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The Ames Tribune covered the student comments at the latest board meeting, including this one from high school junior Natalie Jasso: “Being who I am and growing up in my community and my family, I’ve had to deal with my own adversities because I am a bisexual African American young woman,” she said. “The looks I get from other parents, the whispers that I get in class — the most common phrase I receive is, ‘You have two moms?...

Each year, three titles will be chosen in the Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories, and for 2019 they are: ADULT Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2017) My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due (Harper Voyager, 1998) Earthworm Gods by Brian Keene (Deadite Press, 2012) YOUNG ADULT Rotters by Daniel Kraus (Ember, 2012) Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, edited by April Genevieve Tucholke (Speak, 2016) Devil and Winnie Flynn by Micol Ostow (Penguin Random House Publisher Services, 2015) MIDDLE GRADE Doll Bones Holly Black (Margaret K....

Now that you know which Greek God or Goddess you are, try treading one of these classical mythology retellings or a YA novel inspired by myths.

Seven residents of Llano County are now suing the library board as well as the county judge, commissioners, and library systems director for violating their First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights by banning books, blocking access to digital titles, and making these decisions behind closed doors without public input. A library board member emailed the County Judge in November with a list of books the system had that were on Representative Matt Krause’s 850 book list of “inappropriate” materials....

Ever walked by a shelf in your local bookstore full of books wrapped in brown paper for sale? They’re blind dates with books, where you buy a book without knowing the title, the cover, or the author, and it’s a great way to discover new books you might never have picked for yourself. We’re giving away five blind dates with books–Executive Editor Amanda Nelson will take a trip to Chop Suey, her local indie in Richmond, Virginia, and pick five at random off their shelves to mail to five random winners!...

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Pérez runs a bookstore in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, and by and large, they live a fairly comfortable life. But when Lydia’s wonderful journalist husband publishes a tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca are forced to flee. None of their lives will ever be the same as they join the countless people trying to reach el norte....

That’s why every few months, we like to shine a spotlight on the books we’ve read and loved that don’t get the attention they deserve. While BookTok and Bookstagram might tell you that a New York Times Best Seller or a title often assigned in high schools is “underrated,” we’re more interested in the truly under-the-radar reads. These are books that have under 250 ratings (not reviews) on Goodreads. For context, The Hunger Games has over 7 million ratings on Goodreads, and In Watermelon Sugar has 17,000....

Some of us are still the energetic environmentalists of our youth. Others have left that life behind in the dust. Most of us lie somewhere in between, but there is still time to recapture the essence of our environment-loving youth! Although…the planet is literally engulfed in flames, so time is running short. Together, we can make The Lorax proud and save The Giving Tree. We can be the people who care a lot....

We already have some pretty great lists out there that highlight YA retellings for Shakespeare’s most famous plays. For this list, let’s change it up a bit. Let’s go wide instead of deep, because goodness knows we’d find an entire list of gems for Hamlet or Macbeth retellings alone. He had so many other plays with amazingly versatile and timeless tales that have been adapted, and they all deserve some recognition....

Happily, fall is also big for cookbook releases! There are so many amazing cookbooks recently out and coming out between now and the end of the year — far too many to list here, and far too many for my limited budget. So here are my must-have cookbooks of fall, the ones I’m most excited about. It’s an eclectic mix of sweet and savory cookbooks by both beloved food writers and chefs and cooks who are new to me....

I’ve always said that manga’s greatest strength is that there are so many different kinds of stories to pick up. There’s a manga series for everyone, no matter your age or preference. There are even standalone manga titles for people who don’t want to commit! Expand your horizons to include light novels — manga’s quick-read prose cousin — and the possibilities are endless. But because of that much-lauded variety, putting together a recommendation list can be tricky....

This is just a small sampling of amazing YA hitting shelves, but I tried to offer you a nice mix of genres! From romance to high fantasy debuts to hard-hitting contemporary stories about grief and identity, there should be a little something in here for everyone. We’ve also got highly anticipated sequels, sophomore novels from favorite authors, some truly delightful debuts, and a YA romance from a favorite adult romance author, so get ready to spend those holiday gift cards and test the limits of your library card!...

Given that a lot of these are older comics and, you know, the state of diversity in comics in general, there aren’t as many women and other non–cis men on this list as I would like. That said, I hope that’s an opportunity for Marvel to bring on more womxn (and womxn of color) to create some great new storylines for Wanda, Monica, and the rest of the gang. It’s fair to say there’s a lot of variation in the quality of these comics....

When I read that (minor John Wick 3 spoiler) Keanu kills a man with a library book in his latest movie, I knew I had to put together a list of his other bookish roles. The Bookish Roles of Keanu Charles Reeves Letting Go (1985, d. Jack Bender) Based on the book Letting Go by Dr. Zev Wanderer and starring John Ritter. Keanu plays Stereo Teen #1. Act of Vengeance (1986, d....

The wait is over. With his latest novel, Ishiguro again combines his insider’s knowledge with his outsider’s sensibility to write a book that no one else could. He’s reached all the way back to the origins of English literature for the particulars of his story, but the uneasy mood it creates is very much of the present day. The Buried Giant is about confused, desperate, and disconnected people who roam a fragmented country, but its characters (and its readers) still find a way to draw themselves together around a glimmering fire of hope....

The official synopsis for the series reads: “In 1994, a group of teenagers discovers that the terrifying events that have haunted their town for generations may all be connected — and that they may be the next targets. Based on R.L. Stine’s best selling horror series, the trilogy follows the nightmare through Shadyside’s sinister history.” The trailer focuses on Shadyside, AKA “Killer Capital USA,” and its neighboring town, the crime-free, super-safe Sunnyside....

Meet the Happy Hollisters The Happy Hollisters series ran from 1953 to 1969. It follows a relentlessly optimistic family of seven: children Pete, Pam, Ricky, Holly, and Sue; parents John and Elaine; plus their dog, six cats, and later a donkey. After moving to the town of Shoreham, where John has acquired a hardware/toy store, the kids have all kinds of adventures. These range from finding lost treasures to dealing with bullies who really ought to be sent to reform school....

Goodreads assembled the list by looking at a few things — books that had been shelved as “Want to read” by Goodreads members, author fanbase, and buzz. Fantasy was also separated from Science Fiction, but there is, of course, some overlap. Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo Victory City by Salmon Rushdie A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon VenCo by Cherie Dimaline The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah System Collapse by Martha Wells The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older Flux by Jinwoo Chong The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky Go to Goodreads for the complete list....

At its best, this can make the community feel tight-knit and welcoming, bound by a shared love of these silly stories. At its worst, it can make the relationship between readers and creators incredibly toxic. And one of the ways the latter manifests is my very least favorite comic book trope. The closest TV Tropes page I could find was This Loser Is You, but I like to call it The Reader Is The Villain, or The Superboy-Prime Effect....

The Natural, by Bernard Malamud — You’re probably more familiar with the 1984 Robert Redford vehicle than the 1952 novel, which have very, very different endings. Still, the comeback story of Roy Hobbs is highly recommended reading. (Or viewing, either movie or when parodied in a fantastic episode of The Simpsons — “Mattingly, shave those sideburns.”) The Might Have Been, by Joe Schuster — The new kid on the baseball-novel block, this debut is about an injured ball player trying to come to grips with, well, what might have been....