Sponsored by Lerner Publishing Group.
Chico Bon Bon’s epic Christmas party is three days away! Is our intrepid monkey ready? Of course not! But thanks to his trusty tool belt and plenty of ingenuity, Chico helps his friends decorate, turns a pile of junk into a bundle of gifts, and finishes preparing for the party just in the nick of time. WHEW! The latest installment of the series that inspired the Netflix Original Animated Series Chico Bon Bon from author and illustrator Chris Monroe is packed full of fun, friendship, and holiday cheer!
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Last week was a bit of a slow one as far as book-related news goes, so you get a shorter newsletter this week! Use your extra free time wisely.
Small correction to Friday’s newsletter: under the Banned and Challenged books section, the Victoria County where residents submitted requests to reevaluate LBGTQ books is in Texas, not Virginia.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
Publishers accuse the Internet Archive of “stonewalling” discovery in the closely-watched copyright lawsuit.
New & Upcoming Titles
A new book on The Art of Goosebumps will spotlight all of the OG (that’s “original Goosebumps”) book covers!
Trump is allegedly publishing a photo book of his time in office.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, New York Times, and USA Today.
The most anticipated YA books to read in December.
Best books of 2021 from Bookpage (romance), Kirkus (nonfiction), New York Times, NPR, Oprah Daily, and Washington Post (general, fiction, mysteries/thrillers, sci-fi/fantasy/horror).
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
These Precious Days – Ann Patchett (NPR, USA Today, Washington Post)
The Ballerinas – Rachel Kapelke-Dale (New York Times)
The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth – Sam Quinones (Washington Post)
On the Riot
Fall 2021 new releases in translation.
Reading the rainbow: books and lessons learned from an LGBTQ-inclusive book club for teachers.
What makes a good food memoir?
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
All Things Comics
The comic book industry’s next page turner: union organizing.
On the Riot
The tangled web of Spider-Man movies.
True crime comics that aren’t about serial killers.
Audiophilia
Nonfiction audiobooks to listen to this winter.
On the Riot
6 memoirs on audio read by their authors.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
8 picture books about food and fellowship.
12 YA books with the enemies-to-friends trope.
Messy, complicated YA novels for readers who need to feed their drama llama.
16 YA BookTok recommendations.
Adults
17 Indigenous SFF books to read for Native American Heritage Month.
10 beautifully complex stories about multigenerational families.
80 reader-approved humorous books.
9 books about love, loss, and belonging set in the Caribbean.
5 books about American revolutionaries.
On the Riot
24 cuddly cloth books for babies.
8 great children’s books about money.
10 YA books with zero romance.
15 lovers-to-enemies books: when breakups go apocalyptically bad.
11 perfect queer books without romance.
The best nonfiction books about sustainable living.
8 family drama-filled books to help you avoid socializing during the holidays.
Check out our new podcast, Adaptation Nation!
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in Library Reads, 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.
Don’t forget Book Riot is hiring for an Advertising Sales Manager — deadline is December 5th. Catch you on Friday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.