Hey, nerd friends, did you know this is National News Literacy Week? It’s a great time for everyone to think about how they consume and share media and how important it is to verify what you read online — especially if it’s something you agree with!
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Bookish Goods
Miyazaki Enamel Pin Set by BellonaJewelryStore
Look at how cute these pins are! You can also get the same designs as laptop stickers. $4
New Releases
In Utero by Chris Gooch
Feeling out of place at camp is bad enough, but when that camp is located in an abandoned mall haunted by unspeakable horrors? Things really couldn’t get much worse. Join Hailey and her only friend, Jen, as they try to figure out — and stop — what is going on.
Witch Life in a Micro Room, Volume One by Akitaka
Lilika and Madge get along pretty well — which is good because the only place these aspiring witches can afford to live is a single, itty-bitty “micro room!” But even that isn’t enough to get them down: they are determined to work their way up in the world by working together.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Today’s Riot Rec theme is: photography! It’s only tangentially related to News Literacy Week, but in the age of AI, deep fakes, and photo manipulation, it doesn’t hurt to remember to double-check whatever it is you’re looking at.
Unretouchable by Sofia Szamosi
Olive, a high school student, is thrilled to get an internship in the fashion industry, where her job is to digitally alter and retouch photos. But after a while, her constant quest for “perfection” in her work drives her to feel dissatisfied with her own body — and, ultimately, to reevaluate her relationship with herself, her career, and the technology that is used to make people feel bad about themselves.
Speed Grapher ,Volume One by Tomozo
Set for release in April of this year, this manga follows Saiga, a war photographer who is now working undercover in a shady club. There, he meets and tries to rescue a teen girl named Kagura, but at a price: at a touch from her, Saiga can no longer photograph anyone unless he is willing to accept that they are condemned to die as soon as he takes the shot!
Safe internet travels, everybody! I leave you with this photo of Poppy, who I happen to think is very photogenic.
~Eileen