Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m not going to sugar coat any of my feelings this week. I’m furious, nauseous, overwhelmed, depressed, incoherent, unsurprised, and wondering if there’s a word in any language to describe this feeling. Or if there’s a way to describe the relentless effort to control and criminalize millions of people, and the way these efforts are being sanctioned by the government. I don’t have words or answers right now.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Lafayette (LA) Parish Library board member Doug Palombo has resigned his seat. During his board tenure, Palombo rejected a grant that would support programming and discussion around voting rights and the Black community, and eventually pressured the former director to retire.
Baltimore County library employees ratify their first union contract.
Cool Library Updates
The Boston Public Library will be offering 1 hour wedding ceremonies on-site for $200.
Worth Reading
How libraries have revamped their summer reading programs by offering greater choices in books and where to participate.
Book Adaptations in the News
It’s Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in The Gray Man, based on Mark Greaney’s books.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film will be released in November 2023.
Chris Bohjalian’s newest book, The Lioness, will be adapted for TV.
LAIKA’s next stop-motion film is based on a fantasy novel by the lead singer of The Decemberists.
Andy Serkis will direct an adaptation of Elizabeth McCracken’s The Giant’s House.
The new film adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot gets a release date of September 9th.
Saint X recasts its lead role.
Casting updates for the Anne Rice projects in production at AMC.
14 book-to-screen adaptations to catch in 2022.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Banned & Challenged Books
You can’t solve book bans by banning more books.
Why should we care about freedom of the press.
Biden says Americans should stop targeting teachers and banning books. (Yeah, that’ll take care of it.)
The power and freedom to publish and curate.
Texas librarians say book bans are a political power play, and your kids are the pawns.
Latino authors and activists lead a caravan and march against banned books in Texas.
The ACLU demands that San Antonio’s North East ISD end its ban on 110 books from school libraries.
Leander ISD (TX) students and parents gather to support freedom of choice in school libraries.
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD (TX) school leaders confront a controversial proposal on teaching critical race theory and gender, which could mean punishment for any educator who violates a wide-ranging list of prohibitions.
Canyon ISD (TX) hears public comments on library materials. Worth noting that the school district has a proposed policy that would require ALL future library materials to be reviewed by a panel and made available for public comment before any new purchases could be made. What an absolute waste of time, money, resources, and staff expertise.
Enid (OK) residents feel “censored” by the new library policy that has led to the cancellation of a romance book club and a program on sexual assault awareness.
The Nashville Public Library has issued a limited edition library card with Banned Books artwork.
Meanwhile, after Tennessee representative Jerry Sexton said that he would burn inappropriate school books, lawmakers have voted to let the state veto school library materials.
Gender Queer is under review in the Connetquot School District (NY).
The Ottumwa Community School District (IA) suspends its use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.
Indianola (IA) community members argue for “challenged books” at a recent school board meeting.
The ROWVA (IL) Board has been accused of not hiring a teacher because of her statements supporting The Hate U Give, which was challenged in the district earlier in the year.
Ohio House Bill 616 (aka Ohio’s version of “Don’t Say Gay”) says that it backs “free and fair discussion” in schools, but let’s be real here. It doesn’t.
Remember the rainbow unicorn controversy in Ohio? Emails from Buckeye Valley school board members shed more light on the situation, namely that the board members believed the book and the author were going to push “LGBTQ ideas on our most vulnerable students,” even though that’s not even what the book is about!
The Littlestown Area School District (PA) has revamped their book challenge policy, including a key detail that I think is extremely important: using an established standard to evaluate a book for obscene content — in this case, the “Miller Test” established by the US Supreme Court in Miller v. California. But the words “pornographic” and “obscene” are being thrown around so frequently, I’m turning into Inigo Montoya, saying “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
An anonymous email and a library book ban are at the forefront of a Ramsey (NJ) High School board meeting.
Williamsburg-James City County School Board (VA) elects not to order new textbooks after complaints about “divisive teachings.” So, I guess using outdated information is better for students’ education then?
Isle of Wight County Schools (VA) updated their material challenging policy to say that materials “shall not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
Wake County (NC) School Board has rejected a parent’s request to remove Out of Darkness from library shelves.
A proposed amendment in South Carolina could mean the loss of $1 million in state funding for the Richmond Public Library, and could be devastating for small, rural libraries in the state. The amendment would require county libraries to certify that they “do not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of thirteen in children’s book sections of libraries and are only made available with explicit parental consent.” If a library is found to not be in compliance with this vaguely-worded amendment, they could lose state funding.
Banning books from children’s sections in South Carolina public libraries is a bad idea.
Governor Kemp (GA) signed a new book ban bill into law, which would take away the power of book reviews from trained professionals and give them to school boards.
Hall County (GA) parents argue over the appropriateness of books in the district. But read the article…after one parent complained about the possibility that Eleanor and Park could have been “slipped” to their child without her knowing, another parent stood up and said, “That’s your fault.” THANK YOU, SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT!!
A look at the nine school library books that have been labeled as “obscene” by Savannah (GA) citizens.
DeSantis has signed an “Intellectual Freedom” measure into law, which is also known as the “Stop WOKE” Act. It restricts conversations about race and gender in schools AND workplaces, and a lot of critics say that it is blatantly unconstitutional.
Related: the inanity of DeSantis’ book banning.
Polk School Board (FL) continues to discuss challenged books, but two more have been approved for high school shelves: The Bluest Eye and Tricks.
The Florida Freedom to Read Project weighs in on Department of Education textbook rejections.
Walton County School District (FL) banned the picture book Everywhere Babies, which the author speculates is because there’s an illustration of two men hugging in the book. They’ve also pulled 24 books from shelves because they’ve been deemed “extremely age-inappropriate” and “harmful.”
Diana Gabaldon hits back after her books were pulled from Walton County Schools.
The Ridgeland (MS) mayor and other similarly-minded community members are taking pains to distance themselves from MassResistance, a group that has been involved in the ongoing fight against LGBTQ materials in the Ridgeland Public Library, and has also been designated as an LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Madison County School District (MS) places restrictions on more than 20 books after parents raise concerns. The full list is included in the article, but includes books such as American Born Chinese, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Dear Martin, and Queer, There, and Everywhere.
Rapid City Area Schools (SD) withheld 350+ new books and attempted to quietly destroy them.
Idaho State Representative Heather Scott co-sponsored a workshop with Parents for Freedom and Liberty founder, Amy Henry. The workshop was titled: “How to remove inappropriate materials from our schools/libraries.” The breakdown of this workshop and this group’s talking points are bonkers, and yet horrifyingly common amongst similar groups in the country.
The graphic novel adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale has been removed from North Medford High School in Oregon.
Liberty Lake City Council (WA) votes to keep Gender Queer in the city library.
The Durham District School Board in Ontario has reinstated The Great Bear and two other removed books to their collection, and issued a statement.
London Catholic school teachers strike over a canceled LGBTQ book talk.
Juno Dawson wrote the ninth-most banned book in the country (This Book is Gay), and says that the homophobic agenda is very obvious.
Banning books to save kids? Please. Bullets are more dangerous.
The right’s LGBTQ books ban, and the fight to stop them.
What are book bans really about? Fear.
Books & Authors in the News
Acclaimed author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith has died at 93.
Reese Witherspoon picks The Dictionary of Lost Words for her May book club pick.
Oprah defends keeping American Dirt in her book club despite the controversy.
Trump-backed author J.D. Vance wins the Ohio GOP Senate primary.
The ethics of reporters sitting on important scoops in order to sell their own books.
A look at the legacy of Fifty Shades of Grey after 10 years.
Numbers & Trends
Children’s books need to watch their (skin) tone: Checking for diversity and bias in images must start with gatekeepers who decide which kids’ books count.
Award News
The 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners have been announced!
LeVar Burton will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Emmy’s!
Here are the shortlists for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards.
Evelyn Araluen wins the 2022 Stella Prize for Dropbear.
Pop Cultured
There’s a new trailer out for Obi-Wan Kenobi in honor of May the 4th.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
A rare copy of the “Wicked Bible” has been discovered in New Zealand.
On the Riot
Traveling library lessons: tips for teaching on a cart.
How to start a book club for seniors.
8 of the best non-movie adaptations of Agatha Christie’s works.
7 of the best eReaders of 2022.
Why do we keep putting down books that we’re actively enjoying? (It me.)
Peanuts stamps are coming this fall!!
Deconstructing Little House on the Prairie.
12 BookTok accounts to follow in 2022.
Writes about murder, does a murder: weird bookish stories edition.
A review of Bookly, the app for building reading habits.
This is a common sight in our house, usually about a half hour before mealtime. They’re trying to tell us something…but I just can’t figure out what it is…
Do something nice for yourselves this weekend, friends. I’ll see you on Tuesday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.