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Thursday, March 9, 2023

Booklist Spotlights the Environment and Sustainability and I Have Ideas On How (and Why) to Use It With a Wider Group of Readers

One of my favorite things about Booklist as a resource is that it covers all leisure reading-- all ages, all formats, fiction and nonfiction-- all in a single magazine. And, yet another favorite thing is that each issue has a few "spotlights," gathering the best from the previous 12 months (since the last spotlight) into useful lists.

The March 1st issue was a great example of those favorite things colliding. The spotlight was on the Environment and Sustainability and that issue provided two excellent lists of nonfiction that are great for a general adult audience. Lists you can use immediately with readers:

On that second list, I read and loved 2 of the titles as we considered them for the Andrew Carnegie Medal last year: Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods by Lyndsie Bourgon and The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth, by Ben Rawlence. The later title easily made our Nonfiction Longlist.

All of these titles are perfect for a general reader, those who want accurate scientific information in a fun to read package. Nothing here is too technical. Take Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods by Lyndsie Bourgon for example. This is both a book about our declining forests AND a true crime story. It is written just like True Crime, a genre I covered yesterday on the blog. And we know that is super popular.

That is but one example. The appeal of these titles is vast and the potential readership is wide. Consider putting these titles on a display with your Cli-Fi to show readers the wide array of reading options that are available to them. You can also click here for other posts I have tagged Cli-Fi. We don't need to always separate fiction and nonfiction in our displays; in fact, I have found that readers appreciate when fiction and nonfiction options are intermingle because too often readers forget one while looking for the other. They appreciate us more when we offer a potential read that they would not have ever picked up without our help.

Also, remember these lists and, especially, the annotations are ready to use with readers immediately. Especially the annotation because all of Booklist's Spotlight issue lists have annotations that are perfect conversation starters for you to introduce a book. It's a built in suggestion and book talk allow one list. And the editors at Booklist have vetted these titles for you. These are the best of the best. 

So use these lists now, but remember, every single issue is a spotlight for something and willinlcude vetted lists you can use immediately and with confidence. 

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