Sponsored by Lucy Knisley’s Stepping Stones, from Random House Graphic
New York Times bestselling creator Lucy Knisley just released her first middle-grade fiction graphic novel! STEPPING STONES follows Jen, a young girl who moves to the country with her mom following her parents’ divorce. Now they live on a farm with her mom’s boyfriend and his two daughters. Having to learn how to work on a farm and sell at a farmer’s market is hard enough, but it’s more difficult when your new stepsister is basically perfect. This heartfelt new story finds Jen struggling to deal with change, and trying to find her own voice in the process.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. We’re a little light on news updates for this week, mainly because most of the news right now is about libraries furloughing and laying off employees. It’s been a rough week.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- The National Library of China is reopening as of May 12th, with a daily cap on the number of visitors.
Cool Library Updates
- Here are the 2020 Library Journal Movers & Shakers.
- Fargo Public Library and North Dakota State University partner to grow vegetables for food pantries.
- Law librarians increase access to the legal system with outreach to public librarians.
- Library pen pal programs can help communities stay connected during quarantine.
- The Library of Congress announces a new project called Citizen DJ, which allows users to sample public audio collections for hip hop music.
Worth Reading
- Ensuring free speech requires more than neutrality. I fully support this article.
- Pushing back against the “Libraries are resilient” narrative.
- Inside a secret library in Syria.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Oooh! Check out the trailer for Shirley, starring Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson!
- The film version of Hamilton will debut on Disney+ on July 3, 2020, over a full year ahead of its original release date.
- Netflix is adapting Elena Ferrante’s upcoming novel, The Lying Life of Adults.
- The filmmakers behind Doctor Sleep are tackling Stephen King’s novel Revival next.
- Here’s the trailer for The Good Lord Bird, which debuts on Showtime on August 9th.
- Christopher Pike’s Midnight Club is being adapted as a Netflix series.
- The 90’s nostalgia is real…here’s the first teaser trailer for the Netflix adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club!
- SPOILER ALERT! The ending to the Defending Jacob adaptation is totally different than the book.
Books & Authors in the News
- Cookbook author Alison Roman takes shots at Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo in a recent interview, leading to a huge PR and social media mess.
- And in other news of authors-behaving-badly, Emily Giffin has made a lot of social media attacks on Meghan Markle.
- Haruki Murakami will host a lockdown radio special in Japan.
Award News
- Jacqueline Woodson and Albertine win 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Awards.
- Finalists for the Best Translated Book Awards are announced.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- In 2008, these first edition Harry Potter books were almost discarded from a British school library, but now they’re up for auction for thousands of pounds each!
- A neuroscientist explains why pandemic reading is so difficult for a lot of us.
On the Riot
- 13 pioneering black American librarians.
- The most popular books in libraries, January – March 2020.
- I miss the library: and other thoughts on quarantine reading life.
- 7 weirdly specific libraries and collections from around the world.
- How local literary communities can find strength during social distancing.
Keep on keeping on, everyone. Be kind to yourselves, and I’ll see you all next week.
Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.