The Morning RSS for 2 July 2024
A collection of share-worthy items from our morning blog scroll.
Let’s start with something funny-not-funny. Here’s what the snippet in our feed reader said …
Yes, friends. Athena lost her head. We’d share the full article with you, but the NYT has it behind their blankety-blank paywall.
For Writers & Creators
In short, an author visit in our neck of the woods felt like a gift from the literary gods. And for me, in a lot of ways that mattered, it was. ~ Victoria Wlosok
Don’t miss Victoria’s guest post for the Mind the Middle Project at Teen Librarian Toolbox: Don’t Forget the Small Towns: The Importance of Promoting Books to Young Readers in Rural Areas
Jeff O’Neal has a nice summary of a Publishers Lunch analysis of a leaked document about Amazon and its near-monopoly on book sales. Read it here. [via Book Riot]
New Books & Book Lists
Speaking of Jeff O’Neal … he also has a list of 10 Nebula Award-winning books for your TBR.
Need a go-with for your next horror read? How about a candle that smells like a horror book. Find it in Emily Martin’s round-up of exciting new horror books. [Book Riot. Of course.]
We’re tripping - road tripping, that is. Which makes today a perfect day for enjoying an audiobook.
Books have existed for a long time, but audiobooks are a uniquely modern medium. They bring traditions of oral storytelling to life in our homes, making stories and great storytelling accessible for so many. ~ Rachel Brittain
Just because audiobook month just ended doesn’t mean you can’t check out Rachel’s list of 10 Excellent Black Historical Audiobooks or Kendra Winchester’s favorite nonfiction titles narrated by the author. Both at Book Riot [where else?!]
Want to know the secret to keeping young readers booking over the summer? 1. Pick a subject your kiddo is interested in. 2. Go to the library, ask a librarian, and check out the books. 3. Leave them out in a high-traffic area - coffee table, kitchen table, etc. 4. Stand back and watch! Want a ready-made list? Check these out:
Laura’s list of Must-Read Science Nonfiction for Kids at Literacious has all kinds of scienc-y stuff.
40 Excellent Summer Olympics Books for Kids by
at Imagination Soup will get them ready for the Games.
Sorry, TBR, we have more for you! The Horn Book has announced the 2024 winners of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. Winners and Honor Books are books for youth audiences in picture book, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry categories.
And last but not least … Courtney Rodgers’ list of YA books with a Sherlock Holmes twist not only includes both traditional narrative, anime, and graphic novel titles, but she also explains the four categories the adaptations fall into.
Book Bans & Censorship
For 2024, we’re going to flip the perspective on book bans and censorship. Instead of sharing the head-shaking news, we’re going to share head-nodding ideas!
Other Bookish Stuff
We would show you the Best Cities for College Graduates, BUT. The NYT has put it behind a paywall. *sigh* We hope you’re town is on the list.
If we play 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, this Hechinger Report about Our Brain on Screens v. Paper is book related. Even if there wasn’t a nexus, it’s fascinating reading.
And last but not least, a scatalogical report. Travis Jonkers has made it his mission to track poop books for young readers and in his latest report, he says the “Peak Poop” era may be behind us. [Get it?]
July is Anti-Boredom Month. Is there anything better to chase away that ennui than a good book? Exactly!
~ Team CYBILS
Rather than grousing about the paywall, can I ask you to please support the NYT and other publications’ request that folks pay for their news ? Journalism is in terrible danger right now & we need it more than ever. But it costs money to report a story (just like it costs money to write a book). If you’re a NYT subscriber, you can offer your readers gift links (I do in my Substack). But please don’t act as if paywalls are capricious and unreasonable. For most of my career, being a *paid* reporter has subsidized the less remunerative writing I do. Let’s normalize writers and publications getting compensated for their work!
OK with me to drop Poop books off the list!