I hope you had a great month and bonus extra day coming up! So, we’re changing things up at The Hub based on your feedback. One of those changes is now a monthly review instead of one each week. I hope you like the new format. Add in any new items we missed in the comments!
At The Hub:
- Teen Tech Week is coming up! If you curate apps for devices in your library, check out Sharon Rawlin’s round up of teens’ favorite apps to see if you’re missing any. Molly Wetta rounded up a list of YA technology fiction – perfect for a Teen Tech Week display!
- We had several posts on YA romance this month. Ethan Evans shared his favorite realistic romances in YA. Hub bloggers shared their favorite recent romances for those looking for books to suggest to the readers who are always looking for something new. Dawn Abron featured YA romance with interracial couples for her monthly Diversify YA column. And Carli Spina’s Women in Comics feature round up romantic graphic novels.
- We welcomed several new bloggers to The Hub this month! Kenzie Moore shared her in-depth knowledge of One Direction in our Fandom 101 series. Danielle Jones featured asexuality in young adult lit for her inaugural post. Alicia Abdul discussed titles that led not only to new knowledge for herself, but were also great books to spark conversations with teens.
Books and Reading:
- The Cooperative Children’s Book Center released the statistics on diversity in young adult and children’s books for 2015. Read their analysis.
- Check out this roundup of debut novels out in February at Stacked Books.
- A few YA authors share their 2016 must reads in Parade.
- Indie booksellers share their top picks of Spring YA titles in the 2016 Indie Book List
- This piece in the Guardian wonders discusses YA books and body diversity.
- The Cybils Awards were announced.
- Marley met her #1000BlackGirlBooks goal and proves that diversity matters.
- More Harry Potter is coming this summer!
- Sherrilyn Kenyon has sued Cassandra Clare for copyright infringement. This article from Slate discusses the origins of the lawsuit and its roots in fandom.
- The Amelia Bloomer Project has a Tumblr.
- Simon and Schuster created a new online community, Riveted Lit.
- Seventeen magazine teams up with Harlequin Teen to create a new imprint publishing YA fiction.
- A round up of “Wild West” stories in YA fiction at the Barnes & Noble blog.
- Kami Garcia and Jonathan Maeberry are writing X-Files “prequel” YA novels that focus on teenage Mulder and Scully.
- Teen Services Underground rounded up 8 YA alternate histories — definitely a recent trend in YA!
Movies and TV:
- John Green and Paramount are on the outs – what does this mean for the Looking For Alaska movie?
- 99 Days is headed to the small screen.
- A Darker Shade of Magic is also headed to TV.
Librarianship:
- YALSA Members can fill out this form and be a spotlight librarian in the e-newsletter!
- How Booksellers (and Librarians) hand sell diverse reads.
- Create animations with Pixar in a Box from Khan Academy.
- How to update your library’s look on a budget.
- What is self-censorship, and how does it impact collection development? Check out this discussion on why it’s an important term to discuss.
- An anti-Lexile, anti-reading level post.
- YALSA, Wattpad, and DeviantArt have teamed up for a cool challenge for teens for Teen Tech Week.
- School Library Journal had an interesting article about ebook usage in middle schools.
- Teen Services Underground’s Ask an Agent column featured a perennial question: what YA books do you recommend to younger teens?
- School Library Journal editor Kiera Parrot shares results from a survey on the diversity of SLJ reviewers and plans to recruit reviewers from diverse backgrounds as well as provide training for current reviewers to evaluate cultural content in books at Reading While White.
Just for Fun:
- BookBub wrote up 20 Reasons they Love Librarians for Library Lovers’ Month
- BuzzFeed shares 15 life lessons from Anne of Green Gables
- Self-E make some fun library valentines
- Does the Dewey Decimal System reflect you? Find out in this fun quiz
- Which Roald Dahl character are you? Take the quiz
The Hub Challenge:
We’re about a month into The Hub challenge! Here are some features posts from participants reviewing books or discussing the challenge. Keep sharing your progress on social media with #hubchallenge, in the comments on our weekly check-in posts, or in our Goodreads group!
- Jennifer at A Librarian’s Library reviews Nimona by Noelle Stevenson.
- Books and Bibliotecks shares thoughts on audiobooks and graphic novels from awards and selected lists.
- Reading YA by the River shared graphic novels read for the Hub Challenge.
- Amanda at Book Curious is reviewing books she’s reading for the challenge.
- Adrienne at Books and Bassets is recapping her experience with the challenge.
- Lynn at the Library Lush vlogged about her TBR list for the challenge.
- BJ Neary is on a roll with the challenge and has reviewed several books at Neary Notes!
- Lyndsey Thomas has finished ten books for the challenge so far, and has reviewed them on her blog.
- Follow along with Karen as she shares her reading progress on Instagram!
— Jennifer Rummel, currently reading Midnight Bites by Rachel Caine