2022 Summer Scares Title Announcement

Click here for the full Summer Scares
Resource Page

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the fourth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages and during any time of the year.

Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2022 the selected titles are:

ADULT:

• Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias [Broken River Books, 2018]
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris [Fantagraphics, 2017]
• The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman [Quirk Books, 2019]

YA:

• Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare [HarperTeen, 2020]
• The Companion by Kate Alender [G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2020]
• Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams [Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020]

MIDDLE GRADE:

• The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown [Scholastic Press, 2019]
• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker [Henry Holt and Co., 2019]
• Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne [Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020]

"I'm thrilled with the selection of books and authors chosen by the Summer Scares programming committee for this year's program,” said 2022 spokesperson Alma Katsu, “and look forward to working with librarians to introduce these great titles to more readers."

The goal of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares committee will release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles libraries can suggest to readers. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. 

The Summer Scares Programming Guide, created each year by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, and free for libraries anywhere to access, is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their communities. 

“The 2022 guide is packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they're putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. 

This year’s programming guide will also feature an article by Yaika Sabat from NoveList, a new Summer Scares partner. 

“NoveList is working to highlight the program through the creation of booklists, recommendations, and even some promotional material,” notes Sabat.

Sabat, Stump, Katsu, and many of our Summer Scares 2022 authors will be appearing along with committee members Becky Spratford and Julia Smith as part of the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on May 13, 2022, at the Curtis Hotel in Denver, CO, during this year’s StokerCon. Summer Scares content will be available live, in person, and as part of our virtual conference, as well as on the HWA’s YouTube page.

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 2022 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Alma Katsu, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, and Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith. 

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@horror.org.

RA for All Virtual Roadshow Presents an Updated Version of my Demystifying Genre Slides

Today I am giving my first genre overview program of 2022 and that means, the entire presentation got a refresh.

This program is meant to give library workers the basic appeal factors and trends for every major genre with sample titles in 60-90 minutes.

Emphasis on the basics. 

Each slide serves as an outline for what you can expect in each genre, presented in a manner that allows you, the library worker, to use the slides as talking points. So even if you are not a fan of, for instance, Fantasy, you can at least get a sense of why the average fan likes it. It gives you a language to begin a conversation with a fan of any genre and some sample titles to suggest.

And that is all I can do when tasked with presenting on every major genre in one presentation. Again, this is an overview. I do offer programs on specific genres if you want them, however, I would argue that you can get those for FREE from the Crash Course series offered by NoveList and LibraryReads here. I mean, I will take your money, but I think you should go to the Crash Course archives before you reach out to me to give you something very similar. [Unless you want Horror, then I am your person.]

Back to this overview program, I also include information on why understanding genre tropes is helpful AND give you many free genre resources to delve deeper into each genre.

This presentation is step one of your journey to demystifying genre and unlocking its power as a tool to help readers.

I will be giving this program a lot in the coming months. You can go to my Recent and Upcoming Presentations page in order to see where and when. I will also post slides there. Expect some small changes to these slides over the next few months, but unless I do a major overhaul, I will NOT post here.

Click here or on the opening slide below to access today's presentation. Slide access is free for all.

Click here for slide access

RA Basics: Promote the Books Patrons Will Not Find on Their Own

Recently I saw this article entitled "I Left Your Favorite Book Off That List On Purpose" over on Book Riot. It was written in response to comments they have received about their lists.

While I am not surprised people get salty about their favs being left off of lists, I think that this article's publication is a good time to remind you of A VERY BASIC RA RULE. Here it is:

Our job is to promote the books patrons would NOT find on their own.

That's RA 101. We do not need to add blockbuster books to our displays and lists. They do not need your help. And even more so, you are not helping your patrons find a book by putting, for example, Stephen King on a Horror list. Everyone knows Stephen King writes Horror. Let's help people find more.

[eds note/shameless plug: I have an entire book about that]

Our job in service to leisure readers at the public library, is to help them find the books they didn't know about or maybe did know about a few years ago and never got to. It is NOT to give them options the they already love. How is that helpful?!?!

Now, you can use popular titles as a carrot to get people to check out your list or display. For instance, you can title a display "Stephen King's Legacy" or "Romance Beyond Nora Roberts." 

Your best displays and promotion are those which feature books that make the average library patron thinks, "Huh, I didn't know about any of these. Yay library for pointing me to books that are 'new' to me!"

Keep this in mind. Always. Highlight books that need the attention, books that people would love if they just knew you owned them, books that could come a new favorite.

This mantra,"Our job is to promote the books patrons would NOT find on their own," should be your guide as you build lists and displays. As you share books with readers. 

Also you need to make sure your lists represent marginalized voices and are not only filled with white, cis authors. This does not mean you display Colson Whitehead, however. He also does not need your help. 

That being said, I would also argue that the titles getting the most censorship backlash right now should also not be on your lists and displays. They are all over the news as well. But what you can do is use titles like Gender Queer or Beloved or Maus as the starting point for lists, and then provide people with other excellent titles that readers of those books may also enjoy, if only they knew about them. 

For every banned book, there are dozens more on the same topic or with similar appeal that never get read. Make a display of books that explore gender identity and include graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, and more. You can title it, "Beyond Gender Queer." This is your chance to show your patrons the breadth of your collections and make it clear that you are about options, not just what's hot.

I have included a slide from my Booktalking program which highlights some of this in easy to remember bullet points. And this is a good time to add the reminder, that creating displays and book lists is a form of "Booktalking."

Now start promoting the books that need it.

Click here to access all slides

How to Respond to a Materials Challenge Downloadable Examples via Book Riot

As I wrote about here, I recently gave a presentation on how to prepare for a materials challenge drawing on my 20+ years experience as a Librarian and Trustee. At this link I posted some of that information.

But the most important thing for you to know is that your FIRST STOP for all your materials challenge needs is Book Riot's coverage lead by editor Kelly Jensen.

Jensen provides the news, yes, but she is also creating and sharing action oriented documents and information to prepare for a materials challenge. These tools are essential. From examples policies to best practices to information on the groups who are sponsoring these challenges all over the country, it is all at this link.

She was also a guest on On the Media last week. Listen here.

Here is a recent example of a challenge to Gender Queer in Texas that Jensen wrote a post about. The library has made the challenge and their extensive response is available to download.

The director's response is textbook perfect. I especially love how he countered the argument that it is pornogrpahy. Please read it in full. Again, you can also download it for you own use.

But you need a solid policy behind you BEFORE you can respond in this way. Please go make sure your Collection Development policies are up to date. Make sure they make it VERY CLEAR that the librarians with collection responsibilities make the decisions on what books are in the collection. Outline how they  do it. Here is an example from my library. This CD policy is also used as an example in textbooks.

Make it clear that the Board does not make collection decisions. They only approve the budget, set the policies, steward the building, and evaluate the director. That's it! They should not even get a chance to rule on challenges. They are simply there to be told they happened and how the staff responded. Like any and all communications the library receives.

If your Board has a problem with how the library responds to a specific challenge, they can address it policy changes and with the Director, but they cannot make a final say on an individual title-- unless your policy allows that.

Please stay up to speed on the latest news, update your library policies, and contact me if you need advice or help. I am currently offering censorship consulting for free. Click here for my contact information.

Library Journal's Spring 2022 Preview and Editor's Picks

Today I wanted to alert you to the Library Journal massive list of the 2022 books to be ready for here.  There are 445 titles, but they are broken up into categories to make it a bit easier for you to use it for collection development and RA service.

But paired with this mega list, is an even more useful list for those of you who work at the RA desk, this list of editors picking their most anticipated titles for spring.

The Editor's Picks allows those who are most intimately involved with the specific category to weigh in. This is truly advice from experts that you can use.

My advice, read through the lists now, if you have collection responsibilities, get these books in carts. But also, read through the lists with an eye to larger trends and issues. What big books are down the pike? What are trends you are seeing across genres and categories? 

You can anticipate holds lists and preplan readalike, "while you wait lists" and/or displays. Future you will thank past you.

Booklist Spotlight on Historical Fiction and Graphic Novels w/ Bonus Censorship Assistance

The current issue of Booklist has a lot of useful information including multiple "top ten" lists on Historical Fiction and Graphic novels across all ages and formats. They have also included information on handling challenges generally and for graphic novels specifically, including the links to a free webinar on the topic [I signed up already].

[Eds note: please see my post from Friday on censorship resources as well.] 

There is much to explore for so many of your collection and RA needs.

Click here to go to Booklist Online, here for the summary of, with access to, the content in the current issue, or just see below.

We've packed two substantial spotlight themes for you in this issue—History and Graphic Novels—and while they might not initially seem to have much in common, in our current moment, one in which book challenges are at an all-time high, they're closely linked. The news has been full of stories about local and state legislatures restricting or attempting to restrict access to books in school libraries, occasionally even public libraries, specifically targeting books that offer comprehensive, nuanced accounts of history; novels for kids and teens featuring LGBTQ+ characters or by BIPOC authors; and lots of graphic novels. If you're facing challenges at your library, we have two Trade Secrets columns about handling challenges generally or for graphic novels specifically in this issue with lots of helpful, actionable advice (like reporting challenges in your library to ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom!). If you want even more advice about fighting back against censorship, we're co-hosting a webinar on February 24th in partnership with the Texas Library Association, featuring a roundtable discussion about recent censorship attempts and steps to take in response. 

Beyond practical tips from library pros about facing challenges to graphic novels and books about history, you're going to be up to your ears in content about graphic novels and books about history! We have three top 10s (history for adults, history for youth, and graphic novels for YAs), two core collections (a double-duty history-in-comics list and a collection of new, innovative Black histories), an interview with this year's Voice of Choice in our audio section, and scores of new reviews. And don't miss our two excellent, thought-provoking Writers & Readers columns: in the adult books section, Keidrick Roy discusses an upcoming exhibit at the American Writers Museum about Black writers from the past century, and in the youth section, Dr. Crystal M. Fleming offers a succinct and compelling account of continuous efforts to whitewash American history—and what is lost when those efforts succeed. 

Seems like a good time to start reading,

—Sarah Hunter
Editor, Books for Youth and Graphic Novels 
shunter@ala.org

Book Riot's Censorship News Coverage

As a librarian who trains library staff AND a long time Library Trustee, I have been trying to add information about the recent spate of censorship across the country. While people have always tried to ban books, the current wave is more organized than ever, involving specific groups who are investing people and dollars into coordinated attacks AND it is getting up to the statehouse level on a few places [VA and NH are among the worst right now].

I try to focus my assistance on helping you get your policies and procedures in order at your library. This is my specialty since I am a trustee and have been a collection development librarian. So in a recent presentation I had this slide:

Click here to enter the presentation

These are basic tips on how to get ready for a challenge before it happens. 

I also was a co-author of the Horror Writers Association's statement on Book Banning here.

Now this is only a small part of the censorship landscape. The largest issue is education and information, so we can all stay on top of exactly what is happening, everywhere.

For information, no one is covering this issue with depth and detail better than Kelly Jensen for Book Riot. Jensen is a former librarian, an author, and a member of the Summer Scares Committee. 

Use this link to get access to all of Book Riot's Censorship coverage. Bookmark the link and check it frequently. 

No single one of us can do everything, but working together, and using Jensen as our guide, we can do more.

Staying in the know is one of the most important things you can do to help and prepare your organization. Please don't think you library is safe. I live in one of the bluest counties in the country, in a town whose citizens consider themselves "woke," and we have had very public and serious challenges at our extremely diverse high school [Book Riot covered it]. 

Hopefully you will have some time today and in the days to come to get up to speed on what is going on all over the country. Jensen has made it as easy as possible for you to understand the issue from every angle. 

Apathy is as bad as banning right now. Even if all you do is educate yourself and work to strengthen your library's policies and procedures, you are doing a lot.

And if you want help beefing up your Board's policies and procedures in order to be better prepared for a challenge, contact me. I am offering free advice for the foreseeable future. Email can be found here. Please put Censorship in the subject heading.

Speaking of action, I am off to to an ILA organized meet-up with my local legislators right now. 

RA for All Virtual Roadshow Visits PCLS for a BRAND NEW Booktalking Program

Last month I wrote about my multi-month training plan with Pierce County Library System in Washington State in this post. As we enter month two, I will tell you, I was optimistic, but it is going even better than I could have imagined. I am especially excited about the assignments we are working on and the conversations this work is creating across the system, already.

Interestingly, some of the feedback is clearly noticing that the values of the organization's approach to serving leisure readers is changing. It is! That is the point. It is a staff driven priority, not an edict from upon high. And we are working together-- myself and the training team-- to make sure this change sticks.

Month 2 begins today with my BRAND NEW booktalking program. In this program I challenge everyone to rethink that term "book talk" and realize any conversation we have with each other or users is a book talk. It is not a term reserved solely for formal presentations.  

The focus here is on those conversations, yes, but also it is about getting everyone on staff involved in some way because the more staff we have engaged in the process, the more patrons we can reach and help.  And the benefit of being a library that prioritizing having conversations centered around books--your brand-- is that your users are more satisfied. Hence the title-- Booktalking Your Way to the Friendliest Library in Town.

[ed note: I know you are probably the only library in town, but this sounds better than friendliest library in your region; you get the idea I'm going for.]

I have not done more than a surface edit to this program in years. While I have kept the slide format the same, please know, the presentation is almost all new new material. 

I am very excited to share this with a system [over two days- today and next week] that is committed to using this action oriented talk to instill change both at the system level and in each branch. 

And that excitement is leading me to sharing the slides with you today. Please watch the slides in presentation mode as slide 8 has animation and the main bullet points are behind the "conversation" starters.

Contact me with questions or if you want to set up training with your library or system. Click here to see my recent and upcoming presentation schedule as well. 

Click here for slide access

Resource Alert: 2021 Locus Recommended Reading List

Every February, Locus Magazine comes out with their Recommended Reading List. It is an exhaustive list of all the best Speculative Fiction of the last year. Literally it is one stop shopping for your Speculative Fiction readers...all of them.

This is an excellent resource to help readers and develop your collections. First, take the list itself, and check your collections. Do you own these books? You should. These are some of the best titles in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror from 2021. Second, use it to help readers who want books in these genres, but also, to help readers who want to give these genres a try-- especially the stories and novellas. These are proven winners, titles you  can suggest with ease as they were vetted by a group of experts. [see below for a list of those experts]

And they make this list every single year, so BACKLIST! You know I love the backlist. Seriously though, you need to assess your collection, you want a suggestion that is on the shelf, you want to discover a new voice in the genres [check the story, debut, and novella categories for that], you want to make a display? For all of these things and more, you need to look back more than just one year. Don't worry. I made it easy on you.

Click here to pull up a list of each year's list beginning with 2021 and going backward. It's a link that is RA and Collection Development gold. 

There are many books on this year's list that I have read and reviewed too.

This is one of my favorite resources every year. It is a treasure trove of CD and RA gold. Bookmark it and use it for guaranteed crowd pleasing suggestions for all of your speculative fiction fans.

Below is the intro to the 2021 list by the editors of Locus Magazine. 

Click here to go to the list

Welcome to the annual Locus Recommended Reading List!

Published in Locus magazine’s February 2022 issue, this list is assembled by Locus editors, columnists, outside reviewers, and other professionals and well-known critics of genre fiction and non-fiction. This year we considered over 900 titles between short fiction and long fiction. The final recommendations, combined and trimmed to a somewhat reasonable-length list, are our best recommendations for your consideration. We know there will be titles you loved that do not appear here; it happens every year. Any one of our recommending group would have put forward a different exact list, but this is the combined sum of opinions, assessed with great affection and care for the field.

The Locus recommending group this year included editor-in-chief Liza Groen Trombi; reviews editor Jonathan Strahan; Locus reviewers Liz Bourke, Alex Brown, Karen Burnham, Carolyn Cushman, Paul Di Filippo, Amy Goldschlager, Paula Guran, Rich Horton, Gabino Iglesias, Maya James, Russell Letson, Adrienne Martini, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Tim Pratt, Arley Sorg, Gary K. Wolfe, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; assistant editor Bob Blough; and UK critics Cheryl Morgan and Graham Sleight. The YA group brought in past Locus YA reviewer and writer Gwenda Bond and librarian and writer Angie Manfredi. Input for the non-fiction section also came in from Niall Harrison and Farah Mendlesohn. The art books section had help from Arnie Fenner, Karen Haber, and Locus senior editor Francesca Myman. Short fiction recommendations came from editors and reviewers John Joseph Adams, Rachel Cordasco, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Vanessa Fogg, Maria Haskins, Charles Payseur, Nisi Shawl, T.G. Shenoy, Sheree Renée Thomas, and A.C. Wise, plus our own reviewers. Some of the reviewers also wrote year-end wrap-ups, which will include their thoughts, plus some books that didn’t make the final list — look for those in the coming weeks or in the February issue of the magazine, available in print and digital editions. Locus thanks all involved for their time and their expertise. 

You can let us know what your favorites were by voting in the 2021 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, presented in June 2022, and is open to all to vote on. The Survey helps us be a better magazine. Thank you for participating!

Click here to read the list.

You Don't Have To Finish That Book You Aren't Enjoying

 ...I mean unless you are being paid to review it, which does pertain to me sometimes.

But seriously, you don't get a prize for finishing a book that isn't doing it for you, nor do you go to library jail if someone finds out you didn't finish it. Quite the opposite for both-- no one cares. I mean, not even little. Who are you trying to impress?

Well, stop. It's not working.

Look, just like I say all the time that nobody cares how many books you read, no one cares what books you finish or not. And I am often flabbergasted at my colleagues inability to see how silly they are being when they force themselves to finish a book that they are not enjoying. 

Again, no one is forcing you and there is no penalty, and yet, many of you still feel like you HAVE to finish each and every book you start.

While I have spent many words trying to convince you to give top this behavior over the years, I know many of you have not, so I am switching tactics with the help of a recent Book Riot post.

"Why Do We Keep Reading A Book We Are Hating?" was posted on the site yesterday, and this article tries to figure out WHY all of you keep going with the books you are not in to, naming reasons and giving examples.

So I urge those of you who feel like the world will end if you don't finish every book you start-- yeah you, I am calling you out-- all of you, please read the article and think about the reasons the author gives as to why people continue books they dislike. Find one [or more] that describes your toxic relationship with the books you aren't enjoying, and well, analyze that and try to come to terms with it. 

Maybe by taking the time to understand the why behind your [irrational] actions, you will have a chance to really contemplate this life choice. 

And then, ditch that book.