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Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The UP continues to amaze me with so many gorgeous colors!! We still have a couple days left on our trip, but I’m already making note of the places we didn’t get to see for our next trip out here. Because there will definitely be a next trip!
So let’s talk libraries while I am continuing to enjoy time away from my own library!
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Campbell County Commissioner Del Shelstad said that the county should stop funding the Campbell County Public Library amidst a large-scale reconsideration of materials campaign from local government officials and community members. Meanwhile, Campbell County librarians face legal intimidation and possible charges for carrying sex education books for kids.
Sexual harassment, intimidation, and violence on the job has worsened during the pandemic, Canadian librarians report.
The Pikes Peak (CO) Library District has had to reduce its hours due to an ongoing staff shortage.
Several Mid-Continent (MO) Public Library board members took to Facebook to complain about a Banned Books Week display, sparking backlash from current and previous employees.
So how about some good news now? Scholastic Book Clubs and James Patterson are teaming up to launch the “United States of Readers” campaign to battle literacy inequity in schools.
Cool Library Updates
New York Public Libraries have officially eliminated late fees.
Rapper Noname opens the Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles.
Worth Reading
Contraband books: What Texas prisons have against Michelle Alexander, Frederick Douglass, and Alice Walker.
School and public libraries continue recovery efforts after storms and fires.
Why every future librarian should take learning cataloging seriously.
Do bookless libraries signal the end of the printed word?
Book Adaptations in the News
Tony winner Matthew Lopez is making his directorial debut with Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue.
Michael B. Jordan’s production company is adapting N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy into a fantasy-action franchise.
Disney+ greenlights a series based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel, American Born Chinese.
Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads is being adapted as a series.
Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga are starring in an upcoming Broadway adaptation of Macbeth.
Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed is being turned into a TV series.
Casting updates for Salem’s Lot, Washington Black, and Kindred.
Here’s a first look at Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman.
Books & Authors in the News
Calls to ban books by Black authors are increasing amid Critical Race Theory debates.
The “Moms for Liberty” group in Tennessee has objected to 31 titles in classrooms and school libraries, including the nonfiction book Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish In The Sea, which apparently has a watercolor illustration of two seahorses that is too sexy for elementary students. (I wish I was kidding.)
The Fairfax County (VA) Public School District has removed two books from high school libraries after community members spoke out against the books at a recent board meeting. The books are Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and the community members claim that they contain homoerotic content and depictions of pedophilia.
The book Rosa Parks by Eloise Greenfield was removed, and then returned to Volusia (FL) County School District classrooms.
Stephen Colbert intentionally spoiled Stephanie Grisham’s upcoming tell-all memoir about Trump on air, in the hopes of discouraging people from buying it.
Award News
The National Book Awards finalists have been announced!
The Christy Award shortlists have been announced.
Pop Cultured
A Babylon 5 reboot is in active development as a series for the CW.
The Latinx culture guide: 25 TV shows, documentaries, movies, TED talks, and books to check out for Hispanic Heritage Month.
Here are a few lists of the best horror movies available on streaming services (HBO Max and Netflix, specifically).
On the Riot
Why you should sit on your library board.
A brief history of US Presidential libraries.
The best way to read a hard book.
When books become your parenting community.
How reading changed the way this reader sees morality.
20 easy bookish Halloween costumes for kid and adults.
The strange posthumous journey of Dorothy Parker’s ashes.
Get your limited edition Book Riot 10th anniversary merch before it’s gone!
All right, everyone. I’ll catch you next week!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.