Firefighting Goats Dispatched to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Sponsored by When My Cousins Come to Town by Angela Shanté

A fun, lively story of Black family and cousin culture. Every summer a young girl eagerly waits for her cousins to come visit and celebrate her birthday. Every cousin has a unique nickname… all except for the smallest cousin. But this year things are going to be different. This year before summer ends, she’s determined to earn her own nickname! Filled with warmth, love, and laughter, When My Cousins Come to Town is proof that you don’t need to be anyone else to be special—being yourself is enough!

Welcome to Check Your Shelf! By the time you read this newsletter, it will be Friday, which means that the last of my super busy work week will be pretty much over by that point. Did I make it? Will one of you tweet at me to let me know if I survived or not?

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

A new report highlights a decline in public library usage statistics and a call to action for library leaders.

(TW: transphobia) Activists and parents of trans children ask Halifax Public Libraries to pull a new book from its shelves that actively promotes transphobia. “If the library is safe for transphobia, it’s not safe for trans people.”

A similar situation is happening at the Ottawa Public Library as well, in regards to the same book.

The Kootenai (ID) County library board election has turned partisan with accusations of censorship and Satanic agendas.

Cool Library Updates

The Tyler (TX) Public Library created job fairs in a bag for patrons looking for employment during the pandemic.

With the library as her cheering section, this woman read 175 Nancy Drew books in a year.

By the Numbers: National Bike Month and libraries.

Worth Reading

Can libraries require staff and patrons to show proof of vaccination?

The American Association of School Librarians addresses labeling practices in school libraries.

Firefighting goats are dispatched to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. You know…sometimes I struggle to come up with a title for these newsletters, and sometimes they just write themselves.

Book Adaptations in the News

Adam Silvera is adapting his YA novel They Both Die At the End as a TV series.

The Obamas’ Higher Ground production company is adapting Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together as a Spotify podcast series.

Universal purchased screen rights to Michael Lewis’s new book, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.

Elizabeth Olsen and Elisabeth Moss are both cast to play the same ax-murderer in two different adaptations of Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs by Jim Atkinson and Joe Bob Briggs.

Holly Hunter is in talks to star in the adaptation of Monogamy by Sue Miller.

Where the Crawdads Sing gets a June 2022 release date.

E. Lynn Harris’ Invisible Life trilogy is set for an HBO TV adaptation.

Casting updates for Persuasion and My Best Friend’s Exorcism.

Trailers for The Green Knight and Lisey’s Story.

If you liked Gone Girl, watch these movies next.

Books & Authors in the News

Parents and a police union have complained about a South Florida school system teaching the book Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and the book has been temporarily pulled.

Carmen Maria Machado wrote an essay for the New York Times titled “Banning My Book Won’t Protect Your Child.”

LeVar Burton has started his own book club.

Award News

NBC will not air the Golden Globes in 2022 due to ongoing controversy with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Ruth Gilligan’s The Butchers’ Blessing wins the Ondaatje Prize.

Dorothy Koomson, Susan Yearwood, and Joffe Books launch a crime prize for unagented crime writers of color to submit their unpublished manuscripts. The winner will receive a two-book publishing contract with Joffe Books.

The winners of the inaugural Comic Creators’ Prize have been revealed.

The Anthony Award nominees have been announced.