Welcome to Check Your Shelf. This newsletter is brought to you on a wave of inexplicable insomnia from the last two nights. My brain has just…refused to fall asleep, and I’ve had a full week of big projects, meetings, and emails. Plus a shift as a #SundayLibrarian. I know there’s never a good time to deal with insomnia, but I’m like, “Why the heck is my brain picking NOW as a good time to act up??”
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Over 300 authors, including Neil Gaiman, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Chuck Wendig have teamed up with the advocacy group Fight for the Future to urge publishers to better support libraries and digital lending practices.
The William Hall Library (RI) has suspended use of its meeting spaces pending a policy review. This comes after the library allowed the Independent Women’s Network to host an event on gender ideology at the library, which many considered anti-transgender.
Here are the results of Library Journal’s Fines and Fees survey.
Cool Library Updates
Worth Reading
How to intervene when you witness a microaggression.
Book Adaptations in the News
Hulu will be adapting the true crime book Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey as a limited true crime series.
Interview With the Vampire has already been renewed for a second season.
Casting update for Dark Matter.
Here’s the first trailer for Knock at the Cabin, which is based on Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World.
And here’s the latest trailer for Enola Holmes 2.
First trailer for The Wonder.
Teaser trailer for The Mayfair Witches.
Banned & Challenged Books
The strain of censorship on public libraries.
Libraries across the US are receiving violent threats.
Who parental rights groups leave out.
A group of angry citizens has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Llano, Texas county officials for removing or restricting book access in the public library.
Armed protesters showed up to a Texas church’s drag bingo event.
Eanes ISD (TX) postpones its annual Banned Books Week lesson following parent concerns. I just…I have no response to this.
Escambia County School Board (FL) superintendent implements a restricted section in school libraries that will house 116 books that a teacher and school board member have deemed “obscene.”
The book ban debate reignites in the Central York School District (PA) over claims that the book Girls Who Code had been banned from the district.
During Banned Books Week, a New Hampshire school district wrestles with how to allow book challenges.
The Ferguson Library (CT) receives threats following a Drag Queen Story Time program.
ParentsUnitedRI is pushing a slate of conservative extremists for local office.
Spotsylvania (VA) school district removes multiple books without review.
Debate sparked after Gender Queer was removed from Western High School (NC) shelves.
South Carolina library board chair publicly bullies a librarian over LGBTQ books.
Stamped has been removed from Pickens County Schools (SC). No one in attendance at the board meeting spoke in favor of retaining the book.
Dearborn Public Schools (MI) temporarily restricts access to seven books while setting up a review committee. The books that have been restricted are Push, All Boys Aren’t Blue, And They Lived, The Lovely Bones, Eleanor & Park, Red, White, and Royal Blue, and This Book is Gay. A Dearborn high school mother also reportedly filed a police report over the presence of This Book is Gay in the school library.
Tensions grow amid challenged book discussions at the Phillips Public Library (WI).
Wausau (WI) parents are pushing the Marathon County Public Library to restrict children’s access to materials that discuss LGBTQ+ themes and gender identity.
Downer’s Grove Public Library (IL) reports that they received a threatening letter with a bullet inside, which prompted them to cancel their planned Drag Queen bingo event for teens.
Kansas City-area schools remove The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughterhouse-Five, and more books from shelves. And suburban school districts in the St. Louis area are more likely to ban books under the state’s new law.
Nixa Public Schools (MO) restricts access to 10 books, including The Bluest Eye.
Anti-censorship advocates fear the impact of Missouri’s new book ban law.
Seaman High School (KS) bans Me and Earl and the Dying Girl during a special board meeting.
Arkansas state senator Dan Sullivan signs a petition to decrease funding for the Jonesboro library.
Jefferson County Public Schools (KY) will keep Gender Queer on library shelves.
A Sumner County (TN) school board member calls for a review of the district’s collection policy after a parent complained that their six-year-old found a book with an illustration relating to Black Lives Matter.
Sequatchie County (TN) parent wants to remove Looking for Alaska from high school shelves.
Book ban efforts in Colorado see little success, despite the national surge.
Dozens speak out against banning LGBTQ books at a Natrona County (WY) School Board meeting.
A book challenge at ImagineIF Libraries (MT) prompts the creation of a “parent resources” section, which will house books that have been deemed inappropriate for children to read without parental permission.
The Park City Board of Education (UT) postpones a book ban policy decision…again.
A ban on sexually explicit materials in Arizona schools is set to take effect.
A Chandler (AZ) parent is upset over the book Melissa.
LGBTQ+ books are under review in the Poway Unified School District (CA).
Conservative parents seek power on San Diego school boards.
British Columbia school board candidates are pushing for policy changes to allow trustees to make decisions about school curriculum and book selections. Related: Canadian right-wing book banning groups don’t know how school boards work.
Parents find an anti-SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) pamphlet being distributed in a Kelowna (BC) school parking lot.
A group of Winkler (MB) citizens are pushing for the South Central Regional Library to remove multiple books that they have deemed to be “pornographic.”
Okay, I call BS on this opinion piece: “But if we don’t let parents prevent their children from taking out allegedly dangerous books, they’re more likely to demand that the books be removed altogether.” It’s not about individual family choices for these people. The author even acknowledges this in the article. This whole issue is a concerted effort to control information and terrorize large groups of people for existing, and compromise doesn’t help. Also, do students not have any rights anymore?
The rising tide of censorship and scrutiny has schools scrambling to avoid the backlash.
Disinvestment poses as great a threat to libraries as book bans.
Why are book ban efforts working?
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Books & Authors in the News
Charles Leerhsen responds to criticism from Anthony Bourdain’s family over his unauthorized biography, No Reservations.
Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga was found guilty of inciting violence after staging a peaceful protest calling for political reform.
New York Times rediscovers several early interviews with Cormac McCarthy.
Romance authors are mobilizing for reproductive rights.
Look for Carmen Maria Machado in Shudder’s new documentary Queer for Fear.
Numbers & Trends
What is a “hot girl book” and why is everyone talking about them?
The bestselling books of the week.
Award News
The finalists for the 2022 National Book Awards have been announced.
The 2022 Diverse Book Awards shortlist has been announced.
Here are the nominees for the Shirley Jackson Awards.
Here’s the shortlist for the Center for Fiction’s 2022 First Novel Prize.
On the Riot
A day in the life of an elementary school librarian.
What it’s like being a medical librarian.
How to play Dungeons & Dragons.
Adaptation trends and predictions.
Building your bookish mental health tool kit.
An abbreviated history of American Girl publishing in the 90’s.
I had a couple of really cute photos of Dini that I was going to put in this newsletter, but then Gilbert decided he was going to use my laptop as a pillow and help me finish the newsletter. What a helpful boy!
Okay, I’m going to go to bed. Everyone, make sure you get some good rest this weekend!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.