“But locals have protested the removal by promoting the books far and wide. Bookstore Fireside Books has been raising funds to get the books out to young readers locally, a digital book club has been set up to discuss the titles, the Mat-Su Valley Banned Book Challenge is offering a $100 prize to those students who read all five titles, and local food truck DallyMac & Cheese will give a free mac’n’cheese to students who present a one-page report on any of the books....

These protests and laws are not, however, about CRT at all. They’re about control of what’s taught in the classroom, ensuring that voices of the global majority are suppressed in favor of white supremacy. And in one central Pennsylvania school district, students have spoken up, demanding that materials by Black and Brown authors be reinstated in the classroom. Central York High School banned a wide range of books, movies, websites, and articles by diverse creators, following the district’s work to overhaul their social studies curriculum in 2020....

The anthology features artists such as Hannah Berry, the UK Comics Laureate, Steven Appleby and Karrie Fransman. You can see the full list of artwork here, but I’ll include some of my favorites below. The actions included in Draw The Line range from being a “raging granny,” through to “shop dropping.” I love how there are actions pitched for all ages and all levels of ability; even if the world scares you quite a lot right now, there’s still some positive actions you can take....

The AT is a nearly 2,200-mile trail between Springer Mountain, Georgia and Mt. Katahdin in Maine, passing through 14 states, including North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Vermont. Together with the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail, these trails make up the Triple Crown. Nature/outdoors writing has long been filled with rugged individualistic tales of men, mostly white men. The outdoors has not always been — and still is not — a friendly place for those who aren’t men and for people of color, and the literature has largely reflected this: in 2021, it was noted that about 95 percent of AT thru-hikers identified as white....

One trend Gelman noticed in publishing this year, especially in their top ten, is books that focus on friendship — as opposed to ones about romantic relationships — especially books that feature messy, complicated relationships with friends and family. In Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, the main character points out that “Lovers are common,” but “True collaborators in this life are rare.” Our Missing Hearts and Carrie Soto Is Back are two other books on the list that focus on friendships as well as relationships between a parent and child....

In other words, full-cast audiobooks don’t change any of the words of the original work; but they feel more like the book is really happening because you have voice actors performing the roles of specific characters by speaking their dialogue and reading sections from their perspective. (FYI, this makes full-cast audiobooks different from radio plays based on books, since radio plays are adaptations that make changes to the author’s original words, such as replacing setting description or action with sounds or dialogue....

I love the stories of Middle-earth with all my heart and soul and I love that song and verse plays such a large role in these stories. Here are my favorite songs and poems from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 1. Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold Excerpt: Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away ere break of day To seek the pale enchanted gold....

We were blown away by the enthusiasm and so many of you told us that Read Harder helped you to discover genres, authors, and titles you otherwise wouldn’t have picked up. We hope that this edition of the Challenge stretches your reading boundaries just as much as last year’s. There are, once again, 24 tasks averaging out to two per month if you’re planning out your reading year. As I said last year, “We encourage you to push yourself, to take advantage of this challenge as a way to explore topics or formats or genres that you otherwise wouldn’t try....

I would be remiss not to highlight the overabundance of books about poker written by white men. Although this list of poker books includes both women and people of color, most of the women are white, and most of the people of color are men. I look forward to a time when our next curation of the best poker books better reflects society. Must-Read Poker Strategy Guides The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker by Matt Lessinger Expert poker player and columnist for Card Player, Matt Lessinger, gives the ins and outs of mastering the art of bluffing in order to win big at the poker table....

Then there’s the intimidating geography aspect of fantasy novels in particular. Whenever I open a book and see a map, I get a sinking feeling in my gut. That usually signals that geography is important to this story, and I should be tracking place names. I have trouble remembering basic geography, likely because I can’t hold images well in my mind, so that is another hurdle. At least when a map is included, I have the option of flipping back to consult it, but that gets old fairly quickly....

I find a lot of comfort in books not-yet-read. They are stacked high on the floor of my office, next to an overfull bookshelf. For a while, I tried to organize them. I gave up when I had to just start adding to the tops of the towers. I sometimes worry my cat will zoom past one of these towers. Her broad side will brush against it and send all the unread books tumbling down....

This is how it’s going to work. I picked five schools from different books, and I’m going to take a look at their pros and cons to see which ones are objectively terrible and which would be fun to attend. For that, I’m going to ask some questions like: do you actually learn anything? Are most of the other students decent human beings? And, this seems to come up a lot, could you die if you go there?...

“The whole audience was so moved by her words, we all were dabbing our eyes. It was the most beautiful moment, a testament to the power of books in children’s lives. This is why it’s necessary to give ALL children visions of themselves in stories, why we owe them the richness of their worlds reflected back to them and shared with others.” We all just want to be seen. “Devastated, I googled “Pottermore sorting hat crisis....

Historical fiction allows for exploration of themes, through the eyes of history. As we know, history isn’t always pretty, and maybe that’s why some of these books don’t get the praise we think they deserve. Past the displays of fresh publications and best sellers, there on the bottom shelf, or crammed between favorite authors, you might find a book with an unusual cover or title. Give the book a chance because you never know what brilliance you’ll find....

If you’re new to her work, you might not know where to begin. I mean, she’s written nearly 400 books. Read on to discover several reading pathways you can take with Yolen’s work and some of my very favorite books. Picture Books Yolen might be best known for her picture books. If you’re searching for books for your youngest reader, try… Other great Yolen picture books include A Kite For Moon, Crow Not Crow, and A Bear Sat On My Porch Today....

Eighteen-year-old Reuyen is the reincarnation of Queen Swan. Queen Swan was beheaded by her own husband two hundred years ago for being a tyrant after years of conquest that left the country neglected. Two knights and their queen who rose from death continue their love and war from centuries ago. With an already established large fan base, Fallen Queen is a bestselling epic fantasy in Korea. Fallen Queen will make readers root for its remarkable heroine with a dark past, in a richly built world full of intrigue, cocky knights, and a war that threatens bringing her secrets to light....

As someone who is a total scaredy cat, spending October reading spooky books is not really something I can do, unless I want to lose a lot of sleep. But thankfully, reading horror or spooky books is not the only way to get into the seasonal spirit. Nor is it the only way to add a little spookiness to our reading lives. These adorable monster bookmarks can help get into the Halloween celebrations, even if you’re not the type of person to pick up a spooky read....

A post shared by Bethany Park (@isthisbethanypark) on Feb 12, 2019 at 1:48am PST These spooky endpapers are the reverse of the colors on the already striking cover of The Butcher’s Hook by Janet Ellis. A post shared by Cassie P (@happybooklovers) on Feb 12, 2019 at 9:27am PST New Erotica for Feminists has pizzas. How awesome is that? A post shared by Forest Hills HS Library (@fhhslibrary) on Feb 12, 2019 at 1:13pm PST Treat Yourself to this Rice Krispie cookbook with matching endpapers....