Books

On October 31st, a federal judge ruled against the merging of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, saying that it would “substantially lessen competition” in publishing. While that was a blow to the merger, it wasn’t officially over: Penguin Random House had been planning to appeal the decision. In order to do that, they

You know those reading memes and cartoons that circulate regularly that say something to the effect of, “Reading is just staring at slices of trees and hallucinating vividly”? I never understood that. Not just because that’s not what hallucinations are, but also because I don’t really visualize when I read. I don’t have complete aphantasia,

With President Joe Biden pardoning thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession and the rise of microdosing psychedelics as a treatment for mental illness, now is a good time to dive in to some books about drugs, especially of the recreational variety. Originally I wanted this list to be science-heavy, full of cool, weird books

Robots and children’s stories have gone together for decades, but in the modern era, it’s no wonder that robot books for kids are more popular than ever. A strong candidate for the first fictional robot comes from children’s fiction, before the word ‘robot’ itself even came into use — Tik-Tok, a mechanical character in L.

Alan Rickman had no idea who I was and that was probably for the best because neither did I. I have just finished reading Madly Deeply, the Diaries of Alan Rickman. In the last few weeks, I have had to work through what he actually meant to me beyond that I loved him when I

A warning: this quiz is not for the faint of heart. It was made for those who know their covers and to which titles those covers belong to. It was made for those who can spot a detail and hold it fast in their memory. It was made for those who like a challenge and

This week, PEN America sent a letter to Missouri school boards and the state legislature, demanding a reversal to a spate of book bans enacted thanks to the state’s Senate Bill 775. The bill makes any material with “visual depictions” of “graphic material” illegal for schools to have available. This is why so many graphic

There are a lot of YA books that feature music. This might be the theme of the book or it might be a motif within the book. It could also be what introduces each chapter or a playlist that comes at the end of the book or as a bonus feature as part of the

British award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick has passed away unexpectedly at the age of 54. Sedgwick wrote over 40 children’s books, was nominated for more than 30 awards, and won the Printz award in 2014 for Midwinter Blood. He described his latest series, Be the Change, as a “brilliant interactive and accessible resources for kids to

It was one of those days where I was reluctant to let go of summer, but I was all too ready to wrap myself in a blanket and marathon watch something on the television. I was not in the mood for a British murder mystery, nor my slow slog through New Girl. I wanted something

The 180-year-old private library, the first lending library in London, will welcome Helena Bonham Carter as its first female president. The actress has been linked to members of the library through her career, having played characters in an adaptation of founding member Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and Netflix’s adaptation of Enola Holmes, itself a retelling

Each month, the Amazon Book Editors post a list of their favorite books out that month. At the end of the year, this team of nine editors draws from these lists, as well as considering any they may have missed, to choose their top books of the year as a whole. They each have different

“I do trust librarians, I trust our teachers and I want to know that I don’t have to look at this list. But here I am finding multiple books that unfortunately are part of the LGBTQ community,” said Joni Shaw Smith, a member of the Keller Independent School District board at last night’s meeting. Keller

Science fiction and horror: two great tastes that taste great together! Genre mashups are a blast. (Not “pew-pew” blast, but “rollicking good time” blast.) And there are so many great sub-genres: dystopian fiction, medical experimentation, robots, space travel, aliens. Sometimes a few of those things at once. There’s so many great books to choose from.

Kevin Conroy, best known as the voice of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and numerous other projects, passed away on November 10th after a short battle with cancer. He would have been 67 later this month. Conroy was born in Westbury, New York in 1955. He studied acting at Julliard alongside fellow iconic DC

It’s a great day and age to be a booklover. Social media has made it a lot easier to find bookish communities. We see it all the time with BookTok, Bookstagram, and BookTwit. All of these popular sites host accounts that share recommendations and reviews, and spreads the love of books. One such similar place

I can pinpoint the exact day I became a dragon book kid. It all began in a Waldenbooks in the mall. Remember those weekend days as a kid when taking a trip to the mall was the highlight of your week? I’d be counting down the days until I could spend my quarters on Mike

As the days get shorter in the northern hemisphere, we all start settling into our homes and looking at the list of crafty projects we want to do during winter that we held over from last winter. I know it’s not just me who pokes her head outside in spring and simultaneously thinks “oh thank

In the 2022 school year, I decided to run a comic book club in the school library that I manage. I’ve run a manga club for 9 years there and decided to start a comic book club to focus on the massive popularity of the comics and graphic novels that we have on the shelves.

Library workers are trained professionals. Most librarians spend thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars to earn a master’s degree which helps teach them not only how to serve their communities, but how to access, assess, and make available accurate information for their patrons. It is an art and a science of balancing community needs