Category: Check Your Shelf

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Lion Forge.

In Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe has crafted an intensely cathartic autobiography about eir path to identifying as nonbinary and asexual, and coming out to eir family and society. By addressing questions about gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—the story also doubles as a much-needed, useful, and touching guide. Find the graphic novel memoir in stores now from Lion Forge!

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A correction from last week’s newsletter: I mistakenly said that San Francisco city officials were naming a teen space after Amber Clark, when it was actually Sacramento. You can read the original article here, and I apologize for the error!

And now, on with the newsletter!

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• David Byrne joins the fight for NYC library funding. From the article: “The fight to fund cultural institutions in New York City is the same as it ever was.” *ba-dum-chhh*
• Proposed budget cuts to the Narragansett (RI) Public Library draw crowds of protesters.
• No more late fees at the Dallas Public Library.
• Leander Public Library (TX) cancels Drag Queen Story Hour. Meanwhile, Delaware County District Library (OH) is offering a Drag 101 program for teens interested in learning the basics of drag, hosted by a local drag queen, and is apparently standing firm in the face of public backlash. Now THERE’S a revolutionary teen program! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
• The Digital Public Library of America created a free, readable eBook version of The Mueller Report, unlike the government-issued eBook version, which was a low quality, almost illegible PDF version.
• (TW racism) Doane University in Nebraska has suspended the director of the Perkins Library for a historical display that featured two photos of students in blackface in 1926, but did not provide additional context for the images.
• New library for the LGBTQ+ community opens in Hatboro, PA.
• Ian Rankin gifts his literary archive to the National Library of Scotland.

Cool Library Updates

• How the Sacramento Public Library used community outreach to engage with people with disabilities in the community.
• Nashville Public Library runs an early literacy program for incarcerated teen fathers.
• Sonoma County Library launches a Spanish eReading room.
• This digital bookmobile travels around and shows people how to access eBooks & eAudiobooks via Libby!
• How Alterspace allows library users to customize the light, color, and sound of their study room.
• Encouraging a reading culture in Africa.
• How to start your library’s first chess tournament.
• Turn RA into fun, simple programming.

Worth Reading

• Librarians respond to the humanitarian crisis at the border.
• How libraries can make a difference to help ALS patients and caregivers.
• A look at the affordable housing co-located with a library branch in Chicago.
• University libraries are seeing sharp declines in the use of their physical collections.
• Are you thinking about starting a non-traditional collection at your library? Check out this list of 200 random things that libraries are lending out – everything from cheese warmers to ghost-hunting equipment to skulls! Plus each of the listed items links back to its home library for more information!
• How to extrovert when you have to. *blech*
• The uncertain future of Sweden’s floating libraries.
• What student employees have taught this librarian.
• Who decides what will go into the Library of Congress?
• University of Southern Denmark discovered that three of their books from the 16th and 17th centuries contained large amounts of arsenic.

Book Adaptations in the News

• Another Stephen King adaptation: The Long Walk.
• Trent Dalton’s new novel, Boy Swallows Universe, is being adapted for TV.
• Queen Latifah will star and produce in the adaptation of The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo.
• FX is adapting Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater.
• Joshua Jackson joins the cast for Little Fires Everywhere.
• Hulu is adapting North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Publisher Robert Bernstein dies at age 96.
• Penguin Random House acquires a minority stake in Sourcebooks.
• Berkley has acquired its first print queer female romance!

New & Upcoming Titles

• Hilary Mantel announces a 2020 release date for The Mirror and the Light, the last book in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy.
• The Jonas Brothers are writing a memoir.
• In “I’ll believe it when I see it news,” George R.R. Martin sorta promises a due date of August 2020 for The Winds of Winter.
• Marie Kondo is writing a children’s book, and I can only imagine how delightful this will be!
• A picture book about Venetia Burney, the girl who originally named Pluto.
• Donald Trump Jr. is writing a book, because of course he is.
• A preview of Karen McManus’ book One of Us is Next, the sequel to One of Us is Lying.
• 23 upcoming books that librarians, editors, and booksellers think you’ll love.
• Summer reading suggestions and previews from Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Shondaland, Vanity Fair, and Washington Post.
• What’s new in LGBTQIA+ YA for May 2019.
• New books by your favorite authors coming out this year.
• Time magazine picks the best fiction & nonfiction books of the year (so far)

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• NoveList now has a way to track media mentions of a particular title, so if you have a patron who’s trying to remember the name of a book mentioned on NPR, you have a new resource at your fingertips! This is so cool!!
• The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth – Josh Levin (New York Times, NPR).
• All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership – Darcy Lockman (NPR).
• Exhalation – Ted Chiang (NPR).
• The Bride Test – Helen Hoang (Washington Post).
• The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna – Juliet Grames (Washington Post).
• Middlegame -Seanan McGuire (NPR).
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong (New York Times).
• Patsy – Nicole Dennis-Benn (Time).
• City of Girls – Elizabeth Gilbert (Time).
• A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II – Sonia Purnell (New York Times)
• Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark (Washington Post).

RA/Genre Resources

• A reader’s guide to different book genres.
• Donald Goines and the birth of black pulp fiction.
• YA addresses #MeToo.
• Crime fiction as self care – this is a great article to get you thinking about less obvious reasons why your patrons might be interested in a particular genre.

Books & Authors In the News

• Arizona Department of Corrections has banned prisoners from reading the book Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler, which discusses the impact of the criminal justice system on black men. The Department of Corrections apparently sent a notice to the publisher that some aspect of the book was “detrimental to the safe, secure, and orderly operation of the facility.”
• Related: New Hampshire prisons ban books that are critical of the justice & prison systems.
• Children’s author Judith Kerr has died at age 95 and award-winning journalist and author Tony Horowitz died at age 60.
• You may be hearing about Naomi Wolf, who learned on-air during a BBC radio interview that her interpretation of a legal concept frequently referenced in her upcoming nonfiction book, Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love, was completely wrong. Wolf later said that the issue was corrected and she stands by the premise of her book. I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on TV, so I won’t delve into the minutia here, but holy cow, this sounds like an epic nightmare.
• We’re hearing a lot about Moby’s recent memoir, but only because celebrities like Natalie Portman have had to come forward and say, “Actually, I never dated Moby – he was just creeping on me when I was younger.”
• George R.R. Martin talks about whether or not the Game of Thrones books will end like the TV series.
• The Chicago Tribune did a feature on Nnedi Okorafor.
• Alexandria School District (MN) pulls two books from an eighth grade language arts unit after parent complaints: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli and Sold by Patricia McCormick.

News & Trends

• Author Gabino Iglesias talks about the lack of diversity amongst the Big 5 publishers.
• On average, there are only 421 new fiction translations published each year in the US.

Award News

• Jokha Alharthi wins the Man Booker International Prize for Celestial Bodies.
• Melissa Harrison’s All Among the Barley wins the 2019 European Union Prize for Literature.
• Shortlist for the Forward Prizes for Poetry.
• Longlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
• The Wellcome Book Prize has been suspended due to lack of funding.

Pop Cultured

• How Claudia Kishi from the Baby-Sitter’s Club books inspired a generation of Asian-American writers.
• Vanity Fair has an enormous feature on The Rise of Skywalker, and honestly, I am 100% here for the John Boyega/Naomi Acki-as-black-space-cowboys and the whole Oscar-Isaac-sexy-desert-scarf look. Also, there’s going to be a significant Carrie Fisher appearance in The Rise of Skywalker.
• Suggestions for fiction podcasts.
• Trailer for Star Trek: Picard.
• 11 TV shows like Killing Eve.

All Things Comics

• Professional development opportunity! The ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table is partnering with ALA president Loida Garcia-Febo for a free webinar on June 12th on “Libraries, Comics, and Superheroes of Color.”
• A beginner’s guide to comic books.
• Street Noise Books is a new YA publisher, which will focus on “unapologetic, authentic, and politically relevant” graphic nonfiction for teens.
• Comics to enjoy while you wait for Saga.
• The final season of Jessica Jones will be available for Netflix streaming on June 14th.
• Clue gets the comic book treatment.
• A Napoleon Dynamite sequel in comic form.
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl says “Farewell.”
• Trailer for Swamp Thing.
• Some light-hearted comics.

Audiophilia

• Washington Post lists some audiobooks perfect for your summer travels.
• We’re getting a brand new audio version of Charlotte’s Web, which will be narrated by Meryl Streep and an ensemble cast, and will be the first audio version of the book since E.B. White’s original recording!
• Audiobook roundup from Penguin Random House.
• Christian publishers are positioning themselves to take advantage of the growing audiobook market.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Picture books that defy gender stereotypes.
• Picture books and board books about food.
• 10 books for fans of Raina Telgemeier.
• 30 middle grade & YA books by UK authors of color.
• 7 books about reproductive choice for teens.
• Must-read YA ballet books.

Adults

• New York Times: 75 suggestions for summer reading.
• Genre-bending romance series.
• 13 optimistic fantasy novels.
• 10 books about angry women.
• Literary thrillers.
• 7 creepy fictional couples, plus 7 domestic thrillers if you liked The Couple Next Door.
• 20 translated short story collections from around the world.
• 20 road trip novels for the summer.
• 24 unusual historical romances.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• The responsibility of a book critic in the era of a Trump presidency.
• Summer reading shouldn’t be a chore.
• Reading with toddlers may reduce harsh parenting and enhance your child’s behavior, according to this study.
• Bedtime stories in the digital era.
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a post about being biracial and writing biracial characters.
• How to decorate a bookshelf with things other than books. (Is there such a thing?)
• 10 must-visit spots for mystery lovers.
  
• There’s a Nonfiction Women Book Club on Instagram, and an Iowa book club that plans to read all of the autobiographies written by Democratic presidential candidates.
• Suryakanta Barik told his future in-laws that he wouldn’t accept a dowry. Instead, they gifted Barik and his fiancee (both avid readers) with nearly 1,000 books for their personal library.
• Daniel Radcliffe’s original Harry Potter glasses are up for auction!
• A 17th century book with a hidden compartment for poison is selling for $11,000.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading all of my half-finished books from the last few weeks!

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Kingsbane by Claire Legrand.

The sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Furyborn! Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity’s long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana’s power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother’s power, or rejecting it forever.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• Michigan lawmakers push to require librarians in public schools. Meanwhile, Oakland school library workers have been forced out after the district reallocates funds.
• San Francisco city officials are renaming the North Natomas branch teen space after Amber Clark, who was murdered several months ago. The library director is also planning to set up a memorial fund in Clark’s name to extend accessibility programming at the library, which Clark was a huge advocate for.
• Sarah Jessica Parker advocates against Bill de Blasio’s proposed budget cuts to NYC libraries.
• Louisville Drag Queen storytime draws protesters.
• Pittsburgh library news: the University of Pittsburgh Library System acquires the archives of the late great George A. Romero and Dolly Parton opens a Pittsburgh branch of her Imagination Library.
• More libraries are waiving fines.
• Literally the day after I published last week’s newsletter, two of the falcon eggs at the Evanston Public Library hatched!
• OHMIGOD, my former home library rescued a baby deer the other day and the photos are too adorable for words!!

Cool Library Updates

• This former library board member in a tiny Wisconsin town volunteers one Saturday a month to provide mending and tailoring services for the community. The fundraising has allowed the library to purchase additional titles for their adult nonfiction collection.
• School Library Journal has a bunch of recent articles on diverse books and diversifying reading selections: creating diverse summer reading lists, where to shelve diverse books, how diverse characters can impact decisions to buy books, diversity auditing 101, a diversity and cultural literacy toolkit, and finally, a look at whether or not diverse books can save us.
• Columbia University announces the Obama Presidency Oral History Project. You can check out the official website here!

Worth Reading

• The impact of Little Free Libraries over the last 10 years.
• Speaking with OlaRonke Akinmowo, founder of the Free Black Women’s Library.
• The first feminist, community-owned library opens in India.
• Mobbing in the library workplace: What it is, and how to prevent it.
• 100 Scope Notes, a School Library Journal blog has a cool feature on Endangered Series, aka children’s series that are beloved classics but may not be as popular as they once were. The most recent post is about the Arthur series, but there are a bunch of other series to check out here.
• Here’s what happens when you ask the NYPL for John Wick’s murder book in John Wick 3. *Spoiler alerts if you haven’t seen the movie*
• Having a library or cafe down the block could change your life.

Book Adaptations in the News

• Issa Rae options Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones.
• Annette Bening and Michelle Pfeiffer have joined the adaptation of Turn of Mind by Alison LaPlante.
• Richard Thomas will be starring as Atticus Finch in the national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird.
• The Good Lord Bird is heading to Showtime.
• Amazon Studios picks up Lauren Oliver’s YA series, Panic.
• Queen Latifah and Will Smith are producing a hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet for Netflix.
• Seth Grahame-Smith is adapting Stephen King’s Eyes of the Dragon for Hulu.
• Trailers for His Dark Materials, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• There’s been a high profile firing at Alfred A. Knopf over a “breach of company policy.”

New & Upcoming Titles

• After making an appearance in Stephen King’s The Outsider, Holly Gibney, who originally appeared in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, gets her own spinoff story with If You Bleed, which will hit shelves in 2020. (The Stephen King universe keeps getting bigger and bigger…)
• Speaking of Stephen King, there’s going to be a collector’s edition reissue of his 2014 novel, Revival.
• Nora Roberts…er…J.D. Robb…is writing the 50th book in the In Death series! Look for it in February of 2020.
• Michael Wolff is publishing another book about Trump called Siege: Trump Under Fire.
• Elle: 30 best books to read this summer.
• Crime Reads: Most anticipated crime novels of the summer, best debut novels in May.
• Tor.com: Forthcoming queer novels starring queer women.
• Bustle: 25 short story collections this summer.
• Best beach books of 2019.
• 50 books to read this summer.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Barnes & Noble picks The Guest Book by Sarah Blake as its May book club pick.
• Orange World and Other Stories – Karen Russell (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR, USA Today)
• Red, White, and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston (NPR, Vogue)
• Cari Mora – Thomas Harris (New York Times, USA Today)

RA/Genre Resources

• At the recent Massachusetts Library Conference, Anna Mickelsen presented an enormous list of recent and upcoming diverse novels for your reading, suggesting, and displaying pleasure, and best of all, it’s freely accessible on Google Docs! USE THIS AS A RESOURCE.
• Barbara Hoffert’s annual Book Expo galley and signing guide is now available! Even if you’re not going, this is a great collection development resource.
• YA for changing times.

Books & Authors In the News

• Herman Wouk, author of The Caine Mutiny, has died at age 103.
• After her blog post about how her then-husband was slowly poisoning her, author Sherrilyn Kenyon has been jailed for lashing out in court.
• James Patterson is funding “Buy a Book, Give a Book” to encourage reading in children and families from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Stephen King tweets his support for the last season of Game of Thrones.

News & Trends

• Who’s aware of the term #ownvoices? (Spoiler: not many people).
• School Library Journal created an infographic based on survey question, which asked how important it was to have a book collection with diverse points of view.
• Trends in library school accreditation.

Award News

• Nominees for the Best Translated Book Awards, the Nommo Awards (speculative fiction by African authors), and the Anthony Awards.
• Winners for the Nebula Awards, This is Horror Awards, British Book of the Year Awards, and the 100th Annual O. Henry Prize.
• Karen Tongson wins the 2019 Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction.
• The Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction was awarded to Richard Ford.
• The new Prix Monte-Cristo is a literary award where the judges are chosen from the inmates in Europe’s largest prison, Fleury-Mérogis.
• Which authors have won the most prizes?

Pop Cultured

• School Library Journal has a list of summer podcasts for elementary, middle, and high school students.
• A look at the petition demanding that HBO remake Season 8 of Game of Thrones. (I’m not a GOT watcher, so I can’t speak to everyone’s reactions regarding this final season, but the idea that fans should be able to dictate the evolution & progression of a creative work is bonkers.)
• However, if you’re not one of these people, perhaps you may consider getting a Game of Thrones tattoo?
• And finally, let’s be reasonable about spoilers, okay?

All Things Comics

• Robert Pattinson (yes, that Robert Pattinson) is in talks to star in The Batman. As Batman. Discuss.
• Reading comics is not cheating.
• Removable wallpaper for fans of comics and/or vintage books.
• Stan Lee’s former manager has been charged with elder abuse. This is so sad.
• A group of Wisconsin graduates are using comic books to promote science education.
• R.L. Stine’s first comic just reached 200,000 copies in advance sales!
• An Avengers mini-series is coming to Disney+.

Audiophilia

• Libro.fm launches three new book clubs for kids, teens, and romance readers.
• Alyssa Cole is creating an Audible Original about “robot love.”

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 10 picture books that break the fourth wall.
• Feminist fairytales for children that teach modern values.
• 6 children’s books about Asian American culture.
• Bee books for all ages.
• 10 YA standalone fantasies.
• Top YA horror novels on Goodreads.
• 7 YA fantasy novels with heroines disguised as boys.
• 26 inclusive YA fantasy novels.

Adults

• 15 books to read about the abortion debate.
• 41 of the best LGBTQ books that will change the literary landscape in 2019, plus 10 LGBTQ books to usher in World Pride.
• 7 books to read if you love RuPaul’s Drag Race.
• Christina Lauren picks 11 essential summer romances.
• 14 #ownvoices mysteries for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
• 5 must-read short story collections for SFF fans.
• 7 books to make you wonder if your best friend is a serial killer.
• 8 summer affair books featuring lesbian & bisexual women.
• 12 historical fiction novels to read if you love the glamor of old Hollywood.
• 16 of the best science books of all time.
• 50 books about complicated marriages.
• 40 of the most popular translated books on Goodreads.
• 13 single parent romances.
• 12 recent locked room mysteries for fans of escape rooms.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• These are the three books Barack Obama thinks you should read this spring.
• Do you remember the teen vandals who were sentenced by a judge to read books about racism? Apparently it worked – the teens have stuck to their education, have not reoffended, and they all appear genuinely remorseful about their crimes.
• For the first time ever, you can access the entire digital Vanity Fair archive from 1913 – present. It’s fully searchable, and it’s free until June 30th, when it will become a perk to subscribers.
• Reader’s Digest picks the most-loved bookstores in every state.
• New York Times talks about how book clubs have gotten “especially clubby.”
• Get an in-depth look at a Barnes & Noble concept store. (I’m not going to lie – I’ve visited one before, and I did NOT like it, but my opinion is only one of many.)
• Kids reading to horses!
• Reading in the age of the personalized book subscription service.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Trust Exercise by Susan Choi.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Wednesday Books.

From one of the most followed BookTubers today, Christine Riccio, comes a story about second chances, discovering yourself, and being brave enough to try again. Colleen Hoover calls Again, but Better “is a fantastic debut novel! Entertaining, clever, and impossible to put down.” What would you do with a second chance?

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• Check out the winners for the IMLS National Medal for Museum & Library Services!
• A recent analysis shows that Georgia prison libraries are extremely short on books for inmates.
• (TW: racism): After a thirteen-year-old’s arrest in a branch of the Austin Public Library, black advocates demand that library policies create safe spaces for all.
• Ohio voters approve all five public library levies on the ballot for their May 7th election.
• A public library event for the author of P is for Palestine sparks concern and pushback from the Jewish community in Highland Park, New Jersey.
• Clearing out a library with the world’s smelliest fruit. Best of all, this is the SECOND time in a year that a university library has had to evacuate because of a durian!
• Jeopardy super-winner James Holzhauer has won $1.69 million so far, and donated $10,000 to the Las Vegas-Clark County Library, among other area organizations. Rock on!
• Evanston (IL) Public Library fans are on falcon watch, as its avian residents are currently sitting on four eggs. The library has a live camera feed on its YouTube channel!

Cool Library Updates

• Try out these book bentos for your library’s social media accounts.
• Academic libraries are fighting campus food insecurity with onsite pantries.
• Chicago Public Library launches a new community cinema program.
• Huntsville-Madison (AL) County Public Library creates parts in its maker space for an international space station project!
• Oakland Art Library loans out its works to patrons, but patrons need to pay a $20 monthly fee in order to check out works of art. Thoughts?
• There’s now a crowdsourced Google Doc called “How Cold is that Library?”, which is meant to help visitors at research and academic libraries. Slightly absurd? Yes. Useful? Absolutely!
• What do you do when insects destroy the trees in your community? Turn them into Little Free Libraries, of course!
• Opioid crisis resources for libraries, plus an in-depth look at measures many libraries are already taking to combat opioid dependency in their communities.

Worth Reading

• Measuring diversity in your library’s collection.
• Should a public library be responsible for publishing local news? That’s the debate going on in Longmont, Colorado.
• Be an ally for accessibility.

Book Adaptations in the News

• There’s already a TV series in the works for the upcoming book, Accepted, about the ongoing college admissions scandal.
• Hold onto your butts, people. It’s the trailer for It: Chapter 2 and HOLY BANANAPANTS, it’s scary!! (I totally can’t wait to see this movie, but yes, the trailer is terrifying.)
• New trailer for Big Little Lies, season 2.
• The Passage has been canceled after only one season.
• Evan Rachel Wood is starring in One Thousand Paper Cranes, which is based on the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. What I can’t figure out is why the movie is centering the story around the author of the book, and not Sadako Sasaki, who was, you know, the entire point of the story.
• The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage is getting an adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Moss.
• Casting updates for Looking for Alaska.
• Rainbow Rowell is working on a film adaptation for Eleanor & Park.
• New Rebecca adaptation headed to Netflix.
• NBC picks up Lincoln, based on the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver.
• R.L. Stine & Marc Brown signed a deal to create animated content.
• Sandra Cisneros is collaborating on an operatic adaptation of The House on Mango Street.
• Another Christmas Carol adaptation, with Guy Pearce as Scrooge.
• Scott Wolf replaces Freddie Prinze Jr. in the CW Nancy Drew series.

Collection Development Corner

New & Upcoming Titles

• Publisher’s Weekly pulled together a list of adult and children’s galleys to look for at BEA. Can’t make it to BEA this year? Consider this a head start on your purchasing for the next few months! Also, the EarlyWord May Galley Chat has been posted.
• A preview of Noah Hawley’s book Fargo: This is a True Story.
• Karamo Brown, Queer Eye’s barrier-breaking life therapist, has written a picture book with his son called I Am Perfectly Designed. If you need me, I’ll be out buying a copy of this for all of the tiny children in my life.
• Memoir updates: Liz Phair announces a memoir in October and FSG is publishing Chelsea Manning’s memoir. Also, Obama’s memoir may be published in 2020, in the midst of the presidential election.
• Marie Lu brings readers back to Legend with her upcoming book, Rebel.
• Caroline Kepnes is planning a third and fourth book in the You series.
• Bookmarks: Best reviewed books of the week.
• LA Times: new sci-fi releases.
• Vulture: 8 new books you should read this May.
• Paste: Best YA novels of May.
• CrimeReads: Best true crime and thrillers of May.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Farm – Joanne Ramos (NPR, New York Times, Shondaland, USA Today)
• Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee – Casey Cep (NPR, Time, Washington Post)
• Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination – Brian Jay Jones (NPR, New York Times, Washington Post)
• Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century – George Packer (NPR, New York Times)
• No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us – Rachel Louise Snyder (NPR, New York Times)
• Howard Stern Comes Again – Howard Stern (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Washington Post)
• Fire On High – Elizabeth Acevedo (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times)

RA & Genre Resources

• NoveList gives you some Pokemon-related RA tips.
• Why are we living in a golden age of historical fiction?
• A conversation about queer crime fiction.
• Anti-diet books are the new diet books.

Books & Authors in the News

• People are talking about Danielle Steel’s ridiculous 22 hour work days. Forget feasibility…is it even humanly possible??
• Nnedi Okorafor has been selected as the ALA President’s Program Speaker for the Annual Conference in June!
• George R.R. Martin says, no, he has not secretly finished books 6 and 7 in the Song of Fire & Ice series, and wonders why people would say such silly things.

Numbers & Trends

• By the Numbers: Library School.
• Nearly half of all parents are unaware of the term “summer slide,” and other trends from the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report.

Award News

• Winners for the Bram Stoker Awards and the Aurealis Award.
• Aida Edemariam’s The Wife’s Tale wins the RSL Ondaatje Prize and Normal People by Sally Rooney wins the top prize at the British Book Awards.
• Poet Hannah Ensor and journalist Robert Fieseler win the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers.
• Simon Armitage is the new poet laureate for the UK.
• Naomi Shihab Nye becomes the first Arab American author to be named as the Young People’s Poet Laureate.
• Longlists for the CWA Dagger Award and the 2019 Orwell Prizes.
• Shortlists for the Locus Awards and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Pop Cultured

• The world mourns the deaths of Doris Day and Tim Conway.
• Entertainment Weekly features 15 of its favorite pop culture bookstores.
• The pop culture importance of Hannibal Lecter.

All Things Comics

• Portland-based Oni Press joins forces with Lion Forge Comics.
• Teaser trailer for Watchmen on HBO.
• Fiction podcasts for superhero fans.
• Classic children’s books as graphic novels, and why this is a good thing. And on a related note, The Witches and the Babysitter’s Little Sister series are each getting a graphic novel adaptation! I’m super excited for both of these!
• 8 awesome middle grade comics.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a super hero? Heck yeah!

Audiophilia

• 10 new titles you need to listen to on audio ASAP.
• Youth mystery titles on audio that will appeal to anyone.
• Audible and Reese Witherspoon have partnered to co-produce three Audible-exclusive memoirs by women.
• 21 must-read mystery and thriller audiobooks available RIGHT NOW on Hoopla!

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 9 exciting mystery novels for kids.
• 50 must-read books set in schools. (There’s a mix of children’s, YA, and adult titles here.)
• YA/middle grade readalikes for Game of Thrones.
• Awesome royals in YA fantasy.
• Asian-inspired YA fantasy.
• 17 YA books to read during Mental Health Awareness Month.
• 8 YA novels in translation. 

Adults

• 15 must-read translated books from the last 5 years.
• A reading list for the new royal parents.
• 16 mother-daughter book pairings for Mother’s Day.
• 15 true crime stories about con artists.
• 8 books set in isolated locations.
• 10 noir SFF protagonists even weirder than Detective Pikachu.
• 9 books that tackle sexual assault head on. (Trigger warnings for these books.)
• Book suggestions for fans of Killing Eve.
• Nonfiction books about female spies.
• Memoirs by Muslim women to read this Ramadan.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Check out these 15 independent black-owned bookstores that are reclaiming their shelves and their communities.
• Another day, another protest against a Drag Queen Story Time. Seriously…the protests are getting really old, people.
• Pediatrician offices are partnering with the Reach Out and Read Program to give books away to patients 5 and under! This beats doctor’s office lollipops by a LONG shot!
• The Indian Novels Collective plans to translate 100 novels from 13 Indian languages into English.
• Why own voices reviews are important.
• The Charles Dickens novel that accompanied Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to Antarctica will be on display in London. The book apparently still smells faintly of smoke and fish.
• Learning to enjoy annotating.
• A book nerd’s guide to the Met Gala.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Albert Whitman & Company, 100 Years of Good Books.

It’s been a year since the Catalog Killer terrorized the sleepy seaside town of Camera Cove, killing four people before disappearing without a trace. Like everyone else, eighteen-year-old Mac Bell is trying to put that horrible summer behind him—easier said than done since Mac’s best friend Connor was the murderer’s final victim. But when he finds a cryptic message from Connor, he’s drawn back into the search for the killer—who might not have been a random drifter after all. Now nobody—friends, neighbors, or even the sexy stranger with his own connection to the case—is beyond suspicion.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• After receiving a complaint from a local teacher, the Kalispell ImagineIf Library (MT) board voted to keep Prince and Knight, a gay-inclusive fairytale, on the shelves.
• There have been some troubling changes to a New Jersey school district’s challenged book policy, especially because the changes, which would give the superintendent a large amount of power in deciding the fate of challenged books, were made after Fun Home was returned to library shelves despite the superintendent’s objections.
• Inspector General Joe Ferguson says that staffing at the Chicago Public Libraries are still not aligned with community needs, one year after the initial audit.
• Project Panorama is doing a survey of reader’s advisory practices and how public libraries can impact book sales and title/author discovery. The survey is live until May 21st.
• Los Angeles school libraries are in distress.
• (TW: racism) Historical blackface photos lead to librarian’s suspension.

Cool Library Updates

• South Philadelphia library is distributing personal hygiene kits.
• The Elkhart (IN) Public Library hosted a Star Wars escape room for Free Comic Book Day.
• You’ve heard of “makerspaces,” but what about “breakerspaces?”
• Edmonton libraries offer recording booths for local musicians.
• LitHub interviews Dev Aujla, founder of New York’s Sorted Library.
• Shout out to my former workplace! The Waukegan (IL) Public Library, hometown of Ray Bradbury, is planning to dedicate a 12 foot statue of the author on his birthday, August 22nd, 2019. Check out more info about the statue here!
• Unboxing videos at the library.

Worth Reading

• “The specialized help that can be accessed at libraries or via knowledgeable staff may be invaluable to a patron, but in highlighting and promoting this work it may come at a cost of privacy to the very populations that are seeking protection.” – On complicated issues of immigrant patrons and privacy.
• “I didn’t want to know that!”: Maintaining privacy from incidental revelations.
• The importance of making your queer and questioning users welcome.
• Adult Literacy through Libraries toolkit from ALA.
• Marketing your teen summer learning program.

Book Adaptations in the News

• Twilight is launching a global re-airing tour with an orchestra.
• Nicole Kidman is producing and starring in Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty for Hulu.
• Trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale, season 3. Also, The Handmaid’s Tale has been adapted for the opera.
• Stay Up with Hugo Best by Erin Somers has been optioned for film.
• Intercepted by Alexa Martin is being adapted for Starz, starring La La Anthony and Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Baker & Taylor is closing its retail wholesale business. Meanwhile, Penguin Random House launches the “Indies Express Program” that will let bookstores who previously purchased PRH titles from Baker & Taylor order directly from PRH.
• Macmillan Learning becomes the industry’s first company to become “Global Certified Accessible” and provide “born accessible” eBook options for students with disabilities.
• Penguin Classics launches an Asian American Classics line on May 21st.
• Mayo Clinic launches its own publishing imprint.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Richard Chizmar is publishing a solo sequel to Gwendy’s Button Box, which he cowrote with Stephen King. The sequel is called Gwendy’s Magic Feather, and will be released this November.
• Fyre Festival scammer Billy McFarland is apparently self-publishing a memoir, because of course he is.
• Do you remember that adorable photo of Parker Curry, looking up at Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama in wide-eyed wonder? Well, her mom turned the viral photo/experience into a children’s book called Parker Looks Up, and it looks too cute for words!!
• Holly Black has a middle grade Maleficent novel coming out.
• The Spice Girls all have their own Little Miss books!
• Rebecca Roanhorse is writing a Star Wars novel!
• Julie Andrews is writing her second memoir. Meanwhile, Woody Allen’s trying to sell his memoirs, but publishers are passing.
• Glamour picks the best books of 2019 (so far).
• Swoony YA summertime romances.
• USA Today books of the week.
• Best books for May: Amazon, Barnes & Noble (SFF) Bustle, CrimeReads (Psychological thrillers), Entertainment Weekly, Goodreads (YA), io9 (SFF), LitHub (SFF), the Millions, New York Times, Oprah, Time, Tor.com (YA SFF), The Verge, Washington Post

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home – Tembi Locke (sister of Attica Locke) was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s May book club pick.
• Celeste Ng selects Red Clocks by Leni Zumas for Bustle’s book club.
• Emma Watson picks Pachinko for her book club’s May/June pick.
• Flight Portfolio – Julie Orringer (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times).
• Fall & Rise: The Story of 9/11 – Mitchell Zuckoff (New York Times, Washington Post).
• Lie With Me – Philippe Besson; translated by Molly Ringwald (NPR, Vanity Fair, Vulture).
• The Bride Test – Helen Hoang (Entertainment Weekly, NPR).
• What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence by Michele Filgate (ed.) (Bustle, Buzzfeed, NPR).

RA & Genre Resources

• Mystery genre spotlight from Library Journal.
• Agatha Award winners discuss the state of the cozy mystery.
• April romance column from Entertainment Weekly.

Books & Authors in the News

• USA Today looks at the best-seller status of the Mueller Report.
• Oyinkan Braithwaite talks about the books that made her.
• Roxane Gay is hosting a book club that will air on HBO (!!!), AND she launched her own magazine, Gay Magazine, “creating an online space where writers are afforded the time to produce their best work.” Is there anything she can’t do??
• Living & learning at the first annual Antiracist Book Festival, hosted by Ibram X. Kendi.
• Christian author Rachel Held Evans passed away, and her death has struck a chord with a huge number of people.
• Trailer for Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am.

Numbers & Trends

• Library Systems Report of 2019.
• Can we say “whitewashed?” Study finds that 94% of authors in the U.K. are white. Meanwhile in Canada, a new report shows that 60% of Canadians are actively seeking out diverse reading material, although 13% of respondents who self-identified as belonging to a marginalized group “strongly agreed” that they had trouble finding diverse reading material.
• 2018 North American comic sales rise to $1.09 billion dollars. *cue the Dr. Evil gifs*

Award News

• Nominees for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Tony Awards.
• Winners for the Agatha Awards, 2019 Indies Choice and E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, and the Wellcome Book Prize.
• Vermont Department of Libraries is changing the name of a children’s book award that honors the late Dorothy Canfield Fisher, an author and activist who had ties to the eugenics movement of the 1920’s and 30’s.
• Imtiaz Dharker, a Pakistani-born British poet declines the British poet laureateship, citing a need to focus on her writing.

Pop Cultured

• Here are the programs that the Obamas are going to bring to Netflix!
• Peter Mayhew, forever known as Chewbacca, passed away at age 74.
• We’ve got movie sign! 10 bookish Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes.
• Pets in their best Star Wars cosplay for May the 4th.
• The best true crime podcasts of 2019 so far.
• Disney is creating a live action version of Lady and the Tramp, with Janelle Monae writing new music for the film.

All Things Comics

• OverDrive adds 600 Marvel graphic novels and comics to its collection!
• 5 recent Marvel comics that influenced Avengers: Endgame.
• 5 comics to read this May from Entertainment Weekly and Barnes & Noble.
• Mackenzi Lee is writing a queer YA novel about Marvel’s Loki!
• 10 essential graphic novels and memoirs about queer women.
• 3 comics to mark Mental Health Awareness Month.
• Trailer (and spoiler warning) for Spider-Man: Far From Home.
• The CW has a teaser for the new Batwoman series, starring Ruby Rose, which will also be the first superhero series with a gay lead character.
• A reader’s guide to Naruto.
• Canada’s Indigenous comic artists redress history.

Audiophilia

• New audiobook suggestions from the Washington Post and the New York Times.
• 4 types of books that are better as audiobooks.
• Chronicle Books is creating an audio division.
• Middle grade and YA audio picks for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/YA

• 6 picture books that make great gifts for Mother’s Day.
• Children’s books about dogs.
• 37 amazing illustrated book covers featuring people of color.
• 10 modern classics for young readers.
• 5 books about foster families for young readers.
• 25 middle grade books by black authors.
• 50+ YA books about sports.
• Reading pathway for E. Lockhart.

Adults

• 21 must-read books for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, plus 17 books by queer Asian American writers.
• 7 strange and beautiful Holocaust novels you’ve probably never heard about.
• 30 books for 30 days of Ramadan.
• Fiction that explores #MeToo.
• SFF romances.
• The Bride Test and 5 other books with differently-wired protagonists.
• 20 romantic suspense titles.
• You want vampires? We got vampires! Unique vampire novels, diverse vampires, non-Western vampires, and under-appreciated vampire novels.
• 9 nonfiction books about spies.
• 40 best true crime books of all time.
• 8 crime books featuring women loving women & other queer people.
• If your library’s anything like mine, you’ll want this list of 5 books to read if you loved Where the Crawdads Sing.
• 10 books where the narrator is not the main character (and no, The Great Gatsby is not on this list).
• 24 of the best historical fiction books.
• Tor.com: Star Wars books for every type of fan.
• 11 chill books about anger management.
• 9 new novels with shocking endings.
• 10 novels featuring single mothers.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Barnes & Noble is launching a YA book club.
• This anonymous library employee posts the most bizarre book titles in their library’s collection on Instagram.
• A beginner’s guide to book blogging.
• Who hasn’t wanted to stay in Hagrid’s hut? (Illegal dragons not included). Also what it’s like to use the Hogwarts library.
• Unpopular opinion: tagging authors in negative reviews.
• Can you read…too much?
• Holocaust memorial project in Israel turns poetry written by Holocaust victims into music.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Evil Things by Katja Ivar.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Vertical, Inc.

Where did Sherlock Holmes go during his famous disappearance between his death at Reichenbach Falls and reappearance in Baker Street, three years later? God of mystery Keisuke Matsuoka contends that it was in the Far East—in Japan, to be exact. In 1891, Nicholas Alexandrovich, the Tsarevich of Russia, was traveling in a fragile Meiji-era Japan on an official tour when he was almost assassinated. The Otsu Incident, as this came to be known, led to fear of an international incident, perhaps even a declaration of war from Russia. In steps Sherlock Holmes—on the run from the British police and presumed to be dead. Together with Hirobumi Ito, the first Prime Minister of Japan, the two unlikely allies immerse themselves in a knotted tangle of politics, deceit, and great powers. In this deftly researched and immersive novel, based on real historical events, the great Sherlock Holmes stakes his flag in modern history in the turbulent early years of a rising Japan buffeted by the winds of change.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are looking for new romance reviewers!
• (TW gun violence) Patron threatened to shoot up the Penn Library in Harrison City, PA in retaliation for late fees. Although the patron said he was joking (WTF dude), police found an unlicensed firearm in his car nearby.
• Kelly Clark’s push for better library security got the attention of the local news.
• Library of Congress publishes a new digital collection of classic children’s books from over 100 years ago.
• North Dakota legislators just voted to build a Theodore Roosevelt presidential library.
• Geneva Bible stolen from Carnegie Library (PA) has been recovered in the Netherlands.
• Project Dustbunny aims to find out, among other things, whether or not Shakespeare’s DNA is hiding in the Folger Library’s Vault. It’s unlikely that they’ll find anything, but I’m just saying that we better not read a future article about how scholars have created a tourist attraction with cloned versions of Shakespeare. IT WILL NOT END WELL.

Cool Library Updates

• NYPL creates dialogue-driven programming with its Community Conversations.
• Boston-area library has a program for aspiring DJs.
• Kent District Library (MI) will be the first library in the country to introduce MagnusCards, a new initiative to assist people with cognitive special needs.
• How to host a Bob Ross painting party.
• British Library has a new exhibition that traces the evolution of writing.

Worth Reading

• A look at the racist, classist, and sexist biases in library call numbers and subject headings.
• Archivists race to digitize slavery records before the history is lost.
• How this teacher librarian brought students and teachers back into a recently re-opened school library.
• Experts say storytime can help children recover from trauma.
• How to make your next library project beautiful.
• Book selection is not a politician’s job.
• Worth reading if your school does the 40 book challenge, and all the ways it can go horribly wrong.
• When RA training and diversity training meet.

Book Adaptations in the News

• The film adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’ YA novel, Monster has been acquired, and will be released under the name All Rise.
• ‘Salem’s Lot gets its third adaptation, this time produced by James Wan, who you may know from NOPE-fest films such as Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious.
• Did you know there was a video-game adaptation of World War Z released recently? Well, apparently it sold 1,000,000+ copies in the first week.
• Trailers for Catch-22 and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, starring Taissa Farmiga.
• Outlander is coming to Netflix in May.
• (TW: suicide) Teen suicide spiked after the debut of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix.
• Laura Linney is returning to Broadway in the adaptation of My Name is Lucy Barton.
• Sarah Silverman’s memoir, The Bedwetter is getting a musical adaptation.

Collection Development Corner

New & Upcoming Titles

• Earlier in the year, Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao was pulled from its publication schedule after a significant social media controversy, but is now slated for a November publication.
• Tegan & Sara are writing a memoir.
• We have a title & a tentative release date for the next book in Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation series!
• An update on the final book in the Diviners series by Libba Bray.
• Unnamed Press is publishing a science fiction anthology in October.
• You’ll want to put The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes on your reading list ASAP, just based on the plot synopsis: “A dinosaur detective in the land of unwanted ideas battles trauma, anxiety, and the first serial killer of imaginary friends.”
• Bookmarks: Best-reviewed books of the week.
• USA Today: Books of the week.
• O Magazine picks 10 April books you won’t be able to put down and 4 of the buzziest new reads you should have on your radar this month.
• Entertainment Weekly: 25 new paperbacks to check out this spring.
• Best international crime fiction for April.
• Barnes & Noble gives some key May titles for mysteries, thrillers, history & current affairs, and biographies & memoirs.
• May title updates from LA Times, Washington Post, Tor.com (fantasy), Book Riot (fantasy), EpicReads (YA), and Goodreads (romance).

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Machines Like Me – Ian McEwan (Washington Post, New Yorker, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, LA Times).
• The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World – Melinda Gates (NPR, Shondaland, LA Times, Time).
• When We Left Cuba – Chanel Cleeton (Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post).
• Southern Lady Code – Helen Ellis (NPR, O Magazine).
• Miracle Creek – Angie Kim (Washington Post, Elle)

RA & Genre Resources

• The state of the mystery genre: a roundtable discussion amongst Edgar Award winners about the biggest issues that the genre faces. There are some good points here, but tbh, I’d really have liked to see more discussion about how the mystery world is super white.
• The hipster-mystery. The hipstery? Can we please call it something else?
• Starter guide to locked-room mysteries.
• Inclusivity in romance novels.
• Refinery29 has been covering YA novels all month, and here’s a roundup of all their news items.

Books & Authors in the News

• #copypastecris isn’t going anywhere – Nora Roberts sues the Brazilian author for multiple counts of plagiarism.
• A lost sequel to A Clockwork Orange has been discovered.
• Imani Kendi, author of the award-winning book Stamped From the Beginning: A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, is launching the first National Antiracist Book Festival.
• Ron Chernow was the keynote speaker at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Numbers & Trends

• Why independent bookstores are flourishing in the age of Amazon.

Award News

• Winners for the Edgar Awards, Triangle Awards, and the James Beard Media Awards.
• Joy Harjo wins the Jackson Poetry Prize.
• Hoda Barakat wins the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for The Night Mail, and is just the second woman to win the award.
• Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist announced.
• Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi wins the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
• American Academy of Arts and Letters is awarding Toni Morrison a well-deserved gold medal for her lifetime achievement in fiction.

Pop Cultured

• Tupac’s estate celebrates National Poetry Month with a fan competition.
• There’s going to be a Britney Spears-inspired musical, Once Upon a One More Time, and if you can’t get to the musical, there’s going to be a movie as well!
• The Tolkien estate is not a fan of the upcoming biopic.
• 10 things to do on Sunday if you don’t watch Game of Thrones.

All Things Comics

• There’s a new Stan Lee project coming out, and it introduces a new superhero universe.
• Avengers: Endgame has broken a LOT of records. And here’s a list of comics to read after watching the movie.
• More Baby-sitters Club graphic novels!
• Cool bookish places: Squishface Comic Studio, Melbourne.
• Freddie Mercury re-imagined as comic book heroes.
• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award nominees.
• Why comics make great history books.
• Graphic novels & comics about animals.
• First-person graphic memoirs for younger readers and teens.

Audiophilia

• Half of all Americans over the age of 12 have listened to the audiobook in the last year.
• Baby-sitter’s Club AUDIOBOOKS!
• Hear JRR Tolkien read from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in these vintage recordings.
• Best podcasts for children’s books.
• It’s past Alien Day (4/26), but here are 20 xenomorphic books to read all year long! Also, Audible is adapting William Gibson’s unfilmed Alien script!
• How to score free audiobooks this summer.
• Why narrating an audiobook is a LOT harder than you think.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 23 children’s books about emotions for kids with big feelings.
• Social activism books for kids.
• 5 kidlit books for gamers.
• National Student Poets choose 5 books every high schooler should read.
• YA Shakespeare retellings.
• Woke SFF for teens.
• 10 books about girls who code.

Adults

• 10 LGBTQ+ characters in crime fiction.
• Crime fiction’s new favorite private eyes.
• 10 sibling thrillers.
• 50 how-to books.
• Best narrative nonfiction books for non-nonfiction readers.
• Foodie books to add to your TBR.
• 11 nonfiction serial killer reads.
• Books about smartphones & the consequences of constant connection.
• Reading pathway for Beverly Jenkins.
• 5 novels with interracial love.
• Must-read black poets.
• 6 books about the gender pay gap.
• Books that perfectly illustrate why women stay silent.
• 13 adorable amigurumi books.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Help send 1000 books by authors of color to Milwaukee Public Schools.
• How sexism & machismo shaped the Iowa Writers Workshop.
• White nationalists interrupted an author event at Politics & Prose in Washington DC, and just……ugh.
• Noëlle Santos opens the only indie general-interest bookstore in the Bronx. Bonus: it doubles as a wine bar! (I want to go to there.)
• Should writers write what they don’t know?
• On the benefits of quitting your Goodreads challenge.
• Vans + Harry Potter = GIMME NOW. Also, new Harry Potter Legos!
• Trivial Pursuit: Shakespeare edition.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Circe by Madeline Miller.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Story Monsters Ink.

The award-winning literary resource for the latest news on popular and debut books, celebrity and indie author profiles, book reviews, reading lists, monthly columns by bestselling author James Patterson and Scholastic Book Clubs president Judy Newman, and more!

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I have a couple news items that I want to talk about before I jump into the rest of the newsletter.

(TW racism) First, if you haven’t already read Sofia Leung’s blog post on whiteness as collections, please do, because it talks about how the items we choose to purchase and preserve say a lot about our personal and institutional values, and not surprisingly, libraries value white perspectives. Also not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of racist pushback on Twitter to this idea, not only from trolls, but from fellow librarians, and to that I say NO. Librarians need to do better, and one of the ways to do better is for the white librarians to zip their lip and listen to people like Sofia. Becky Spratford and guest blogger Karen Toonen express this sentiment very directly, and I suggest you read their posts as well, because this is not acceptable. At all.

(TW library violence) Secondly, American Libraries posted an article by Kelly Clark, partner of Amber Clark who was allegedly murdered by a banned patron in December 2018. The article makes an impassioned case for not only increased library security measures, but for library managers and administrators to listen to their employees about safety issues. The fact is that libraries are not always safe, and working in libraries can take an extreme psychological toll on employees, but so many administrators turn a blind eye to the reality of what front line staff have to deal with. If you are a library manager, administrator, or are in any way positioned to affect change at your library, please do so, and please listen to your staff.

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• LGBTQ community members spoke out at a recent Anne Arundel County Library meeting, saying that they want to be normal, not controversial, and that LGBTQ-themed programs could save lives, which OH MY GOD WHY DO SOME PEOPLE STILL NEED TO BE CONVINCED OF THIS?? I give all the kudos in the world to the people who were willing to come forward and talk about this in front of the board.
• Yale students push back against the undergraduate library’s plan to massively weed their physical collection, which was undertaken in response to declining circ numbers and the need for increased work and seating space.

Cool Library Ideas

• A collaborative effort to develop a national digital eBooks platform for libraries.
• St. Joseph County Public Library (IN) showcases its 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program.
• An honor system checkout policy allows library patrons (especially teens) more freedom to borrow topic-sensitive books.
• This Anchorage library takes unconventional checkouts to the next level by lending out taxidermy specimens.
• A look at libraries and their social media practices.
• The Cullman County (AL) Public Library offers goat yoga!

Worth Reading

• The fire at Notre Dame is a brutal reminder to protect our libraries, museums, and archives.
• Looking at library leadership through an intersectional feminist lens – this is a very interesting read.
• What are the biggest challenges in teen library services?
• Working as a librarian gave this writer post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
• The funniest & weirdest stories of damaged library books. Two words: Bacon. Bookmarks.
• How to get a Library of Congress Reader’s Card.
• How to clean a computer keyboard. (Don’t lie. You know your keyboard needs this.)

Book Adaptations in the News

• New adaptations coming for Sleeping Beauties (Stephen King, Owen King; AMC), The Last Mrs. Parrish (Liv Constantine; Amazon), Barkskins (Annie Proulx; National Geographic), The Bone Season (Samantha Shannon; Lunar Park), and “Rest Stop” (Stephen King; Legendary).
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a producer on Killing Eve, has been asked to punch up the new James Bond screenplay.
• Letitia Wright of Black Panther fame is starring in Death on the Nile.
• Reverse adaptation news: breakout queer Broadway play The Prom is getting adapted as a YA novel.
• Kirkus: 9 books that would make the best movies.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News 

• Simon & Schuster forms a new nonfiction imprint and partners with Law & Crime for a new true crime publishing unit.
• Skyhorse forms Arcade CrimeWise imprint.
• Pushing diversity forward in publishing.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Mueller Report updates: publishers are rushing to release the Mueller Report, which has now become a best-seller even though its classification as a government document means it’s free to read for anyone. Slate even gives the report its own book review.
• Publisher’s Weekly releases their list of the Best Books of Summer 2019.
• Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed are collaborating on a new YA novel called Yes, No, Maybe So.
• Carly Simon is writing a memoir about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
• Prince’s posthumously published memoir finally has a release date.
• Henry Winkler signed a 3 book deal about an “an alien who somehow lands in Hollywood and becomes a teen sensation.”

Current Noteworthy Book Lists

• Bookmarks: Best reviewed books of the week.
• CrimeReads: Best debut thrillers & crime novels of April 2019.
• USA Today: Books of the week.
• Entertainment Weekly: authors pick their top books of the spring.
• Paste: Best YA novels of April.
• The Verge: Science fiction & fantasy books of late April.
• Book Riot: 10 new and upcoming political YA books to add to your TBR.

RA & Genre Resources

• A free toolkit on building & maintaining LGBTQ+ picture book collections.
• What do we really mean by women’s fiction?
• Go back through your reading history to find a gold mine of backlist books ready to suggest to patrons.
• Why we need to set a better example of nonjudgmental RA service.
• Genre columns in the news: New York Times covers romance and crime, Washington Post looks at science fiction and fantasy, and NPR looks at romance as well.

Books & Authors in the News

• Ian McEwan recently made some really absurd statements about why his new book is NOT science fiction, and then went on to speculate about what science fiction could be if it actually considered issues of humanity and AI and sentience, as if his book was the first to pose these questions. The whole thing is absurd, and The Guardian looks at the history of science fiction’s lack of respectability in the literary world. Also, I just wanted to send a bunch of Ex Machina gifs to Ian McEwan but I imagine they would go right over his head.
• Gillian Flynn is writing for Amazon TV with Utopia.
• Some parents are upset after learning that an elementary school teacher read the book Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag to her class.
• Nnedi Okorafor is creating a TV series company for Africanfuturist stories.

Award News

• Time released its list of the 100 Most Influential People, and there are multiple authors and book-related people included.
• Winners for the Kitschies, Reading the West Awards, Chicago Public Library Literary Awards, and the British Science Fiction Awards.
• Shortlists for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
• Lambda Literary presents Alexander Chee, Masha Gessen, and Barbara Smith with special honors.
• RWA plans to hire an outside Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Consultant.

Pop Cultured

• Everyone’s talking about Beyoncé’s surprise Netflix documentary/concert film, Homecoming, and Lemonade is finally streaming on Spotify & Apple Music. So if your patrons are looking for ever more Beyoncé, you can hand them this list of books to read after they finish Homecoming.
• Podcast news!
  • If you enjoy cookbooks, you may want to check out Cookery By the Book, which may be the first podcast of its kind.
  • Michael Lewis is starting a podcast called Against the Rules, which looks at issues of authority.
  • An update on Hear to Slay with Roxane Gay & Tressie McMillan Cottom.
  • Podcasts for poetry lovers.

All Things Comics

• A look at 2018 graphic novel sales and trends.
• Cartoonists Studio Prize winners announced.
• Cartoonist MariNaomi shines a light on diverse cartoonists by creating databases featuring queer cartoonists and cartoonists of color.
• A new Kate Bishop Hawkeye series is in the works at Disney+.
• Using graphic novels as a teachable format in the classroom.
• We’re going to get a Grateful Dead origins comic.
• How to find kick-ass lady comics as a total noob.
• 12 comics about trans and genderqueer people.
• Environmental comics to celebrate Earth Day.
• 5 Instagram comics to follow.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

• 5 recent novels that blend science fiction and horror.
• Top 10 bilingual books.
• Do crime like a Victorian with these 11 nonfiction reads.
• Top 100 crime novels of all time.
• 8 cold-case stories.
• 10 books to understand the measles epidemic and 5 books about plagues & pandemics. 
• 6 romance novels that should come with snacks.
• Baseball books for 2019.
• 30 books by writers of color redefining the term “all-American.”
• 7 books for Ariana Grande fans.
• Goodreads: 40 of the most popular translated books and 24 top poetry titles.
• 15 cosmic horror titles to get you started.
• 365 books to start your climate change library. Related: 50 fictional eco-disasters.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• A powerful read: “Turns Out I’m Trans: How Romance Helped Me Find Myself.”
• A mourning ring with Charlotte Bronte’s hair has been discovered.
• We may get a look at some unpublished Franz Kafka works after an extremely lengthy legal battle with his literary estate.
• How a decor-loving English professor displays her book collection.
• London commuters will be getting short story dispensing vending machines, where they can choose 1, 3, or 5 minute stories, with the first story written by Anthony Horowitz.
• In praise of re-reading.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Miracle Creek by Angie Kim.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins and Fierce Reads.

Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past. Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in India and is reluctant to take on his future. If he can’t find his roots, how can he possibly plan ahead? Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places—a summer service trip to Kolkata to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds build between the travelmates, Robin and Kat discover that you can’t rewind life; sometimes you just have to push play.

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I’m going to be tweaking the format of the newsletter slightly over the next few weeks as I incorporate some of the great feedback you guys gave in the survey! The biggest change is that instead of having a “Books & Authors in the News” section and a separate “Upcoming Books” section, I’m combining the two into a “Collection Development Corner” that will highlight newly announced titles, genre guides & resources, and recently published books that your patrons are probably hearing about on NPR, the New York Times, etc. I hope you find it helpful!

And now, on with the newsletter…

Libraries & Librarians

• This week’s lengthy, but important read: Librarian Fobazi M. Ettarh talked about librarian values and “vocational awe” at the ACRL conference in Cleveland. Take a look at her work – I read her original article about a year ago and was inspired to write about the psychological toll of library work for Book Riot. (I fully acknowledge that this barely scratched the surface of her research, which talks about the inherent classist and racist inequalities in library service and is much more nuanced than my article.) But this is a topic very much worth discussing.
• Also, you can catch up with the ACRL conference using the #ACRL2019 hashtag.

News Updates

• An update on the Washington Department of Corrections’ ban on sending used books to prisoners, and the fact that their reports of an increase in illegal contraband don’t add up. In the meantime, a similar situation is coming up in Georgia.
• (TW: racially-motivated violence) There was an incident at Barnard College where a black student was physically stopped and restrained from entering the campus library. This is so rage-inducing, and yet sadly, so very common for black students.
• Over half of the books on the ALA’s Top 11 books banned or challenged in 2018 were challenged due to LGBTQ+ content.
• Spokane eliminates school librarians. BOOOOOO.
• 200 classic children’s stories have been withdrawn from a school library in Barcelona over concerns about sexism and gender portrayal.
• Two articles on the benefits of public libraries, from the New York Review of Books and NBC.

Cool Library Ideas

• People pay $100 to get a tattoo and support the Lawrence (KS) Public Library. I would totally do this.
• Los Angeles Public Library debut a limited-edition library card featuring art from a local artist. This is so cool!!
• Rare footage of the Black Panthers and California activism have been digitized by the Oakland Library.
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books highlights the awesome events going on at libraries, from comic cons to romance cons.
• Why doctors & librarians make great partners.

Worth Reading

• Lots of talk about digital libraries, specifically Obama’s presidential library and Carla Hayden’s “audacious” plan to make the Library of Congress available online.
• Tackling copyright concerns when taking storytime online.
• LitHub created a new column called “Shhh…Secrets of the Librarians” that interviews different librarians from across the country.

Book Adaptations in the News

• New adaptations coming for Rot and Ruin (Jonathan Maberry; Alcon Entertainment), Lake Success (Gary Shteyngart; HBO), The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper; Paramount TV), The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Sara Collins; Drama Republic), and Red, White, and Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston; Amazon).
• First film, and now TV: Love, Simon (based on Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli) is coming to the small screen thanks to Disney+.
• Shrill and Big Little Lies have both been renewed for a second season. Check out the Shrill announcement here and the trailer for Big Little Lies.
• Netflix is on a book buying spree, looking for more content.

Collection Development Corner

News & Upcoming Titles

• Honestly, half the reason I’m sharing the announcement of No Fuzzball!, a picture book by Isabella Kung about a spoiled cat, is for the cover. 
• We’re getting a Diary of a Wimpy Kid spin-off series called Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid.
• Alex Gino announces Rick, a companion novel to George, which will be released in 2020!
• Reverie, by Ryan la Sala, is marketed as “Inception meets The Magicians” and follows “a gay teenager with amnesia who is haunted by a drag queen sorceress.” Holy cow, I need to read this now.
• Tom Doherty Associations forms a new horror imprint.
• Jasmine Guillory is writing a romance novel based on Doria Ragland, Meghan Markle’s mother, called Royal Holiday, out in October. You can get an exclusive first look here.
• Isabel Allende’s new novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, is out in 2020.
• Nikki Haley is planning a memoir.

Current Noteworthy Books

• 24 starred reviews for April 2019 from School Library Journal.
• Best-reviewed books of the week from Bookmarks.
• CrimeReads: True crime picks for April, and the best historical mysteries of 2019 (so far). 
• Goodreads: Top nonfiction of the year so far.
• 15 nonfiction books feminists should read this spring.
• 50 must-read crime novels published April-June 2019. (I put this list together!)

The Books Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Normal People by Sally Rooney (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR, Slate,Time, USA Today, Vulture)
• Trust Exercise by Susan Choi (Entertainment Weekly, NPR, USA Today)
• Naamah by Sarah Blake (NPR, Paste, Washington Post)
• The Mister by E.L. James (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, USA Today)
• Outside Looking In by T.C. Boyle (New York Times, USA Today)
• Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro  (New York Times, NPR)
• White by Bret Easton Ellis (New Yorker, NPR). (I won’t lie – I have little patience for Bret Easton Ellis, but the frustration coming from the New Yorker interviewer is hilarious.)
• Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl (New York Times, Vanity Fair)

Numbers & Trends

• Children whose parents read to them hear up to 1.4 million more words before kindergarten.
• A look at social media usage amongst US adults.

Award News

• 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners and the LA Times Book Prizes have been announced.
• Check out the Man Booker International Prize shortlist and the Best Translated Book Awards longlists here.
• Tayari Jones wins the Aspen Words Literary Prize for An American Marriage.
• New York Public Library announces the Young Lions Fiction Award finalists.

Pop Cultured

• Updates on the Disney+ streaming service, plus everything else you need to know. (I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll definitely be plopping down money for this in November.)
• We’ve got trailers for The Addams Family, Scary Stories, and the Veronica Mars reboot.
• 10 Game of Thrones podcasts you should listen to this season.
• Roxane Gay and Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom are starting an advice podcast, and I never knew I needed something so badly in my entire life.
• Tor gives us a rundown on The Mandalorian.

All Things Comics

• Black superheroes and comic creators descend on Tampa and the Robert W. Saunders Public Library for AfroCon.
• New updates for Saga.
• 10 essential graphic novels and memoirs about queer women.
• 10 manga to read after catching up with One Piece.
• An exclusive first look at The Banks by Roxane Gay!
• 8 superhero-inspired titles for Spider-Man-loving middle graders.
• One viewer’s thoughts on The Joker trailer.
• Talking with comic book artist Camilla D’Errico.

Audiophilia

• Audible is recording plays! You can read about their plans here.
• 5 YA poetry audiobooks read by the author.
• Audiobooks with theatrical narrators.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Makerspace books for kids.
• 21 nonfiction books for kindergarten.
• 25 children’s books about grandparents.
• 19 unsettling YA books.
• 12 young adult books that address religion.
• YA #ownvoices authors that highlight the “Asian/Pacific American experience.”

Adults

• Great reads that celebrate the bonds between women.
• 7 astrophysics books for ordinary people, and 4 books about black holes.
• 10 essential feminist books.
• Queer poetry collections to read during national poetry month.
• 25 books you can finish in a single weekend.
• 50 must-read literary biographies.
• 24 sci-fi & fantasy picks to shake up your book club.
• 7 haunted Civil War books.
• Must-read essay collections by women.
• 20 best debuts of the first half of 2019.
• 16 of the best thriller books to keep you turning the pages.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Beverly Cleary turns 103 years old! Here are 10 quotes from Ramona the Pest to celebrate!
• 16 YA authors who got their start in libraries.
• National Geographic: Photos of beautiful libraries from around the world.
• A giant mural of a bookcase transforms the side of an apartment in Utrecht, Netherlands.
• A newly-discovered 500 year old library catalog reveals summaries of books that have been lost for centuries.
• How to find a book by description…or in other words, how to help the patrons that can’t remember the title or the author but remember that the book had something to do with a dog.
• The Spark Notes Twitter account makes classic literature hilarious and relatable.
• Recently discovered: poems by Daphne du Maurier, 90 years after they were written.
• In light of the tragic fire, Vox & Electric Literature write about Victor Hugo and Notre Dame.

 

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Ill Will by Dan Chaon.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Libby – The app for library ebooks and audiobooks.

Reach new patrons with Instant Digital Card – connect eager readers to your digital collection in just 30 seconds. Learn more today!

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Libraries & Librarians

• Washington state Department of Corrections officials quietly posted a new policy banning prisoners from receiving used books in the mail, but the new policy sparked a big outcry. In response, Washington’s top prison official vows to make sure inmates can still get used books.
• Parent group sues the Colorado Library Consortium for offering students access to EBSCO databases, which the group says gives children access to pornography. Library officials say that this claim is extremely untrue.
• In related news, a new law requires Idaho public libraries to filter Internet access so that patrons can’t access porn.
• North Dakota librarians urge legislators to oppose federal budget cuts.
• The Millennium Library in Winnipeg has started using metal detectors and bag inspections as a security measure, but there’s been a lot of pushback from the public and the library has been asked to investigate other security options.
• TW: sexual harassment. Sexual Harassment in Libraries, Post #MeToo: What Has and Hasn’t Changed.
• In light of the cancelled Drag Queen Story Time program at an Alpharetta branch library, the Atlanta mayor invites drag queen Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker to read to kids at City Hall.
• This British Columbia library is working to decolonize the way libraries organize information by taking an indigenous approach to categorizing books.
• The Upper Arlington Public Library’s (OH) “Listen Columbus” project brings together a digital collection of music from local artists.
• Many of Denmark’s libraries are called “open libraries,” and are open 24 hours a day.
• Library Journal reviews The Public. Although I haven’t seen the movie yet, the review reflects some of the initial concerns I had when I first heard about the movie.
• What library eBooks mean for your privacy.
• 9 facts about librarians you probably didn’t know.
• The problem with professional development books in library science.
• A lion cub used to live at the Milwaukee Public Library in the early 20th century. NO JOKE.
• Want a laugh today? Check out this library that accidentally promised snakes at the wrong program, and make plans to visit the grave of a man who died eating library paste.

Book Adaptations in the News

• There are a TON of book-to-TV adaptations coming: Never Look Away (Linwood Barclay – Noe Productions); I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb – HBO); Wanderers (Chuck Wendig – QC Entertainment); Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 (Mitchell Zuckoff – Lionsgate); Lie to Me (J.T. Ellison – Dynamic Television); and Comfort Me With Apples (Ruth Reichl – Netflix).
• Stephen King himself is adapting his novel Lisey’s Story for Apple TV, starring Julianne Moore.
• On a related note, Vulture picks 13 Stephen King books that should be adapted next, which honestly just feels like it could be retitled “The remaining 13 Stephen King books that haven’t been adapted yet.”
• Maya Angelou’s life and works are being developed for Broadway.
• Updates for Defending Jacob, the sequel to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Hulu’s adaptation of Looking for Alaska, and Hillbilly Elegy, which will star Amy Adams.
• The CW casts the original Nancy Drew, Pamela Sue Martin, in the upcoming Nancy Drew pilot.
• Almost every SFF/Horror/Comic adaptation in the works.
• Horror noire novels that need to be adapted for film. I’m holding out for a Jordan Peele-directed adaptation of Tananarive Due’s novel, The Good House.

Books & Authors in the News

• 50 shades of white: the long fight against racism in romance novels. This is a MUST READ article for every librarian and reader.
• This one goes to 11: ALA releases the Top 11 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2018.
• ALA names Colson Whitehead as the keynote speaker for the Freedom to Read Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.
• Catherynne Valente is writing a sequel to Space Opera, called Space Oddity.
• Caitlin Doughty’s next book is called Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, which is the BEST TITLE EVER and I need it immediately.
• Patrick Rothfuss says that the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicles series, The Doors of Stone, is “moving forward.”
• Mackenzi Lee announces a novella, The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky – out November 26, 2019.
• Brandy Colbert has a new YA novel coming out next year called The Voting Booth, set on Election Day.
• Be on the lookout for Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas – it’s an #ownvoices Day of the Dead YA LGBTQ+ paranormal romance, featuring Yadriel, a Latinx gay trans boy. I can’t wait to see it!
• According to the Daily Beast, Trump is already plotting his post-White House tell-all memoir, apparently in an attempt to settle a few scores. I really wish I could insert a few choice emojis here.
• Philip Pullman leads a call for UK government action on eBook piracy.
• Polish priest apologizes for burning copies of Harry Potter.
• Tom Selleck is writing a memoir.
• Lee Child is developing a Black Mirror-meets-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri true crime anthology drama series. Boy, there’s a lot going on in that sentence.

Upcoming Books in 2019

• Vulture: 7 new books you should read this April.
• Town & Country: Best books of the spring.
• Vanity Fair: The season’s must-read books (and the best bags to stash them in).
• Bustle: 19 new fantasy novels and 21 new romance novels for your spring reading list.
• CrimeReads: Best thrillers & psychological thrillers of April.
• Barnes & Noble: 5 best memoirs this spring.

Award News

• Watch the Pulitzer Prize announcements livestreamed on April 15th.
• Shortlists for the International Dublin Literary Award, Rathbones Folio Prize, Albertine Prize, and the Stella Prize.
• Tor.com celebrates 40 years of the Prometheus Award.

Pop Cultured

• Killing Eve gets a third season.

All Things Comics

• Entertainment Weekly: 5 comics to read this April.
• Teaser trailer for The Joker.
• If you’re looking for new comics, take a look at Vault.

Audiophilia

• Audible settles several class action lawsuits.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

• Computer programming books for kids.
• 50 must-read poetry books for kids.
• 50 must-read completed YA series.
• 10 political YA books to keep you engaged.
• Best YA books by black women.
• 6 Greek mythology-inspired YA novels to read if you enjoyed Circe.
• 50 books about unicorns.
• 11 of the best books on organization.
• 13 books about chronic illness to read, instead of asking someone else to explain it for you.
• 18 cookbooks that cookbook authors actually use.
• 28 romance novellas you should check out immediately.
• TW: 10 books about abusive relationships.
• 25 epic fantasies for fans of Game of Thrones.
• 5 witchy books for fans of Baba Yaga.
• The books that scared these thriller, horror, and true crime authors.
• A Kurt Cobain reading guide.
• Poets who write about race, gender, and violence.
• LitHub: Surrealist literature starter kit.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• The Netherlands make trains free on National Book Day for travelers who show a book instead of a ticket.
• 30 teen book bloggers, Bookstagrammers, and BookTubers you should be following.
• A Spirit Airlines flight attendant returned a lost library book that a middle school student accidentally left on the plane. Student, book, and school library were all successfully reunited.
• A look at the unique relationship between authors and translators.
• Kick-start your reading habit with bite-sized books.
• Clever bookish marketing from the London Book Fair. Any ideas you can adapt for your own library?
• How to host a book swap party.
• How to talk to your favorite authors at a book signing without making a fool of yourself.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Babymoon by Hayley Barrett and Juana Martinez-Neal.

Baby has arrived! The world is eager to meet the newcomer, but there will be time enough for that later. Right now, the family is on its babymoon: cocooning, connecting, learning, and muddling through each new concern. While the term “babymoon” is often used to refer to a parents’ getaway before the birth of a child, it was originally coined by midwives to describe days like these: at home with a newborn, with the world held at bay and the wonder of a new family constellation unfolding. A lyrical ode to these tender first days will resonate with families everywhere.

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Thank you to everyone who participated in the Check Your Shelf survey! You had some great feedback, and you’ve given me some interesting ideas for the newsletter…I’ll be getting my ducks in a row over the next few weeks, but I’m definitely planning on incorporating some of your ideas! You guys rock! And thank you so much for reading!

And don’t forget, we’ve got a new podcast, hosted by author and BR contributor Karina Glaser and children’s librarian Matthew Winner! It’s called Kidlit These Days and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcatcher.

Buckle up, y’all. This is a long newsletter this week!

Libraries & Librarians

• Greenville library employees ask for explanations for staff departures after Drag Queen Story Hour. I’m sorry, but this whole thing feels suspicious, and if there is indeed something underhanded about these staffing changes, I’m glad the employees are asking for answers.
• Houston Public Library officials now say they would like to bring back Drag Queen Story Time after ending the program due to safety concerns.
• Fulton County (GA) officials pull the plug on Drag Queen Story Time at a nearby library, although apparently against the library’s wishes.
• San Francisco mayor appoints Michael Lambert to head the San Francisco Public Library, making him the first Asian American to lead the library!
• And in other historic updates, Karyn A. Temple is named register of copyrights, the first person of color to hold the position.
• Looking for innovative programs and initiatives? Baltimore Libraries launch Entrepreneur Academy and the Phoenix Public Library starts a seed library.
• A really interesting essay about how libraries should handle the issue of vaccine misinformation.
• A look at Emilio Estevez’s film The Public and the role of the library in serving the public.
• Barbara Hoffert at Library Journal gives a crash course on facilitating book groups at your library, and includes the contact information for the library marketing departments at publishing houses.
• Microsoft Store no longer has a Books category, which means if you had previously rented or purchased items from their store, you will only have access to them until the beginning of July 2019.
• Archivists are cataloging every tweet, article and spreadsheet the #MeToo movement has ever produced.
• Classism, sexual misconduct, and racism: the life of Melvil Dewey.
• April Fool’s day jokes, library style.
• 17 horror stories from real librarians about the things we ACTUALLY have to deal with at the desk. (My own personal story is the patron who called and left several rambling voicemail messages asking for me – by name – to come down to the police station and bail him out of jail.)
• A look at Beverly Cleary’s time as a children’s librarian and how her experiences influenced her future writing.

Book Adaptations in the News

• Here’s the teaser trailer for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and it’s…creepy. Also creepy is the trailer for NOS4A2.
• Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand are teaming up in Joel Coen’s adaptation of Macbeth. Um, holy cow, this sounds amazing.
• Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird will launch a national touring production in August 2020.
• The Outsiders is getting a musical adaptation. Will there be a final song called “Stay Golden, Pony Boy?”
• Paramount options The Library Book by Susan Orlean for TV. Prepare for even more hold requests to come in for this book.
• NPR looks at the Native Son adaptation on HBO, which airs April 6th.

Books & Authors in the News

• A book tribute to Anthony Bourdain will be published in May.
• Oprah is using the newly-announced Apple TV Plus service to build “the biggest book club on the planet.” Honestly, I thought she had already accomplished that, but Oprah never stops working!
• Reese Witherspoon picks The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo as her April Book Club pick.
• Lupita Nyong’o is publishing a children’s book this fall, Sulwe, which was inspired partially by her childhood in Kenya.
• A new Shopaholic novel is coming out this year!
• Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr Al Rabeeah & Winnie Yeung is the next Big Library Read.
• What happens when poetry goes viral? Publisher’s Weekly talks to Rupi Kaur, Danez Smith, and Eduardo C. Corral.
• Graywolf Press is publishing a new book by Claudia Rankine.
• Melville House will make the Mueller Report its first mass market publication.
• A Clue-inspired YA novel is coming out this year.
• Keep an eye on this diet cookbook from the UK: Pinch of Nom by Kate Allinson & Kay Featherstone sold 200,000+ copies in 3 days – the fastest selling nonfiction book since the publishing industry started keeping records.
• Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess, aka author of Furiously Happy, aka hilarious human being) is planning to open a San Antonio bookstore and wants reader input.
• Harry Potter is among a group of books burned by Catholic priests in Poland.
• Baltimore mayor, Catherine Pugh, has made several lucrative deals surrounding her self-published book, Healthy Holly, and now other government officials are calling on her to resign, citing reports of “self-dealing” and conflicts of interest.

Upcoming Books in 2019

• Best Books of April from Amazon, BBC Culture, Bustle, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Review of Books, Cosmo, Crime Reads, Entertainment Weekly, io9, Lambda Literary, LA Times, LitHub, The Millions, New York Times, Time, Tor.com (genre-bending books and SFF YA novels), The Verge, and The Washington Post.
• Barnes & Noble lists its top picks for April Fiction, Mysteries, Thrillers, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Biographies/Memoirs, and History/Current Affairs.
• Spring YA previews from Book Riot and Buzzfeed.
• April 2019 releases from indie presses.
• The Millions gives some must-read poetry for April.

By the Numbers

• An infographic looking at the reading habits of millennials. 
• The Guardian & Electric Lit feature the Emilia Report, which looks at the media bias towards male authors in terms of news coverage.
• James Patterson is donating $1.25 million dollars to school libraries – get more info here.

Award News

• 2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award finalists have been announced, and these are all some really solid picks!
• Finalists announced for the Ondaatje Prize, James Beard Award, Walter Scott Prize, and the Dylan Thomas Prize.
• Check out the winners of the NAACP Image Awards, including An American Marriage by Tayari Jones!
• Why this reader dislikes Pulitzer Prize-winning novels.

What’s Going On With the RITAs?

The saga continues…

• Part 3 of the ongoing RITA data analysis.
• Susanna Kearsley & Ann Aguirre have asked that their names be taken off of the nominee lists. Cherry Adair also withdraws her name from the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award.
• A message from HelenKay Dimon, president of the RWA, on behalf of the board.
• Author Seressia Glass fills in on the RWA Board of Directors after Avery Flynn vacated her seat.
• What the RWA can do in terms of addressing its lack of diversity, inclusion, and equity.
• On the loaded concept of “relatability” in regards to the RITAs.
• What readers can do on their end to support the efforts to change the RITAs, from the perspective of a librarian member of the RWA.

Pop Cultured

• HBO announces a feature-length Game of Thrones documentary.
• Another look at Avengers: Endgame.

All Things Comics

• Barnes & Noble picks the best graphic novel & manga titles for April.
• Raina Telgemeier has a new graphic novel, Guts, coming out this fall.
• Rioters share their favorite comics they read from January – March of this year.
• This reader needs more older found friendships in their comic books.
• Batman books for younger readers.
• The most iconic Betty & Veronica comics.
• YA graphic novels coming out April – June 2019.
• 5 superhero manga to check out.

Audiophilia

• Spanish audiobook production & sales surge in Spain & Latin America.
• Paste: 19 most anticipated audiobooks of Spring 2019.
• Del Rey is publishing its first Star Wars audio original.
• Audible will offer the Mueller Report on audio for free to members.
• LitHub picks 5 great audiobooks for spring.
• 20 celebrity memoirs read by their authors.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

• Get some more women authors in your life with these lists of near-future books by women, Muslim women authors, and inspiring female-penned memoirs.
• 8 horror novels based on real historical events.
• Poets to read for National Poetry Month.
• Memoirs that read like novels.
• Reading pathway for KJ Charles.
• 25 top romance books on Goodreads.
• 10 2019 debuts by writers of color.
• Books to help tackle the universal fear of death.
• Top 10 evil narrators from The Guardian.
• 5 complicated & strange family tales.
• 6 diverse Jane Austen retellings.
• 7 great new literary biographies for your TBR.
• 50 YA fantasy novels.
• Middle grade books about siblings.
• 10 books for parents to help their anxious children.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• The updated AP Style Guide discourages journalists from using softened language like “racially charged” or “racially motivated,” and instead recommends using the terms “racist” and “racism.” In other words, call racist things racist.
• #OwnVoices: Roxane Gay and the metric for reality. This is a great article.
• Do teens get pushed out of YA books when it’s called a genre?
• Literary hoaxes over the last 100 years.
• The rotten side of self-publishing.
• Lego introduces fairy tale-inspired sets that are built as pop-up books.
• You know the killer rabbit from Monty Python & the Holy Grail? Turns out there are a lot of killer rabbits depicted in illuminated medieval manuscripts.
• How to clean old books.
• Edible book festivals for food and pun lovers.
• Suggestions for helping uninterested readers find a book.
• In defense of non-readers and reading what you want
• The story of one man who has spent 45 years tracking down Mark Twain’s personal book collection.
• Harry Potter super-fan gets into the Guinness Book of World Records for her collection of J.K. Rowling-related collectibles. Also, 40 Harry Potter tattoos to inspire your next ink session.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

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).

“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by The Global Economy as You’ve Never Seen It—99 Ingenious Infographics That Put It All Together by Thomas Ramge and Jan Schwochow.

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If you’re a Check Your Shelf reader, we want to hear from YOU! Take this short survey and be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card! Entries will be accepted until 3/31, and is open to US and Canadian residents. But hurry! There are only a couple days left!

 

And for those of you who love to read (or love to give) picture books and chapter books, we’ve got a new podcast, hosted by author and BR contributor Karina Glaser and children’s librarian Matthew Winner! It’s called Kidlit These Days and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcatcher.

Libraries & Librarians

• Houston librarians explain why they’re stepping away from Drag Queen Story Time.
• Anne Arundel Library “diversity” programs have been approved and are no longer in limbo, but the board of trustees postponed a vote on the policy that put the programs in limbo in the first place.
• San Francisco voted to not only eliminate library fines, but forgive existing fines as well – more than $1.5 million.
• New potential library legislation: House bills would let librarians intervene in drug overdoses without liability and new bills introduced in Michigan would make librarians essential school staff.
• (TW: harassment, racism, homophobia, xenophobia) Staff members at the Free Library of Philadelphia were surveyed in December 2018 – 83% of survey respondents said that they had witnessed or experienced racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and biased hiring practices in their workplace, yet administration did not address the issues. EIGHTY THREE PERCENT, PEOPLE. Holy cripes.
• (TW: gun violence, domestic violence) Texas school librarian Belinda Hernandez allegedly shot and killed by her husband, a Houston police sergeant. I have words about the connection between domestic violence and gun violence, but I’ll save those for another time. This is heartbreaking.
• Concerned library patrons prepare to meet with the Fort Wayne (IN) board members about “alarming” weeding practices.
• WiFi devices from the library could help fill Internet deserts in South Carolina.
• Indonesian citizens create their own rickshaw libraries to help get books into children’s hands.
• Tea-inspired cocktails are coming to the Boston Public Library. I WANT TO GO TO THERE. (Actually, I have been there before, but I WANT TO GO BACK.)
• Wellington County adds library book & DVD vending machines at local sports complexes.
• 25 of the most beautiful libraries in America.
• 13 nonfiction books about real live librarians.

Book Adaptations in the News

• Casting updates for Season 2 of Castle Rock and Season 3 of Mr. Mercedes.
• The Talented Mr. Ripley is getting a TV series adaptation. Plus the ongoing speculation about Ripley’s sexuality continues.
• Our House by Louise Candlish and Washington Black by Esi Edugyan get picked up for TV adaptations, while Conan Doyle for the Defense  gets a film deal.
• Netflix picks up Mary Kubica’s upcoming novel, The Other Mrs.
• Nnedi Okorafor is adapting Wild Seed by Octavia Butler for Amazon, the first book in Butler’s Patternist series.
• The Princess Bride might become a Broadway musical.
• A movie based on the musical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is in the works.
• A list of movies you didn’t know were books first.

Books & Authors in the News

• New Jersey lawmakers propose a resolution that would ask schools not to teach Huckleberry Finn.
• Tor.com announces a new trilogy from Sylvain Neuvel.
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood gives readers 75 of Mr. Roger’s most uplifting songs.
• Brené Brown has a Netflix special coming.
• André Aciman announces a sequel to Call Me By Your Name.
• Anderson Cooper signs a two-book deal, with the first book scheduled for 2022.
• The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators will seek to have Jay Asher’s defamation suit filed against them thrown out.

Upcoming Books in 2019

• The buzziest books coming out in 2019 (so far).
• Spring book picks from Esquire, Tor.com, and Vulture.
• Washington Post: Books to read in April.
• Tor.com: all the science fiction books coming out in April.
• Best new spring cookbooks.
• 20 new books by or about queer women to read this spring.
• 15 newly translated novels for 2019.
• 5 diverse anthologies.

By the Numbers

• Becoming could *ahem* become the best-selling memoir of all time.

Award News

• The 2019 RITA and Golden Heart finalists were released, and once again, there are barely any finalists who are authors of color. For more info, here’s a deep dive into the overwhelming whiteness of RITA winners & finalists over the last 20 years.
• Philip Pullman wins the J.M. Barrie Lifetime Achievement award.
• Whiting Awards were announced, which celebrate 10 emerging writers.
• Physician & author Siddhartha Mukherjee awarded the 2019 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science.
• Shortlists announced for the British Book of the Year Awards and the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

Pop Cultured

• Netflix seeks dismissal of “Bandersnatch” trademark suit.
• Information about Apple’s announcement of its own streaming service.
• Wakandacon, a three-day celebration of Afro-futuristic art, community, cosplay, and more will be coming to Chicago in July.

All Things Comics

• Lauren Myracle takes on Catwoman with her first YA graphic novel.
• A preview of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch comics.
• Graphic novels made this reader try new things.
• How this reader stopped worrying and learned to read comics in public.

Audiophilia

• Advice for new audiobook listeners.
• Get more rereading into your life with audiobooks.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

• 15 biographies that tell the true stories of infamous women killers. I AM HERE FOR THIS.
• 13 new romantic comedies to read if you enjoy Jane Austen.
• Reading pathways for Kate Atkinson & Nora Roberts.
• 8 diverse children’s books that really deliver.
• Read Harder: A collection of poetry published since 2014. To help with that, here’s a list of 50 of the best modern poetry books.
• 5 books to read while coping with the loss of a child.
• What to read while you’re waiting for the Mueller Report.
• 9 of the best women warriors of fantasy.
• 7 thrilling espionage novels.
• 32 book & movie/TV pairings.
• Life-changing books that tell you how to tidy up.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Oxford English Dictionary adds regional insults to its entries.
• What was the best-selling book from the year you were born?
• Why it’s important to read in front of kids.
• 51 must-see bookstores across the country.
• Why one reader wishes they weren’t a speed reader.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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.

 

Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week!

–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton.