Over on Book Riot this week…

 

• Chicago Public Library has its staff back at work this week. This piece went up Friday and made it pretty clear pretty quickly that the Mayor and Commissioner of the Library aren’t communicating well . . . and that’s impacting staff in not-great ways.

 

• Book puzzles you can buy right now.

 

• A massive guide to YA short stories. I went through as many YA anthologies of short stories as I could and created an index so you can look up your favorite author and see where they have short fiction published.

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

• 20 great crossover reads. These are adult books perfect for YA and teen readers.

 

• The most popular books in libraries between January and March 2020.

 

• Flex your book holding guns with these great book tank tops.

 

There’s also a new episode of Hey YA. This week Eric and I dig into the concept of “boy books,” highlight a boatload of recent male narrators in YA, and we dream up surprise sequels we’d love from favorite authors.

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

• YA paperbacks hitting shelves between May and July.

 

• Stephenie Meyer announced the release of Midnight Sun. A look at the history of that book and the Twilight series more broadly.

 

• If you’re still looking for a face mask, I found some book and comic themed masks.

 

• I am in love with all of these awesome octopus bookends.

 

I also cohosted this week’s episode of “All The Books,” highlighting brand new books I’m obsessed with. Y’all, Goldilocks by Laura Lam was one of my favorite reads in a long time. If you can’t handle reading about pandemics, don’t pick it up right now, but if you’re leaning into that, this book is utterly timely and features women in space, among so many other things (plus the lead character is pregnant, which is so rare and refreshing!). Adult sci fi, but great YA appeal.

This week at Book Riot…

• The realities under which many librarians are working. It’s not good, y’all.

 

• A new study showcases how much better male leads in fiction sell than female leads.

 

• Have you seen the five  classics pulled from classrooms in the Mat-Su school district in Alaska? Here’s the story of the all white male school board members who made this happen.

 

• And something a little lighter: Shakespeare cross stitch patterns!

 

There’s also a new episode of Hey YA. We’re digging into Star Wars YA books, as well as feel-good YA reads.

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

• A guide to spring cleaning your books, with handy checklists!

 

• 50 rad animal bookmarks.

 

• PEN America, the American Library Association, and a number of other organizations band together demanding tablets and e-books be free for incarcerated individuals during COVID-19.

 

There’s a new episode of Hey YA, and it’s a good one! Eric and I talk about Shakespeare retellings in YA, as well as great sports YA books. Tune in here. I forgot to share last week’s Hey YA: Extra Credit episode, which is also excellent. Samantha Mabry and I dig deep into Rachel Klein’s weird little book, The Moth Diaries.

 

Over on School Library Journal…

• It was so cool to hop on the phone with Elizabeth Acevedo and Angie Thomas for this one! A look at writing guides from beloved teen and tween authors.