Mercenary Librarians, Benedict Cumberbatch Audiobook Narration, and More

Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to all things book talk worth knowing to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).

Check Your Shelf is sponsored by Bas Bleu Books and Gifts.

Whether you’re a career librarian or simply a lifelong library patron, you can proudly wear your passion for books, card catalogs, and the Dewey Decimal system on your sleeve—er, your lapel—with our Library Enamel Pins. Modeled after a classic yellow library checkout card and a library date stamp, these bibliophilic accessories may be diminutive (each measures about ½”x1″), but they proclaim big love for books when pinned to your jacket, sweater, tote bag, or cap.

Libraries & Librarians

5-year-old Ulysses Stoutenburg raised $100 for the York County (PA) libraries by selling lemonade. Way to go, Ulysses! (The York County government had voted to cut $300,000 from the county library budget.)
US prison officials rescind a policy that would have made it much harder for inmates to receive books while incarcerated.
In recognition of Mental Health Month, the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) has an updated mental health toolkit to help make your library a welcoming and accessible space for people who experience mental illness.
Adulting-101 classes at the public library. (Sign me up for any class about basic sewing skills!)
Avengers: Infinity War-themed Little Free Libraries coming to a city near you!

#MeToo Updates

(Content warning for sexual assault and sexual harassment)

Multiple authors, including Zinzi Clemmons, accuse Junot Diaz of sexual assault.
More publishers are starting to include morality clauses in their author contracts.

Book Adaptations In the News

Fox is adapting Justin Cronin’s The Passage as a TV series.
How about a TV series based on The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho?
Looking for Alaska is coming to Hulu.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3 is in the works.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is coming to the big screen!
And finally, an interesting post about why we’re still watching The Handmaid’s Tale even though it’s legitimately terrifying.

Books in the News

Parents and school administrators are divided over this year’s Oregon Battle of the Books, which includes the title George by Alex Gino, a middle grade novel about a transgender girl. The OBOB committee, however, plans to include George as a title for next year’s battle.
Ronan Farrow expanding on his groundbreaking reports of sexual abuse with a new book, Catch and Kill.
Kit Rocha (aka Donna Herren & Bree Bridges) has a new series coming out called The Silver Devils, which is pitched as Orphan Black meets The Avengers, but with mercenary librarians. (Everyone needs to get this series on their radar immediately!)
Tomi Adeyemi announces her second book, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, out in 2019!
Chelsea Clinton is writing a book for young activists called Start Now!
New covers and bonus content for the 10th anniversary of The Hunger Games, and I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years since that book was published.
Scott Westerfeld is doing a spinoff series for The Uglies.

By the Numbers

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) released its stats on the number of children’s books by and about people of color published in 2017. Good news: the number of diverse books is increasing. Bad news: the number of those books written by Black, Latinx, and Native American children’s authors combined is only 7%.
The future of Barnes & Noble is in trouble.
eBook sales fall 10% in 2017.

Audiophilia

Audiobooks are good for your mental health. I’ll take “News I Already Knew” for 200, Alex!
Benedict Cumberbatch set to narrate Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and now I suddenly want to give this high-school-required-reading another shot!

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Fantasy & science fiction book club suggestions.
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, a list of romance novels written by AAPI authors.
A reading pathway for Robyn Carr’s novels.
Latina authors to read in the wake of the Junot Diaz accusations.
And more Latinx authors you really need to be reading right now.
Best feminist baby books!
Are you a romance newbie? Check out this list of must-read romance authors and their best books to get you started.
The best cross-stitch books for all you crafty librarians!
50 must-read Canadian children’s & YA books.
YA titles about teen depression.
More YA! How about a list of 50 young adult mysteries?
Book Riot readers’ favorite works of political satire.
40 favorite books about dogs. 12/10, would read them all.
A primer on climate fiction (or cli-fi, if you really want to abbreviate it).
If you’re caught up on all of your podcasts, try some of these true crime books!

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

There’s a gateway to Hogwarts along the Blue Line in Chicago! (Who knew?)
Romance author Faleena Hopkins has trademarked the word “cocky” and sent cease and desist letters to all authors using that word in their titles. Courtney Milan gives a summary of the situation on Twitter and the RWA is investigating.
Do you have a book-buying problem? (Trick question – there’s no such thing.)
Follow along as the Fab Five try to make over classic male literary characters in Queer Eye for the Classics Guy!
An interview with Rebekah Weatherspoon, the creator of the website/online community, WOCinRomance (Women of Color in Romance).
Serialized reading is making a 21st century comeback.
The oldest cookbooks from libraries around the world.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? Whether or not you read and nominate titles, we’ll end every newsletter with a few upcoming titles worth reading and sharing (and nominating for LibraryReads, if you so choose!). Links here will direct to Edelweiss digital review copies. These books hit shelves in August, giving you plenty of time to read and nominate by June 20th.

Don’t Send Flowers by Martin Solares. “A twisty, darkly captivating novel about a police detective hired to investigate the disappearance of a rich businessman’s daughter several years after rampant corruption forced him to retire and made him a target of everyone still on the force in cartel-controlled, northern Mexico.”
A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua. “A powerful debut novel of motherhood, immigration, and identity, about a Chinese woman who makes her way to California to give her baby U.S. citizenship, and whose harrowing yet heart-warming journey redefines what it means to be an American.”
Love Interrupted by Reneilwe Malatji. “A diverse chorus of female voices recount misadventures with love, husbands, and in-laws. A collection of short fiction from South Africa.”

Thanks for hanging out! We’ll see you back here in two weeks with another edition of Check Your Shelf.

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter