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What is this film festival, you ask? The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which young filmmakers create movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. And these videos won’t leave you catching Z’s. Some of the festival’s contestants are so creative that watching their videos makes you feel genuinely proud about our future. Or like famed biochemist Louis Pasteur once said, “When I approach a child, he/she inspires in me two sentiments: Tenderness for what he/she is and respect for what he/she may become....

Thank you. I know how annoying it is when you pass a book off to me or recommend a title with all your heart, only for me to come back with a sheepish, “Sorry, but I kind of hated it.” For these occasions, I know you’re making my reading life richer and more meaningful. The books I love, I love even more for having read the books you love that I don’t....

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....

One genre I rarely read before I began listening to audiobooks was nonfiction. I incorrectly assumed that nonfiction books were dull, but audiobooks made them come to life in my mind’s eye. For one, many (not all) nonfiction books are narrated by their writers. In fact, some of the best ones feel like a fantastic podcast, in which I feel as though I have a personal relationship with the writer/narrator....

I rarely read fiction about the Holocaust. I grew up with teachers who had stories of their own. I had classmates with grandparents who were survivors. We observed Yom Hashoa every year in school and spent a whole year dedicated to studying the Holocaust in depth. When I pick up a novel, this is not the genre I choose. When I do read about the Holocaust, I would much rather read nonfiction because there are so many stories that need to be read....

In fifteenth-century France, the convent of St. Mortain provides sanctuary to girls seeking refuge from the cruelty of the outside world. But sanctuary comes at a price—and each of Death’s Handmaids pay it in blood. Grave Mercy, Dark Triumph, and Mortal Heart make up the New York Times bestselling His Fair Assassins trilogy: where romance, magic, and political intrigue collide. Fans of Marie Lu’s The Young Elites and Kiersten White’s And I Darken will love this seductive dark fantasy collection....

Jones crafted an eerie and at times straight-up frightening novel in The Only Good Indians, about when the past comes back to haunt us. I can also promise you that you’ll never look at an elk the same way again. In Empire of Wild, Dimaline tackles the mythology of werewolves and shifters with Little Red Riding Hood flair, as a woman investigates her husband’s disappearance and his bizarre, newfound identity....

Every January, when I sit down with my spreadsheet to dig into the data and to think about how to make the coming year an even better one for books, there’s usually something that jumps out at me, a statistic that surprises me, something I missed or overlooked during the previous year. This year, the thing that jolted me was this: in 2019, I rated 10% of the books I read only two stars....

I’m aware that I’m talking about movies. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to say about zombies in literature, too. It’s just that zombies have an unsettling habit of clawing their way out of the page and onto the screen. It’s not a coincidence, either. After all, zombies are one of those monsters that have a lot to tell us about ourselves. Additionally, it’s clear that they’ve experienced a resurgence in the 21st century and that many critics point to 9/11 and its aftermath as playing a crucial role in this renewed popularity....

In case you haven’t read anything by me or been to my Book Riot page, let me introduce myself. I am a former elementary school teacher. After I left the classroom, I pursued my PhD in curriculum & instruction (with an emphasis on literacy) while working as a literacy consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education. Since then, I’ve been a professor who teaches people to teach kids to read....

At my book club, each meeting begins with the discussion leader sharing why they chose the book and what they thought about it. Maybe they chose the book because it’s a buzzy new book that they’re excited about or maybe it’s a classic that they have been meaning to read for years. Their initial thoughts are usually just a quick summary — they thought it was exciting, they thought it was boring, it was a slow start but got better — and then they, popcorn-style, ask someone else in the group for their initial thoughts....

Teresa Elberson, a long-time employee of the Lafayette Parish library and current system director, stepped down from her post suddenly on Friday, January 29, following a clash with the library board. Members of the board believed that speakers she’d lined up to discuss a history of voting rights with her community were too “far left” and did not represent the community at large. The library applied for a grant through the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities,....

I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t it hypocritical to hate the Classics while you are supposed to be teaching the next generation to appreciate great literature? First, let me clarify that I don’t actually hate all of the Classics. Just…a lot of them. And secondly, wouldn’t it be more hypocritical if I made my students read books I pretended to love while secretly wishing I could bring the dead author back to life just to tell him (it’s usually a him) how overrated he is?...

The Scanlation Problem We can’t talk about buying manga without addressing the elephant in the room: piracy and scanlations. Briefly, scanlations are fan translations of manga that are made available on the internet. The name itself is a portmanteau of scan + translation. Alas, it is a form of piracy. Scanlations don’t support the original creators or publishers. Even worse, these online piracy sites often host not only scanlations made by fans, but actual scans of official manga translations published by North American companies....

Who was Rumi? Known to be the master of the ‘ghazal’ – the form of sonnets with intense, sharp rhythms and lyrics, Rumi was an esteemed preacher before he was a poet. Charismatic and eloquent, he taught the word of Islam throughout his home city of Konya. But his spirit was always restless and sought respite from his huge following. This is when he met Shams of Tabriz. Shams, with his scruffy hair and torn clothing, existed on the outskirts of scholarly circles....

Oh, the art. As far back as the ’40s, comic book artists have been getting their jollies with highly sexualized depictions of women. The Comics Code explicitly (ha) reined this in for a time, but as the Code grew weaker, the cheesecake grew stronger, and by the ’90s, artists were shamelessly indulging their prurient sides, with little concern for any adverse effects on storytelling, character, or even physics. The situation has improved drastically over the past decade, but we’re by no means in the clear....

There are iterations of reading challenges everywhere. We even have the Read Harder Challenge here at Book Riot. They crop up around the end of the year when we’re all busy pledging resolutions, hoping to become better versions of ourselves. Reading challenges have definitely pushed me to read more, especially because they tend to be public and I’m frankly quite vain. However, I inadvertently begin to stress out about catching up with my reading challenge, turning a beloved pastime into a chore to add to a never-ending to-do list....

Before we dive into this, I should probably clarify that I don’t intend for this to exclude anyone. Even though millions of people celebrate it secularly, at the end of the day Christmas is a Christian holiday, which means that members of other faiths may feel uncomfortable with an observance or tradition based around it. However, much like the time-honored American Jewish tradition of eating Chinese takeout on Christmas doesn’t constitute an endorsement of the holiday, there’s room on December 24 for a few spooky stories, no matter your religious affiliation....

The British author, two-time winner of the Booker Prize, was a prolific author of literature, including historical fiction, personal memoirs, and short stories. She authored Wolf Hall (Booker Prize winner), Bring Up the Bodies (Booker Prize winner), The Mirror and the Light (Booker Prize longlist), and published a collection of essays, entitled Mantel Pieces: Royal Bodies and Other Writing from the London Review of Books, among many other works. Find more on Hilary Mantel and her work here....

In honor of the fantastical stories that have shaped me as a reader, I decided to write love letters to some of my favorite books to thank them for the lessons they taught, the comfort they brought, and the happiness they carried into my heart. Dear Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, Thank you for teaching me about a piece of history that was brushed under the rug for so many decades....