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Emily Martin: How did you get involved with Indie Bookstore Day? Tayari Jones: The invitation to be Bookstore Ambassador was a delightful surprise. My relationship with the indies goes way back to my very first book when I was struggling to find an audience. I’ll never forget those days when I showed up at bookstores, all dressed up, and found an audience in the single digits. However, the booksellers always cheered me up and cheered me on, promising to hand-sell the book when I was gone and predicting that soon a day would come when I would always have a crowd....

Intent is key. Take for example, Maus‘s removal from McMinn County Schools’s 8th grade curriculum. During the board meeting, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the book is not being targeted for being about the Holocaust. It’s instead being targeted for having crude language and images that several board members found disturbing (even when they admit to the Holocaust itself being disturbing). Digging into the board transcript, something interesting comes up: the copies that were being used in the curriculum were censored prior to students getting them....

However, it’s not exactly inaccurate. When I first heard the term as a young reader, I had an admittedly naïve definition. I always thought it was called that because the hero, since it was always a hero instead of another heroine, was in such a fit of passion he would rip the bodice of the heroine before taking her. Which honestly is a bit impressive and infuriating since bodices are not easy to rip and they’re expensive....

And these past two years, the reader’s block has been even worse. Pandemic-related stress and anxiety have torpedoed attention spans. Our cognitive load — the amount of information our working memory can hold at any one time — has shrunk. “Previously, you might be willing to put that little bit of effort in because you get that extra reward from reading the book,” neuroscientist and psychologist Oliver J. Robinson told the folks at Refinery29....

Moreover, they voted unanimously to immediately establish a joint working group with the association’s Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. The group will review both the guidelines for issuing the designation and the status of the other Literary Landmarks. A formal declaration of the de-designation and a statement about the rescindment are forthcoming. This news followed my inquiry to United for Libraries asking why Beauvoir was worthy of Literary Landmark status....

Junie B. Jones is a Millennial, and if the math is right—she was six in 1992, and I was also six in 1992—Junie B. and I are the same age. But while Junie B. was learning to fix toilets and spying on teachers and hiding under her principal’s desk, I was wearing a uniform and praying with a rosary and learning to be a “good Catholic.” Junie B. seemed extraordinary to me; she could yell and talk back and fight without facing serious consequences....

So it’s no wonder that, despite a slump in early spring, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) reported that book sales were up almost 10% in 2020 over the prior year. The surge in sales — especially for print books — appears to have continued in 2021. But while we’ve used reading to escape the uncertainty of the pandemic, authors have been right in the middle of the storm as they’ve worked to bring us the stories we crave....

Fire Island — parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, New York — has been known as a safe haven for gay and queer men since the 1920s and ‘30s, and for lesbian and queer women since the ’50s. It was a place where the more liberal and accepting attitude those queer people were searching for was practiced by the island’s occupants. Composed of Cherry Grove and the Pines, Fire Island’s legacy as a queer American vacation spot has only solidified since the mid-20th century, with thousands of queer people, aged around 20 to 50, calling it home for the summer....

Collectively, they have narrated hundreds of books — I don’t have an exact count, but I’m guessing it’s close to 1,000. I’ve personally listened to and loved many of them. Whether you’re looking for romance, sci-fi, history, contemporary fiction, or fantasy, these narrators have you covered. They’ve narrated hilarious books and heartbreaking ones. They can do teenage voices and the voices of elders. Whatever story they’re telling, I promise they will keep you riveted....

I’ve been perusing options for what she’ll be, and it was hard not to want to snap up every single literature and book inspired baby costume. She won’t be wearing a bookish baby costume this year (maybe in the future), but because there are so many dang adorable options, I had to collect them somewhere. Whether you’re starting your search for the perfect baby costume or you simply love looking at miniature clothing and costumes, this is your catnip....

At the moment, the closest thing to time traveling is reading a book. (Probably not true, but I’m a biologist, not a physicist.) In this case, it’s Gary Jenning’s Aztec, featuring non-stop action, sex, murder, drama, and exploration. Aztec is the type of historical fiction that appeals to those who click away instantly from historical fiction recommendations. Aztec is written from the perspective of an Aztec scribe, Mixtli, who witnesses major events à la Forrest Gump....

Mariah Carey said that the story is for kids who feel like outsiders and about believing in your own vision. In the caption, she shared: “It was empowering to transform my childhood turmoil into a modern classic fairytale full of wonder and boundless hope.” The Christmas Princess is scheduled to come out October 25, 2022 and is available to preorder. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books....

Official Comic Book Masks First up is Disney, selling some great, officially licensed Marvel and Star Wars masks. I feel like The Hulk would be well-equipped for this pandemic, since bullets and adamantium-laced berserker Canadians can’t even kill him. Their Star Wars set covers the classic trilogy and even includes everyone’s favorite child, “Baby Yoda.” Or Kevin, if you prefer. If you’re more of a DC Comics fan than Marvel, they’ve got your face and droplets covered, too, with their officially licensed masks....

High schoolers Mike and Philomel are hopelessly in love, until Mike screws up their relationship. Mike is devastated about losing Phil, until he begins to notice that reality as he knew it…has changed. Things that seem real and certain — like the color of Phil’s dress — suddenly change, seemingly without reason. Mike begins to have strange dreams and he notices that there’s a voice in his head, like an author, narrating his life....

As a consequence of the fact that the most famous poems tend to be the older ones, they also often have distinct rhyme schemes threaded throughout the verses. While I personally do think rhyming poems are generally ‘better’, and that partially also accounts for their fame, I recognise how subjective this adjective is. Moreover, non-rhyming poems have played a significant role in literature during the last century in particular. In fact, the influence of poems such as Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ (#5 below) on his adherents would probably be difficult to overestimate....

If you find yourself increasingly drawn to horror media as your anxieties about climate change, war, fascism, and the economy rise, you’re not alone. Writing for The A.V. Club, Matt Schimkowitz argues that the haunted house genre has reflected problems with the U.S. housing market over the last 50 years. We fixated on zombies during the Great Recession, and the Trump era saw mainstream horror pictures tackle racism. Horror’s bigger now than ever, and while that may bode ill for the near future, you can take comfort in the relative safety of horror fiction....

Last week, a new trailer of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald revealed a “twist” that J.K. Rowling has apparently been keeping under wraps for 20 years: that Nagini, Voldemort’s pet snake who often did his bidding for him by murdering and eating his enemies, is, in fact, an East Asian woman. While J.K. Rowling might have meant this as a mind-boggling twist or an attempt to racially diversify the cast and crew of a franchise that is overwhelmingly white, it is anything but....

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater Drama by Raina Telgemeier Looking for Alaska by John Green The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood L8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Crank by Ellen Hopkins The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Sold by Patricia McCormick Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie H....

But the thing is, even though I’m a dedicated independent bookstore shopper, I don’t often use my local bookstores for discovery. By the time something shows up in the window at Barnes & Noble, I’ve probably already decided whether or not I’m going to read it. Now, I can’t lie and say this isn’t because books have been my job — or part of it — since 2010. I’ve worked largely in kids’ books for the last few years, and even though I don’t only read kids’ books, I’ve still learned how to learn about books in general....

That’s why the Disability Visibility Project is launching a new grant program to help disabled authors promote their 2020 books through virtual events. Through the Disability Visibility Book Circle, 15 writers will receive a one-time $1000 grant to help them organize their own public book promotion event via video conference. Disability Visibility Book Circle 📚 Funds for Video Conference Book Events by Disabled* Writers 🖥💵💬📖 📆 Deadline: May 1, 2020https://t....