Over the years I’ve amassed a small collection of bookish goods that make it very clear that my kitchen and pantry belong to someone who reads. I’ve rounded up a few of my favorites here. These items range from simple and useful (pot holders, bookends, dish towels) to frivolous and fun (bookish magnets!) to some truly unique pieces that are both functional and gorgeous. A few of them are ordinary things you’d find in any kitchen, with a bookish twist....
Reader, I am a terrible chess player. My father taught me the rudimentary rules, pieces and movements when I was a child, but honestIy I expect a cat could beat me with little trouble. So you can accept my view that I didn’t enjoy the show because of the chess. I enjoyed it because of its depictions of ambition, advantage, and self-sabotage and of its reminder of the most incredible thing about chess: that, for a time, a 64 square board was the epicentre of the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union....
The women filed a reconsideration request for Gender Queer, All Boys Aren’t Blue, The Hate U Give, and The Bluest Eye. After following the procedures outlined in the school district’s reconsideration process, the Library Materials Committee voted to keep the books on shelves. Both women filed an appeal of the decision, and now the discussion is back on the public school board agenda for this week. All of the details of the complaints, as well as the Library Materials Committee timeline and decisions are available to the public here, as is the information about tomorrow night’s appeal....
Carmilla is a complex character, though. She’s in some ways pitiable and even relatable. She also seems to love Laura in some way, and their relationship is passionate, if veiled and macabre. I’m not the only queer woman drawn to this flawed but compelling character: it’s been adapted into a YouTube series (with canonically queer characters, including a nonbinary side character) that became popular enough to get its own movie and book adaptations....
From the New York Times bestselling author of Good Luck with That comes a new novel about a blue-blood grandmother and her black-sheep granddaughter who discover they are truly two sides of the same coin. We have 10 copies of Life And Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins to give away to 10 Riot readers! Just complete the form below to enter. This sweepstakes is open to residents of Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec)....
Japan, 1957: Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura prepares for her prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate. But Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor—and when it’s learned that she’s carrying his child, Naoko is cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices. America, present day: Tori Kovac, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation—one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family, and herself....
For a more personalized book recommendation experience, be sure check out Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendations service! Our expert book recommenders (like me!) will come up with three custom picks just for you based on your recent faves, reader interests, and more! For more information on what book you got as a result, check out the links below! Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev Patsy by Nicole Denis-Brown Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok Good Talk by Mira Jacob Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey Furious Hours by Casey Cep
At least we still have books. Books and limited space… Some of you are fine with reading comics on digital. Power to you. My bank account, bookshelves, and remaining floor space envy you. I tried making the transition, but my eyes are as old as the rest of me and magnifying the panels to make them easier to read makes them jump around. To be honest, I enjoy being able to take in the whole page at once and also, I like have comics in my hands....
But seriously—please don’t flame me for this—back then, I always knew I could look forward to the experience of buying new music. I’d get not only a CD of highly-anticipated music (because I was also very involved on message boards for my favorite artists, where fans tore every tiny bit of news to shreds for months before a new release), but a booklet with extensive, narrative artwork and several single releases with a few b-sides as well....
“Every day she was very productive,” he said. “She was working on two books and had been doing illustrations until the day before she passed away.” Jan Berenstain, co-creator of The Berenstain Bears. The opera that Renée Fleming, the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s creative consultant, has chosen for the company’s new commission is a tale of terrorism and intrigue with an American opera star as the central character, a figure widely believed to be based upon Fleming herself....
Decolonizing your bookshelf means actively examining and resisting colonialist narratives in the books that you read, and diversifying your reading to include books by authors from communities that have been victims of colonialism and systemic racism. The importance of combating the cultural and psychological effects of colonialism perpetrated through language was argued by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o in his classic work, Decolonising the Mind. While the very act of reading and writing in English and other European languages across the world, and especially in former colonies, cannot be dissociated from colonialist underpinnings, the practical and subversive potential of the colonized appropriating the colonizer’s language to counter colonialist narratives cannot be ignored....
Given those findings, I wanted to search out the specifically diverse publishers and imprints (divisions of publishing companies) focusing on children’s lives. All of these companies share a mission to print diverse books, prioritizing authentic portrayals of the varying experiences of racial and cultural identities as well as showing a myriad of genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. Below, I’ve compiled a list of diverse children’s publishers and imprints that you need to seek out....
I wanted to dig a little deeper than some of the obvious standards, like On the Road or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I’ve toured the world of books by car, picking roadside stops among fiction and nonfiction, middle grade books and historical romance novels. Many people think of road trip books as a distinctly American genre, so I wanted to challenge that notion as well. In the end, I have a very special vacation slideshow to share with you, if I do say so myself....
Children’s Book Awards Dedicated to the Environment The Green Earth Book Award Born from a partnership between The Nature Generation and Salisbury University, this annual award has four (4) categories, each focusing on the common theme of environmental stewardship and the promotion of positive action. The judges for the awards are literary, environmental, and educational professionals who volunteer to review the books. The winners for 2021 have been announced: Picture Book: Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterflies by Deborah Hopkinson and Meilo So Children’s Fiction: Hello from Renn Lake by Michele Weber Hurwitz Children and Young Adult Nonfiction: You Can Change the World: The Kids’ Guide to a Better Planet by Lucy Bell Young Adult Fiction: Bright Shining World by Josh Swiller...
The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta If I had to pick for potential epic fantasy adaptations, it would be Melina Marchetta’s series. Beginning with Finnikin of the Rock, this trilogy is an outstanding—if often overlooked—young adult fantasy series heavy on the politics. I admit I was bored by earlier chapters, but as I often do with Marchetta’s writing, found myself hooked halfway through and appreciating all the work she lays out in the earlier chapters....
A Moon Knight of Many Names Moon Knight is Marc Spector. And Steven Grant. And Jake Lockley. And an antihero, superpowered mercenary. And a detective. Wait, what? More than any comic book character I’ve written primers on in the past, Moon Knight is the most complex (though not the most complex comic book character — just give Cosmic Ghost Rider a search). Marc Spector is the primary identity, a man who grew up in a Jewish Chicago family....
For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against the backdrop of small-town England in the 1910s will feel both comfortingly familiar and thrillingly new. “This charming novel is an auspicious debut.” — Mystery & Suspense. “Quirky, wonderful characters and all the elements of a great (and fun) detective story. I totally loved reading this novel!...
When the fiercest dragon in the whole world smashes Princess Elizabeth’s castle, burns all her clothes, and captures her fiancé, Elizabeth takes matters into her own hands. With her wits alone and nothing but a paper bag to wear, the princess challenges the dragon in the hopes of saving the prince. But is it worth all that trouble? To mark The Paper Bag Princess’ 40th anniversary, Annick has created a deluxe hardcover with a beautiful dust jacket that converts to a bonus poster, plus commentary from renowned authors Francesca Segal and Chelsea Clinton, as well as Robert and Ann Munsch....
Here’s what it’s all about: Cora Kelly has found her birth mother at last. Aiyana Turner runs New Horizons Boys Ranch in Silver Springs, CA. Cora gets a job teaching there, but she doesn’t want to divulge her true identity unless she knows Aiyana will welcome the news. And when she meets Elijah Turner, her mother’s adopted son and ranch manager, she has even more reason to keep her secret…....
Russell Bruhn, a public school spokesperson, shared how the increased oversight required by the bill made it impossible to appraise the online services according to the new restrictions. As a result, the school system’s teachers have been prohibited from using Epic’s 40,000 title library and Prodigy’s math games to supplement learning. This decision comes as the negative effects of the pandemic are still impacting children’s education, especially those who “live in poverty, who are learning English, and who have disabilities....
