Sponsored by Beacon Press Limited.
Eighteen-year-old Amy Tucker is struggling to return to normalcy following her mother’s death, unsure if her world will ever be whole again. Meanwhile, in Seabrook, a small town famous for its haunted lighthouse, Ryan Porter lives a simple life, maintaining the ranch he shares with his father. Separated by hundreds of miles, yet drawn to each other by forces they can’t understand, the two spend a magical day together, quickly forging a deep connection. But all is not what it seems in Seabrook. When strange events begin to occur, they question if their meeting really was an accident at all.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. You know that feeling where there’s going to be a big decision made in a few days time that will impact you significantly but you have no control over? That’s going to be me at work over the next few days. (Don’t worry — my job’s not at risk, but it’s still going to be an extremely impactful decision.) So…I’m going to be stocking up on antacids for the next few days, but in the meantime, here’s this Friday’s newsletter. (And you may want to stock up on antacids yourself before getting to the Banned & Challenged Books section. Just a suggestion…)
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Protestors target teen library patrons attending a library-sponsored LGBTQ program at the Post Falls Library in Idaho. Because making vulnerable teens feel unsafe is definitely a good use of a person’s time.
Cool Library Updates
Malcolm X’s former prison cell is being turned into a library for incarcerated people.
The Indianapolis Public Library has hired a full time social worker to help connect its most vulnerable citizens with resources.
The story behind how Library Cats came to the rescue of L.A.’s kitties.
Worth Reading
Why police shouldn’t be in libraries, and how to help change that.
Book Adaptations in the News
The film adaptation of Lucky has been canceled following the news of Anthony Broadwater’s overturned conviction.
Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement for one more film: an adaptation of the 1937 novel How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino.
Netflix is adapting David Nicholls’ One Day.
Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches gets a series greenlight at AMC.
Stan Lee’s horror universe will get a screen adaptation.
Laverne Cox joins the cast of Uglies.
Here’s the first trailer for the new animated Harriet the Spy TV show.
Banned & Challenged Books
Authors of color speak out against efforts to ban books about race.
The National Coalition Against Censorship condemns political attacks against books in schools.
Governor Abbott targets LGBTQ+ books as pornography. Texas librarians say he’s wrong.
Leander ISD (TX) has removed the following books from its high school libraries, and will not allow these titles to be selected for student book clubs either: Brave Face, The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel, In the Dream House, None of the Above, The Nowhere Girls, Out of Darkness, Red at the Bone, The Lottery: The Graphic Adaptation, Shout, V for Vendetta, and Y: The Last Man Book One. The school district is also only NOW requesting that any concerns with instructional materials should follow the regular reconsideration process. Gee, that’s convenient.
High school students in Keller ISD (TX) must receive parental permission in order to check out Out of Darkness.
The North East ISD (TX) has pulled over 400 books for review based on Republican lawmaker Matt Krause’s list of 850 “inappropriate” books.
ALA’s OIF shares a blog post about the Krause banned book list, which contains the phrase “It is asinine to me…that one should be legally exempt from feeling guilt.”
Flathead County (MT) library director resigns amid board meddling and controversy over challenged books.
Manawa, AK has received a challenge to the book Looking For Alaska.
Lindbergh and Mehlville are the latest districts in the St. Louis area to receive challenges to multiple books.
Conservative parents are trying to ban books in Kansas City schools. Students won’t let them. (And it just kills me that again and again, the burden of enacting change is falling on students.)
The Utah State Board of Education is working to issue a new rule on how school libraries choose and review content.
Canyons School District (UT) is reviewing proposed changes to its book review policy. Among the policy features: parents can only challenge a book at a school where their child attends, they can only challenge a maximum of two books, and the book stays on the shelf during the deliberation process.
“Removing books limits our growth,” a student tells the Canyons School Board.
The Campbell County (UT) Public Library board has rejected three more appeals to remove specific titles from their library: Meena by Sine Van Wol, Mary Wears What She Wants by Keith Negley, and The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex.
Moms for Liberty strikes in Hernando County, Florida, protesting against Looking for Alaska, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, and two books by Alex Gino.
Moms for Liberty also targets Indian River County, Florida with a list of over 80 books in schools allegedly containing “pornography” and “critical race theory“.
The Tennessee Education Department declined to investigate the first complaint filed under its new anti-CRT bill, not surprisingly filed by a chapter of the Moms for Liberty, who protested several books adapted for young readers about Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Movement, and Ruby Bridges.
Georgia schools are targeted in a battle over library books and online content.
The York School Department (ME) received a request to remove the book It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health from someone who does not have a child in the school district.
The Harrisonburg City Public School District (VA) has been asked to return Gender Queer to the library shelves until a formal review can be conducted; however, the book is currently checked out by a parent who refuses to return the book to the schools.
Fairfax County (VA) parents demand that the school board resign after they returned Lawn Boy and Gender Queer to library shelves.
In other Fairfax news, the Fairfax County Public Library removed a display that placed the Bible alongside copies of Lawn Boy and Gender Queer, along with a number of troll dolls.
Phoenix high school removes So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson from an AP English reading list.
The struggle to define critical race theory divides an Orange County school district.
Children’s books on gender identity spark conflict in the Solana Beach School District (CA).
IL State Representative Sam Yingling is fighting to keep Gender Queer on school library shelves.
Two Iowa state senators have voiced support for charging school officials with felonies for having “obscene” books on school bookshelves.
Iowa librarians and advocates push back on calls to remove LGBTQ books from school libraries.
The North Hunterdon (NJ) book ban controversy enters another chapter.
Legislators slam diversity efforts in Kansas schools and label them as “critical race theory.”
Ray Bradbury told librarians to “stand firm” against book bans.
The new white flight: banning books that reveal uncomfortable truths.
Say it again for the people in the back: Sexual content in books does not equal pornography.
Books & Authors in the News
HarperCollins pulls Chris Cuomo’s upcoming book following his firing from CNN.
Numbers & Trends
Penguin Random House has created a new campaign called Find Your Light which looks to analyze trends in the publishing world from the previous year.
The 2021 numbers look good for the US book trade.
Do millions of social media followers translate into book sales?
Award News
Kirstin Valdez Quade wins the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Pop Cultured
What to read, watch, and listen to after marathoning Get Back. (I’m still making my way through, because each episode is the length of a LotR movie, but holy cow is it fascinating.)
Reading Rainbow is coming back in 2022!
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
This Black-owned bookstore is delivering books on horseback!
11 literary podcasts you should definitely listen to.
On the Riot
Why library staff don’t (or shouldn’t) comment on your library checkouts.
5 tips to make your book fair run smoothly.
Why is Agatha Christie the best-selling author of all time?
10 public domain books to be on the lookout for in 2022.
A behind-the-scenes look at judging for a children’s book award.
Level up your reading: become a literary magazine volunteer reader.
5 ways to support booksellers this holiday season.
Not every picture book needs to be a board book!
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Did we make it through? Did anyone get left behind? (Send smoke signals if you’re lost in the Banned Books Wilderness and we’ll send someone back for you!) In the meantime, enjoy your weekend everyone, and try to put some good back into the world. I’ll see you next week!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.