In celebration of Banned Books Week Sept 26th-Oct 3rd….

My favorite ever library advertising for Banned Books Week… From the Twin Hickory Public Library in Glen Allen, Virginia from last year’s Banned Books ‘living’ display. And thanks to Cory Doctorow who profiled this library last year in Boing Boing – click here for the full article. _______________________________________________ An interesting sidenote to this display is [...]

Penguin Classics Get Fashionable New Facelifts

New York Fashion Week may be over, but the newly facelifted Penguin Classics Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Scarlett Letter, are here to stay. Featuring modern new covers by noted illustrator and artist Ruben Toledo (and designed to coincide with New York Fashion Week) Penguin’s intention was to attract new readers to classics [...]

Baby Be-Bop Burns: the continuing controversy in West Bend over book banning

The fight to ban ‘objectionable’ books like Baby Be-Bop, by Francesca Lia Block, continues in West Bend, Wisconsin and has now gone national, covered today by CNN.com. The fight began back in February when two parents raised questions over what was deemed ‘acceptable’  and ‘age appropriate’ content for young adults – particularly as it concerned [...]

The Austen re-invention continues: Sense and Sensibility…and Sea Monsters

After the runaway success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Quirk books just announced last night a new title in its collection – Sense and Sensbility and Sea Monsters to be released this coming September. According to an interview with EW.com, book co-author Ben H. Winters promises, “a giant rampaging mutant lobster. Octopi with glittering [...]

NYC library cuts UPDATE

So, I am totally behind the times (library school keeps me pretty busy), but in a good way — the New York City libraries have reached a ‘handshake’ deal with the Mayor’s office to ensure library service remains unaffected by the upcoming budget. The budget still needs to be passed officially tomorrow, but this is [...]

Best. Library. Advertising. Ever.

After writing my last post about budget cuts and the library, I wanted to post something a little more on the funny and uplifting side. So, you are trying to get teens into the library? ….just tell them it is where all the cool kids hang out. * For the story behind this photo, check [...]

‘Save my library, Bloomberg!’: Library cuts and home schooled children and teens

With the looming NYC library budget cuts, I was struck by one article in particular in the NY papers about the projected cuts – two 9 year old girls who had written in to Mayor Bloomberg (see the Daily News Brooklyn article about it here) to protest the cuts because, specifically for them as homeschooled [...]

Another one bites the dust….the Kite Runner now on Top Ten Most Challenged Books List

According to the ALA, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner has now joined the list of top ten most challenged books in 2008. Or, as the Guardian UK has put it, “Kite Runner joins gay penguins on top 10 books Americans want banned“, referring to Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s And Tango Makes Three, a story [...]

YA (and local) author Kelley Armstrong coming soon….

…to London, ON. She is doing a series of readings and book signings in early May for her YA ‘urban fantasy’ trilogy Darkest Powers – about a teenage necromancer and ghost whisperer who is coming to terms with her powers (when she first tells people that, like the movie, ‘I can see dead people’ she [...]

Youth Action: Teens and the News

I think sometimes we underestimate the level of engagement that young adults can feel with current events and with the news in general. People will point to various studies that argue young adults do not read newspapers, or feel interested by the news  — these studies are so numerous that I would like to urge [...]