Reflection on Five Years of Relentless Attacks on the Freedom to Read by Those at the Center of the Fight via Book Riot

As I have mentioned before on this blog, Kelly Jensen has been the only journalist in America covering the assault on our intellectual freedom that has been happening in our libraries (of all types). Full stop. She is not the only person engaged in this fight, but she is the only one chronicling it as a journalist.

Click here to read her censorship coverage for Book Riot.

Recently, she also launched a podcast called Liberating Lit which I wrote more about here. You can listen now wherever you get podcasts. 

But back to the journalism and coverage. Jensen has been doing this for 5 years. Recently, as part of her regular weekly censorship roundup on Book Riot, she released a special report entitled, "“We Need To Tell The Story”: Literary Advocates Nationwide Reflect On Five Years of Relentless Attacks on the Freedom to Read"

I encourage all of you to read this report. Whether you are a regular follower of Jensen's coverage or have barely paid attention (and every where in-between), please take some time to look at the chaotic and terrifying times we have all been living through. This report gives us all the chance to take a step back (even as we are still deep in it) and try to understand the last 5 years.

Great work by Jensen and her colleagues. From the introduction:

“We Need To Tell The Story”: Literary Advocates Nationwide Reflect On Five Years of Relentless Attacks on the Freedom to Read

Kelly Jensen Sep 18, 2026

There will be no weekly link roundup today–a double roundup will land next week. Instead, this week’s Literary Activism post is dedicated to a report pulled together by the collaborative efforts of Kelly Jensen (Book Riot), Tasslyn Magnusson, Sarah Lamdan (American Library Association), Stephana Ferrell (Florida Freedom to Read Project), and Arielle Haughee (Freedom to Read Project), as well as dozens of right to read champions nationwide. This report reflects on five years of escalating book censorship, including challenges, opportunities, and successes. It does not cover prison censorship during this period; that will be addressed in a future piece.

Please click here to read the full report. I am posting this on a Friday so you take some time to read it this weekend.

Office of Intellectual Freedom Releases Additional Reports on Censorship in 2025

I have a quick but important post to close out the week. While I was on the East Coast for family stuff, ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) released detailed reports on censorship in both public and school libraries throughout 2025. These have additional information from the more general reports that were prepared for other media events. 

I missed the initial announcement of these "Let Books Be" overviews, and I did not want you to miss them as a result. 

Please head over to their blog to access these reports for free.

These reports mix narrative with infographics and links. And I really appreciate the differentiation between school and public libraries. Yes, some of the info is the same, but some is not and that matters. 

Please take a look and use some of the information here to educate your patrons. And stay on top of censorship issues by following Kelly Jensen's detailed coverage on censorship and literary activism over on Book Riot.

Click here or on the images below to see more.

New Book on Gen Z Reading Habits-- Free Download Through 8/6

Portland State University researchers Kathi Inman Berens and Rachel Noorda have a new book from Cambridge University Press entitled, How Gen Z Discover and Consume Books. It is free to download here but only through August 6th!

From the summary:

This Element examines book consumption practices of Gen Z (born 1997–2012), a generation whose formative years coincided with the internet, smartphones, and social media-digital ecosystems that transformed book discovery, consumption, and social identification. Drawing on two nationally representative US surveys (2025, n=2000; 2022, n=2075), the authors investigate paradoxical tensions in Gen Z reading: preference for print despite reliance on digital discovery mechanisms, dissonance between reader identity and actual behaviors, and evolving attitudes toward piracy and AI. The analysis reveals how Gen Z's reading practices exist within multimodal media environments with increasingly permeable format boundaries. This generation navigates a complex landscape spanning traditional bookstores to digital-only providers, where discovery is shaped by algorithms, peer influence, cross-media storytelling, and differential trust in information sources. These findings have significant implications for publishers, educators, and cultural institutions engaging young readers in fragmented media environments.

I know asking you to read an entire book on this topic is a big ask, but I do have a compromise courtesy of the Book Riot Podcast where Rebecca sat down with the authors to discuss their research and findings. Click here to listen for free.

Also here is the Book Riot quick summary to go with the podcast:

The kids are all right, according to Drs. Rachel Noorda and Kathi Inman Berens, authors of a new book about Gen Z’s reading habits.

In surveys specifically constructed to capture the reading habits of the first generation of digital natives, they found:

• More than 65% of Gen Z people identify as readers, a 15% increase between 2022 and 2025.
• Visits to physical bookstores tripled between 2022 and 2025 as Gen Z folks sought safe “third spaces” outside of home and school.
• Gen Z reported buying a median of 107 books per year and reading 58 print books per year.
• Librarians are gaining influence as trusted sources of book recommendations, as Gen Z’s interest in social media influencers and talent wanes.

🎧 Get more data from our conversation with the researchers, and download their book for free from Cambridge University Press through August 6.

Go download the book NOW so you don't miss your chance. You can always read it later, but only if you download it before August 6th.

I have more posts about generational reading behavior for you to peruse when you want at this link as well.

Bookstore Romance Day is Coming (8/15) and Libraries Need to Be Ready

Bookstore Romance Day is August 15th and Libraries not only need to be ready to help promote Romance over the next few weeks, but you should also be reaching out to your local bookstores (whether they are Romance specific or general because all bookstore have Romance) to see if you can help them out with promotion or even partner with them for events.

Click here for more information about Bookstore Romance Day.

They are hosting virtual panels and even have access to past panels. You should be sharing their links on your socials and websites from 8/1 through 8/15 for sure.

At the very least all of you need to be aware that the Bookstore Romance people are doing a big media blitz on and around this date, so that means, you should be brushing up on your Romance RA and putting up displays. People will be hearing about Romance more, even those who don't normally read it. If people walk into the library and see Romance on display, they will think you are reading their minds. And that is when we are really winning.

Libraries are not the only ones getting ready for Bookstore Romance  Day. In preparation for Bookstore Romance Day, PW had this article about how Romance Book Stores are surging across American right now. And Jessica Pryde, librarian and author of Black Love Matters, had this great Brief History of Black Romance in the 2020s in Book Riot.

Speaking of Book Riot, they always cover Romance-- all year long. You can go directly to that section of the site with this link. They do a great job of covering whatever the latest trend is and offer reading lists for you to have titles ready for your patrons ASAP.

And of course for all your general RA Romance needs, keep Smart Bitches, Trashy Books bookmarked and ready, especially their book finder. 

Finally, here is the direct link to the Reddit Romance Books landing page. Real readers talking about the books they love and suggesting more. This is particularly helpful when a trends seems to pop up out of nowhere. By the time you hear about it, I can assure you, the r/RomanceBooks people are already on the case.

Reminder, every single one of the resources I am suggesting are guaranteed to be 100% human created. Do not just google romance lists and think what you find is okay, even if made by a library. The worst thing you can do as a library worker here is offer up a list that AI made that includes titles that do not exist. 

Best Adaptations of the Century So Far

There are plenty of readalike lists for "The Odyssey," but this is just one example of an ongoing discussion we have at libraries all the time. And that discussion is about book to visual media adaptations. We talk about it in libraries all year long. We have requests for specific books when the movie or TV show comes out. We get the general question about good adaptations. 

You work in a library you know this is a common request. I even have a tag "books into movies" that you can use to see all the times I have written about this topic.

Of course, right now people are all over the Odyssey. But just a few months ago it was all about Hamnet.  Washington rinse, repeat because this cycle never ends. And quite frankly it is great for us at libraries, to have an evergreen topic that we can make displays about.

Back in 2024, I had this Conversation Starter to Display post about how to make a display of the best adaptations, including how to ask your patrons to contribute. 

Well I am bringing that post back into the conversation today because as part of their Best of the Century (So Far) coverage Book Riot didn't just look at the major genres, they also have a category for The Best Adaptations. From the intro to that list:

Book people tend to have big opinions about adaptations. There’s the camp that believes the book is always better, and those brave souls who’ll admit when the opposite is true. There are those who expect an adaptation to strictly adhere to the source material, and those who will quote Merriam-Webster to refute that idea outright. Some are down for the wild, creative, out-there interpretations as long as they’re entertained, and others can find something to appreciate if the project adheres to the spirit of the original text.

The task, then, of selecting the best adaptations of the century so far was a tricky one to start. What does “best” even mean when there’s so much variety in what we expect an adaptation to do? The answer, of course, is nuanced, and we think that’s a good thing. Adaptations can be beautiful interpretations of texts that remain pretty close to the original. They can also breathe new life into beloved works by switching up timelines and settings or making them more diverse (or diverse, period). An adaptation might turn a familiar story completely on its head, subverting tropes and trappings with fresh perspectives.  

 

From the fiercely faithful to the irreverent and anachronistic, we believe a good adaptation is largely in the eyes of the beholder. Behold then, dear reader, our picks for the best adaptations of the century so far.

Click through to see the list, check my 2024 post about how to build this display and include your patrons' voices and opinions, and see all of my posts about adaptations here. Use these resources that I have compiled in one place for you to jump on the current adaptation craze-- The Odyssey-- and offer your patrons more options to scratch their adaptations itch. 

And the best thing about this display is that it is evergreen. You can use it any time of year and people will appreciate it. It is not tied to a specific movie, but rather the long standing conversation about whether or not the book was better.

Best Books of 2026 (So Far) via Book Riot

We are in the midst of the literal dog days of summer and one of the best of the best lists for the first half of 2026 has dropped.from Book Riot. From the introduction:

It’s time to declare The Best Books of 2026 So Far! We looked back at books published between January 1 and June 30 to choose our absolute favorites from the first half of the year, narrowing them down after much consideration, and whispered apologies to the reads that didn’t make the cut. 

It’s been a great year for books and comics, with releases from some of our greatest living writers and exciting new voices for adult, YA, and younger audiences alike. Our favorite literary fiction asks big questions about colonization, resistance, survival, and mortality, as well as about faith, community, and what it means to truly be seen. Our top nonfiction includes a memoir on mental health and homeschooling, an investigation into a mysterious death, and an exploration of the health costs of the digital age. Our genre picks are precisely what you’d expect from a Book Riot “best of” list, featuring swoony romances, epic and cozy fantasy, thrilling whodunits, romps in space, and everything in between. 

We’re pleased to present you with our picks for the best books of 2026 so far. Add them to your TBR, share them with your book club, and settle in for some seriously satisfying reading.

You can read the full Book Riot Best of 2026 (So Far) at this link.

This list is broken down by genre and includes suggestions from across their staff. What I am really enjoying about this list (and every Book Riot best list) is that it is a list by readers for readers. Everything Book Riot does is written for and produced for actual readers. Yes they think about quality (the books they include are well written) but their mission in everything they do is to create content for readers.

Their site is written in a conversational voice, positioning everything for its best reader. The writers are readers in the genres they specialize in. They are always making lists (for all ages of readers) of books you should read if the annotation piques your interest. 

Their best of the year so far list reflects everything I have said above. These are also books here I haven't seen on other lists, even a few I haven't even heard of. These are books you can display proudly on your "Best of the Year So Far" displays. 

Speaking of, I wrote at length about using these lists to create displays and do conversation starters last month here. Combine this post from today with those other prominent lists and the direction on how best to position these books at your library.

Which reminds me, don't forget the backlist of ALL Book Riot best lists which you can access with this link.

Are Public Libraries Becoming Children’s Libraries? A Report on the Unintended Consequences of Censorship via 404 Media

I talk about censorship and preserving the Freedom to Read here often, but not as often as Kelly Jensen tirelessly covers the issue over on Book Riot. Click here for the Book Riot censorship archives. I have pointed to her coverage many times. [Use my censorship tag for examples]. 

What I love about how Kelly has been covering the deterioration of our Freedom to Read is that she doesn't just report on the actions, she writes articles about what these censorship actions do, how they affect everyone in our country, and how they are changing the entire library landscape no matter where you live. I hate saying I love this about her coverage because I hate that she has to do it, but I am thankful we have her working on it for 6 years and counting.

She is inspiring others to look at the implications of these challenges and the laws that have sprung up. She is also inspiring others to use FOIA for good. The book banners FOIA us all the time, but people like Kelly, and now 404 Media, are using FOPIA to fight against censorship.

[Side note, I am on the Illinois Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee and we are talking about creating a program about this exactly. Too many libraries are afraid of getting FOIA requests because usually it is from nefarious people, but people like Kelly Jensen and 404 Media are using FOIA to help us protect intellectual freedom and to expose how horrible the book banners are. We are trying to flip the script and remind those of us on the side of protecting intellectual freedom that FOIA is there for everyone!]

Speaking of 404 Media, they just released a long piece about the implications of censorship. The title, "Are Public Libraries Becoming Children’s Libraries?" is provocative, but the article goes into a very deep dive here about how public library collections are going to be decimated over time. Specifically because libraries are complying with laws that say they have to move children's' material that non-professionals (citizens) have deemed "adult" to the adult sections, not only will kids and teens not find those books, not check them out, meaning that they will get weeded for non used, but also, adult sections will become filled with kids materials, turning adults off from browsing.

There is a lot more here, and they have looked at libraries all across America. They have shared the records they have obtained via FOIA, including collection policies with the track changes turned on. 

Please read this article and aways follow Kelly Jensen's censorship coverage on Book Riot, Specifically this article which 404 used for their piece as well. And please, fight, do not give in to the book banners. Our biggest issue is our supportive public has been unwilling to fight for us as hard or in as an organized a fashion as those who want to stop any of us from having intellectual freedom. 

As wee head into the ALA Conference starting up on Friday, this is the issue we should be focusing on. Fuck AI and all the programs about how we need to embrace it. We still haven't stopped our intellectual Freedom from being undermined. And, in fact, it is only going to get worse according to the 404 Media report.

Speaking of ALA Annual, I will be back tomorrow with information on how everyone-- whether you are joining us in Chicago or not-- can get resources from the conference. 

Best Historical Fiction of the Century So Far via Book Riot, with Bonus Becky Thoughts on the Appeal of HF

As I have been updating my Demystifying Genre program (most recent slides here), I keep adding new resource links. Today, as I was swapping the Book Riot link on my historical fiction slide from one discussing the best HF of the last 10 years for this brand new one, "The Best Historical Fiction Books of the Century So Far," I realized I should probably post that list here as well.

Below you can find the introduction written by the workers who created this list as well as a link to see the full annotated list. You can use this to set up displays and even use it for a Conversation Starter to Display so you can gather your patron's titles as well. Click here for more about how to do that 

A final comment about Historical Fiction in general, before we get to the list itself, one of the biggest appeal factors I have been exploring when it comes to Historical Fiction is that its popularity is tied to the fact that readers know how it is all going to turn out. You see, because historical fiction is based on real history, readers can know before the dive in what the outcome will be; maybe not for the entire book, but in general. For example, when you read The Hunger by Alma Katsu, you know they are all going to die before you start. Or if you read a WWII epic, you know Hitler will be defeated. Even if it looks good for a moment in the first example or bad in the second, readers know deep down how it is all going to play out. 

Over the last 26 years of helping readers, one of the things that pops up again and again is that readers often won't try a book, especially by an author who is new to them, if they are worried about how it will all turn out. When we suggest HF, it is a shorthand for them to have an idea of what to expect, and that peace of mind is often enough for them to give an author they have never heard of or have never tried a chance.

Thanks for sticking around for some of my thoughts about Historical Fiction and its appeal. You can see more on slide 20 of my genre presentation. Now, you can find the intro and the link to the list below:

Book Riot's The Best Historical Fiction of the Century So Far Sponsored by Thrift Books

Selecting the best recent historical fiction books feels like a contradiction in terms. Historical fiction is a broad genre, encompassing thousands of years and spanning the entire globe. It can focus on the most well-known figures of all time or highlight everyday lives that don’t typically make it into textbooks. Ironically, historical fiction feels like a timeless genre—how can historical fiction be outdated or fresh?

Despite that, the genre has changed significantly over the decades, especially since the turn of this century. World War II historical novels are still a staple of book club reading lists, and there are always new angles to take on that setting, but we’re also seeing much more diversity in the kinds of people and places historical fiction highlights.

The best historical fiction books of the century so far take us from ancient Greece to the Joseon dynasty in Korea to the Six-Day War in Palestine to 1980s NASA astronaut training. Historical fiction continues to be biased towards recent events, but we are getting to see more of history around the world than we did just a few decades ago. 

The huge scope of the genre made it difficult to put this list together. Our writers had a lot of debates about what historical fiction even is: Does it need to focus on a real historical figure? (We voted “no.”) How far back in time counts as “historical”? (The most recent time period we included is the 1980s.) 

We also nominated many more books than made it onto this final selection. Until the last minute, we added and removed titles to try to curate a selection that represents the breadth of the genre. If you’re interested in which books ended up on the cutting room floor, All Access members will receive the full list of all of our nominations soon.

To make things even more complicated, historical fiction combines seamlessly with almost every other genre, including mysteries, fantasy, romance—even sci-fi. You’ll find some of these historical genre-blending titles below, but we prioritized books that are historical fiction first, with the other genres complementing that.

Here are our picks for the best historical fiction of the century so far.

Click here to read the list

How to Predict the Buzziest Books via Book Riot Podcast and How to Help Patrons via Booklist

The April Book Riot new books podcast is all about how to try to predict what the buzziest book is going to be BEFORE it comes out. You can access the podcast and read more at this link, but here are the criteria they came up with to try to make these predictions: 

• Art – Is it good?

• Acclaim – Will it contend for awards and best-of lists?

• Sales – Where’s the money?

• Zeitgeist – What’s the buzz?

I found this list and their discussion about these 4 pillars fascinating on its own, but it also reminded me of  one of the presentations from last month's Booklist Ideas and Practice event: Four Cornerstones of Reader Interest by Heather Booth and Susan Maguire

I posted about the entire event at this link. But for short cut purposes:

• Access the recording at this link
• Access the slides at this link

Booth and Maguire listed the 4 cornerstones as Mood, Availability, Appeal, and Zeitgeist. This idea of buzzy books addressed by Book Riot above is very similar to Zeitgeist which they quickly defined as "The interest of the greater world, the community, friends, media, and more. If you scroll down here on slides you can see a few specific slides for Zeitgeist. And again you can click here to watch the recording and hear them expound on Zeitgeist and how we use it to help readers.

I really wanted to write about this presentation specifically after listening to the Book Riot podcast. The two things taken together really help to demystify the process of us helping readers when they want the buzziest books, especially when those titles seem to come out of nowhere (I'm giving you the side eye,  Theo of Golden).

I hope pairing these two separate but tangential resources helps you as much as it helped me.

Just Say No to AI: 100% Free and Human Created Read-Alike Lists

This post is part of a series entitled, "Just Say Not to AI." Click here to pull up all the posts in this series (in reverse chronological order). For the first post in this series, click here.

I used to confidently recommend people simply google to find readalikes for popular books, especially those catch us off guard buzzy books. For example, "readalikes for Theo of Golden."

Well in the current world, I cannot recommend that anymore and it is not just because the first responses are AI generated and cannot be trusted for a variety of reasons from ethical to that fact that  (most notably ]many of the results will turn out to be hallucinated. But, and I hate to write this, but I also do not trust other libraries to have created lists using their own brains.

I am hearing stories about and even seeing library trainers actually say that AI can do readalikes better than you staff. Their professional recommendation is to stop "wasting" time on readalikes.

This is flat out wrong. Readalikes done by a computer are bad. They match plot points not appeals. When trained humans do this work, that is where readers are connected with books they knew nothing about before we suggest them, books they fall in love with, books that bring them back for more and keep them reading.

My core training programs not only teach this, but I prove it both with myself and have the attendees prove it with their own reading throughout the course of the training itself. I show how reader's brains cannot be understood with algorithms. How what people like about a book cannot be plotted on a graph. And I illustrate how four people can describe four different version of the same book. 

And when we are talking about readalike for the buzziest of books (like Theo of Golden), we need humans helping readers on the ground to give us the titles our readers are clamoring for. I tend to go to Reddit first in these circumstances (as I wrote about here). This resource is the best way to crowdsource (from humans) an answer to a popular request.  Click this link to see a list of Reddit discussion with suggestion for fans of Theo of Golden. That is a google search but in which I include Reddit as a term and as a result only get Reddit results. There are MANY.

But there are other places where you can rely on humans to not only help you with readalikes, but also keep you abreast of the books for which you will need those readalikes.

Library Journal and LibraryReads work together every week to identify the books with the most holds across America and then offer readalikes for that title. I wish they had a landing page to get at this easier, but in lieu of that, I crafted a search at this link which will bring that rescue up in reverse chronological order.

Book Riot is also my favorite place for human created reading lists and suggestions for the buzziest of books. Their job is to literally provide the content their readers most want. As a result, if something is even slightly popular, they have a plethora of resources that allow you to help readers. 

Take this article with readalikes for Project Hail Mary as a great example. You get readalikes first and then at the end of the article links to other content they have created which you might also like. 

They do this for everything, all the time. Their lists are guaranteed to include marginalized voices. And they are paying humans to create this content. Please support it by using Book Riot as one of your first line resources-- not GOOGLE. Your support with clicks will keep them in business, meaning that the human knowledge stays free. (note: I know Book Riot has some content behind a paywall, but that is more directed at readers. For our purposes, what we need is free.) 

Finally, I do want to mention NoveList as an option. NoveList is also 100% Human created, but it is not free. They have people applying metadata to their titles using controlled, human created, language. They also cross reference various human created sources, and layer it all with lists and content written by their employees and contracted librarians. It is a database that is built on the work of humans. 

But even though NoveList has been around for a while, I am not going to lie, I have serious concerns about human created resources all ending up behind a paywall in the future. Like AI will be free but we are going to have to pay for humans. That will be a nightmare, and I don't think it is too far fetched for me to predict this with the way we are going now.

Just please, be careful. Be proactive as you provide "while you wait" readalikes for the most popular titles, but make sure the resources you use to identify those titles are made by humans.

2026 Summer Scares Title Announcement

 

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day and Friday the 13th, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is delighted to announce the eighth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and library workers and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

This year, Summer Scares welcomes New York Times Bestselling author Jennifer McMahon as the 2026 spokesperson:

"We need horror now more than ever. Stories to unsettle us, to make us question what we think we know, to show us how to confront the darkness and come out the other side,” said McMahon. “Stories that we will put down and feel changed by. This collection of books chosen by the Summer Scares committee perfectly showcases the true diversity of horror today, and is more evidence that we are at the peak of a horror renaissance. These are books to get lost in, books to share with others in your life, books to talk about and ponder over. So come along, take my hand and prepare to step into the darkness with me this summer. Yes, there’s plenty of scary stuff in these books. But there’s also a whole lot of hope. Oh, and don’t close your eyes — you don’t want to miss a thing along the way."

Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2026 those selected titles are:

Adult Selections:

A Botanical Daughter, by Noah Medlock (Titan, 2024) 

Never Whistle at Night, ed. Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst (Vintage, 2023)

Maeve Fly, by CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire, 2023)

Young Adult Selections:

What We Harvest, by Ann Fraistat (Delacorte Press, 2022) 

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, by Linda Cheng (Roaring Brook Press, 2023) 

Our Shadows Have Claws, ed. Yamile Saied Méndez & Amparo Ortiz (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022)  

Middle Grade Selections:

Garlic and the Vampire, by Bree Paulsen (Harper, 2021) 

It Came from the Trees, by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press, 2023)  

This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko (Harper, 2022)

Summer Scares aims to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers so they can start conversations with readers that extend beyond the books on each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares Programming Guide—free for any library to access—is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their patrons. 

“The 2026 guide, developed and designed by the HWA Libraries team, is the library worker’s roadmap to providing exciting and meaningful experiences for their communities through Summer Scares, whether they’re putting up book displays, leading discussion groups, developing events, or orchestrating an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. “With select titles aligned with iREAD’s 2026 theme (Plant a Seed, Read), the guide makes it easy for libraries across the world to incorporate Summer Scares into their summer reading programs and engage patrons of all ages in the horror genre.”

The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2026 on the Summer Scares Resource page at http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

Along with the guide, the Summer Scares committee will work with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. Any library looking to host horror-themed events anytime of year is encouraged to email libraries@horror.org to get started.

Booklist is helping to kick off Summer Scares 2026 in March with a series of three free webinars with this year’s featured authors in conversation with committee members:

• Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Middle-Grade authors and moderated by Julia Smith. Click here to register.
• Monday, March 23, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Young Adult authors and moderated by Kelly Jensen. Click here to register.
• Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Adult authors and moderated by Jennifer McMahon. Click here to register.

Each webinar lasts one hour. Anyone may register to participate for free at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars. Recordings will be available for on demand viewing after the live events at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars-archive.

All are welcome to join the Summer Scares committee and featured authors at the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on Friday, June 5, 2026 in Pittsburg, PA as part of StokerConⓇ. Please visit https://www.stokercon.com/ for more information.

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals and the oldest organization dedicated to the Horror/Dark Fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2026 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Jennifer McMahon, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as academic library director and ILA President Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Senior Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, Booklist Senior Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith, and Manager of Reader Content and Services at NoveList Yaika Sabat.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including committee member bios and how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, please visit the Summer Scares Resource Page (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html) or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at libraries at horror dot org.

Please click here for access to our free folder of graphics including title collages courtesy of Kelly Jensen.

Click on the image to access the
Summer Scares 2026 Graphics folder

60 Small Things You (and Your Patrons) Can Do To Defend the Right to Read via Kelly Jensen

It's the second full week of 2026 and my question to you is the same one I have had for the last 5 years-- What have you been doing to fight for the freedom read in the face of increasing censorship across the entire country?

Seriously, I hope everyone reading this is doing SOMETHING to help fight censorship where they live. And don't say to me Becky, my state is doing fine, so I am good.

NOPE. This is wrong on so many levels.

First, I am in IL which was the first state to ban book bans, I was there when the bill was signed, but I also serve on the Illinois Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, and let me tell you, we receive requests for help from library workers whose libraries are facing threats to their intellectual freedom all the time. So if you think you are "safe" where you live you are not.

Second, and this is what I spent all of 2025 discussing everywhere I went-- We need to be speaking out BEFORE there are problems. It's too late in some places, but everywhere else, why aren't you showing up to be in favor of the freedom to read at Board Meetings. Here is my keynote from the Bram Stoker Awards where I shamed every author and every viewer for NOT acting and then gave concrete info on how to go to a meeting and speak up. From that speech which you can read or watch here:

I am asking you tonight to commit to attending a meeting (or 2 or 3) of your local library board in the next few months. Even if, and especially if, they are not experiencing any book challenges. Why? Well, first, they probably are and you just don’t know it. The Federal Government is actively striping money from every public library in the nation right now. They have put the American Library Association on their “enemies” list. We library workers are in the thick of this horror novel level chaos every single day. What we need is to see the public come out and support us.

I also gave a version of this speech to a room full of publishers at an ALA Preconference. 2 people in an entire room of supposed library lovers had ever even attended a meeting of their local library board meeting and one of those was because he served as a trustee. I know many library "supporters" are not acting. 

Third, no one is "safe" from threats to our intellectual freedom in America. When anyone is being threatened, we all are. And this point is one Kelly Jensen has been making for over 5 years now. No one has done more to help fight for the Freedom to Read than Kelly Jensen. I have shared her clear action steps on the blog many times before-- click here and here for examples just from the last few months or use this link to pull up all of her literary activism pieces and censorship info roundups on Book Riot.

Even though Kelly has had many easy to adopt and follow action steps for you and ones you can pass on to your patrons, you all still aren't pulling your weight. Have you done ANYTHING? If yes, you can do more. And most importantly, have you used your library's platform to share how your community can help? 

The time for excuses is long past, but it is never too late to start acting. And to help you, Kelly has made a spreadsheet of 60 small things you can do to actively defend the freedom to read. 60 things you can also encourage your patrons to do because we get asked by the public how they can help all the time. Don't tell me you don't. I have been stopped at the grocery store, local restaurants, parties, etc... and am asked to explain what the heck is going on and how they can help. 

Please go here to read her article. Read the entire thing. And then especially pay attention to this part:

 To help with this, as the list below can be overwhelming to take in as a whole, I’ve created a Google Spreadsheet for you to use in tracking, documenting, and including any notes that might help you along the way. The document is locked, so to edit it, you’ll need to go to File, then select ‘Make a Copy’ onto your own Google Drive.

Please follow her directions. You click here to get access to the spreadsheet, but then you must go to "File" and "Make a Copy " so you can save the spreadsheet to your own Google Drive.

The 60 tasks themselves would also make a great series on your own social media or websites. Things you can share with your community throughout the year. Things everyone can do. Number 11 is one similar to what I have been advocating that people do:

Write a letter to your library board complimenting something about the work being done in your public library. Don’t overthink this. You can say you borrowed a book you loved because you saw it on display. You can say that library workers do a fantastic job of selecting material that meets the needs of your community. If you work in a library, advocate for making it easy for your users to advocate for you (examples here and here)

Please commit to 2026 being the year you finally step up and do something. And if you have already been active, make it the year you get someone else involved. There are 60 small things right at your fingertips.

Beyond Banned Books Displays: How Did Your Library Celebrate Intellectual Freedom Earlier This Month?

I am on the Illinois Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee and I just created a survey for IL Libraries asking them to share any creative ideas for rising above the basic "Banned Books Week" display that they tried out earlier this month.

During the ILA Annual Conference, our committee had a great program on "soft censorship," and at the end, we asked for feedback as to what else the ILA community wanted us to work on int he coming year. This topic-- how to promote Intellectual Freedom beyond just talking about book banning or putting up banned books displays-- came up many times.

We all know that book banning gets people's attention but the issue is so much deeper. In fact, because Intellectual Freedom in general is in jeopardy, it is important for us to pivot and focus on advocacy and information about our rights over just putting up displays of books that have been banned.

This is something Kelly Jensen writes about all of the time for Book Riot here, but before Banned Books Week 2025, she went into more detail about how she was helping her local bookstore focus on advocacy over banning. I shared her thoughts and bookmarks here.

It is this kind of "beyond banned books displays" idea that we are looking to gather for a program here in IL, but I also want to gather even more examples, from all over the country to share with my followers all over the world here on the blog.

So, if you had a successful display, campaign, promotion, etc.... during Banned Books Week that you want to share with a larger audience, please contact me (bspratford at hotmail dot com) with the subject heading, "Beyond Banned Books Displays" (to make sure it doesn't get lost in spam) and I will work to feature some of your Intellectual Freedom advocacy ideas here. I might even pass your library's work on to Kelly Jensen to feature on Book Riot as well.

You did the work to educate your community, but here is your chance to help libraries and their patrons all over the country. Please share. No library is too small. I want to hear about all of it.

Let's work together to share ideas. Our Intellectual Freedom could hang in the balance. Thanks in advance.

Getting Ready for Banned Books Week.

Banned Books Week is coming October 5-11, 2025. Now is the time to prepare. Well, every day is the time to prepare because those who want to limit intellectual freedom are busy every single day.

But Banned Books Week is the one week of the year where all media outlets will be paying attention. There will be a blitz everywhere and your patrons will be hearing and reading about it. They will have questions and most will want to help us in our fight. 

I am here to help you get ready with some things you may not know about and some practical advice.

Actually, I am to start with the practical advice and some "real talk" to deal with threats to intellectual freedom all year long. Lila Denning had this extremely helpful post-- How to Navigate Book Displays When You Have To Be Careful. 

Please everyone read this. Denning works in Florida. She understands what all of us are dealing with and has still been able to make all of her displays reflect all voices.

You can use her advice for Banned Books Week as well.

Speaking of, here is the link to the official Banned Books Week website with tons of lists, social media scripts, events, graphics, and more.

Recently Shelf Awareness published  their Special Banned Books Week issue

I also had this post in late August when PW had their Freedom to Read Issue. 

Book Riot has excellent censorship coverage by Kelly Jensen all year long here. https://bookriot.com/category/censorship/

And EveryLibrary Live! has a great lineup of author talks during Banned Books Week here, including Joe R. Lansdale whose latest book I am giving away TODAY on the horror blog.

I hope all of these resources help you figure out the best way to promote Banned Books Week at your library. 

Get Up to Date on the State of Censorship and Then DO SOMETHING

The school year is getting back into gear which unfortunately means that the book banners will get back at it in force at local school board meetings.

I am here with links to help you get up to speed on the book banning conversation in America right now:

• Get up to speed on the current legislative landscape with this state-by-state report from EveryLibrary. 
• Over on Book Riot, Kelly Jensen had this post on all of the Anti-Book Band Laws passed in 2025 and what they mean. 
• And for the other side of story, also by Jensen, a report on what's next in book censorship.
• PBS news has a "book bans" tag so that you can see all of their reports.
• Follow the Banned Books Week preparations (coming October 5-11) because the ALA machine behind this event drives a lot of the conversation every fall. 

Okay so now you are up to speed on the current conversation, so it is time to ask-- What can I do? Well first things first, you need to go to your local library and school board meetings on the regular (get a group together and divide up the calendars so you don;'t have to go at this alone) and make a comment at every single meeting affirming that you are there to speak up for the intellectual freedom of all residents to be able to find the books they want for themselves and their children. 

I have more detailed information including meeting attendance best practices in this post with the transcript of my StokerCon Keynote entitled" Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read." Just transfer out "authors" for "library workers" and follow the advice.

Second, stay up to date. Kelly Jensen is writing about censorship constantly. You can find all of her pieces in reverse chronological order at this link anytime. Bookmark it, check it daily, and stay in the know. If there are action steps for specific issues, she posts them. She also has a free newsletter on ButtonDown called Well Sourced. Sign up here.

But what you should NOT do is just sit there shaking your head and think that this is not happening in your town so you don't need to worry. It is happening everywhere. I live in a state where it is technically illegal to ban books and we are dealing with it.

Again, the best thing you can do is show up in your local spaces BEFORE there is a problem. Speak up in support of intellectual freedom. These boards only hear from the people who want books removed or moved to a section where the intended audience won't be able to find it (still censorship). They need to hear from the vast majority of people in this country who don't want censorship. Get off your butt and go to a meeting. Again, if you don't know how to appear or are worried about speaking up before there is a problem, read my keynote, it has talking points and resources.

I know we are all tired, but the work is not done. If everyone does their part, we will make a difference.

How To Recommend Books Like An Expert via Book Riot

A few days ago, Book Riot ran an article entitled "How to Recommend Books Like an Expert." It is written by a librarian but written FOR a general reader audience.

This distinction matters. 

In my programs where I train library workers to provide service to readers, I often cite how important of a resource Book Riot is to us for two reasons. The first, less important today but worth noting, is because their content is judged by the number of clicks its author receives. This means they are always trying to have content that resonates with people in the moment. Their mission to write articles that readers will want to click on helps us. because they are actively trying to address trends and provide timely content at a speed and in a manner we would never have time to do.  

But the second reason I recommend Book Riot as one of the best resources is on showcase in the article I am sharing here today. 

Book Riot writes every piece in a conversational voice that speaks directly to readers. It is welcoming and easy to understand. They make the ins and outs of the book world clear to its most dedicated readers. Their audience is filled with people who love to read, who mark reading as their biggest hobby, and who are voracious about consuming book news and information. 

We all win when Book Riot educates these readers about genres, what the most popular books are, etc.... And in this case specifically-- when they break down how to best match books with readers.

Click through to read it all.

A couple of thing I love about this post from our perspective at the library:

1. It is a great overview of what we already do, but written out for the average reader to understand. Sharing this with your patrons will go a long way towards creating more conversational based RA service. This will break down the mystery of why we ask all those questions that aren't just about books when helping them find their next read.
2. When I worked at the library, most of the staff were not at the Librarian level, and as the resident RA educator, I was often tasked with getting them up to speed on the basics of RA Service. This was for my staff (Adult and Teen), Youth Services, and Circulation. This article is an even better starting point for new hires than my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service. Think of this article as the introduction before the First Rule.
3. And I am sure the person who wrote the article is aware of my site, but not only is Book Riot one of my 5 Resources you cannot live without, they also mention NoveList and Literature Map as well-- 2 more of my top 5.
4. This article reminds you to keep using resources to stay up to date and gather more suggestions from others. Again, something I talk about all of the time.

So be aware of what Book Riot is writing about in general and specifically, use this piece to introduce your readers and new staff to what it is we all do at the library every day.

But also, be proud of yourselves and your work because Book Riot deems suggesting books to readers as one of the top, clickable topics!

Micro-Genre Alert: LitRPG via Book Riot and Why We Need Their Help to Do Our Jobs Better

One of my favorite things about Book Riot is that their entire reason for existing is to encourage readers to click on their stories. This means that they are constantly producing content that readers actually want and need. They are able to address trends and produce annotated lists of titles that people would love if only they knew about them, very quickly.

For those of us who work at the library and are struggling to keep up with the day to day tasks, these lists are RA gold. We know we can use them to make displays and provide online content for our readers in real time. We can also use them to check our collections and add titles that, while not hugely popular yet, will address an emerging trend. Titles we can position on displays and lists ASAP. Titles people would love, if only they knew they existed.

Book Riot also has intentional diversity editorial standards, so that you can trust that they will never put out a list that is all white and hetero.

One example of these helpful lists is when they identify micro-genre trends. Yesterday they had one of these articles entitles "What is LitRPG?" From the article:

LitRPG has been pretty huge for a while now. If you’re not a regular of science fiction and fantasy, however, you may not be familiar with the term nor some of its biggest successes. Fortunately for you, I’m here with a primer on all things about literary roleplaying games, also known as LitRPGs.

Click here to read the primer and see a list of example books-- and not the ones you know about like Ready Player One or Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. These are the types of books I advocate featuring-- the ones people wouldn't know about without your help.

Book Riot does these kinds of posts all the time. Let them stay on top of all the trends for you,  from emerging micro-genres to readalikes for popular media to newsletters on a whole bunch of topics. Let them do the work for us. They want to do it. They get paid to do it. We need to be providing this information to our readers and we really don't have the time to be as up to date as our readers need us to.

Remember, our main job is to provide information to our patrons. We don't have to create said information. We don't get a prize for doing everything on our own. Quite the opposite. We succeed when we use resources to help our readers find the best books for them. RESOURCES. Our brains are not the only, and definitely not the best, resource. If we only rely on ourselves we are not only failing our readers, we are also not being good information professionals.

So check out this post on LitRPG and pay attention to Book Riot for your displays, online lists, and collection development needs.