Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The downside of going on vacation last weekend meant that I had to wait until today (Wednesday) to watch the season finale for True Detective: Night Season, and OMG, it was so good!! I wish it had been a longer season, and I still have plenty of questions, but I am just all about those creepy cold weather vibes!!
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!
Libraries & Librarians
Cool Library Updates
San Francisco wants to offer free drug recovery books at its public libraries.
Worth Reading
Libraries are on the front lines of America’s problems.
Book Adaptations in the News
Anyone But You has set the record for the highest-grossing live-action Shakespeare adaptation.
Apparently, Hulu hasn’t scrapped the Court of Thorns and Roses adaptation?
Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy has been acquired by New Line and Hello Sunshine.
There’s going to be a musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, with Vanessa Williams as Miranda Priestly and Elton John doing an original score.
30 hot books headed to the screen.
Censorship News
Targeting demographic data to skew reality.
Book ban battles and reading wars: public libraries and the science of reading.
Unite Against Book Bans now offers a free book resume resource for libraries and schools facing book challenges.
Stop picking on public libraries. For real.
The wave of new bills targeting libraries is a threat to our democracy.
For the people who continue to insist that books have ratings like movies: have you stopped to consider how impossibly time-consuming this endeavor would be?
Ripley’s announced that it will give free copies of its annual Believe It or Not books to Florida residents. This is in response to Escambia County schools flagging several Ripley books for potential removal.
“Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday came out in support of a proposal to limit book bans in schools—the direct result of his own stupid policies. In a press conference, DeSantis tried to claim that accusations that he has enabled book bans in the state of Florida are ‘a fraud’ and ‘a big hoax.’ He blamed ‘activists’ on both the left and right for ‘hijacking’ the process of banning books, accusing them of submitting book challenges solely to create a media narrative.”
The Alachua County School Board (FL) voted to keep Melissa in the elementary school library.
A former North Fort Myers High School (FL) teacher says that he resigned earlier this year after he came back from Christmas break to find that nearly all of the 600+ books in his classroom library had been pulled for review.
Hillsborough County Public Libraries (FL) have implemented a new type of age-restricted library card.
The New Hampshire House voted down a bill that would have prevented schools from carrying books that included sexual content and nudity, and would have made it easier for parents to flag and challenge books they don’t agree with.
New Jersey’s recently introduced legislation, which would standardize library book challenges and protect library workers from harassment, is getting pushback from conservatives.
The West Virginia House has passed a bill that removes critical protections for public and school librarians from criminal prosecution if a minor encounters content that some consider to be obscene. The bill moves to the Senate next. And not surprisingly, museums and libraries are not happy.
Maryland introduces its own Freedom to Read Act.
Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones has formally released her “decency agenda,” which focuses on protecting controversial books and diverse materials in libraries, among other anti-disinformation and anti-discrimination acts.
Catawba County Schools (NC) were set to discuss the fate of l8r g8r and The Carnival at Bray, but the complainant withdrew her appeal.
A member of Moms for Liberty is upset that Iredell-Statesville Schools (NC) are partnering with the local public libraries to increase student access to materials, saying that children will be able to access inappropriate books under this new arrangement.
“The South Carolina State Board of Education has passed a new regulation aimed at determining the suitability of books for school libraries,” giving the Board final authority on which books can be offered to students.
The woman who challenged 155 books in Dorchester District 2 (SC) does not have a student in the district.
The Georgia Senate considers controls on school libraries and criminal charges for librarians.
Georgia weighs the loss of LIS accreditation in their discussions of breaking with ALA.
Georgia educators have filed a federal sex discrimination lawsuit against the Cobb County School District, which fired 5th-grade gifted specialist Katie Rinderle last year after she read My Shadow is Purple to her class.
The Alabama Senate has approved a bill that makes it easier to remove library board members.
The Dothan Houston County Library System (AL) has made it easier to ban books and will also create a “limited access” category for certain books, which will move them behind the circulation desk and allow people 19 or older to access them. Yes, 19 or older. Eighteen-year-olds are out of luck. And adults across the board will have limited access even though they are of an “appropriate” age. What an absolutely ridiculous policy.
“LGBTQ members and activist groups are frustrated about a Petal alderman’s request to ban 11 children’s books from the Petal Library [MS].”
“In August 2023, Daviess County Citizens for Decency says they discovered over 200 books they felt contained age-inappropriate and pornographic materials. The Daviess County Library says conducting an audit to address those concerns cost them around $35,000.” Yes, it’s an incredible waste of library funds and taxpayer dollars, but that’s the point here — conservatives are trying to overwhelm libraries and make their larger case against having public, tax-funded institutions.
A new proposal calls for tax-funded libraries in Kenosha County (WI) to create “secure, adult-only” sections. WTF, Kenosha? I know I shouldn’t take stuff like this personally, but I grew up within spitting distance of Kenosha, and this makes me very sad.
After threats of lawsuits, the St. Louis Park Public Schools (MN) will allow families to opt out of their children reading books with LGBTQ+ characters. I hear about these cases, and I wonder where this trajectory leads — when children are able to opt out of reading about LGBTQ+ characters, how do they function as adults who can’t opt out of interacting with LGBTQ+ people in their day-to-day lives?
Kansas legislators want school library books rated for “appropriateness.”
Edmond Public Schools (OK) petition the Oklahoma Supreme Court to intervene in the many book removal demands from the Oklahoma Department of Education.
“The overwhelming majority of testifiers at a public hearing Monday opposed SB 1289, many of whom argued it was unnecessary and potentially burdensome for some libraries and school districts.” And yet the legislation has moved forward in Idaho. Why bother having public hearings in the first place?
Utah is close to passing the bill that “calls for the removal of school library books from collections statewide if three school districts or two school districts and five charter schools determine the materials are pornographic or indecent.”
The people who wanted to ban Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) in Las Cruces Public Schools (NM) will have a second opportunity to challenge the book.
A proposed ban on banning books in Oregon sparks controversy.
The Mat-Su School Board (AK) has recommended that multiple books be removed from school libraries. 19 books have been reviewed (including It Ends With Us, which the review committee said meets the “local standards of ‘criminal indecency’”), and 38 books are left to be reviewed. Needless to say, we can probably expect more books to be banned here.
Calls to ban books are on the rise in Canada. So is the opposition to any bans.
Montreal’s Jewish Public Library removed and then returned Élise Gravel’s children’s books to the shelves after the author criticized Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
The Ottawa Public Library denied seven formal challenges to remove items last year.
A number of Pride-themed books were returned to the Calgary Public Library (Alberta) with significant damage, and the police’s Hate Crime Prevention team is now investigating.
Books & Authors in the News
“A federal judge in California this week dismissed four of six claims made by authors in a now consolidated lawsuit alleging that Open AI infringes their copyrights. But the court gave the authors a month to amend their complaint, and the suit’s core claim of direct infringement—which Open AI did not seek to dismiss—remains active.”
Numbers & Trends
Sales for Matthew Perry’s memoir have doubled since the actor passed away.
The best-selling books of the week.
Award News
The National Book Awards have expanded their eligibility to include non-US citizens.
Here’s an update on the ongoing controversy surrounding the Hugo Awards.
The finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prize have been announced.
The winners of the 2024 Southern Book Prize have been announced.
The longlist for the first-ever Women’s Prize for Nonfiction has been announced.
Pop Cultured
15 thrilling movies where (spoiler alert!) the mystery doesn’t get solved.
11 shows like True Detective to watch after you finish Season 4.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
Yes, we’re a week past Valentine’s Day, but these bleak Cormac McCarthy Valentine’s Day candy hearts are something else!
On the Riot
Why you should read more books that are just “okay.”
Today’s guest kitty is my parents’ cat, Penny, who was rudely awoken from her nap. My mom texted me this photo with the caption, “If looks could kill…”
All right, friends. February is chugging along, and I’ll see you all next week!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.
