The November Booklist Reader is here: start reading and sharing digitally today!

Order Booklist Reader in print for your patrons!

Starting with the January 2023 issue, you can share physical copies of Booklist Reader with library-building visitors. Don’t miss out on this valuable patron resource, which brings Booklist’s quality book and audiobook recommendations, author interviews, original features, and so much more directly to readers of all ages. Order your first fifty online today or by calling 1-888-350-0949, and learn more about this exciting patron resource on our blog! 

Hold Them Close: A Love Letter to Black Children
by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illustrated by Patrick Dougher and Jamel Shabazz

​Hold Them Close is a true work of art. “Hold on,” the poet urges, to the moments of life: the ones that might feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things (a dunked basketball), the ones that shake you to your core (the release of an incarcerated loved one), and everything in between.

 Roberto Clemente Community Academy, Winner of the Cloud Cuckoo Land Library Makeover Contest, Unveils New Look

On November 9, Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School in Chicago unveiled their new school library with a special ribbon cutting ceremony.

Booklist Backlist: A Good Yarn
by Susan Maguire

​Knitters are excellent library patrons, perusing the craft section for new patterns and the fiction section for new novels about their favorite hobby. Here are a few good yarns: mysteries, romance, and fantasy featuring knitting, plus a few excellent fiber-arts instruction books.

2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals Shortlist Announced

Today, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the six books shortlisted for the esteemed Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded for the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the United States. 2023 selection committee chair Stephen Sposato will announce the two medal winners at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards (BMAs) live streaming event, during LibLearnX on Sunday, January 29th at 4:30 p.m. CT.

The Shelf Care Interview: Tameka Fryer Brown and Nina Crews​

In this episode of the Shelf Care Interview, Julia Smith talks to Tameka Fryer Brown and Nina Crews about their new picture book biography, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change,

LibraryReads December 2022 Picks

Every month, library staff from across the country have the chance to vote on upcoming adult titles that they loved reading and cannot wait to share. Participation is open to everyone who works in a public library, whether they are senior staff or new arrivals, in any area of the library. LibraryReads is designed to be inclusive and diverse, representing a broad range of reading tastes and showcasing a variety of new titles, including buzzed-about debuts, genre favorites, best-selling authors, and lesser-known midlist titles that public library staff are raving about.

Carte Blanche: First and Foremost?
By Michael Cart

What is there to say about first novels except that, without them, we would have no literature? In my examination of this notion, I have selected the first YA novels of ten important writers in the field, whose work, past and present, has and continues to have outsize influence on the form, by introducing it, shaping it, enriching it, and confirming with it that young adult literature is literature.

Listen Up: 2022 Debut Narrators
by Heather Booth

As we celebrate new voices in our First Novels section, we are also celebrating new voices in audiobooks that we reviewed in 2022. We welcome these notable voice talents and hope to hear more from each of them in years to come.