Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to all things book talk worth knowing to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger.
The world remembers Elie Wiesel—Nobel laureate, activist, and author of more than forty books—as a great humanist. He passed away in July of 2016. Now, in Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, we see him as never before—not only as an extraordinary human being, but as a master teacher. Written by Wiesel’s devoted protégé and friend, Ariel Burger, Witness takes us inside the classroom, where listening and storytelling keep memory alive. Witness provides a front row seat to these lessons in compassion, teaching us that listening to a witness, makes us all witnesses. In this book, Wiesel’s legacy lives on.
Libraries & Librarians
- The Boston Public Library is now lending out WiFi hotspots.
- The La Quinta branch of the Riverside County (CA) Library System is under investigation for allegations of cultural censorship. Students invited from a local elementary school were allegedly asked to remove references to Mexican culture from a presentation about Mexican Independence Day.
- Indy Pride, Inc. and the Indianapolis Public Library are partnering to create a permanent exhibit of LGBTQ+ related research, books, and history – one of the largest such collections in a US public library.
- And if you need an idea for next year’s Staff Day…
Book Adaptations in the News
- The trailer for Dumplin’ is here!
- Also, here’s the extended trailer for The Mortal Engines.
- The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss will be adapted as a CW series.
- Armie Hammer and Lily James will be starring in the Netflix adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
- Jack Reacher is becoming a TV series, and Tom Cruise will no longer play the title character. It sounds like they’re looking for someone taller.
- Netflix picks up the rights to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, directed by (and starring!) Chiwetel Ejiofor.
- AMC has optioned Annalee Newitz’s pharmaceutical piracy novel Autonomous as a TV series!
- April 2019 will mark the beginning of the last season of Game of Thrones. (This would be a good time to start planning GoT displays, lists, and possibly a small program or two.)
- NBC has a TV series adaptation of The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver in the works.
- Mira Grant’s mermaid thriller, Rolling in the Deep, is being adapted for the screen by Mary Lambert, who directed Pet Sematary. I give this news all of the heart-eye emojis.
Books in the News
- Sarah Dessen has a new book coming out! Keep an eye out for The Rest of the Story, out June 4, 2019.
- Brandy Colbert has a debut middle grade novel slated for 2020.
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is coming back with a brand new collection of stories, written by some seriously awesome authors! (Tananarive Due?! Josh Malerman?! RL Stine?!)
By the Numbers
- Barnes & Noble reports that Becoming by Michelle Obama racked up more presales than any other adult title since Go Set a Watchman in 2015.
- Publishers’ Weekly released the Publishing Industry Salary Survey, which highlights numbers in regards to salary, workforce diversification, and sexual harassment issues.
Award News
- The National Book Awards have been announced!
- Junot Diaz will resume his Pulitzer Board duties after being cleared of sexual misconduct. Reactions have been mixed.
Pop Cultured
- William Goldman, award-winning screenwriter and author of The Princess Bride, has passed away.
All Things Comics
- Here’s a list of comics featuring characters outside the gender binary.
- The best of Stan Lee’s Marvel comic books.
- 17 comics about depression that’ll make you feel seen.
Audiophilia
- 6 fiction audiobooks narrated by the author.
Best Books of 2018
- Time: Best Fiction
- NYT: Notable Books of 2018
- New York Public Library: Best Books for Adults
- Kirkus: Best Picture Books
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- 5 sci-fi/fantasy novels pulled from forgotten histories.
- Barnes & Noble lists their 50 greatest sci-fi/fantasy debuts.
- And let’s round out these SFF lists with some transgender sci-fi/fantasy novels.
- 50 unreliable narrators.
- 7 titles to get you started with romantic suspense.
- WWMRR? (What would Mr. Rogers read?)
- Best cookbooks of 2018.
- The Mary Sue lists the best queer books published this fall.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- One mom and her two children are working to send diverse children’s books to all 50 states. This is such a cool project!
- Strategies for protecting your books from damage.
- Bookish ornaments under $20.
- Harry Potter stocking stuffers! *Grabby hands*
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? Whether or not you read and nominate titles, we’ll end every newsletter with a few upcoming titles worth reading and sharing (and nominating for LibraryReads, if you so choose!).
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.
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Thanks for hanging out and I’ll see you again next week! I hope everyone had a peaceful and fulfilling Thanksgiving, however you chose to spend it.
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.