Though this form of TV-to-print publication doesn’t happen all too often (which also explains why there aren’t many authors of color or women on this list), it has seemed to become a growing trend in recent years. And we may see more of it in the future. After all, boundaries between formats are becoming increasingly blurry these days. Plus, it is a fun way to spend some more time with your favorite TV characters....
Reading any sort of interactive books with your kiddo is a big ol’ boon to their brain, but this list will focus on interactive musical books for toddlers. However, if you are keen for other ways that you and your littles can interact with what they’re reading, you should explore soft books for babies and read-alouds for toddlers. But I do think that this mini-genre needs some changes. In particular, I was surprised by how many titles focused on classical, even repeating the same songs or artists....
Charles Dickens’s classic novella A Christmas Carol has been adapted countless times. Because this is Ebenezer Scrooge’s conversion narrative, all of the other characters are static, not dynamic. Bob Cratchit’s youngest son, Tiny Tim, is an idealized but pitiable stereotype of disabled people. He contributes to the idea that disabled and poor people deserve pity and charity. Dickens’s books are full of social critique and scenes of abusive institutions. Before his conversion, Scrooge jokes that these tax-funded institutions should be sufficient to help poor and marginalized people....
In January I finished a couple of trekking books. The first: To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins. It is about a young attorney who bikes 14,000 miles (give or take) across desserts, jungle, mountains and coastline to try to come to terms with his family history, his sexuality, and his identity. The next was Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road, which I geeked out on for long stretches at a time....
And while many books that were delayed originally due to the COVID-19 crisis have now finally been published, the publishing world is seeing an amazing spike in reading and book purchases, resulting in a huge number of books hitting shelves in 2021, larger than initially planned for by many. With so many books coming out constantly, it’s hard to keep up with every single book showing up in stores every Tuesday (no matter how diligently you listen to All the Books!...
Which isn’t to say deeper dives don’t result in cultural appropriation. It’s something both readers and writers need to be aware of and something that should be called out when it happens. Sensitivity readers have become highly prized collaborators in this business of ours for a reason. Hire one. Pay them well. Listen to what they advise. Do what they tell you or find a different way to make your story work....
Grab your flashlight, ignore that eerie howling from beyond, and join us, won’t you?
Literary Witch Quiz Share your favorite literary witch in the comments! And check out more amazing literary witches from Book Riot in these posts: 100 Must-Read Books About Witches Literal Black Girl Magic: Books With Witches, Orisha and More 5 Witchy AF Books to Read This Fall
Exploring what happens after the world collapses, how society rebuilds itself (if it rebuilds at all), and how humanity faces a new reality can make for fascinating character studies and world building. I personally enjoy reading post-apocalyptic YA books as I think it’s super intriguing to think about what it would be like to grow up amidst a ruined world. In focusing on young people who are learning who they are and coming into their own, it can help show how teens are affected by their environment, even if a desolate wasteland seems far removed from our current world....
We’ve all been anticipating a Black Widow movie since Scarlet Johansson first graced the screen as the super spy Natasha Romanoff. I won’t get into the details of Black Widow because that’s not the purpose of this article. Instead, I want to take a look at the shadowy character who appears in the post-credits: Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Besides having what is possibly the most fabulous name I’ve encountered so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), those of us who aren’t acquainted with the comics are no doubt wondering who she is and what her entry means for the storyline....
I was once in the room when a friend received a life-altering phone call. I was holding her hand (she would want me to add that I looked super uncomfortable with all of the feelings happening because I am really not that friend). I feel all right saying this much because I have a few friends and I have been in many rooms — but that’s not my story, even though it intersected with mine and fit well into the plot of something I was writing at the time....
Audiobooks were a great companion when I worked as a cleaning lady for eight years – they made the work a lot easier – and they continue to be a trusted distraction while commuting to work or doing chores. Mind you, I sometimes come up with chores to do just because I want to finish an audiobook. When I contemplate picking up a new hobby, my first thought is usually whether audiobooks can be included in it (maybe it is not a coincidence that the answer is usually “yes”)....
Depth, Time, Environment, and Circumstances on Twitter Librarians who earned their master’s degree in library science (and often those who didn’t, too) have been trained in what’s called a “reference interview.” The idea behind the reference interview is for the librarian to respond to questions by asking questions in order to supply the best possible resource. Frequently, this is really useful because people will ask for the kind of information they think the librarian can find, rather than what they actually want....
It Will Bring in New Faces I’ve met tons of new students who just want to watch, hang out and see what all of the fuss is about. I’m the Dungeon Master, so lots of students who don’t play like to watch what’s going on behind the screen and ask questions, which is awesome. One of the students has become a student library assistant, working behind the desk, checking books in and out for other students and generally being awesome....
Romance is always in season, but in February especially so. And we have $200 to give away for some lucky Book Riot reader to spend at The Ripped Bodice, the only romance-only bookstore in the U.S. No one does romance like they do, and best of all, since it is a digital gift card, you can spend it right from your computer. To enter, fill out the form below, including signing up for Book Riot’s romance-focused newsletter, Kissing Books!...
Here are some of my favourite memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies, written by women, about women.
Got a riddle for you. Ready? What’s brown and gray and found beneath 13 stories of concrete, steel and glass? Me, in the front seat of my sedan at my day job’s underground parking garage. Welcome to my mobile office, the place where I’m now writing this and where I wrote my popular LAPD Homicide Detective Lou Norton mystery series—and my newest thriller, They All Fall Down. Once upon a time, I wrote at an Arts & Crafts–style oak desk....
ESTP (Extraversion + Sensing + Thinking + Perceiving): The Entrepreneur Personality Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson ESTPs enjoy drama, passion, pleasure, and love being the center of attention. And talking about drama…Emily is everything Sloane is not—she’s used to living in her own shell, and it was her best friend Sloane who made her step out of her comfort zone and, frankly, made her life a whole lot more interesting....
Teen witch Nova Huang spends her days working in her grandmothers’ spell book shop and her nights hunting down the supernatural. Genderqueer werewolf Tam Lang was Nova’s childhood crush. One fateful night they wander back into their old hometown and wind up battling a giant horse demon in the woods. When Tam turns to Nova for help, their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties in an enchanting tale of self-discovery....
Launched in 2019, Nightfire, the new horror imprint from Tor, encompasses the breadth of horror, from short story collections to novellas and novels, from standalone works to series, from dark fantasy to the supernatural, from originals to reprints of lost modern classics. Nightfire’s novels are now appearing on shelves in bookstores and libraries near you. Do you dare stretch the spines on these terrifying titles this autumn? While some of the books I read did include the stories of twin sisters Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield in the Sweet Valley High series, and the story of driven and diverse girls in The Baby-Sitters Club series, there were some books that I still think about to this day that fostered my adoration of the written word....
