Author: Katie McLain

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Remember to hydrate and wash your hands this week. There are a lot of major problems going on in the world, but we won’t be able to tackle them unless we’re properly hydrated and sanitized. Use this week to take care of yourself!

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Internet Archive has asked publishers to drop their copyright lawsuit and work together to find a solution.
• Donald Trump has permanently changed the publishing industry.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Jason Reynolds announces his first adult fiction title, which will be published in 2022!
• The Decameron Project provides 29 free short stories from acclaimed writers such as Tommy Orange, Margaret Atwood, and Victor LaValle.
• Debut and international crime novels for July.
• 18 feel-good summer novels to read if you need a break.
• 21 best books of the year (so far).
• Preview of Fall 2020 books that focus on the presidential campaigns and election.
• 15 new books to add to your TBR.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Pull of the Stars – Emma Donoghue (LA Times, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell (LA Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Pew – Catherine Lacey (LA Times, New York Times, USA Today)
• The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life – Alex Trebek (LA Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Baseless: My Search For Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act – Nicholson Baker (New York Times, NPR)
• Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby (NPR)
• Crooked Hallelujah – Kelli Jo Ford (Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• The false promise of anti-racism books.
• Top Summer Reads: 56 new and favorite titles across the fiction genres.
• Take a look at the #midlibfaves20 spreadsheets to see the books that librarians are talking about halfway through the year.
• Muslim women authors are building new worlds through science fiction and fantasy.
• A look at horror and our current society that experiences so much through screens.

On the Riot

• 8 new epic fantasy debuts for 2020.

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All Things Comics

• 9 translated graphic novels about inequality.

On the Riot

• What was the first comic book?

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Audiophilia

• 5 audiobooks with love in the spotlight.
• 10 audiobooks that will make any road trip fly by.
• 7 audiobooks for a perfect dose of escapism.

On the Riot

• 30 audiobooks written and read by Black authors.
• 7 audiobooks to celebrate Disability Pride Month.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• YA mystery lists from Goodreads, Buzzfeed, and Epic Reads.
• 16 books like A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Adults

• 50 most impactful Black books of the last 50 years.
• 16 thrillers to give you instant goosebumps.
• 8 books about cross-generational friendships.
• 25 books about the immigrant experience.
• What 100 writers have been reading during quarantine.
• 9 books to read if you’re missing Olympic gymnastics. (It me.)
• 9 books about being homesick for a place that doesn’t exist anymore.
• 8 queer Scandinavian books.
• 7 mysteries featuring senior citizens as secondary characters.
• 12 books by Latinx authors.
• 9 Afrocentric fantasy novels.

On the Riot

• Hygiene books for elementary students.
• Totally rad 80’s and 90’s series for kids.
• Scary stories that doomed millennials as kids.
• 15 middle grade books to help learn empathy.
• 7 diverse Jewish children’s and YA books.
• 10 short romance novels.
• 8 books celebrating Black joy.
• 15 fabulous books about drag.
• 12 queer witch books to bring some magic to your TBR.
• 5 books with pansexual main characters.
• 5 books on the necessity of police reform.
• 7 books to read in honor of the 30th anniversary of the ADA.
• 5 books to help you learn data visualization.
• 3 books about the Hong Kong protests.
• An American History summer reading list.

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Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Stay safe and stay hydrated, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Our reopening has so far been very manageable, yet somewhat anticlimactic, and I find myself in the very odd position of wanting more people to come into the library because that’s my job, and wanting people to continue staying away because PANDEMIC!

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• John Lewis, the incredible Congressman, civil rights leader, graphic novelist, and library advocate, died at age 80. Read about how his life changed with a library card here.
• The results of Phase 2 of the REALM Project have been released in regards to how long COVID stays detectable on library materials.
• Penguin Random House extends their open license for online readings through the end of 2020.
• The Philadelphia Free Library director is under growing pressure to quit amidst racial discrimination complaints.
• A look at how suburban Chicago libraries are reopening with new COVID restrictions.
• The Windsor Public Library in Ontario adopts an anti-racism action plan.
• Library supporters urge action on a bill that would provide relief funding to public libraries.

Cool Library Updates

• How librarians are turning Google Forms into virtual escape rooms.
• This library created a story walk in their local park.
• This teenager built a 58 pound scale model of the Bangor (ME) Public Library out of Legos.

Worth Reading

• America’s libraries are essential now.
• Dismantling white supremacy in public libraries.
• Find your focus: what kind of librarian should you be? Plus, 8 people share the reasons why they became librarians.
• Using #Bookstagram to enhance your library.
• 6 kid-friendly websites with free arts & crafts activities.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Netflix just gave the green light to a $200 million adaptation of Mark Greaney’s novel The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, making it Netflix’s most “financially ambitious” film to date.
• Netflix wins the adaption rights to Rumaan Alam’s upcoming book Leave the World Behind.
• Sandhya Menon announces on Instagram that there’s an Indian adaptation inspired by her best-selling YA novel, When Dimple Met Rishi, which will debut globally on Netflix sometime this fall. (The adaptation is called Mismatch.)
• The CW is adapting the Stephen King short story, “The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson.”

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Books & Authors in the News

• Sales for Mary Trump’s new book shatters records by selling 950,000 copies by the end of its first day on sale.
• Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann’s book about the Mueller investigation has been cleared for publication by the Trump administration.
• Michael Cohen is planning a book and claims in a new lawsuit that he was sent back to jail because of it.
• Magic School Bus author Joanna Cole has died at age 75.
• Disney partners with Melissa de la Cruz to create a new studio that will work with authors to create original content across multiple Disney platforms.
• Despite book sales rising in June, J.K. Rowling’s book sales have been lagging. This is likely due to her ongoing history of transphobic statements and the resulting backlash.
• Susan Orlean is all of us right now with her drunken tweets from over the weekend.

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Numbers & Trends

• The best-selling books of 2020 so far.
• And in related news, a report on how authors can buy their way onto best-seller lists.
• How to sell books in 2020: put them by the toilet paper.

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Award News

• The National Book Critics Circle announces its new board.
• 2020 Thriller Awards have been announced.
• The nominees for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards have been announced.

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Pop Cultured

• Michelle Obama is starting a podcast on Spotify.
• Idris Elba says “We’re close to making a film version of Luther.”

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Idris Elba, Oscar Isaac, Cillian Murphy, and other extremely good-looking celebrities with gorgeous voices will read you bedtime stories in partnership with HBO Max.

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On the Riot

• Quaranzines are popular, and libraries are noticing.
• A history of stage-to-book adaptations.
• Bookish and literary face masks for your pandemic (working?) life.

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. My library is opening up to patrons for the first time in 4 months this week, albeit on a VERY limited basis. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and everyone wears a mask.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• The Strand Book Store union denounces new layoffs.
• The publishing industry’s “rare moment of transformation.”
• As bookstores reopen, stores seek safe practices.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Munroe Bergdorf, model and transgender activist, signs a six-figure deal for her memoir which will look at issues of sexuality, relationships, gender, identity, and race.
• Colson Whitehead announces his next book, Harlem Shuffle, will be released in fall 2021.
• Dervla McTiernan signed a seven-figure deal for three standalone novels set in the US.
• Seanan McGuire is writing a sequel to Middlegame, which will publish in spring 2022.
• Paul Tremblay has a new three-book deal.
• James Patterson & Conde Nast are planning a new series of books based on the vintage crime fighter, The Shadow.
• Andrew McCarthy is writing a memoir about his Brat Pack years.
• Psychological suspense, plus horror & genre-bending titles for July.
• Best books of the year (so far) from Vulture and Washington Post (SFF).
• Most anticipated books for the second half of 2020 from Amazon & Lit Hub.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones (LA Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Crooked Hallelujah – Kelli Jo Ford (New York Times, Time)
• Utopia Avenue – David Mitchell (USA Today, Washington Post)
• Survivor Song – Paul Tremblay (New York Times, NPR)

RA/Genre Resources

• Crime fiction is complicit in police violence, but it’s not too late to change.
• What do you call books set in the last half of the 20th century that are too old to be called contemporary, but too new to be called historical? How about “throwback fiction”??

On the Riot

• 10 great 2020 adult LGBTQ+ science fiction books.
• A deep dive into contemporary Native literature.
• Reading pathway for Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
• What is Southern Noir?
• Literary columns to keep your bookish knowledge up-to-date

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All Things Comics

• DC has ended its relationship with Diamond Comic Distributors and will instead partner with Penguin Random House for its graphic novels.
• (TW: sexual harassment) Accusations of unwanted sexual contact have been leveled at comics author Warren Ellis.
• Keanu Reeves makes his comics debut.
• A brief history of Mexican horror comic books, featuring Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
• 22 can’t-miss panels of Comic-Con 2020 (at home).

On the Riot

• 16 of the best new comics in 2020.

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Audiophilia

• NetGalley announces a new app and a new pre-pub audiobook arm.
• Here’s a new audiobook club that will help you discover new books by Black authors.
• 89 (!!!) of the best audiobooks for a road trip.
• Awesome sexy audiobooks that “will make you lose track of time and reality.”

On the Riot

• Audiobooks narrated by the original cast of Hamilton.
• 20 must-listen new full-cast audiobooks.
• 5 of the best romance novels on audio.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 19 books for kids about the immigrant experience.
• Children’s books that teach kids about emotions.
• 23 YA books with family secrets.
• 36 books your favorite YA authors recommend reading.

Adults

• S.A. Cosby’s 5 favorite books about Black lives.
• 11 novels featuring essential workers.
• 24 completed series for you to read while you’re stuck inside.
• 8 novels about female superheroes.
• 17 books to help you unleash your inner creativity.
• Books to read while you wait for your concerts to be rescheduled.
• 8 books that teach you American History that you never learned in school.
• 10 translated books from India.

On the Riot

• 11 rhythmic read-alouds for toddlers.
• Middle grade and YA books written by Korean authors.
• 25 awesome books for 8th graders.
• 3 great YA novels in verse by authors of color.
• 8 weird genre fiction books written by diverse authors.
• 20 self care books for anxious times.
• 20 must-read SFF books by women and nonbinary authors.
• 6 nonfiction books about time.

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Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Stay safe and stay well, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Some sad news for this week: my husband and I had to say goodbye to Star, one of our beautiful kitties Monday morning. She was a purring machine with little vampire toofs, and loved to sit behind us on the couch and drape her paws over our shoulders like a scarf. If you have pets at home, give them extra cuddles this weekend in honor of our baby girl.

And now, on to some much-needed distraction in the form of library news.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• The Summersville Library (WV) closes after a maskless patron refused to wear a mask and coughed on books and public computers.
• The executive director of New Brunswick Public Library Services resigns after controversy emerges over his qualifications.
• Georgia Tech Library creates a Black Lives Matter Reading Room.
• Obama’s presidential library hits a major roadblock from the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office.
• School Library Journal announces SLJTeenLive! – a free virtual event on August 5th.

Cool Library Updates

• This book lover has set out to diversify Little Free Libraries with books written by BIPOC.
• How to support the Liberation Library, which provides books to incarcerated children.
• Cast members from the new Baby-Sitters Club series recorded a pro-library PSA video!
• Bertha Seavers, the first black librarian in Cairo, IL, turns 100 years old!

Worth Reading

• When not to call the cops, plus rethinking police presence inside libraries.
• Responding to a threat, and the importance of immediate action.
• How can libraries be a path towards inclusivity and forgiveness?
• The increasingly essential role of the law librarian.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Jennifer Weiner’s Mrs. Everything is going to be adapted as a TV series.
• Three of the four novellas in Stephen King’s most recent collection, If It Bleeds, have been optioned for film.
• An animated series based on Matthew A. Cherry’s Oscar-winning short film and children’s book, Hair Love, is coming to HBO.
• The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian is headed to TV.
• The New York Times, Lionsgate, Oprah, and others are adapting The 1619 Project into film, TV programming, and more.

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Numbers & Trends

• The Most Sold Books of 2020 so far, according to Amazon Charts.
• Comic sales hit a record $1.21 billion in North America in 2019.

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Award News

• Not surprisingly, the 2020 National Book Awards ceremony will be held virtually.
• Colson Whitehead wins the 2020 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction as well as the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for The Nickel Boys.
• The LA Times Book Prize Awards have been announced.
• The Shirley Jackson Awards are out too.
• Derek Owusu wins the Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel for That Reminds Me.

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Pop Cultured

• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been cancelled at Netflix.
• 10 books, movies, and musicals to enjoy after Hamilton.
• The Crown is getting a sixth season on Netflix.

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On the Riot

• A new role for little free libraries.
• 7 summer tasks for school librarians.
• Why the Baby-Sitters Club Netflix series is even better than the books.
• How to find free baby books.

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves and your pets, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. As I put this newsletter together, I am about to go back to work after a week’s staycation, and somehow I feel more tired at the end of this week than I was at the beginning. So let’s mask up and push through the week.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Editor and publisher Nan A. Talese announces her retirement after six decades.
• The American Booksellers Association is asking its membership to vote on a change to its bylaws that would promote diversity on its organization board.
• Phoebe Robinson is launching a new book imprint.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Ernest Cline is publishing a follow-up to Ready Player One called…Ready Player Two. (My husband was the first person to tell me about this news, and to be honest, I thought he was making it up.)
• There’s another Trump tell-all book coming this fall, this time from a former confidante of Melania Trump.
• Actor Norman Reedus is writing a novel.
• Pete Buttigieg announces a new book: Trust: America’s Best Chance.
• Mariah Carey’s memoir is coming out in September.
• Philip Pullman is publishing a new story set in the His Dark Materials universe.
• A final collection of early short stories from the late Terry Pratchett will be published in September.
• Lana del Rey has a debut poetry collection coming in September.
• 7 books from the first half of 2020 that you may have missed.
• Barnes & Noble’s best books of 2020 so far. 
• July picks from Bustle, LitHub, and Tor.com (fantasy, sci-fi, and YA SFF)
• Summer reading picks from LitHub and Salon.
• 20 popular mystery series returning this fall.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Want – Lynn Steger Strong (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Antkind – Charlie Kaufman (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• The Golden Cage – Camilla Läckberg (LA Times, New York Times, Washington Post)
• Utopia Avenue – David Mitchell (LA Times, New York Times)

RA/Genre Resources

• A list of SFF events that have been cancelled or rescheduled due to COVID.
• Tour through the history of Black science fiction.
• Top horror titles and trends coming this season.
• A brief history of queer women detectives in crime fiction.

On the Riot

• Book Riot’s Best Books of 2020 so far.
• Queer book talk from Book Riot’s #OwnVoices.
• 12 must-read high fantasy novels coming out in the second half of 2020.
• 5 new genre-bending nonfiction books.

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All Things Comics

• (TW: sexual harassment) This article outlines a long history of bullying and sexual harassment at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
• Comic-Con 2020 announces its virtual lineup.
• Marvel and Scholastic are launching an all-new line of original graphic novels for young readers.
• Archie Comics joins with Spotify to develop podcasts based on the Archie Comics universe.
• Javicia Leslie has been cast as the new Batwoman.
• 5 must-read comics for July.

On the Riot

• 8 comics and graphic novels if you loved Watchmen.
• Summer 2020 YA comics and graphic novel releases.

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Audiophilia

• Andy Serkis is recording The Hobbit for a new audiobook to be released in September.
• Audiobook recs for road trips.
• Must-listen audiobooks for July.

On the Riot

• What’s the difference between audio dramas and full cast audiobooks?
• 6 audiobook mysteries to take you around the world.
• 10 audiobook thrillers with complicated relationships.
• 5 classic audiobooks narrated by famous actors.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 8 picture books that let young minds wonder and wander.
• 11 illustrated biographies that introduce kids to diverse heroes.
• 16 YA books set at boarding school.
• 15 sizzling YA thrillers.
• 5 YA SFF/Horror novels about women reclaiming their identities.

Adults

• 8 spine-chilling books about occult mysteries.
• The ultimate summer reading list from Wired.
• 5 SFF books set in contemporary African locales.
• 7 books about NYC’s drastic economic divide.
• 5 books about voter suppression.
• 16 romance novels that are scorchingly sexy.
• 7 books told from the perspective of domestic workers.

On the Riot

• YouTube books for kids to watch.
• 3 YA books about K-Pop.
• An updated required reading list.
• The best legal thrillers that aren’t by John Grisham.
• 10 books with Beatles songs as titles.
• 8 memoirs about mothers, motherhood, and loss.
• 8 books set in India.
• 6 books on inequities within the healthcare system.
• 10 books that celebrate Black girls and women.
• 10 of the best books about musicians.

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Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Stay safe and stay well, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Deep by Alma Katsu.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. This is an extra-long newsletter since we skipped last week’s Friday issue. Enjoy!

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• The Institute of Museum & Library Services released a study that says COVID was undetectable on five highly-circulated library materials after only three days.
• Library employees in Ohio, Florida, and South Carolina have tested positive for COVID.
• Florida library funding has been demolished amid a pandemic and information crisis.
• Colson Whitehead cancels his appearance at the Philadelphia Free Library in solidarity with its Black employees.
• Hong Kong schools have been instructed to remove books and teaching materials that could violate a new national security law.
• A report on the reopening of UK libraries.
• The University of North Carolina received a donated rare book collection, which is valued at $6.2 million dollars!

Cool Library Updates

• Sourcebooks is partnering with Baker & Taylor on a monthly virtual book club for public libraries.
• How libraries are combatting community hunger during COVID.
• The Georgia Public Library Service has created a digitized collection of Black American funeral programs going back over a century.

Worth Reading

• Campus concerns about reopening academic libraries.
• Weeding out racism’s invisible roots: rethinking children’s classics.
• Rethinking police presence in libraries.
• COVID considerations when it comes to library technology.
• Retaining librarians of color through community and inclusive hiring practices.
• Are libraries, publishers, and vendors ready for the new rules and regulations around accessibility?
• Ridding schools of reading trauma.
• Tips and tricks on how to make the most of your Zoom programming at your library.
• Photos of librarians joining Black Lives Matter protests.
• Patience and Fortitude are wearing face masks…are you?

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Book Adaptations in the News

• HBO wins the rights to The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, which will likely be adapted as a limited series.
• The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate is suing Netflix over their upcoming Enola Holmes adaptation.
• Thanks to the success of Normal People, Hulu is developing another Sally Rooney adaptation: Conversations With Friends.
• Gabrielle Union’s production company is adapting Tanisha C. Ford’s memoir Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion.
• We’re getting a film adaptation of Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal’s YA novel, I’m Not Dying With You Tonight.
• The adaptation of Gretchen McNeil’s YA novel Get Even will be available on Netflix on July 31st.
• The Maurice Sendak Foundation has teamed up with Apple TV Plus to develop children’s series and specials based on the author’s books and artwork.
• Elizabeth Banks is playing Ms. Frizzle in the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Magic School Bus.
• Paramount has acquired series rights for Catherine McKenzie’s upcoming thriller, You Can’t Catch Me.
• Agnes Gomillion’s The Record Keeper is headed to the movies.
• Teaser trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 4.
• How Hollywood is using a book club approach to adapt hit novels.

Books & Authors in the News

• (TW: racism, sexual harassment, sexual assault) There have been a LOT of reports emerging about authors behaving extremely poorly. Rather than collect all of those links here, I’ll direct you to this summary, which has a ton of links already posted to news articles and Twitter posts.)
• Left Bank Books has removed J.K. Rowling’s books from its shelves in response to her continued transphobic comments.
• Speaking of JKR, she and 150+ other authors co-signed an open letter saying that recent protest efforts have stifled free speech and promoted an “intolerant climate” within society. The letter has received mixed feedback.
• John Bolton may have to give back his advance and other related money he makes off of his book if the government can prove that he revealed classified information.
• Author Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima, has died at 82.
• A judge tosses out the Trump family’s legal attempt to block his niece’s tell-all memoir. Meanwhile, Simon & Schuster has bumped up the publication date to July 14th, and the Trump family has doubled down on their legal efforts.
• Blythe Brown has filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband, Dan Brown, for leading a double life during their marriage.

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Award News

• Here are the 2020 Locus Award winners.
• Candice Carty-Williams is the first Black author to win Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, and Bernardine Evaristo is the first Black author to win Author of the Year.
• Tim Westover wins the first U.S. Selfies book award for self-published titles.
• An update on the National Book Critics Circle.
• Does your state have its own book awards?

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Pop Cultured

• Hollywood legend Carl Reiner has died at 98.
• Beyonce is releasing her upcoming visual album, Black is King, on Disney+ in July.
• Netflix renews Lucifer for a sixth and final season.
• Mulan has a new release date.
• Nickelodeon is planning a big screen reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Laura Miller at Slate read almost every memoir written by a former Trump official to try and get a fuller picture of the administration’s dysfunction.
• 7-year-old Madison Wilson has raised almost $7,000 to get diverse books (and crayons!) into California classrooms.
• John Prine, who died earlier this year, has become the first honorary poet laureate of Illinois.
• The enduring power of The Baby-Sitters Club.
• A summer read-a-thon to benefit animals?? SIGN ME UP!
• How students built a 16th-century book-reading machine.

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On the Riot

• What anti-racism books were people requesting from their libraries?
• Librarians in Phoenix become healthcare workers.
• Compassion fatigue in libraries.
• How to start an online book club from the library.
• The ultimate library trivia quiz.
• 13 movies about authors.
• The logic behind banning books.
• 15 fantastic YouTube book reviewers.
• How to write a professional book review.
• Early literacy strategies for babies.
• How to start reading (if you never liked to read before).

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Sadie by Courtney Summers.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I am another year older, although it feels like I’ve aged an entire decade in the last six months. Something tells me I’m not alone here.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Booksellers in new COVID hotspots such as Texas, Arizona, and Florida, are exercising extra caution.
• A group of children’s authors have started the hashtag #KidlitForMasks to raise awareness about the importance of wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID.
• “A conflicted cultural force:” What it’s like to be Black in publishing.
• Lucasfilm is starting a new publishing program dedicated to The Mandalorian.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Lenny Kravitz and Sir Patrick Stewart both have memoirs in the works.
• Jennifer Egan is working on a companion novel to A Visit From the Goon Squad.
• Amazon has romance and nonfiction picks for the summer.
• July book picks from Amazon, AV/Club, Barnes & Noble, Bustle, Crime Reads, Den of Geek (SFF and YA), Entertainment Weekly, io9, LA Times, The Millions (poetry), Time, Town & Country, and Yahoo.
• 13 of the most-anticipated books by Indigenous authors for the second half of 2020.
• Most anticipated debuts in the second half of 2020.
• Best books of the year so far from Amazon (Biographies/memoirs, mysteries/thrillers, and SFF), BBC, and Entertainment Weekly.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia (LA Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Sex and Vanity – Kevin Kwan (Washington Post)
• Home Before Dark – Riley Sager (USA Today)
• Friends and Strangers – J. Courtney Sullivan (Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• Reading anti-racist nonfiction is a start, but don’t underestimate the power of Black fiction.
• P.D. James: A crime reader’s guide to the classics.

On the Riot

• Summer 2020 YA books.
• 20 must-read YA rom-coms for 2020.
• Reading pathway for Patricia Highsmith.

All Things Comics

• An update on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

On the Riot

• The best comics Rioters read from April to June of this year.
• 8 animal-centric manga series.

Audiophilia

• Audible signed a multi-project development and first-look deal with James Patterson.
• 23 audiobooks that are even better than the print version.
• 5 audiobooks for the bereft sports fan.

On the Riot

• Appalachian audiobooks.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 11 great books about the 4th of July for kids.
• 10 inclusive & anti-racist books for kids and teens.
  

Adults

• Anti-racist reading list from The Panorama Project and The Washington Post.
• 7 dark thrillers about friendships gone wrong.
• Books for readers who need a laugh.
• 8 anti-capitalist scifi and fantasy novels.
• 8 speculative fiction books by Black authors about Black futures.
• 11 essential books by Black Canadian authors.

On the Riot

• 9 of the best productivity books for when you’re mentally exhausted.
• 7 gay werewolf books.
• Funny memoirs by funny people.
• 8 poetry and verse novels to get you into poetry.
• 5 science fiction books full of humor.
• 5 nonfiction reads to learn more about viruses.
• 8 LGBTQ+ mythology books for your representation needs.
• Essential nonfiction books about the Middle East.
• Books that play with the art of time.
• 7 great books that generate empathy.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

 

Stay safe and stay well, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Searcher by Tana French. (Don’t hate!)

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Book Riot is taking this Friday off for the 4th of July, so the next issue of CYS will be coming out next Tuesday. In the meantime, I’m gearing up for my (very chill) 31st birthday on Sunday and a week off from work after that. It’s my gift to myself every year to take time off from work around my birthday.

Regardless, I hope everyone can take a breather this weekend, and remember to stay masked up and safe.

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Black Lives Matter 

• Resources for cultivating an anti-racist mindset.
• Black voices 2020.
• You should have been listening to Octavia Butler this whole time.
• 6 books to help kids and young adults learn about racism.
• 7 revolutionary anthologies by Black women.
• 5 books that provide historical context for today’s protests.
• 5 graphic novels by Black authors.
• Cookbooks by Black authors.
• 11 books by Black authors to preorder.
• 8 poetry collections on Blackness.
• 10 powerful bell hooks books on the intersection of race and feminism.
• 6 nonfiction Canadian books by Black authors about racism.

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Pride Month

• Children’s books for LGBTQ+ families.
• LGBTQ+ books for kids.
• 10 middle-grade LGBTQ+ books.
• 3 YA F/F rom-coms to read for Pride Month.
• 17 highly-anticipated books by LGBTQIA+ authors for the second half of 2020.
• 16 queer love stories.
• LGBTQ+ books that are changing the literary landscape in 2020.
• LGBTQIA+ SFF books from Bustle and Riveted Lit.
• 7 queer comics by nonbinary writers.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Macmillan CEO John Sargent steps back from the day-to-day operations of US publishing, which will be handled by a 13-person committee.
• Eight out of ten board members and the executive director have resigned from the International Thriller Writers Association, which faced widespread criticism for its responses to Black Lives Matter protests.
• Writers Against Racial Injustice raises $55,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative.
• Several authors have quit their literary agency after it stood behind JK Rowling’s recent transphobic statements.
• For disabled and other marginalized fans, online events aren’t a compromise – they’re a lifeline.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Publishers Weekly unveils its adult book announcements for Fall 2020.
• George R.R. Martin hopes that Winds of Winter will be published in 2021. As with most George R.R. Martin-related news, I’ll believe it when I see it.
• Maureen Johnson announces an unexpected fourth book in the Truly Devious series.
• Julie Murphy announces the third and final book in the Dumplin’ universe.
• Grady Hendrix has two new books coming out over the next couple years.
• Emma C. Eisenberg, who wrote The Third Rainbow Girl, announces a two book deal.
• 6 international crime novels to read for June.
• July picks from Epic Reads and the New York Times.
• Best Books of 2020 (so far) from Amazon, Crime Reads, and Tor.com.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Death in Her Hands – Ottessa Moshfegh (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Washington Post)
• The Lightness – Emily Temple (Entertainment Weekly, LA Times)
• The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett (USA Today)
• The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir – John Bolton (LA Times)
• Friends and Strangers – J. Courtney Sullivan (New York Times)

RA/Genre Resources

• How women writers are transforming hardboiled noir.
• Some bookstores are displaying books with the back cover facing out, in an attempt to get people to pick up books based on the blurb rather than the cover.

On the Riot

• 2019 diversity in children’s and YA literature.
• Reading pathway for Francesca Lia Block.

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All Things Comics

• (TW: sexual assault) Chris Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, has resigned from the organization as a result of renewed pressure from the industry surrounding a 2005 sexual assault.
• (TW: sexual harassment) Kelly Sue DeConnick talks about how the comic industry fosters sexual harassment, and how to change the system.
• Michael Keaton is in talks to reprise his role as Batman for the upcoming Flash movie.
• This upcoming graphic novel, Science of Ghosts, sounds super rad!

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Audiophilia

• Libro.fm raised over $67,000 in celebration of Juneteenth, which will be distributed between 53 Black-owned Libro.fm partner bookstores.
• June is almost over, but there’s still time to try and score some awesome audio giveaways.
• New romance picks on audio, plus Black voices in romance.
• Best audiobooks of June.

On the Riot

• 5 audiobooks by or about women who speak up and fight back.
• 3 audiobooks written and narrated by queer women.
• 4 audiobooks to discover on Spotify.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Ultimate YA summer reading list.
• 20 standalone YA fantasy novels.

Adults

• 16 books to celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month.
• 5 books with fantasy worlds inspired by India.
• Thrillers & mysteries with characters stuck in isolation.
• 50 books to transport you this summer.
• Best sports memoirs, according to sports journalists.
• 19 books about summer romance.
• 11 thrilling procedurals that don’t involve the police.
• 18 books featuring interracial relationships.
• 7 grisly reads for fans of The Alienist.

On the Riot

• 6 free children’s eBooks about COVID.
• 8 international adventure stories for kids.
• Anti-racist middle grade books to help young readers challenge white supremacy.
• 50 must-read books for 6th graders.
• 8 horror novels set in Maine that aren’t by Stephen King.
• 15 books similar to Dune.
• 5 compelling memoirs of women who hiked the Pacific Coast Trail.

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Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Stay safe and stay well, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. This week, we unsealed our library’s book drops for the first time in three and a half months, and found three books and a partially-eaten chocolate muffin. Add that to the 2020 reopening bingo card!

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• We shouldn’t have to say this…but please don’t microwave your library books as a way to kill COVID.
• The men who were involved with the rare book heist from Carnegie Library have been sentenced to house arrest.
• Libraries adapt quickly to launch summer reading programs.

Cool Library Updates

• How libraries are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
• 12-year-old Jonah Larson has been using his crochet skills to raise enough money to build a school library in the Ethiopian community where he was born!
• Ipswitch library staff record an audiobook for a 102-year-old woman.
• This librarian has been illustrating the pandemic from the eyes of fellow library staff members.

Worth Reading

• Black women librarians during WWII created lists of anti-racist books as an explicitly political act.
• Coronavirus tests the limits of America’s public libraries.
• In defense of dumping 600,000 books.
• Tips for filming virtual storytime. Also, do online storytimes violate copyright?
• Bookmobiles navigate new terrain in the pandemic.
• Putting a value on author visits at the library.
• It’s time for a permanent change in reading habits.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Not surprisingly, Adrian McKinty’s thriller The Chain is getting a film adaptation.
• Hulu is developing a comedy series based on the book Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park by Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen.
• Hulu is also developing a limited series based on Beth Macy’s bestselling book, Dopesick, starring Michael Keaton.
• Hulu’s also ALSO planning an anthology series based on Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
• They’re finally making an Animorphs movie!
• NBC is adapting Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
• James McBride’s Deacon King Kong is getting a film adaptation.
• Oscar Isaac is starring in the movie London, which is based on a short story by Jo Nesbo and will be directed by Ben Stiller. Look, they had me at “Oscar Isaac.”
• Netflix is adapting the upcoming book Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutano, which is described as “Crazy Rich Asians meets Weekend at Bernie’s.” *insert wide-eyed emoji here*
• The Alienist: Season 2 will air one week early on July 19th.
• Trailers for The Luminaries, The Baby-Sitter’s Club, and Hamilton.

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Books & Authors in the News

• As you have probably realized by this point, the courts have refused to block publication of John Bolton’s memoir.
• Not surprisingly, Trump may be considering legal action against his niece, Mary Trump, who is publishing her own tell-all book.
• Author Carlos Ruiz Zafón has died at age 55.
• Bob, the cat from the nonfiction book A Street Cat Named Bob, has died.
• Demand for Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist Baby Board Book is so high that it’s getting released as a picture book as well.
• Elin Hilderbrand is the first author to venture back into in-store book promo events.

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Award News

• The National Book Critics Circle is down from 24 members to 9 members and pledges to begin “difficult internal work.”
• NBCC is also halting their 2020 award season.
• The shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award is out.
• The winners of the Bisexual Book Awards have been announced.

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Pop Cultured

• Actor Ian Holm dies at 88.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• The Jefferson Davis House loses its literary landmark designation.
• Alaskan authorities have had enough of tourists trying to reach the abandoned bus from Into the Wild and needing to be rescued, so they’ve airlifted the bus out of the wilderness.

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On the Riot

• Librarians and the power of social media.
• How to host your dream convention.
• How to make a zine.

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. What day is it?

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Black Lives Matter

• Reading is only a step on the path to anti-racism.
• The New York Times commissioned new poems by Claudia Rankine and Jericho Brown.
• Black Writers’ Guild calls for sweeping changes in UK publishing.
• Can #BlackoutBestsellerList be the reckoning the publishing industry needs?
• All five big publishers promise to make more room for Black authors and staff. What this will look like in practice remains to be seen.
• LA Times argues that paying editorial assistants more will help fix the racial diversity in book advances.
• 50 Black-owned independent bookstores you can support.
• The June GalleyChat from EarlyWord focused on Black authors, and also includes spreadsheets of diverse titles.
• Anti-racist reading lists from Books in the Media, Epic Reads (YA), and The Millions.
• Juneteenth reading lists from LitHub and USA Today.
• Books by Black authors everyone should read.
• Black writers are telling the essential stories of our time.
• 10 children’s books by burgeoning Black authors.
• 33 picture books featuring Black female protagonists.
• 10 books on history of racism in America.
• 15 books by #OwnVoices authors.
• 20 books to read if you want to get into Black SFF.
• 5 YA audiobooks that center Black lives.
• 29 YA books by Black authors.
• YA books by Black British authors.
• Audiobook listens for raising an anti-racist.

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Pride Month Resources

• Queer quarantine recommendations.
• 39 LGBTQ+ books to read with your kids.
• LGBTQ+ YA picks from BuzzFeed, Epic Reads, PopSugar, and Riveted Lit.
• 5 queer YA books about friendship. 
• Pride Month reads from Bustle and NYPL.
• A reading list for queer true crime.
• 13 indie queer genre comics.

Book Riot’s Pride Day Resources

• 8 LGBTQ+ fairy tales from 2020.
• 10 LGBTQIA+ fantasy and science fiction adventures.
• 12 recent queer audiobooks to put in your ears.
• 5 fun LGBTQ Pride Day comics and graphic novels.
• 8 asexual books.
• 4 queer poets.
• 11 queer photography books.
• 12 queer women’s history books.
• 9 informative books about Stonewall.
• 6 LGBTQ+ South Asian books.
• 41 rainbow books for Pride Month.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Despite staff concerns, Hachette UK has chosen to back J.K. Rowling in light of her recent transphobic comments.
• The publishing industry may never recover from #PublishingPaidMe.
• Publishing’s next battle? Ditching writers that don’t live up to publishers’ stated values.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Bob Woodward has a new book about the Trump administration coming out in September.
• Kazuo Ishiguro has a new book coming out in 2021.
• Diana Gabaldon announces she’s working on an Outlander prequel.
• June picks from Crime Reads and Salon.
• Summer picks from Poets & Writers, PopSugar, and USA Today.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump – Mary Jordan (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Miss Iceland – Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (NPR, Washington Post)
• Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food – Chase Purdy (New York Times, NPR)
• A Burning – Megha Majumdar (Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• Why more children’s books are tackling sexual harassment and abuse.
• The history of vampires in YA fiction.

On the Riot

• A brief guide to grimdark fantasy.

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All Things Comics

• Free Comic Book Day will be extended this year due to the pandemic.
• Spotify signs a deal with Warner Brothers & DC for a bunch of all-new, exclusive, scripted podcasts.
• There’s going to be a 10-part comic adaptation of Stephen King and Owen King’s book Sleeping Beauties.
• 5 comics to read this June.
• 12 new & forthcoming graphic novels.

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Audiophilia

• Mary Robinette Kowal shows how books get narrated.
• 21 audiobooks to put on your radar this summer. 
• Audio picks for June.

On the Riot

• 5 audiobooks narrated by a full cast.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 10 YA books about summer love.

Adults

• Thriller picks from Cosmopolitan and O: Oprah Magazine.
• 13 best books about road trips.
• 6 gift-worthy memoirs about and for dads.
• 10 novels about overlooked moments from the past.

On the Riot

• 14 read-aloud books for preschoolers.
• Great books for 7th graders.
• 12 of the best books for Father’s Day (includes picture books).
• 4 apocalyptically good books similar to The Last of Us.
• 5 books by neurodiverse authors.
• 4 time travel books about lost time.
• 6 long books to help you continue to pass the time during quarantine.
• Adult interracial romances.

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Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Stay safe and stay well, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.