‘Shapes of Love’ by L. V. Peñalba

Among books I’ve recently completed: Shapes of Love by L. V. Peñalba has the capacity to expand which orientations and which types of relationships are perceived as “normal.”

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

Cleared another book from my TBR list this week: I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi. “When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving civilization only a few days before they hit the kill switch.”

‘Children of Ragnarok’ by Cinda Williams Chima

I recently completed Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima (Grade 7 and up - School Library Journal). Published in 2022, this book was “new to me” when I purchased it at a second-hand bookstore. I was deeply interested in the fantasy setting that incorporated Norse mythology and I quickly became caught up by the story, which centered around three young people whose respective quests and challenges converge in New Jotunheim: a seeming paradise that is tainted by hidden evil. School Library Journal says: “Hand this to fantasy fans and younger readers aging into YA.” Children of Ragnarok is the first book in Chima’s Runestone Saga. The story continues in Bane of Asgard, published in 2024 — currently on my “want to read” list.

Recent arrivals in SRCSA library: Books with YA appeal

I recently accepted an invitation to select books from the library of a local middle school that is slated to close. It was a great opportunity to add books to SRCSA library that might appeal to our sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students.

UCM’s SOLIS Book Club: Our pick for Fall 2026

In Fall 2026, SOLIS Book Club will read and discuss Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. We’re the only VIRTUAL book club at the University of Central Missouri and our discussion is open to students, faculty, alumni, and staff.
https://youtu.be/Tfh4lj4lhxA

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UCM’s SOLIS Book Club: What shall we read in Spring 2026?

The National Book Awards recently announced its Longlist in the Young People’s Literature category. I want to suggest reading and discussing one of these books for Spring 2026.
https://youtu.be/w4aisCWJd0I

Authors and librarians are NOT groomers

Amid ever-increasing incidents of book challenges, I’m worried by inflammatory rhetoric that portrays librarians and authors as “groomers” of young people. Speaking as someone who survived an attempt at grooming, I consider this characterization to be vile and obscene.
https://youtu.be/SPMmEs7KdGM

Representing the Spectrum : Journal article live

If you view my posts regularly, you may recall a presentation that Professor Amanda Harrison and I made in Lexington, Ky., regarding the ways that autistic people are portrayed in children’s choice book award nominees. Professor Harrison also invited me to co-write an article (along with Andrea Dyche, LCSW, LSCSW). The presentation and article involved several months’ work and the article has now been posted to the Journal of Radical Librarianship.

Representing the Spectrum, Autism in the United States Children’s Choice Book Award Nominees, 2014-2024
https://journal.radicallibrarianship.org/index.php/journal/article/view/124

UCM’s SOLIS Book Club : Our pick for Spring ’25

In the Student Organization of Library and Information Services, University of Central Missouri: Our next book-club discussion will be I Must Betray You, a work of historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys.
https://youtu.be/oQpaztvJ338

Schneider Family Book Award acknowledges past missteps

This week, as an offshoot to my studies in librarianship, I reviewed the manual for a literature award that I am interested in, the Schneider Family Book Award. Presented each year by the American Library Association, this award recognizes books for children, middle-grade readers, and Young Adults “for their distinguished portrayal of people living with a disabling condition” (ALA, 2024, p. 6).

Thanks for Listening, by Molly Horan

This was a fun read. I appreciated Mia’s frustration with her friends for not heeding her advice, and enjoyed her solution, in the form of an anonymous social media account. Mia started out with good intentions, but it seemed as though, inevitably, her self-interests supplanted her altruism. I also read it with the cautionary idea that you aren’t necessarily as anonymous as you think you are online; Mia pretty much recognized every one of her friends who DM’d HereToHelp, in spite of the filters they used to mask their identities. I especially recommend this book for readers who enjoyed Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See and Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao.

UCM’s SOLIS Book Club : Poll winner for Fall 2024

The poll has closed and TJ Klune’s House in the Cerulean Sea was the top vote-getter for SOLIS Book Club to read and discuss in Fall 2024.
https://youtu.be/vhJV6ug8EcY

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LumaCon ’24 : personal highlights

On Feb. 3, 2024, I went to a youth-oriented comics convention, LumaCon in Petaluma, California. Event highlights, for me, were talking with creators Maia Kobabe, Brian Fies, and Alexis E. Fajardo, as well as a sighting of the BiblioBus: a mobile branch of Sonoma County Library. (One more sticker to affix to our map of Sonoma County Library branches!)
https://youtu.be/bIKtPXO1bp8

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Character education: Books about Honesty

SRCSA’s character-education focus for February 2024 is “Honesty.” Here are books from the school library, which address the character trait of Honesty.
https://youtu.be/yfQ5FB9vviE

Book-Talk : Look on the Bright Side, by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann

Brit, Sasha, Christine, and Abby, those student activists from Go with the Flow, are facing new challenges in Look on the Bright Side. This time around, the girls’ romantic relationships take center stage as Sasha spends all her time with her new boyfriend, Brit is confronted with two very different suitors, and Christine and Abby are contending with their feelings for each other.
https://youtu.be/amcdIaNOUeI

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UCM’s SOLIS Book Club : What shall we read next?

As a new semester dawns for the LIS program, University of Central Missouri, my thoughts turn to what our SOLIS book club can read next. Here are some medal winners and Honor Books that represent exceptional media for young people.

Book-Talk : Go with the Flow

This graphic novel concerns four friends in high school and their experience around having their periods, an experience they share in common with 1.8 billion people around the world each month. It is the book that authors Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann wish they had growing up.

Sexuality and reader’s advisory

A question was posed to me as part of my studies in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: How would I provide reader’s advisory for young people who are looking for books related to sexuality?

Goodreads to combat review-bombing

Goodreads, a “a prominent platform for book discovery,” is taking steps to combat review-bombing: a practice where people who haven’t even read a book, leave negative reviews for the book in an effort to drop its rating. This development is significant for efforts to promote greater diversity in publishing, because often “diverse” authors are the ones being targeted by review-bombing campaigns.

https://bookriot.com/goodreads-releases-statement-on-review-bombing/

SOLIS’s upcoming book club on Oct. 10

SOLIS’s meeting on Sept. 19 touched upon its first book-club discussion that takes place on Oct. 10.