Booklist's Shelf Care
Booklist's bookish library podcast
Welcome to Booklist’s Shelf Care, where we bring all things readers’ advisory, collection development, and reference right to your earbuds. Hosted by Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management and Library Outreach, each episode of Shelf Care will introduce you to rock star librarians, hot topics in publishing, and books you need to know from colleagues at Booklist.
Subscribe to Booklist’s Shelf Care on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. The Shelf Care Interview is also included in the subscription feed. More information on the Shelf Care Interview is located on this page, below the list of previous Shelf Care episodes.
Listen to the Latest Episode:

This episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast is all about Summer Scares. First, host Susan Maguire talks to Summer Scares committee member Konrad Stump and librarian Rebecca Leannah (from the Racine, Wisconsin Public Library) about what kinds of programming they do around Summer Scares, what to tell patrons who think horror is not for them, the Wisconsin version of Tiger King. Then, Susan gets the skinny on the selections for this years’ readers, first from author spokesperson Daniel Kraus and Summer Scares committee member Becky Spratford, then from Booklist’s own Julia Smith. Spooky! And fun.
Summer Scares Reading List 2023
Summer Scares Programming Guide 2023
This Thing Between Us, by Gus Moreno
Rotters, by Daniel Kraus
Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark
Catherine House, by Elizabeth Thomas
The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror, by Daniel M. Lavery
In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters
Squad, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illus. by Lisa Sterle
Mooncakes, by Suzanne Walker, illus. by Wendy Xu
Horror Writers Association’s StokerCon 2023 in Pittsburgh
The Living Dead, by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus
Evil Whispers, by Owl Goingback
“Spectrum of Horror: From Shivers to Terror,” by Susan Maguire and Becky Spratford
Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus
Between a Rock and a Hard Place, by Aron Ralston (127 Hours)
The Martian, by Andy Weir
Small Spaces, by Katherine Arden
Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories, by Dan SaSuWeh Jones, illus. by Weshoyot Alvitre
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwartz, illus. by Stephen Gammell
A Small Zombie Problem, by K. G. Campbell, illus. by the author
Booklistonline.com/webinars
Browse Previous Episodes:
Shelf Care #27: RA Training, the Audies, and Mothman
Episode #26: A Deep Dive into Book Groups
Episode #25: Editors' Choice 2022
Episode #24: Reading Glasses and Other Helpful Insights
Episode #23: Personal Weeding and Personal Reading
Episode #22: Book Banning and Book Suggesting
Episode #21: Spookier Than a Clown in a Cornfield: Summer Scares 2022
Episode #20: Reading the Reading List
Episode #19: Hyperlocal Streaming Music, Audiobook Awards, and Picture Books with Boots
Episode #18: Editors' Choice
Episode #17: No Library is a TARDIS: Or, Why and How to Weed
Episode #16: Don’t Think of an Elephant! (RA for non-RA Staff)
Episode #15: Graphic Novels for Every Reader
Episode #14: Circ Stats, Bridgerton, and Other Library Business
Episode #13: Summer Scares 2021
Episode #12: Editors' Choice 2020
Episode #11: Games!
Episode #10: Pandemic-Induced Programming Pivot
Episode #9: Comics and Book Groups and Libraries, Oh My!
Episode #8: Shelf Isolation
Episode #7: Size (and Format) Matters
Episode #6: Editors’ Choices
Episode #5: Cookbooks and the Apocalypse
Episode #4: Body Horror, Bruce Springsteen, and Vampire Feelings
Episode #3.5: Rebecca 'n' Rave
Episode #3: Graphic, Two Ways
Episode #2: To Beach Their Own
Episode #1: It's a Podcast!
The Shelf Care Interview
Welcome to Booklist’s conversation series, where our editors talk with book people. Below is a list of our recent conversations:
Interview #48: Paul Gilligan, the author and artist of Pluto Rocket: New in Town
Interview #47: Jessixa and Aaron Bagley, the author and artist of Duel
Interview #46: Series author Andrea Beaty and audiobook narrator Bahni Turpin of the Questioneers
Interview #45: Heather Murphy Capps, author of Indigo & Ida
Interivew #44: Tameka Fryer Brown and Nina Crews, authors of Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change
Interview #43: Saadia Faruqi, author of Marya Khan and the Incredible Henna Party
Interview #42: Svetlana Chmakova, author of Enemies
Interview #41: Daniel Minter, illustrator of Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky
Interview #40: Reimena Yee, author of My Aunt Is a Monster
Interview #39: April Lavalle and Alex Boniello, authors of A Case of the Zaps
Interview #38: Bao Phi, author of You Are Life, from Capstone
Interview #37: Johnnie Christmas, author of Swim Team, from from HarperCollins Children’s Books
Interview #36: Dan Abdo & Jason Patterson, author of Barb and the Ghost Blade, from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Interview #35: Sajni Patel, author of My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding, from Amulet Books
Interview #34: Jamar J. Perry, author of Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, from Bloomsbury Children's Books
Interview #33: Dave Scheidt and Miranda Harmon, creators of Mayor Good Boy, from Random House Children's Books
Interview #32: Chris Barton, author of How to Make a Book (About My Dog), from Lerner Publishing Group
Interview #31: Karla Valenti, author of Lotería; and Emma Otheguy, author of Sofia Acosta Makes a Scene, from Random House Children’s Books
Interview #30: Sara Pennypacker, author of Pax: Journey Home, from HarperCollins Children's Books
Interview #29: Jeffrey Archer, creator of Over My Dead Body, from HarperCollins
Interview #28: Nidhi Chanani, creator of Jukebox, from Macmillan
Interview #27: Barry McGovern, Marcella Riordan, and Roger Marsh, the team behind Finnegans Wake, from Naxos Audiobooks
Interview #26: Olivia Matthews and Janina Edwards, the team behind Murder By Page One, from Dreamscape Audio
Interview #25: Raúl the Third, author of Tag Team and Training Day, from HMH
Interview #24: J. William Lewis, author of The Essence of Nathan Biddle, from Greenleaf Book Group Press
Interview #23: Ally Carter, author of Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery, from HMH
Interview #22: Traci Sorell, author of Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer, from Lerner
Interview #21: John Gallagher, creator of Max Meow: Cat Crusader, from Random House Children's Books
Interview #20: Alex Sanchez, author of The Greatest Superpower, from Capstone
Interview #19: Duchess Harris, author of Being LGBTQ in America: LGBTQ Social Movements in America, from Gale's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice student eBook collection
Interview #18: Aliza Layne, creator of Beetle and the Hollowbones, from Simon & Schuster; and Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath, from BOOM! Studios
Interview #17: Talia Sherer, Amanda Rountree, Emily Day, and Samantha Slavin, from Macmillan Library Marketing
Interview #16: Kim Johnson, author of This Is My America, from Random House Children’s Books; and Alex Aster, author of Curse of the Night Witch, from Sourcebooks
Interview #15: Mike Curato, creator of Flamer; John Patrick Green, creator of the InvestiGators series; and Natalie Riess and Sara Goetter, creators of Dungeon Critters, all from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
Interview #14: Nancy Pearl, author of The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives, from HarperOne
Interview #13: V. T. Bidania, author of the Astrid and Apollo series, from Capstone
Interview #12: Margaret Owen, author of The Faithless Hawk, from Henry Holt & Co.
Interview #11: Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, creators of When Stars Are Scattered, from Dial, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers
Interview #10: Tracey Hecht, author of The Weeping Wombat, from Fabled Films Press
Interview #9: Sabaa Tahir, Nicole Andelfinger, and Sonia Liao, creators of A Thief among the Trees, from BOOM! Studios
Interview #8: Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of the Farah Rocks series, and Siman Nuurali, author of the Sadiq series, both from Capstone
Interview #7: Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds, authors of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, from Little, Brown
Interview #6: Irene Latham and Charles Waters, authors of Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z, from Lerner/Carolrhoda
Interview #5: Chris Ferrie, author of The Everyday Science Academy series, from Sourcebooks
Interview #4: Irene Hannon, author of Starfish Pier, from Revell
Interview #3: Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of Two Steps Forward, from Revell
Interview #2: Lynette Eason, author of Collateral Damage, from Revell
Interview #1: Irene Hannon, author of Dark Ambitions, from Revell
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