Posts

So when my greatest ambition became reality, and I found myself plopped in the wondrous world of the school library, it took a few months for me to realize what was missing from my new educational career. I was on my own, without a team. While some schools are able to employ more than one certified librarian, it’s a pretty rare thing. I myself am still plugging away at classes, working towards the official certificate that will turn me from an early childhood educator to a Library Media Specialist....

” ‘I keep having people say, “Gee, it’s like we’re living in a Stephen King story,” ‘ he says. ‘And my only response to that is, “I’m sorry.” ‘ A pandemic like COVID-19 was ‘bound to happen,’ King says. ‘There was never any question that in our society, where travel is a staple of daily life, that sooner or later, there was going to be a virus that was going to communicate to the public at large....

Up until recently, I was one of the lucky (or unlucky, depending on yourperspective) to remain employed. I made it through all of the really toughmonths with a steady paycheck and something to occupy my days. But it alsomeant that my days were stress-ridden, anxiety-inducing trials that made mefeel like if I didn’t do everything perfectly, this security could be ripped away from me at any time. It certainly didn’t help that I had only been at thejob for a little over a month when the lockdown occurred in NYC, so I was doingmost of my on-the-job training alone in my room....

Elisa Shoenberger: What’d you think of the book as a whole? Dawn Roberts: Well, I actually caught the This American Life broadcast of it and I probably had the reaction that a lot of collections folks would have in that I was yelling at the radio… It hit a visceral cord; it pained me to the core to think about the destruction of these specimens for something that was not intended as part of their preservation and a natural history repository....

The vote came as a result of the McMinn County Board of Education’s complaints of the graphic novel’s use of profanity and nudity. There are a grand total of eight curse words within Maus’s 295 pages. Tony Allman, one of the board members in attendance, admitted “I understand that on TV and maybe at home these kids hear worse,” but continued “we are talking about things that if a student went down the hallway and said this, our disciplinary policy says they can be disciplined, and rightfully so....

The book will be called A Life With Footnotes and will follow Pratchett from childhood from “being told at the age of six by his headteacher that he would never amount to anything” to writing the Discworld series to his later struggles living with Alzheimer’s. The book will be released in September, 2022. Find out more at The Guardian. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books....

I have always described my favorite Dean Koontz book, Lightning, in the same spoiler-laden way: it’s about time-traveling Nazis. That used to be a selling point. The absurdity of it was what drew me in when I read it at 13—the surprise reveal of Nazis magically in the heroine’s midst. In this time. In my place. It sent impossible shivers down my spine. Those seem more premonitory, now. When I was describing Lightning in that tried way this week—”time traveling Nazis!...

An initial statement from the library justified this decision by claiming that librarians would be able to retrieve books for patrons. However, this failed to address the possibility of disabled librarians being unable to reach these inaccessible stacks, too. The large building is partially served by a single elevator. The Library’s Response Since this story broke on October 4th, the library has announced that it’s moving the contents of those three floors into accessible areas....

The most mentioned authors on the list are Christina Soontornvat, who is an honoree or finalist in three categories including two different books awarded Newbery honors, and author and illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera, who is an honoree in three different categories with two books. Tae Keller was awarded Newbery Medal for When You Trap a Tiger, which also won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature. Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal honors an artist of “the most distinguished American picture book for children....

Best Audiobooks of 2018: Fiction The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Narrated by the author. The Poet X is a coming-of-age novel in verse about a young writer from Harlem navigating issues of cultural and religious identity. Xiomara, the protagonist, uses poetry to make sense of the complicated relationships she has with family members, friends, and a romantic interest. I almost always prefer to read poetry on the page rather than listen to it, but Elizabeth Acevedo brings all the power and emotion of her slam poetry background into her narration of the audiobook....

Which is what inspired my 2017 post on all of the terrifying horror books I couldn’t wait to read that fall. So it just made sense to do up a similar list for the best horror books in 2018. The list below contains some recent and forthcoming horror reads for both adult and YA audiences, with some horror comics (a delicious melding of my two favorite genres) sprinkled in. Read on for the best horror books you can use to fuel your nightmares this Halloween season....

The characters themselves are generally mundane but usually have one trait that is seen as ordinary in our world but is extraordinary in the fantasy world. This trait can be anything from eye color or engineering knowledge. Alternatively, characters can be given special gifts once they arrive in their new world. Isekai novels can be pretty quirky in nature. In fact, some of them overlap with the harem genre, in which the protagonist has several love interests....

We hope you enjoy the best of the best Kindle Unlimited mysteries. Now my spine is tingling and my fingers are itching to start a new book. How about you?

If Social Justice is Your Bag: Chi Luu at JSTOR Daily Computational linguist Luu is terrific at getting under the hood of everyday or overlooked language patterns. She links to academic research without being too wonk-ish. Have you ever wondered exactly why “Boaty McBoatface” is a funny name for a boat, or “Mister Splashy Pants” doesn’t seem like the most dignified name for a whale? Luu has broken down why. (And if you’ve never found yourself wondering about these, what on earth are you doing with your life?...

The action takes place two days after the holiday, when a now-married Dr. Watson comes to visit his old detective pal and finds Holmes obsessively staring at a strange, ill-kept hat. From there, the indefatigable duo untangles a web of lies, treachery, and geese to free an innocent man from jail. In this article, I’m going to look back at over 100 years of Sherlockian holiday cheer and introduce you to some The Blue Carbuncle adaptations that I like....

Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was born May 27, 1911, in St. Louis, Missouri. His family had come over on the Mayflower and his ancestor was the first white person born in colonial Massachusetts, which is particularly interesting given the arc of Price’s personal politics (more on that later). His grandfather had established their fortune when he invented the first baking powder with a cream of tartar base, and his father was president of the National Candy Company, both of which tie into Price’s love of good food, whether or not they were a direct influence....

Survivor is also a game about not making friends. Don’t assume anyone is your friend and do not form any genuine attachments. For that reason, I will also be bringing The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. No character will better help me remember the need for independence and self-sufficiency than Ishiguro’s 1950s-era English butler, Stevens. Stevens sacrifices attachments for the sake of his profession right and left. Stevens knows that you don’t take your eyes off the prize....

I joined Book Riot and Hey YA in September of 2020. Founding co-host Eric Smith left big, hot dog-shaped shoes to fill, but I’ve been having a blast chatting with other founding co-host Kelly Jensen about things we talked to each other about all the time anyway. Kelly and I are both committed to reading diversely, which is not a chore but a joy, and it happens naturally because we’re both interested in a number of different things....

The Immortalists Summary Death is a constant fascination for human beings. We read about it, we watch movies about it, we fear it, we wonder what will happen after it…but what if we could know when we were going to die? Would it change anything about how we lived our our lives? That’s the concept author Chloe Benjamin explores in her New York Times bestselling novel The Immortalists. It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and four siblings—Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya—seek out a fortune teller who predicts each child’s time of death....

I am always pleasantly surprised by the reading tastes of our students as they are always changing from year to year. What doesn’t change, though, is teens looking for stories that reflect their own experiences, with characters that look like them and are from the same neighbourhoods. They also want humour, one thing that, in my opinion, is needed more in YA today. I am working a lot with older students this year, so it’s been fun to steer them towards all of the amazing stories out there that are by UK YA authors....