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 We Are Okay by Nina LaCour.
Nina LaCour’s Printz Award-winning novel, We Are Okay, is now in paperback! An intimate whisper that packs an indelible punch, We Are Okay is Nina LaCour at her finest. This gorgeously crafted and achingly honest portrayal of grief will leave you urgent to reach across any distance to reconnect with the people you love.
Libraries & Librarians
- An update on the controversial library book-scanning program, CDL (“controlled digital lending”). If you’re not familiar with the program or the issues surrounding it, this is an informative read.
- Drag Queen story hour updates for San Francisco, South Carolina, Exeter (PA), and Astoria (OR).
- (Trigger warning) The New Mexico teenager who killed two librarians at the Clovis library has been sentenced to life in prison.
- Andover (KS) Library decides to keep transgender children’s books in the children’s section after a complaint from a parent. Rock on!
- A Chicago parks advocacy group has filed a lawsuit that may prevent the construction of the Obama Presidential Library along the lakefront.
- Summer Scares, a partnership between the Horror Writer’s Association, United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Library Journal/School Library Journal, releases the First Annual Reading List for libraries.
- Library of Congress will be preserving 50 years of Sesame Street for posterity.
- Gothenburg, Sweden plans to unveil electric mobile libraries.
- WPA’s horseback librarians.
- A five-year-old opens his own Little Free Library.
- Will Smith autographs DVD cases at an Atlanta library while filming Bad Boys for Life.
- Read like a librarian.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Satan in Good Omens.
- Jason Momoa joins the ever-expanding cast list for Dune.
- Martin Scorsese & Leonardo DiCaprio are developing The Devil in the White City at Hulu.
- The Book of M by Peng Shepherd has been optioned for TV.
- Brave New World adaptation moves from Syfy to USA with a series order.
- They Both Die at the End is coming to HBO.
- Amazon is developing a 10-part series for The Power by Naomi Alderman.
- The Kissing Booth gets a Netflix sequel.
- There’s going to be a live-action American Girl…doll movie.
- Trailer for Season 1 of Green Eggs and Ham, and I can’t help but wonder how the heck they have enough material here for a full season.
- Season 4 will be the last for The Man in the High Castle.
Books & Authors in the News
- A new book on the Trump presidency: The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Trump and Terror.
- New book coming from Robin Di’Angelo, author of White Fragility.
- Julie Murphy is working on a middle grade novel called Dear Sweet Pea.
- Jenna Bush Hagar & Barbara Pierce Bush are writing a children’s book called Sisters First.
- Sandhya Menon is publishing a new YA series, where each book is a contemporary fairy tale retelling, set at a boarding school for royals.
Upcoming Books in 2019
- Paste: 10 best YA books of February.
- Marie Claire: Best books of 2019.
By the Numbers
- A collection of book & reading stats & resources.
- $10,000 worth of rare books were stolen from a Pennsylvania book store.
Award News
- Nominees for the NAACP Image Awards for Literature.
- Association of Jewish Libraries announce the winners of the AJL Jewish Fiction Award.
- British Science Fiction Association Award finalists.
Pop Cultured
- Netflix cancels Jessica Jones and The Punisher.
- Trailer for Season 2 of Killing Eve.
All Things Comics
- Someone’s giving away an Illinois comic shop for free!
- 8 comics that should be adapted for Netflix.
- Mystery manga.
Audiophilia
- 14 books by, about, and narrated by black women.
- A beginner’s guide to listening to audiobooks on an iPhone.
- 7 Grammy-nominated audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- 50 of the best fantasy novels for kids.
- Teachers recommend 22 diverse book choices for all grade levels.
- 10 essential scary books by women.
- 15 erotic horror novels.
- Best books by authors of color for teens.
- 16 books “that will make the coldest, deadest heart come back to life.”
- 11 books to satisfy your true crime obsession.
- Literary cameos in 90’s movies. This could be a really interesting display, especially if you look for beyond the 90’s!
- New York Times: 52 books for 52 places to be featured in their Travel Section.
- Books by the current group of 2020 presidential candidates.
- 9 books to read after you marathon the Netflix series, You.
- Thrillers involving missing, mistaken, or “changed” children.
- Read Harder suggestions for the mythology/folklore and cozy mystery challenges.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- RIP: Betty Ballentine, one of the creators of the modern paperback, died at age 99, and author W.E.B. Griffin died at 89.
- A roundup of updates on #copypastecris, a plagiarism scandal where a large number of prominent romance authors recently discovered that portions of their books had been plagiarized by Brazilian author, Cristiane Serruya. Courtney Milan posted about this on her blog as well.
- A feminist poetry fairy is loose in London.
- Artist creates gorgeous landscape art out of old books.
- These dresses made from book spines are too gorgeous for words.
- Harry Potter Scrabble? Triple word for Gryffindor!
- Locked-room mysteries are coming back in a big way.
- Your guide to cosmic horror.
- If you’re doing an author interview at your library, consider NOT asking them one of these questions.
- Andover (MA) Bookstore celebrates its 210th birthday, making it the new (?) oldest independent bookstore in the country.
- Cafe owner gives away books to kids who bring in recyclable items.
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 Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience by Anuradha Bhagwati.