Sponsored by Holiday House.
Fans of Nathan Hale will love this history of Earth in a comic book format. Never has natural history been so fun! Accuracy and humor combine as a paleontologist and a storyteller take two children through the birth of our planet and the heydays of protozoans, dinosaurs, and early mammals with unfailing enthusiasm. The art accurately portrays prehistoric animals and landscapes, but also adds humorous touches: a google-eyed fish looks startled to be walking and the kids pop out of a tree to surprise a Brachiosaurus. The expertise of biologist author Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu and illustrator Adriene Barman, the creator behind Creaturepedia, makes for a science read you can trust.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Despite this extremely non-traditional Thanksgiving weekend, I still managed to eat enough to strain the waistband on my comfy pants…there’s been a lot of napping in the McLain-Horner household over the last few days.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
And then there were four…Penguin Random House’s parent company is officially purchasing Simon & Schuster.
Penguin Random House employees in Canada have protested the publisher’s decision to publish a new book by Jordan Peterson.
A Somerville (MA) mother started an indie publishing house to showcase more stories of “the South Asian experience.”
A new online bookstore for LGBTQ+ readers opens in the UK.
Scholastic Book Fairs revamp their options for the pandemic.
New & Upcoming Titles
Pope Francis’ new book supports demands for racial justice and speaks out against COVID-19 deniers and conspiracy theorists.
Yusef Salaam, one of the five teens who became known as the “Central Park 5” in 1989, will publish a memoir next year.
Lorde went to Antarctica and is publishing a photo book to prove it.
46 books from 2020 that indie booksellers were grateful for this year.
Books of the week from Booklist Reader, Bustle, LitHub, The Millions, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today.
November picks from Amazon (history), Crime Reads, and LitHub (bio/memoir).
December picks from Epic Reads and New York Times.
Best books of 2020 from BBC, Book Page, (general & SFF), Kirkus (picture books), LitHub (short story collections), New York Times, Shelf Awareness (children’s/YA), Smithsonian Magazine (food), Time (children’s/YA, nonfiction), and Wired (cookbooks).
15 mysteries and thrillers to look for in 2021.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Thirty Names of Night – Zeyn Joukhadar (USA Today, Washington Post)
The Freezer Door – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (New York Times, Washington Post)
Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future – Pope Francis (NPR)
A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery From the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War – William G. Thomas (New York Times)
On the Riot
15 of the best post-apocalyptic books in 2020.
How to find LGBTQ+ new releases.
10+ new self-help books, and how to find more.
Angst all the way down: where to get started with John Green books.
All Things Comics
Simon & Schuster is launching two new graphic novel lines for young readers.
Kid Quick, DC’s first non-binary character, will appear in next month’s anthology, DC’s Merry Multiverse.
On the Riot
10 middle grade graphic novels to gift this year.
Audiophilia
Writer’s groups have been protesting Audible’s exchange policy, which allows users to return their audiobooks within 1 year of the purchase, and allows Audible to avoid paying authors and narrators their royalties. Audible has since altered its return policy.
The Grammy nominees for Best Spoken Word Album have been announced.
Audiobooks to soothe you during Lockdown 2.0.
5 literary thrillers on audio.
On the Riot
The neuroscience of audiobooks.
How to find audiobooks for sleep.
7 audiobooks for Indigenous Heritage Month.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
12 nonfiction books kids will actually read.
14 YA books that prove that all teens are messy in the best way.
10 YA books with saints & angel mythologies.
Epic Reads has a (dare I say it?) EPIC YA Holiday Gift Guide!
Adults
20 life-changing books to gift to someone you love.
7 books you should read AFTER dinner this holiday season (this is from the Ladies of Horror Fiction, so that should tell you a few things about the content of this list).
6 SFF novels that defy genre distinction.
5 SFF reads with Chinese representation.
5 SFF books with an astonishing number of twists and turns.
5 books about women fighting their way out.
Companion reading for a truly fraught holiday season.
10 romantic books for readers new to the genre.
On the Riot
7 children’s books by Asian writers.
10 ancient mythology and folktale books for kids.
5 of the best morally ambiguous monster hunting YA novels.
YA books set in bookstores.
Food & travel book recommendations for all your pandemic armchair travels.
20 must-read short books for short attention spans.
15 of the best books for teachers
12 books for coping with a COVID winter.
5 new books to read if you love Toni Morrison.
14 books about pop culture to distract you from 2020.
Books you should read if you’re a middle child.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in Library Reads, 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.
See you on Friday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey.