- 2021 Apr 14
Arizona Bookstore Faces Troubles
Mary Ann’s Mostly Books in Apache Junction closed before properly opening after the owner encountered health problems.
Las Vegas Bookstore Carries On
The owner of Dragon Castle Books says that she's managed to keep the bookstore open during the pandemic through ingenuity.
- 2021 Apr 13
Pittsburgh Store Takes Over Another
Riverstone Books is taking over management of Classic Lines, and will rename the store.
Vancouver Bookstores See Soaring Sales
Stores in the Canadian city on the Pacific coast have thrived during the pandemic.
How Miami's Most Famous Chain Survived
The Books & Books chain in Miami has persisted through the pandemic, in part by hosting virtual events.
- 2021 Apr 12
From Book Riot
The 2021 Hugo Award finalists have been announced, including those in the YA novel category.
From Entertainment Weekly
Jason Reynolds to serve as inaugural Honorary Chair of Banned Books Week.
From the Guardian
Cressida Cowell leads call from all U.K. children’s laureates for £100m a year to fix primary school libraries.
From Variety
Love, Simon Writer Becky Albertalli’s The Upside of Unrequited to Be Adapted for Film.
From BuzzFeed
Cover Reveal for Here’s to Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.
From the Walrus
Jon Klassen on How to Teach Kids About Impending Doom.
From BuzzFeed
15 Inclusive Children's Books to Diversify Your Family's Bookshelf.
Safety Is Priority for U.K. Bookstores
Bookstores in the U.K. are reopening today, and the Booksellers Association has provided guidance for ensuring the safety of customers.
Follett May Buy Calgary Bookstore
Students are protesting the proposed sale of the University of Calgary bookstore in Alberta to Follett.
How One Young Colorado Bookseller Coped
The owner of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, still in his 20s, has been assisted by the local community through the Covid crisis.
- 2021 Apr 09
New York Bookstore Also Sells Pickles
Sweet Pickle Books opened on the Lower East Side of Manhattan late last year, and honors the neighborhood in its name and merchandise.
- 2021 Apr 08
New Baltimore Bookstore Is in the Works
Organizers are raising money on Indiegogo to open Dreamers & Make Believers, a new book and comics store.
Rhode Island Bookseller Discusses Career
Victoria Forsberg-Lary of Cellar Stories in Providence discusses how she got involved in antiquarian bookselling.
Regional Associations Offer Scholarships
Applications are now being taken from booksellers from NAIBA, SIBA, and NEIBA who want to apply for $250 professional development scholarships.
Michigan Loses a Store, S.D. Gets One
Bookworm Bookstore in Houghton is closing after 17 years in business. It is moving to De Smet, South Dakota, later this month.
- 2021 Apr 07
From Variety
Stacey Lee’s ‘The Downstairs Girl’ Developed as Series by Bound Entertainment
From Literary Hub
“Hook the Reader and Hold Them: Why More Writers Should Study the Lessons of YA”: by Donna Freitas.
From Vanity Fair
How Amanda Gorman Became So Much More Than a Literary Star.
From NBC News
Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez wants young people to be Fearless.
From Fuse#8
Why the Netflix Version of A Series of Unfortunate Events is a Trump-Era Time Capsule.
From NPR
'Farewell for Now:' Leigh Bardugo on Rule of Wolves.
From the Los Angeles Times
Grave injustice becomes fiction in YA from one of the exonerated Central Park Five.
From Express & Star
Auction date set for £30,000 Harry Potter book left to children by late mother.
From Book Riot
13 Poems by YA Authors.
From Book Riot
15 Great Middle Grade Books About Friendship.
From Read Brightly
12 Fantastic Picture Books for Country Music Lovers.
From Book Riot
9 Contemporary YA Books for Food Lovers.
From Book Riot
6 of the Best Kids' Books About the Outdoors.
- 2021 Apr 06
North Carolina Bookstore Is Moving Again
Adventure Bound Books in Morganton is moving to a new, larger location. This is the store's second move in three years.
Manhattan Store Honors Late Colleague
Word Up community bookstore is running a pop-up store selling off the vast collection of a former volunteer at the store.
Wyoming Bookstore Seeks Buyer
Sheridan Stationery Books and Gallery in Sheridan is closing its existing storefront and the business is up for sale.
Honoring Anti-Racism and Diversity
The 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, established in 1935 to honor books that contribute to the understanding of racism and offer an appreciation of the diversity of human cultures, have been awarded to Vincent Brown for Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of An Atlantic Slave War (co-winner, nonfiction), Victoria Chang for Obit (poetry), Samuel R. Delany (Lifetime Achievement), James McBride for Deacon King Kong (Fiction), and Natasha Trethewey for Memorial Drive (co-winner, Nonfiction).
Streaming Flannery O’Connor
PBS’s American Masters is a long-running and award-winning series of documentaries about the lives and creative careers of many of the most transcendent America artists across the full range of creative disciplines. The series has profiled Nina Simone, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Twyla Tharp, Oliver Sacks, Tony Bennett, and Carole King, just to name a few. Its most recent release is Flannery, a new documentary on the life and works of the renowned Southern author Flannery O’Connor that features interviews with such literary figures as Mary Karr, Hilton Als, and Tobias Wolf, among others, in addition to archival footage.
Comics Strip NFT Bought At Auction
In late March cartoonist Matt Kindt created MIND MFMT: The Artifact, a comics strip based on his eponymous 2013 graphic novel series, as an NFT (non-fungible token), or a unique digital comic that exists only on blockchain technology. Kindt put the NFT strip up for auction with proceeds to go to an environmental charity. The comics strip has now been purchased for 2.68 Etherium, a cryptocurrency estimated to be worth about $5,660, by an anonymous buyer (“I don’t want to deal with the whole hatred on the internet thing”) who has posted the comic on reddit. “I’m trying to make sure it’s out there and not being used to promote a single thing.”
The Black Major Leagues
In an essay marking the death of the great Atlanta Braves slugger and former Negro League baseball player Henry Aaron, and Major League Baseball’s announcement that it will now include the playing statistics of Negro League players in its official records, Rowan Ricardo Phillips tries to define the mythic power of Aaron and the Negro Leagues, created out of the vicious legacy of American racism, and their powerful role in American sports and popular culture. While MLB plans to “elevate” the Negro Leagues by combining statistics, Phillips’ essay makes the case that the Negro Leagues, full of great players banned from MLB because of their race, were always equal anyway—the stats were just a part of those players’ enduring legacy of transcendence.
Navigating Redemption
The Millions’s Nick Ripatrazone interviews novelist Kirstin Valdez Quade about her new novel The Five Wounds, based on a short story from her 2015 collection Night at the Fiestas. Set in a small New Mexico town, it’s the story of Amadeo Padilla who is preparing for the town procession during Holy Week when his 15 year-old daughter arrives at his house pregnant, dramatically interrupting his introspective efforts to face his own personal failures. Quade says her book, “is about healing from the wounds of the past, and part of that healing requires looking closely at oneself and one’s place in the world and the hurts we have caused.”
- 2021 Apr 05
From the New York Times
Imagining the Timeless Childhood of Beverly Cleary’s Portland.
From Deadline
Joe Alwyn and 1917 Star Dean-Charles Chapman Join Lena Dunham’s Catherine Called Birdy.
From PopSugar
Lauren Oliver's Panic Adaptation Just Got an Amazon Prime Premiere Date.
From People
Ramona Star Sarah Polley Remembers Beverly Cleary, Creator of Characters Full of 'Mess' & 'Magic.'
From People
Padma Lakshmi Writes Debut Kids' Book Inspired by Cooking with Daughter.
From Book Riot
14 LGBTQ Board Books to Diversify Your Baby’s Bookshelves.
Indiana Bookstore to Reopen
Morgenstern Books in Bloomington is reopening after closing 25 years ago.
- 2021 Apr 04
Kentucky Getting a New Children's Store
Plaid Elephant Books is opening in Danville later this year.
- 2021 Apr 02
NYC's Drama Book Shop to Reopen Soon
Drama Book Shop in Manhattan has had a delayed reopening, but the new owners say it is coming shortly.
A New Guard for a New Hampshire Store
Beannacht, a used bookstore in Bethlehem, has a new owner.
Irish Stores Ask Gov't to Let Them Work
Bookselling Ireland has asked the government to allow bookstores to open as "essential" businesses, or to allow curbside pick-up.
Bermuda Bookstores Are Suffering
Bookstores in Bermuda are enduring slowed sales due to lockdowns from the Covid-19 crisis.
Illinois Gets a New Bookstore for Kids
Three Stories Books, a children's bookstore, is opening Lemont this weekend.
- 2021 Apr 01
Two Chicago Stores Cope with Covid-19
Powell's Books and Seminary Co-op are both still closed to customers due to the pandemic and each is managing in its own way.
- 2021 Mar 31
From Variety
To All the Boys Spinoff Series Starring Anna Cathcart in Early Development at Netflix.
From Hypable
Netflix unveils new trailer for Shadow and Bone.
From Portland Monthly
“What Ramona Quimby Taught Me About Taking Up Space”: Renée Watson pays tribute to Beverly Cleary.
From the Washington Post
The many faces of Ramona Quimby.
From the Daily Californian
To read or not to read?: How BookTok has repopularized young adult fiction.
From Glamour
Angeline Boulley Wanted to Tell Native Women’s Stories. Now She Has a Bestseller and a Netflix Deal.
From the New York Times
Elizabeth Acevedo, By the Book: "Mami would take me to the library every Saturday, and as I grew older she attempted to shoo me outside. I wound up taking the books with me and reading on the stoop instead."
From Impact Nottingham
YA Dystopian Adaptations: The Downfall of a Genre.
From the Today Show
Meteorologist Dylan Dreyer announces new children's book, Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day.
From Forbes
10 of the Most Notable YA Books of 2021 (So Far).
From Book Riot
8 of the Best Nonfiction Books About Girls Around the World.
From Entertainment Weekly
A guide to six slice-of-life graphic novels for young readers.
From Book Riot
7 Great Children's Books About Courage and Bravery.
New York City to Get a New Bookstore
Miranda Writes Books and Bar, a new bookstore, will open in the Bronx later this year.
How a California Bookstore Survived
The owner of Bell's Books in Palo Alto discusses staying open during the pandemic.
China Holds Bookselling Conference
A conference focusing on the development of China's bricks-and-mortar bookstores was held in Beijing on Tuesday.
- 2021 Mar 29
From the Washington Post
Beverly Cleary, through Ramona, captured the essence of childhood.
From Vulture
The Emotional Transformations of Beverly Cleary’s Work: "Cleary’s honesty about anger, disappointment, and jealousy, her refusal to excuse those emotions in her characters or try to fix them quickly— this is what feels most revolutionary."
From the Washington Post
Opinion: ‘Children’s author’ Beverly Cleary was a great writer, period.
From the New York Times
Beverly Cleary Helped Boys Love Books: an essay by David Levithan.
From People
Judy Blume Once Exchanged Letters with Beverly Cleary After Accidentally Getting Each Other's Fan Mail.
From New York Times
Scholastic pulls 2010 book by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey with 'harmful racial stereotypes.'
From Kidscreen
A live-action TV series based on the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency books is in the works.
From the New York Times
Amanda Gorman’s Poetry United Critics. It’s Dividing Translators.
From Book Riot
20 Children's Books to Read by AAPI Writers and Illustrators.
Atlanta to Get a New Bookstore
Virginia Highland Books, an new general interest indie store, will open in late May or June.
Upstate New York's New Black Bookstore
Cerebral Kingdom opened in Rochester last August and is the city's only Black-owned bookstore.
- 2021 Mar 26
Arizona Bookstore May Close
The future of the Singing Wing Bookshop in Benson is in doubt after the death of its longtime owner.
Milwaukee's New Latinx Online Store
La Revo Book is a new Latinx online bookstore based in Milwaukee and focused on serving Wisconsin residents.
- 2021 Mar 25
Glennon Doyle Named IBD Ambassador
Glennon Doyle, author of 'Untamed,' has been named ambassador for Independent Bookstore Day, which will take place on April 22.
Chicago Bookstore Closes One Location
Volumes Bookcafe is closing its Wicker Park location, but intends to reopen in the neighborhood. Its downtown store is still open.
Australian Bookstore Must Find New Home
Folio Books in Brisbane must move shop following the loss of its lease.
- 2021 Mar 24
From School Library Journal
Chronicling COVID: Children’s Authors Tackle Pandemic Topics for Kids.
From Montclair Local
Professor and children's literature expert M. Jerry Weiss has died at age 94.
From Romper
Why Do So Many Celebrities Write Children's Books?
From Quill & Quire
Remembering Canadian children's author Budge Wilson.
From the Guardian
Prince Harry writes foreword to book for children who have lost parents to Covid.
From Time
Sandra Boynton and Yo-Yo Ma in Conversation About Their New Collaboration Jungle Night.
From NPR
Illustrators Build a Bridge for Young Readers, Says Artist James Ransome.
From Literary Hub
Step Into the Pages of Goodnight Moon with This Immersive Exhibition.
From HuffPost
Children's Books That Teach Kids to Love Animals.
From Book Riot
YA Thrillers Starring Marginalized Teens.
From Popsugar
These 15 Coding Books Might Spark the Inner Programmer in Your Kid.
- 2021 Mar 23
Arizona Gets a New Latinx Bookstore
Barrio Books, a Latinx bookstore in Tucson, has transitioned from a pop-up to a permanent bricks-and-mortar location.
Wisconsin Bookstore Hits Milestone
Pearle Street Books in LaCrosse is celebrating more than 20 years in business.
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