Weed the Racist Books, Librarians

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Welcome to Check Your Shelf. This is a sad evening for me – my parents had to say goodbye to one of their kitties very suddenly this afternoon, and it was a tremendous shock to everyone. Lovebug and her two kittens came to live with my grandpa in 2009, and my parents took the three cats in after my grandpa passed away in 2012. Lovebug more than lived up to her name – she adored everyone she met, and had one of the sweetest kitty faces I’ve ever seen. We’re going to miss this fluffy lady.

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

Local public libraries in Portsmouth, Virginia have begun removal of the six Dr. Seuss books that were pulled from publication last week.

The New York Public Library has elected to keep the six Dr. Seuss books in its collections.

Cool Library Updates

Health librarians quell pandemic panic with webinars.

The road to normal: bookmobiles and outreach during COVID.

Worth Reading

A history of racism in American public libraries.

The Dr. Seuss controversy: what educators need to know.

The New York Times provided a summary of the Dr. Seuss news and surrounding controversy, if you need a catch-up or a refresher on what’s happened.

Cancel culture and “classics:” EDI and readers advisory implications. Or in other words, weed the racist books, librarians.

Want to borrow that ebook from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.

How a year without the library changed this writer.

Book Adaptations in the News

Kindred is being turned into a TV series.

Sarah Gailey’s latest book The Echo Wife is getting a film adaptation already.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is being turned into a TV series.

David Simon and George Pelecanos from The Wire are turning We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption by Justin Fenton into a limited series.

Amazon Studios is developing a series adaptation of The Wives by Tarryn Fisher.

Peacock is developing a series based on The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

Disney’s 20th Television grabbed the rights to Chris Whitaker’s new novel We Begin at the End.

Armando Lucas Correa’s The German Girl is being turned into an international TV series.

Stephen King’s 2018 novella Elevation will be getting a film adaptation. Also, the creators of Stranger Things are adapting The Talisman.

The Queen’s Gambit is becoming a stage musical.

There’s a Bosch spin-off series set at IMDB TV.

Update on the new Goosebumps TV series.

Trailers for Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse and Made for Love by Alissa Nutting.

Books & Authors in the News

Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth, has died at 91.

The kid lit community rallies against anti-Asian racism.

Carmen Maria Machado defends her memoir In the Dream House, which was one of several books pulled from Texas high school shelves for review following parent complaints.

Amanda Gorman reported being tailed by a security guard on her way home, who questioned whether or not she actually lived in her building. As Amanda said, “This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat.”

Mariah Carey’s brother sues for emotional distress caused by her recently-published memoir.

In much better news, NASA has named the Mars landing site of Perseverance “Octavia E. Butler Landing.”