As we recover from one family-focused holiday and are poised on the precipice of even more family time, it seems especially appropriate that Patrica Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor last night. Lockwood’s memoir of her move back, with husband in tow, to her childhood home in the rectory of her father-turned-priest […]
Being a very talented writer does not necessarily mean that talent also spills forth into the fictional bedroom. As seen from the current shortlist of the 2018 Bad Sex in Fiction Prize, even Haruki Murakami can be shortsighted when it comes to the biological facts. His nominated passage may be too hot for daytime reading […]
As an Englishman once said, “And now for something completely different.” The Fortieth Annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has been announced with great revelry and Joy of Waterboiling, by Christina Scheffenacker, has taken the prize! The title itself has even offered up the new meme-like acronym JOW. The winner simmered in shortlist controversy as the […]
With the November 15 issue of Booklist, our Spotlight on Religion, in the mail, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit Booklist Executive Editor Keir Graff’s 2012 list, “When Religion IS a Laughing Matter: Funny Books about People Who Believe and the Things They Believe In.” We’ve added 8 titles to the […]
It is once again Halloween, a day for the high-spirited of the world to dabble in the dark and peculiar. But you, lonely soul, of little means and littler purpose, in furtive moustache or eccentric dress, find yourself facing yet another day of banal horror. To get yourself in the holiday spirit, you may perhaps […]
There are book titles that are literal: 1984, The Old Man and the Sea, Gulliver’s Travels. There are book titles that are odd: The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, A Confederacy of Dunces. Then there are the book titles that are literally odd. The Bookseller has announced the shortlist for the Diagram Prize awarding the Oddest Book Title of the Year, […]
Is your forehead sore from the endless barrage of head-smacking news? Treat the injury with a dose of humor! The Thurber Prize for American Humor is awarded every year to writers who challenge themselves to find the funny and enable us to live life laughing. Finalists were announced today and we here at Booklist are […]
Lynn: It’s a great season for baseball fans! Not only is our favorite game in full swing, but there’s a full field of new books about baseball to enjoy when the games are over. Bookends reviewed two last week. Here are two more recent titles to join the lineup. The Game Can’t Love You Back, by […]
Lynn: Sometimes you just want silliness! No lessons, no moral to the story, just a fun, goofy book. Here are some picture books guaranteed to get the giggles going. A Couch for Llama, by Leah Gilbert This is a ridiculously funny story that begs to be reexamined and laughed at again and again. […]
Lynn: Are you still watching videos of Meghan and Harry’s wedding on YouTube? Yup, me too. If you and your teens are ready to move on to royal-watching in a different format, here’s a delightful new book that checks all the boxes for fans of crowned-heads-on-anything. Gorgeous clothes? Check. Handsome princes? Check. Behind-the-scenes secrets? Check. […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Follow the Booklist Reader