Month: January 2019

Excelsior! Stan Lee Tribute Announced: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date January 25, 2019

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible & Uncanny Life of Stan Lee

The tribute will take place January 30th at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It’s of course going to be celebrity-filled and will have Kevin Smith moderating conversations throughout the event. “All net proceeds from the event’s ticket sales will go to nonprofit organization The Hero Initiative, a charity that supports comic book creators, artists and writers in need.”

She-Ra Season Two A Go!

I know wrong cartoon, but I’m old and my heart stayed in the ’80s and I can do what I want. Anyhoo, She-Ra season 2 will be on Netflix April 26th and is it April yet?! If you haven’t watched this utterly delightful and fun reboot, do yourself a solid and get to that sooner rather than later.

Shropshire, England Is Getting A Poetry Pharmacy

Deborah Alma, self-proclaimed Emergency Poet, has been dispensing poetry from the back of an ambulance for six years. And she’s now setting up a shop in Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire …Alma is buzzing with plans for how the shop will be divided like a pharmacy “into areas for particular ailments, so you walk around and find wherever your mood might be addressed by literature.”

Riot Rundown

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Post author By Devin Service
Post date January 25, 2019

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

We’re giving away $100 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter to win by signing up for Unusual Suspects, our mystery/thriller newsletter about new releases, book recommendations, book deals, and more. Enter here.

Today In Books

Harry Potter On Antiques Roadshow: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date January 24, 2019

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Wondering What Two First-Edition Harry Potter Books Are Worth?

So did a schoolteacher who took her two signed first-edition Harry Potter books on the Antiques Roadshow. Making these especially valuable is that they were signed before Rowling had gotten famous so she’d actually included a personalized note in the books. Justin Croft evaluated the books and placed their combined value between $2,600 to $3,900.

Wattpad Is Creating A Publishing Division

Wattpad is known as a storytelling application where writers upload original stories and fan fiction, which recently adapted a story into a Netflix film: The Kissing Booth. Rather than continuing to work with publishers to adapt its stories Wattpad has created a publishing division–but it’s not going to work exactly like publishing. Rather than editors choosing what stories to publish as books, they’ll be using technology to scan/analyze the content and pick what it believes will be a commercial success.

We’re Getting a YA Anna Karenina Series

I love hearing “in a competitive situation” for book adaptations. This time it was over Anna K, an upcoming YA novel by Jenny Lee that’s a multicultural retelling of Anna Karenina. Lee will also be writing the TV adaptation. We’re gonna make all the popcorn–now if you’ll excuse me I need to go see who I have to beg for a galley.

The Kids Are All Right

Snowy Day Children’s Books!

Post author By Karina Glaser
Post date January 24, 2019

Hi friends,

I’m writing this newsletter on January 21. New York City is currently experiencing a polar vortex; it’s six degrees outside with a windchill of negative thirteen. Brr!

Of course with this chilly weather I had to pull out my favorite wintry books, which are a lot of fun to read curled up under a heavy blanket with a cup of hot chocolate at hand. I may not be a fan of being cold, but I sure do love reading books about snow and blizzards from the comfort of my couch!

Here are some of my favorite books featuring snow, or in the case of the middle grade books, where snow plays a big part in the setting and story. What are yours?

*Please note all book descriptions come from Goodreads!*

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Picture Books

The Snow Day by Komako Sakai

A young rabbit wakes up to wonderful news: A snow day! School is canceled, and the day that follows is rich with the magic and delight of the falling snow. And yet there is longing too, as the young rabbit and his mother wait for news of his father, grounded on a plane in a faraway city…. The news that his father will be home tomorrow gives the book a peaceful, comforting, and perfect ending.

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

Over the snow, the world is hushed and white. But under the snow is a secret world of squirrels and snowshoe hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many other animals who live through the winter, safe and warm. Over and Under the Snow takes readers on a cross country ski trip through the winter woods to discover the secret world of animals living under the snow.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

No one thinks one or two snowflakes will amount to anything. Not the man with the hat or the lady with the umbrella. Not even the television or the radio forecasters. But one boy and his dog have faith that the snow will amount to something spectacular, and when flakes start to swirl down on the city, they are also the only ones who know how to truly enjoy it.

I Love Snow! by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Purple Wong

I love snow! spinning, swirling, swooshing snow crunch beneath my boots snow tickling my tongue snow I love snow! This short poem uses rhythm and repetition to describe the fun activities a fresh snowfall permits. Too much snow can sometimes cause problems, and in time it turns to dirty gray slush. But in the end, nothing can diminish a child’s love of snow!

First Snow by Bomi Park

A young girl wakes up to the year’s first snowy day. From her initial glimpse out the window to her poignant adventures—rolling a snowman, making snow angels—the girl’s quiet quests are ones all young readers will recognize. Simple, muted text and exquisite, evocative art conjure the excitement of a day spent exploring the wonder of snow—and the magic that, sometimes literally, such a day brings. As subtly joyful as a snow day itself, this book will find its home in the hearts of young adventurers everywhere.

Before Morning by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes

There are planes to fly and buses to catch, but a child uses the power of words, in the form of an invocation, to persuade fate to bring her family a snow day — a day slow and unhurried enough to spend at home together.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian

From the time he was a small boy in Vermont, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley’s enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful. His story is gracefully told and brought to life in lovely woodcuts, giving children insight into a soul who had not only a scientist’s vision and perseverance but a clear passion for the wonders of nature.

Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee

Just outside my window,
There are tracks in the snow.
Who made the tracks? Where do they go?

A little girl follows tracks outside her window after a fresh snowfall, only to realize that the tracks in the snow are her own from the day before―and that they lead her home. This diminutive and sweet picture book is as cozy as a cup of hot chocolate.

Winter Dance by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Richard Jones

Snow is coming, and it’s time to get ready! The squirrel gathers nuts, the geese soar south, and the snowshoe hare puts on its new white coat. But what should the fox do? Each animal advises the fox that its own plan is best, but the fox thinks otherwise—yet it’s not until he meets a golden-eyed friend that he finds the perfect way to celebrate the snowfall.

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

A girl is lost in a snowstorm. A wolf cub is lost, too. How will they find their way home?

Paintings rich with feeling tell this satisfying story of friendship and trust. Here is a book set on a wintry night that will spark imaginations and warm hearts.

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Katy, a brave and untiring tractor, who pushes a bulldozer in the summer and a snowplow in the winter, makes it possible for the townspeople to do their jobs.

Middle Grade Books

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale by G. Neri

Young Truman Capote thought life in New York City was going to be perfect, but things didn’t work out as planned. In fact, Tru is downright miserable. So he decides to run away to Monroeville, Alabama, and the only friend he’s ever had, Nelle Harper Lee. But things don’t go well there, either. Bad things seem to happen wherever he goes. The only explanation: he must be cursed. Christmas is coming, and Tru’s only wish is to be happy. But it’ll take a miracle for that to come true. Luckily, a special feast brings the miracle he’s hoping for.

When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

Pinmei’s gentle, loving grandmother always has the most exciting tales for her granddaughter and the other villagers. However, the peace is shattered one night when soldiers of the Emperor arrive and kidnap the storyteller. Everyone knows that the Emperor wants something called the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night. Determined to have her grandmother returned, Pinmei embarks on a journey to find the Luminous Stone alongside her friend Yishan, a mysterious boy who seems to have his own secrets to hide. Together, the two must face obstacles usually found only in legends to find the Luminous Stone and save Pinmei’s grandmother–before it’s too late.

Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

When thirteen-year-old Valor is sent to jail, she couldn’t be happier. Demidova’s prison for criminal children is exactly where she wants to be. Valor’s twin sister, Sasha, is serving a life sentence for stealing from the royal family, and Valor is going to help her escape . . . from the inside. Never mind that no one has escaped the prison in centuries. Valor has a master plan and resources most people could only dream about. But she didn’t count on having to outsmart both the guards and her fellow prisoners. If Valor’s plan is to succeed, she’ll need to make some unlikely allies. And if the plan fails, she and Sasha could end up with fates worse than prison.

It’s awards season!

The American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards (most notably, the Caldecott and Newbery Awards) are being announced on Monday, January 28th, starting at 8:00am Pacific Time. You can watch the announcements live here! I’ll also be talking about the award winning books on next Sunday’s newsletter.

I would love to know what you are reading this week! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at karina@bookriot.com.

Until next time!
Karina

Nala wants me to feed her!

*If this e-mail was forwarded to you, follow this link to subscribe to “The Kids Are All Right” newsletter and other fabulous Book Riot newsletters for your own customized e-mail delivery. Thank you!*

What's Up in YA

📚Fill Your Ereader With Cheap YA Reads

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date January 24, 2019

Hey YA Readers!

While you’re snuggling into your coziest winter blankets and sweaters for the weekend, why not snap up a few great YA reads on the cheap? Prices are current as of Thursday, 1/24.

Have you read Jackaby by William Ritter? Grab this book perfect for Sherlock fans. $2.

Danielle Paige’s Stealing Snow, a riff on Snow White, is $2.
Dhonielle Clayton’s The Belles will only set you back $4 (and you can read it before the sequel hits this spring!).
Never read Terry Pratchett? Maybe begin with The Wee Free Men. It’s $2.
Loving vs. Virginia — a fabulous and creatively-told fictional story woven from the absolutely true story of the Loving vs. Virginia case — is $2 and worth so much more. Perfect anytime, but especially timely with Black History Month coming.
If you’d like a book with an anti-heroine, you’ll want to check out Ignite The Stars by Maura Milan. $3.50.
Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thorns is $4 and the start to a complete series for fantasy fans.
Katherine Locke’s The Girl With The Red Balloon is a historical fantasy novel, the first in a series, you’ll want to pick up while it’s $2.
The Goose Girl, Shannon Hale’s upper middle grade/lower young adult fairy tale retelling, is $2.
Ellen Oh’s The Prophecy is $2.

The first book in Tiffany Schmidt’s “Bookish Boyfriends” series, A Date With Darcy, is delightfully bookish, fun, and perfect for readers wanting something light (and there are many more books in the series coming!). $3.

Want a dark tale of survival? Kate A. Boorman’s Winterkill might do the trick. $2.
For readers wanting a book about heartbreak, about romance, and about what happens when you take some new chances, pick up Lauren Gibaldi’s The Night We Said Yes for $3.

There’s fun, and then there’s FC Yee’s The Epic Crush of Genie Lo. Girl wants to get into college…then discovers she’s a spirit who can crush thing with her fists. $3.

Pick up Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart for $2.
Finally, you can snag Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon for $3.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you on Monday with a roundup of book talk from the last month at Book Riot.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 25

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 24, 2019

Happy Friday to all you travelers from past, future, and present! Today we’re talking about fantasy graphic novels, subverted gender roles, recaps for series, sharks, and Long Division by Kiese Laymon.

This newsletter is sponsored by Tor Teen.

In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. When her magic is discovered by the government, she’s arrested and brought to the Emperor’s spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship. On board Soliton, nothing is as simple as it seems. She doesn’t expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power.

Y’all, we had a World of Fantasy Day on Book Riot and there was so much good content, I’m just going to link to the full round-up of posts. If you’re looking to read lots of different kinds of fantasy from lots of different parts of the globe, get clicking.

And if you’d like more graphic novels in your fantasy diet, here’s a great post for that.

On Tuesday I noted that Leigh Bardugo’s work will be adapted by Netflix; if you’re not sure where to start with her work and want to catch up, we’ve got a reading pathway!

So far this month on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I have talked about some of our most anticipated stand-alones and sequels of 2019.

Where is the petition to make recap chapters a thing in series books? I will gladly sign it.

Subversion of gender roles is one of my favorite things to see in SF/F novels, and this round-up of five includes a couple I haven’t read yet!

Which SF author correctly predicted the Internet? To be quite honest I would not have predicted any of these three possible names!

Scientists for the continued win: a shark is now named after Galaga!

Today’s review is for a book that takes time travel into rarely-traveled territory.

Long Division by Kiese Laymon

Trigger warnings: family violence, racial violence, use of slurs

Laymon is currently best known for his nonfiction writin, in particular his intense memoir Heavy (which I talked about on All the Books), but his first novel is a meta-fictional time travel novel that is well worth your time if you like weird, funny, and heart-breaking coming-of-age novels.

Long Division takes place across two narratives. In 2013, Citoyen “City” Coldson melts down on a nationally-televised vocabulary contest and has to deal with his sudden infamy, structural and overt racism, and the everyday hazards of teenage life. His one comfort during the aftermath of his meltdown is a book called Long Division by an unknown author. Chapters from this internal Long Division are woven into City’s story, and follow the exploits of another young black boy named City who lives in 1985 and discovers a hole in the woods that allows him to travel back and forward in time — but only to two specific times, 2013 and 1964. As the story moves back and forth the two narratives become increasingly intertwined, and the various characters have to choose when and how they want to live — and what that might mean for those they love.

I’m a sucker for a “book within a book,” and time travel well-handled (NO TIME LOOPS, PLEASE) is another personal favorite, so this book was like catnip. We so rarely get time travel books about characters of color, much less teenaged ones, and Long Division contemplates both its pleasures and dangers through an adolescent perspective. The results are refreshing, occasionally hilarious, and also made me want to reach into the book and yell “OH GOD DON’T DO THAT!”. But let there be no doubt that this book is not breezy or light-hearted — the issues City and his friends encounter are real, dangerous, and life-changing.

If you’re down for a weird, wild ride that will make you sit up, pay attention, and think about it well after the last page, pick this up ASAP, particularly if you’re a fan of Charles Yu, Victor LaValle, and/or Jeff VanderMeer.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Don’t step on any butterflies,
Jenn

Giveaways

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Post author By Devin Service
Post date January 24, 2019

We have 10 signed sets of all four volumes of the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year to give away to 10 Riot readers!

Here’s what it’s all about:

In Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4, award-winning editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has gathered the hottest sexy stories starring outspoken women who daringly pursue love and lust. You’ll read about a single mom who goes back to college and gets some very hands-on education from her hot professor, an Amish woman tenderly revealing her most intimate desires, and a woman who crafts the man of her dreams. Featuring stories by popular authors including Alyssa Cole, Megan Hart, Tamsen Parker, Sofia Quintero, Suleikha Snyder, and Alessandra Torre, along with newcomers to the genre, these tales will turn you on!

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below!

True Story

Nonfiction and the Complex Business of Fact Checking

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 24, 2019

Happy Friday, fellow readers! Before jumping into links from the week, I want to take a quick little diversion into a recent nonfiction discussion that may cause ripples over the next several weeks.

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, has a book coming out in early February, Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts. Journalists love writing about the media, so I think this book is going to get a lot of attention when it’s officially released. But, Abramson’s fact-checking in the book is already raising some critical concerns. This article in Vox does a good job of summing up the whole affair, but I’ll try to give a quick-and-dirty version here too.

After galleys – uncorrected review copies – began to circulate, several journalists started tweeting about errors in the book. Arielle Duhaime-Ross, a correspondent for HBO’s VICE News Tonight, issued a Twitter thread that pointed to six specific errors in a single paragraph. Abramson responded to this criticism and others (on Twitter) to say that the screencaps are from galleys, not from the finished book. So… basically wait and see what the finished version looks like before you get mad.

I’m not a publishing expert, but that feels like kicking the can down the road a bit since the errors are significant. It also brings attention to one of publishing’s sort of secrets – fact-checking isn’t really part of the process for the publication of nonfiction books, unless the author specifically chooses to do it. I’m very curious to see what the response is once critics have finished copies in their hands. Again, that Vox article sums everything up really well, so take a few minutes to read it!

And with that, on to some other news of note this week:

The finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced on Tuesday. On the nonfiction side, the awards recognize the best autobiography, biography, criticism, and nonfiction of 2018. The press release noted that the autobiography category was especially strong this year, resulting in six finalists rather than the usual five. It also has two of my favorites of the year, All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung and Educated by Tara Westover. I am disappointed, however, that there aren’t any female finalists on the nonfiction list (although there are many on each of the others). The winners will be announced on March 14.

Another one of my favorite books read in 2018, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, has gotten a YA adaptation. The book is specifically geared for readers ages 9 to 13, and definitely fills a gap of engaging, diverse nonfiction about people of color. The article also notes that the book has been optioned for the big screen – very cool!

Speaking of nonfiction for teens, last month Beacon Press announced they would be publishing a line of “radical histories for teens.” According to Publisher’s Weekly: “The series will debut in 2019 and draw from Beacon’s decade-old ReVisioning American History series, bringing forward youth-focused adaptations of titles that emphasize the stories of underrepresented groups in American history.”

I’m constantly in awe of the danger foreign correspondents put themselves in, so I can’t believe I missed including Prisoner by Jason Rezaian in Wednesday’s new releases newsletter. In the book, Rezaian recounts his 544 days as an Iranian prisoner, accused of being a spy for the United States. This week he was interviewed for Fresh Air, a piece that’s worth a read/listen.

There are a lot of pieces about New Year’s reading recommendations, but I particularly liked these recommended listens from Libro.fm. The five books are interesting picks that I haven’t seen repeated on other lists – LikeWar by P.W. Singer and Emerson Brooking is going in my audiobook queue ASAP.

And that’s it for this week! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Unusual Suspects