Rating 2024 Horror Novels by How Brat They Are

How to Explain Book Bans to Those Who Want to Understand

As part of an ongoing series of posts to talk about preparing for increased book censorship and attacks on the public institutions of libraries and schools, this week, I’m rerunning one of the most pertinent—and, frankly, important—pieces from this year. Having signed up for and engaged on BlueSky in the last several weeks, there has been an update uptick in the number of people who 1. want to better understand the landscape of book censorship and 2. want to be able to explain it to other people who may not be tapped in. I wrote a guide for just that.

Graphic Novels for Nonfiction Lovers

I know I can’t be the only one who loves both comic books and nonfiction! If you’re like me — or if you think you would like to be like me, in which case, I congratulate you on your refined taste — here are some reading comps to get you started.

9 of the Best Picture Books About Bodies

This work of celebrating body diversity has to start young. Like, really young. The message that all bodies are good bodies needs to be as obvious to kids as basic tenets like “be nice,” and “wash your hands.” This is where the librarians come in. In my role as a school librarian, I can normalize different bodies in the characters I share and avoid stories with unchecked negative messages. We are positioned to change the narrative in our tiny corners of the world, and sometimes, that’s all we can do. Luckily, publishing is stepping up and giving us stories that either explicitly or indirectly reinforce body neutrality at the very least. Read on for some of my favorite picture books about bodies.