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 Epic Reads.
At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children. Both paths promise a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society. And school couldn’t prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio.
Libraries & Librarians
- New York Times now offered for free in all California public libraries.
- Kansas lawmakers introduce legislation that attacks LGBTQ+ rights, Drag Queen Story Time, and other related issues.
- State legislators in South Carolina argue that if libraries offer non-age appropriate programming (aka Drag Queen Story Time), their funding should be penalized. Thankfully, this proposal was rejected.
- School librarians in Texas are left out of a $5,000 pay raise proposal. BOOOO!
- Florida Tea Party members requests that 14 titles be removed from Marion County school libraries. Superintendent Heidi Maier has removed 5 titles from the middle school libraries, but kept the same titles in the high school libraries.
- The Daviess County Public Library in Kentucky is under fire from some parents who were concerned with the “sexually explicit” YA titles included in a monthly title giveaway program.
- Rural libraries can host moveable makerspaces.
- Big play dates at the library.
- The myriad future of libraries.
- A visual history of the American public library.
- Tips on getting the best book recommendations from your librarian.
- We’re sending a library to the moon.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Amy Poehler is directing the adaptation of Moxie for Netflix!
- Vanity Fair’s Gwyneth Hughes is adapting The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, which looks at the lives of the five victims of Jack the Ripper.
- I don’t know if this even counts as an adaptation any more, but The Haunting of Hill House is getting an anthology treatment with its second season, which is supposedly based on The Turn of the Screw.
- An update on the Children of Blood and Bone adaptation.
- Get your tissues ready: Kristin Hannah’s tearjerker Firefly Lane is coming to Netflix. (Seriously, I sobbed my eyes out with this book.)
- The Wizard of Oz books are being developed into a TV series.
- Teaser trailers for Native Son and the His Dark Materials TV show.
- Lithub ranks the 50 greatest literary TV adaptations of all time.
Books & Authors in the News
- Fun Home was initially pulled from 2 district high schools in New Jersey, but is now back on the shelves.
- Will Smith gets a book deal for Fresh Princess.
- Wormholes in IKEA? Sounds legit. (Anyone else thinking that Nino Cipri needs to team up with Grady Hendrix?)
- Helen Hoang signed a 5 book deal with Berkley.
- Nora Roberts wrote a blog post in response to the #copypastecris controversy, and let me just say DO NOT ANGER NORA ROBERTS. She will come for you.
Upcoming Books in 2019
- O Magazine: Best nonfiction of 2019.
- Library Journal: Best debut novels of winter/spring.
- Washington Post: 10 books to read in March.
By the Numbers
- A sharp drop in YA sales in the UK has authors voicing alarm & suggesting reasons why this happened.
- Some stats about all the books published so far about the Trump presidency.
Award News
- Finalists announced for the Nebula Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, LA Times Book Prize, Children’s & Teen’s Book Awards, and the Lukas Prize.
- PEN America Literary Award winners were announced.
- Association of Library Service to Children releases its list of 2019 Notable Children’s Books.
- If they gave Oscars to books – Best Books of 2018 edition.
- A reading guide to the Oscars: let your favorite movies guide your reading choices!
Pop Cultured
- A trailer for HBO’s documentary on Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes drops. Also, consider this a nudge to read Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.
All Things Comics
- 5 comic books with recipes.
- An update on a Stranger Things prequel comic.
- IDW is publishing a 5-part comic miniseries based on Dungeons and Dragons.
- The New York Times looks at graphic novels in “the age of Trump.”
- The essential Marvel Cinematic Universe reading list for 2019.
Audiophilia
- Libro.fm is celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with free (yes FREE) audiobooks!
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt launches HMH Audio.
- You can listen to Harry Potter audiobooks in Spanish now!
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- 50 books by black authors from the last 5 years.
- 12 cheery books to beat the winter blues.
- Books to read if you enjoyed Roma.
- 7 essential reads for Women’s History Month.
- 8 female essayists to read right now.
- 18 of the best fantasy books for adults.
- 50 must-read books over 500 pages.
- Read Harder suggestions for business books and historical romances by an author of color.
- The most disturbing books people have read (For me, it’s a three-way tie between American Psycho, The Troop (Nick Cutter), and The Treatment (Mo Hayder).
- Crime novels featuring intense female friendships.
- 9 space books for preschoolers.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Indianapolis museum will house $6+ million of items from Ray Bradbury.
- A look at problematic classics, or why students still read Dr. Seuss.
- Why poetry thrives in times of conflict.
- A new roller coaster at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
- A live bat showed up in a rare bookstore in England. Here’s how they rescued him. And he also got his own library card!
- The grossest things that have happened at a bookstore. (Librarians, we can definitely relate….)
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.
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage.