Category: Today In Books

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced online on Friday, as the Los Angeles Festival of Books was canceled due to COVID-19. The winners were revealed on Twitter, where the authors posted short acceptance videos. Winners include Book Riot favorites Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, and more. The Festival has been rescheduled for October.

Facebook Shuts Down Ads By Local Library

Like many libraries, Josephine County Library in Oregon has had to get creative when it comes to getting the word out about services. The rural library is now offering electronic library cards for patrons to access e-services during the pandemic, and it took to Facebook ads to get the word out to their service area. Facebook removed the ads, and gave no explanation. The library has tried to appeal, but to no luck. The best guess is that language in the ad was flagged by a Facebook algorithm, but in the meantime, the library is struggling to reach patrons who might take advantage of their services.

Carson City Library Finds Customers For Face Shields In Pandemic

Once again proving that librarians are amazing, the Carson City Library refocused their attentions after their library closure on how to help frontline workers. Using the library’s 3D printers, librarians began producing face shields that they have given to essential workers in mail rooms, food delivery services, and to the sheriff’s department. They’ve also shared the files with other libraries in their state who have 3D printers! This is a good reminder of how amazing libraries can be, and how essential their services are.

Budget Cuts And COVID-19 Challenges For Libraries

San Diego’s library system has 36 branches that have been closed since March 13th, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they’re facing budget cuts due to the “$250 million budget gap caused by plummeting tax revenue during the pandemic.” The proposed budget cuts, which include closing on Sundays and Mondays, would affect reopenings, along with tough questions like, “How will the open libraries operate if social distancing continues as a requirement?” You can expect this to be an issue for more public libraries dependent on local economies.

Free Coronavirus Picture E-Book Gets Tons Of Downloads

Head teacher of London’s Arnham Wharf Primary School, Sara Haynes, and children’s publisher, Kate Wilson, released a free picture e-book to help children deal with the fear of COVID-19. Coronavirus is illustrated by Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo) and written by Elizabeth Jenner, Wilson, and Nia Roberts. Within a day of its release it had already been downloaded 640,000+ times in the U.K.

We Have A Premiere Date!

While Disney has postponed many of its upcoming film releases, like Mulan and Black Widow, Artemis Fowl will release on Disney+ June 12th. The film is adapted from Eoin Colfer’s fantasy series, following a 12-year-old criminal mastermind, and we’ve also got a new trailer!

Julie Andrews’ New Bookish Podcast

Dame Julie Andrews will continue to delight audiences, this time through a podcast hosted with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton. Julie’s Library is arriving ahead of schedule and starting April 29th, with 5 episodes to follow, once a week. Aimed at children ages 4-10, there will be book readings, guest chats, and vocab word learning. If you wanted more from the mother-daughter duo, they’ve co-authored quite a few books including a memoir (Home Work by Julie Andrews & Emma Walton Hamilton) and children’s book series (The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, Christine Davenier)

Perry Mason Returns Young

Defense attorney Perry Mason had a long run clearing the names of falsely accused people in the courtroom drama Perry Mason on CBS in the late ’50s. Now the character–based on the character from Erle Stanley Gardner detective fiction from the ’30s–is getting an HBO series starring Matthew Rhys (Mason), Tatiana Maslany, and John Lithgow, focusing on his early career. While we have to wait until June 21st for the show, we now have a teaser trailer!

Little Known History

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste is a historical novel that focuses on history that rarely gets focused on: Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Now the novel is getting an adaptation and Kasi Lemmons will write and direct the film: “The imagery is so rich and powerful and the characters so vividly drawn, it naturally lends itself to adaptation. I’m very honored to be a part of bringing this brilliant book to the screen and I’m thrilled to be working with everyone at Atlas.”

Study Finds Kids Prefer These Stories

Any parent of a young child knows the question “why” well. And while it may be annoying to constantly be asked why over everything it’s kids’ way of learning and understanding everything that is essentially new to them. Turns out they feel the same way about storybooks: the journal Frontiers in Psychology published a study (based on 48 children ages 3 and 4) that found children prefer books that explain how the world around them functions.

Tom Hardy Reads Again

The English actor Tom Hardy will return to Bedtime Stories: Beginning April 27th Hardy and Blue, his French bulldog, will read 6 books for CBeebies, the BBC pre-school channel. The first book he’ll read is Hug Me by Simone Ciraolo.

We Need Diverse Books Starts Emergency Fund

Many are feeling the financial strain caused by the current pandemic and are in need of assistance. The nonprofit organization created with the goal of making kid’s publishing and books inclusive, We Need Diverse Books, has created an emergency fund in hopes of helping 70 diverse authors, illustrators, and professionals in publishing due to lost income. They’re also accepting donations for anyone who would like to add to the emergency fund.

What Is Alex Trebek’s Memoir?

Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy!, was so moved by people’s goodwill after his announcement of having stage 4 pancreatic cancer and during treatment that he decided to finally put pen to paper. “‘I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year,’ the Jeopardy! host writes in his memoir, according to the publisher.” The Answer Is… : Reflections on My Life will release July 21st.

Make Popcorn, Watch The Phantom of the Opera

The Shows Must Go On is a YouTube channel that has been airing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals for free–with permission from Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. On April 17, at 2 PM ET, the 2011 production of The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall, starring Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo, will stream for free for 48 hours. Get your living room tickets ready!

The Oxford English Dictionary’s Special Update

While the updates of adding new words and definitions to the Oxford English Dictionary usually happens on a schedule COVID-19 is an atypical exception. Now the OED has added 12 new entrants related to the pandemic ranging from ‘COVID-19’ to ‘WFH’ (working from home). ‘Infodemic’ was a new one for me.

Watch THE HUNGER GAMES Free On YouTube

Want to escape the feeling of currently living in a real life dystopia by watching a fictional dystopian adaptation? Good news: film production company Lionsgate has created Lionsgate Live! A Night at the Movies to stream free films on Youtube. Up first is The Hunger Games which will stream Friday at 6 pm ET, hosted by Jamie Lee Curtis. Perfect timing considering the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is set to release in May.

Goalkeeper, Publisher, And Author

Did you know that Portland Timbers’ (Major League Soccer) goalkeeper Jeff Attinella is a children’s author and has a family founded publishing company called It Had To Be Told? He has four children’s books that are sports themed (The Curse Ends: The Story of the 2016 Chicago Cubs), and one about the race to get to the moon (The Great Space Race: The Story of How America Put a Man on the Moon)! Story time just got extra fun for sports loving parents.

All The Congratulations!

The 2019 Otherwise Award (which was renamed last October) has been awarded to author Akwaeke Emezi for their 2018 debut Freshwater! And their other novel Pet joined eight other works for the Otherwise Award Honor List: Rivers Solomon’s The Deep; Yukiko Motoya’s The Lonesome Bodybuilder; Laurie J. Marks’ The Elemental Logic series; Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars; Innocent Chizaram Ilo’s “Of Warps and Wefts” (Transcendent 4: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction); Kameron Hurley’s Meet Me in the Future; Meg Elison’s The Book of Flora; Kylie Ariel Bemis’ “Dreamborn” (Maiden, Mother, Crone).

Librarian Sues Over Firing After Drag Queen Story Hour

Jonathan Newton, who was a librarian for seventeen years at South Carolina’s Five Forks Branch, is suing after being forced to resign over a Drag Queen Story Hour event that riled up the phobics. “Newton alleges that his Greenville County Library System supervisor, Beverly James, expressed opposition to the event, at which drag queens read to children, and, in forcing him out, bowed to political pressure from leaders in Greenville County.”

Dolly Has A Poem

Social distancing surely isn’t going to keep Dolly Parton from entertaining us. Being a songwriter, it’s not surprising that she’s a natural poet too. She put that skill, and her humor, to use and wrote us a poem about how hard being in quarantine is. Watch her recite her poem.

Ramona Quimby Creator Turns 104

Beverly Cleary, the author and creator of the pesky five-year-old Ramona Quimby–who helped generations of children make sense of emotions while being small in a big world that didn’t always make much sense–celebrated her 104th birthday. And this joke has left me really wanting to read a comic where Ramona pesters the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

‘The Selection’ Is Officially Headed To Netflix!

Get ready, YA fans! The Selection series is the latest YA book to be adapted for the streaming platform Netflix. It looks like fans can expect a film, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour. No word yet on cast or release, but this is an exciting next step! And if you haven’t already read the series, now’s a good time to start.

Shel Silverstein’s Whimsical Houseboat Floats Onto The Market In Sausalito

If you love Where the Sidewalk Ends and you dream of living on a houseboat, then you’re in luck: Shel Silverstein’s houseboat is up for sale! The house was built on a decommissioned WWII Army vessel, and it’s been recently remodeled to a modern, bohemian two-bedroom home with cozy and eccentric details. It’ll only set you back $738,000!

Warm Toes, Warmer Hearts: Socks For BINC

If you’re looking for new ways to support booksellers out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Libro.fm is at it again! They’ve teamed up with ten artists to design ten different pairs of bookish socks, starting at just $15, but with the option to donate more. All proceeds go to Binc, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which has been assisting booksellers in times of trouble for years. Check out all of the cool designs!

Beautiful Cover Art For Thai Harry Potter Books

Thai publisher Nanmeebooks is celebrating the Harry Potter franchise with special 20th-anniversary edition covers designed by artist Arch Polar. They are absolutely gorgeous. And someone get me this animated series now!

Storybook Aims To Help Kids Cope With Covid-19

50+ humanitarian organizations have come together to create a storybook for children with the hopes of helping them understand and cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Ario, the main character in My Hero is You, How Kids can fight Covid-19!, teaches kids how to protect against the virus while also helping them navigate their many emotions during this difficult time.

One of the Earliest Known Uses of the “F-word”

What might be the oldest recorded use of the F-word is in the National Library of Scotland thanks to George Bannatyne being stuck at home in 1568 due to a plague. It’s an interesting, entertaining, immature, and funny story worth a few minutes of your time today and I’m just gonna be saying “Wan fukkit funling” forever and ever.

Poetry Themed Paris Review Crossword

The Paris Review has a free crossword puzzle perfectly themed for Poetry Month. You can fill it out digitally on the webpage, or you can print it out and pencil or pen it–hope you know your poets!

L.A. Times Book Prizes Ceremony

We can now all attend the L.A. Times Book Prizes ceremony because it will now be virtual. And free! The ceremony will announce the fourteen winners, who will give brief acceptance speeches, on April 17th at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. I’ll be attending in my snazzy PJs.

Independent Press Fundraiser

Coffee House Press, the Minnesota nonprofit independent press, has started a nonprofit fundraiser: Coffee House Writers Project (CHWP). The initiatives goal is “to commission new, short digital-only literary works from writers whose ability to support themselves has been affected by the COVID-19 health crisis.” A donation of $5 or more gets you a one-year Coffee House Press membership, which has a retail price of $35.