Sponsored by Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, new from Algonquin Young Readers
A laugh-out-loud funny and empowering graphic memoir about growing up and finding your voice. Cindy has just dipped a toe into seventh-grade drama—with its complicated friendships, bullies, and cute boys—when she earns an internship as a cub reporter at a local newspaper in the early 1970s. Searching for her own scoops, Cindy doesn’t always get it right, on paper or in real life. But whether she’s writing features about ghost hunters, falling off her bicycle and into her first crush, or navigating shifting friendships, Cindy grows wiser and more confident through every awkward and hilarious mistake.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- If you’re going to be at ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia, here’s a preview of the panels and speakers.
- What OverDrive’s new ownership means for the eBook service.
- Nearly 70 public libraries in Utah join the Macmillan boycott.
- Citizens in Wilmington (DE) say that the public library’s new restricted bag policy unfairly targets people experiencing homelessness.
- The Illinois Department of Corrections makes changes to its book banning policy in prisons.
- Gwinnett (GA) County libraries are closing for three days as they transition to a non-Dewey classification system.
Cool Library Updates
- The downtown branch of the Tucson Public Library has a program called “On the Streets” that offers food, warmth, conversation, and resources for patrons experiencing homelessness.
- Check out the first ever LGBTQ+ digital collections at the Library of Congress!
- Two words: Bunny. Yoga.
Worth Reading
- How libraries prepare for possible ICE activity.
- Why the U.S. sent librarians undercover to gather intel during World War II.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Jake Gyllenhaal is adapting Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, Fun Home, for film, and starring as Bechdel’s father.
- Here’s a trailer for the upcoming Gretel and Hansel which looks super creepy! I’m all in!
- Peep this trailer for Season 5 of Outlander.
Books & Authors in the News
- M.C. Beaton, best-selling author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series, dies at age 83.
- Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation, dies from cancer at age 52.
- A Quebec author has been charged with child pornography over his dark retelling of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.
- 1,000 letters written by T.S. Eliot are unveiled at Princeton University Library.
- Reese Witherspoon picks Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid as her next book club pick.
- How Little Women inspired these women authors.
Numbers & Trends
- Why eBook subscription services will finally succeed in the coming decade.
- Library Journal shares the results of its generational reading survey.
Award News
- The Romance Writers of America cancel their annual RITA Awards amid the ongoing racism controversy.
- Costa Book Awards announce their category winners.
- Lee Child will be a judge for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Pop Cultured
- Killing Eve gets a fourth season.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest illustrated book in an ancient Egyptian burial site.
- Why this reader refuses to read a book a week again.
On the Riot
- In library renovations, when do discussions of accessibility arise?
- Libraries support their communities when natural disasters strike.
- 13 must-listen librarian podcasts.
- Remembering Johanna Lindsey.
- Digging into 2020 book goals.
- Bookish New Year’s resolutions to improve your reading life.
- A pledge to read more books in translation in 2020.
- What happened when this reader read more books by Asian American authors in 2019.
- Why you should visit a book festival and how to choose one.
Thanks for hanging! I’ll see everyone bright and squirrelly on Tuesday!
–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Body Lies by Jo Baker.