Welcome to Check Your Shelf. We are in the heart of cicada season up in Chicago-land. When I wake up, I hear the trees screaming. When the sun goes down, I hear the trees screaming. My husband was smacked in the face by a cicada as soon as he stepped out for a walk the other day. I was hanging out with a friend last weekend who said he wanted us to spend our time visiting a cicada hotspot that day, so I looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Absolutely. Not.” I just don’t get the cicada fascination, and I’ll be glad when they’re gone.
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Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
“Officials with the Free Library of Philadelphia say the institution has no plans to call off its popular Author Events speaker series, despite emails and social media posts claiming all upcoming events are canceled.” Not sure what’s going on here.
Worth Reading
Why school librarians need to lean into fundraising. (Like they don’t already have enough on their plates!)
Should you feel guilty for checking out a book instead of buying it? (Spoiler alert: NO! And authors who say otherwise are seriously misinformed.)
Easy ways to support your public library right now.
Book Adaptations in the News
George R.R. Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is being adapted for HBO, but he said it will have a much different tone than Game of Thrones.
Netflix is adapting Jessica Goodman’s YA thriller, They’ll Never Catch Us.
Netflix is also adapting Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True.
Pam Grier is developing a TV series based on her memoir, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts.
Casting update for We Were Liars.
Casting update for the Dexter prequel series.
Trailer for My Lady Jane.
Censorship News
Chilling editorial cartoons about book banning.
Used paperbacks can change lives behind bars, even with growing prison book bans.
A book banning preacher in Texas is pushing for the McAllen ISD to remove 676 books from their collection “or else.” (The “ or else” means “We will sue you.”) This preacher has been targeting multiple school districts in Texas — more information about his groups’ efforts here — and it sounds like at least one school is taking his list seriously.
Critics call Florida’s updated training for public school librarians on book challenges confusing and dangerous.
St. Johns County School District (FL) added further restrictions to four challenged books, which were previously restricted just to the high school. The books are now only available to 11th and 12th graders, AND two of the books will require parental permission on top of that!
Alachua County (FL) District Media Specialist Patty Duval says that 90% of her time over the last few months has been taken up by dealing with multiple book challenges submitted by an undergraduate student at the University of Florida.
The Vermont Library Association applauds the passage of S.200, protecting libraries and the freedom to read.
This New Hampshire publication decided to feature the person who spearheaded a recent challenge against Gender Queer in a local school district. The guy said that “other parents asked him to be the face of the issue because of their fear of backlash,” which he said was a warranted fear. Oh, their fear of rightly being called bigoted book banners?
The Great Barrington (MA) police investigation over Gender Queer in a middle school teacher’s classroom ultimately cost the district over $39,000, not including any costs associated with the teacher’s pending lawsuit against the district.
Authors and publishers signed an open letter from PEN America against the recently proposed educational standards in South Carolina.
Greenville County School Board (SC) banned three books at a recent meeting: Perfect, Tilt, and Empire of Storms.
Minnesota bans LGBTQ+ book bans as Alabama’s censorship campaign escalates.
The Baldwin County (AL) Public Library Cooperative board fired all employees last week. No reason has been given yet. The cooperative provides library support services throughout Baldwin County, such as a joint catalog system, interlibrary loan, book courier service, and the bookmobile.
“Residents associated with Moms for Liberty called on the Madison City Council Tuesday to withhold funding to the Huntsville Madison County Public Library system unless it updates policy to restrict LGBTQ books.” And that’s the end goal, folks. It’s defunding the public institutions.
“The Louisiana Senate gave final passage Tuesday to a bill that would allow parish library systems to hire directors who are not certified librarians — after senators added in language a House committee rejected that would allow library board members to be dismissed without cause.”
The Louisiana legislature has also passed its own version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Related: the assault on Louisiana libraries and how citizens and activists are fighting back.
After announcing a plan to close three branch locations, the St. Charles City-County Library Board (MO) admits that it “fell short.” And although the article focuses mainly on budgeting problems and the rising cost and demand for eBooks, this library has also seen its share of book challenges.
St. Joseph (MO) Superintendent Gabe Edgar made this statement about book banning: “‘We’ll have a committee look at the book a bit, Central and Lafayette will come back with a decision on whether we want to take that book out of the library or not…So I would anticipate yes, some of them could be taken out of the library, and some of them could stay just depends on what that committee decides.’”
“Tennessee’s all-volunteer textbook commission is gearing up to consider new challenges to school library books after state lawmakers broadened the definition of what materials are prohibited.” Not surprisingly, Tennesseeans are pointing out that this law is bound to create problems.
Ohio libraries are bracing for tough choices as state revenue continues to dip.
“The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Thursday to set a June license revocation hearing date for Summer Boismier, a former Norman High School teacher.” This was the teacher who provided her students with a QR code to access the Brooklyn Public Library’s free digital banned book collection.
The Oklahoma DoE is also investigating several schools for possible violations of House Bill 1775, which bans the teaching of critical race theory. They’re really focusing on the important issues here, such as whether or not Union Public Schools was “indoctrinating children on how to become social justice warriors through a Social Problems class.”
Colorado just passed an anti-book ban bill for public libraries.
Former High Plains Library District (CO) employee Brooky Parks writes about her experiences with being fired for protesting the cancellation of LGBTQ teen programs and subsequently suing the library district.
This badass graduating senior at West Ada School District (ID) spent a year fighting book bans in her school, only to be dismissed by upper administration. So what did she do at graduation when she was expected to shake her superintendent’s hand? She gave him a copy of one of the books he tried to ban, and when he refused to take it, she left it on the floor at his feet. The entire exchange was captured on video and posted to social media.
The California Senate is poised to hear a bill that would prohibit a library’s governing board from discriminating against materials based on criteria like race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion.
A couple of pro-book banners had their mics cut off at a recent Windsor (ON) school board meeting. I’m using “pro-book banners” instead of “book activists” like the article because I’m not giving their efforts any sort of validation.
Books & Authors in the News
Amazon sold multiple fake copies of a highly-anticipated UFO book from a former Pentagon official.
Numbers & Trends
The most-read books on Goodreads last week.
The best-selling books of the week.
Award News
The 2024 International Thriller Award winners have been announced.
The 2023 Bram Stoker Award winners have been announced!
How the first National Book Awards reflected 1950s America.
On the Riot
An incomplete list of the best things that can happen to a reader.
A line of book-lovers a mile long.
Jonesy loves the new cat tree by the office window! And I can’t get over how big his rump looks in this photo!
Okay, that’s all for this week. Back on Tuesday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.
