowling publicly tweeted her support for a U.K. woman who was fired for her transphobic tweets, after a judge ruled that her tweets did not constitute protected speech. Naturally, there was a lot of online backlash against Rowling, or as Vox puts it, “J.K. Rowling’s latest tweet seems like transphobic BS. Her fans are heartbroken.”
- A judge rules that the U.S. is entitled to the proceeds from Edward Snowden’s memoir, since Snowden did not let federal intelligence agencies vet the book before it was published.
- Best-selling romance author Johanna Lindsey died at age 67. Award-winning author/journalist Ward Just has also passed away.
- Dave Pilkey is the Publisher’s Weekly Person of the Year for 2019.
- The surprisingly long ripple effect of the Jennifer Weiner/Jonathan Franzen feud and how it’s changed the way we talk about women’s writing.
- Elle: Little Women is a big, important American masterpiece. Let’s treat it like one.
Numbers & Trends
- 50 Shades of Grey was the best-selling book of the decade, selling 15.2 million copies between 2010 and 2019.
- American Book Producers Association makes predictions for upcoming nonfiction trends.
- The 2010’s were supposed to bring the eBook revolution. It never quite came.
- 11 trends that changed the way we read this decade.
Award News
- Mystery Writers of America announce the 2020 Grand Master, Raven, and Ellery Queen Award recipients.
- Longlist for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Pop Cultured
- Quentin Tarantino may not be directing the R-rated version of Star Trek.
- There’s going to be a second installment of The Mandalorian this fall.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- The holiday season has passed, but here’s a look at Iceland’s annual Yule Book Flood.
- On a related note: the etiquette of gifting books.
Found on Book Riot
- How libraries are dealing with bed bugs. *shudder*
- The statistics of censorship.
Thanks for hanging! I’ll see everyone on Tuesday! And remember to write the date as 2020 instead of 2019!
–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.