Disney+ Greenlights Series Based on Melissa de la Cruz’s The Ring & The Crown
Disney+ has optioned a series based on Melissa de la Cruz’s YA novel The Ring & The Crown, published by Disney Publishing Worldwide. The series is currently in development and will be written by Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg (Our Kind of People). Harberts and Berg will also executive produce alongside author de la Cruz. Casting and release dates have yet to be announced.
Here’s A Sneak Peak at Brian Selznick’s Stephen Spielberg-influenced Novel Big Tree
Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, has a new novel coming out, inspired by director Stephen Spielberg’s idea. Spielberg came up with the idea for this story in collaboration with Illumination Founder and CEO Chris Meledandri. Then Selznick took that idea and made it into a gorgeously illustrated book. “Creating this book was a great joy and an even greater challenge because I was telling a story about nature from nature’s point of view,” Selznick said in a statement. “It grew into a narrative I’m very proud of, one that reminds us to stop and listen to the world around us, and to help those who need to be helped. These themes seem to grow more and more urgent with each passing day.” Big Tree will be released by Scholastic Press on April 4th, 2023.
LeVar Burton Responds to Kanye West’s Statement That He Never Reads Books
Reading Rainbow and Star Trek star LeVar Burton is a vocal advocate for reading books, so when Kanye West announced that he never reads, of course Burton had something to say about it on Twitter. West said, “I actually haven’t read any book. Reading is like eating Brussels sprouts for me and talking is like getting the Giorgio Baldi corn ravioli.” Burton’s response? “Hmmm… I’m going have to take Mr. West at his word,” he tweeted. “I hope however, that he shares a different message with the children enrolled in the school he’s founded named after his mother, who was an professor of English. I’m fairly certain she read a book or two.”
5,100 Free Library Cards Issued by Brooklyn Library in Fight Against Book Banning
The Brooklyn Library has issued thousands of library cards across the country, aiding in the fight against censorship.