Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I am excitedly planning my Weird Barbie costume — I found the perfect secondhand dress (thank you, ThredUp!), and now I just need some fabric paint and some obnoxiously patterned leggings to go with it.
Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read! Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Tracie D. Hall has unexpectedly resigned as ALA’s executive director, effective October 6th.
Cool Library Updates
“Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias on Thursday announced his office is awarding $420,000 in grants to state prison libraries, marking the first time that reading centers for inmates have received significant public dollars in years.”
Worth Reading
“The U.S. library system, once the best in the world, faces death by a thousand cuts.”
The Urban Libraries Council shared this new leadership brief about “practical and responsible” applications of generative AI for library systems.
Book Adaptations in the News
Here’s the trailer for All the Light We Cannot See.
Censorship News
The emotional and financial toll of book bans.
What’s behind the national surge in book bans? A low-tech website tied to Moms for Liberty. Someone is taking a critical look at BookLooks, and not just covering it as if it were a reputable resource.
The Supreme Court is increasingly putting Christians’ First Amendment rights ahead of others’ dignity and rights to equal protection.
The most dangerous idea in a library: empathy.
We must challenge the subtle censorship of books as much as the brazen.
Not satisfied with schools, book banners are now targeting adults’ right to read.
“Banned books, banned people.”
Scholastic is under fire for allowing schools to opt out of “diverse books” for their book fairs.
Banning books doesn’t stop puberty.
Laurie Halse Anderson donates $100K of her 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award prize money to fight book bans.
School culture wars have pushed students to form banned book clubs and anti-censorship groups.
Plus, what do the kids have to say about book bans?
A Black History “Underground Railroad” forms across the U.S. after an increase in book bans.
Book bans in Texas spread as the new state law takes effect.
The people behind the suspicious app BookmarkED are also behind a number of Texas book bans, and one of them is a school administrator.
Children and parents begin an uphill battle fighting back against book bans in Florida.
The Volusia School Board (FL) tells Moms for Liberty they need to file formal book challenges. Of course, the school’s policy requires the books to be removed from the shelves within five days of a challenge being submitted until the review process is complete, but at least the school is telling M4L they can’t just circumvent policy?
The Alachua County (FL) school district removed Beyond Magenta after a parent challenged it.
A Florida school librarian writes firsthand about the confusion happening in schools due to the state’s new legislation and mandates.
(Paywalled) Connecticut library director resigns due to alleged political pressure over LGBTQ+ inclusion.
The Rochester (MA) Board of Trustees voted to remove a Little Free Diverse Library from the Plumb Library property due to “confusion surrounding the ownership and control of the Little Free Diverse Library.”
Samuels Public Library (VA) has its funding restored with its LGBTQ policies unchanged. “Under the new arrangement, Samuels agreed to include a member of the county supervisors on its executive committee, a subset of the 15-member board of trustees, which has always included a representative from the county board. The library trustees also agreed to consider candidates suggested by the county supervisors when seeking to appoint new library board members.”
What it’s like to be a Fairfax County [VA] librarian in an era of banned books.
(Paywalled) North Carolina State Education Board says it won’t hear appeals on school book challenges.
Advocates and school board members question the validity of a single parent’s 93 book challenges. “‘I feel that it’s unreasonable to have one parent be the voice of 38,000 students,’ Berkeley County School Board [SC] member Dr. Crystal Wigfall said.”
Alabama governor Kay Ivey continues to argue with the state’s Public Library Service Director, Dr. Nancy Pack, and has proposed new amendments for Alabama public libraries to receive state funding.
Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (AL) mistakenly flagged the picture book Read Me a Story, Stella as a potentially inappropriate story because the author’s last name is “Gay.” I’m not making this up.
Public libraries, readers, and writers react to Missouri’s new rule targeting young library patrons.
“After LGBTQ library fight, a Michigan town tries something new: compromise.” OKAY. First off, I hate this headline — it implies that book-banning fights can be solved by coming together with bigots. Secondly, the “compromise” that the library reached with the community is that the library will post labels inside each book with copy-and-pasted summary information pulled from Amazon or the Library of Congress. These are freely accessible websites that patrons could visit themselves to learn more about the book. Or, you know, they could just read the damn plot summary on the back of the book. But instead, the library is being made to spend a huge amount of staff time on a meaningless task because the book banners can’t stand the thought of doing their own research. I hope that the Patmos Library can stay open, and I’m happy that no books have been removed or restricted, but the whole debacle is ridiculous.
John Green talks to Indy fans about banned books access and other things close to his heart.
Indiana’s controversial new law, which bans “harmful materials” from schools and libraries and could lead to the criminal prosecution of teachers and librarians, is set to take effect on January 1, 2024.
As bomb threats increase, the Chicago Public Library must do more to protect their workers.
And an update on the bomb threat situation: police arrested a suspect earlier this week.
Chicago-area schools and libraries have received a record number of book challenges within the last three years — over 300!
How specific book-ban requests entered the Genoa-Kingston School District (IL) from the inside. Specifically, the school board president has been requesting for years that multiple books be removed from the shelf. Also, this is a good article because NBC 5 Investigates is actually doing their journalistic duty and questioning the board president about his actions, not just reporting neutrally.
Iowa’s recent legislation has prompted some people to post disclaimers on Little Free Libraries.
The Andover Public Library (KS) has paused their social media presence after receiving threats during Banned Books Week. From the director: “You know, it was actually some good discourse but then it kind of turned into name calling and the library started receiving images of woodchippers, threats to destroy the books in our library. I thought it had gone too far. Staff were feeling uncomfortable.”
State Superintendent Ryan Walters asked for tips on inappropriate materials in Oklahoma schools. What he got were “subscriptions to LGBTQ+ news, song lyrics and part of the script of the Bee Movie.” This is high-quality trolling, and I approve!
“Boise-area library patrons oppose ‘normalizing’ LGBTQ+ lifestyles, records show.” I absolutely detest this framing. It centers the book banners as though they speak for the entire community, and it’s not until the second half of the article that they quote someone about the importance of having these types of stories in the library. One book banner is even quoted comparing LGBTQ+ books being labeled in the library to labeling food items for people with allergies.
The Escondido Union School District (CA) “has temporarily closed its school libraries after a book ‘containing sexually explicit material’ was found in one of its campus libraries.” The title is not listed. Also, why the hell are we treating this situation like black mold or a carbon monoxide leak?
Learning at Temecula Valley Unified (CA) suffers as censorship fears rise.
We all need this limited edition T-shirt of Levar Burton instructing you to read banned books.
Books & Authors in the News
Indian authorities have charged novelist Arundhati Roy with offenses related to provocative speech based on public comments she made over 13 years ago.
Best-selling Swedish thriller author Camilla Läckberg has been accused of using a ghostwriter.
Reflecting on the 20th anniversary of The Kite Runner.
Numbers & Trends
The best-selling books of the week.
Book Riot has podcasts to keep your ears listening for days! Check them out and subscribe.
Award News
Norwegian author Jon Fosse receives the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction shortlist has been released.
Kirkus has released the fiction finalists for the 2023 Kirkus Prize.
20 books getting major awards buzz.
Pop Cultured
Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for a fourth season.
On the Riot
What not to say to public librarians. (In fact, I’ll add one of my own: “Can you help me put these eardrops in?” Yes, that is something a patron asked one of my co-workers, and guess which manager got to have a talk with this patron? Me.)
Why this Rioter’s library’s circulating zine collection absolutely rocks.
8 frightfully fun Halloween reading activities for students.
John Steinbeck’s collection of letters, journals, and manuscripts will be auctioned off at the end of the month.
The National Book Awards: a retrospective.
At what age should we stop reading aloud to each other? (Never!)
Please enjoy this slightly blurry photo of Dini as he flung himself across my lap for snuggles.
All right, that’s all I’ve got for this week. I’ll see you on Tuesday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.
