Today's two things
Stories = medicine, books = balm, history = undeniable
Item 1
Feeling furious about book bans? ➡️ Check out For the People’s 2025 public library challenge. I’m determined to tackle #4!
I love this slideshow from Sophie Lucido Johnson, partly because I recently lived the exact “vampire books” scenario she illustrates.
Item 2
This morning the ALA announced this year’s Youth Media Awards winners — think Caldecott Awards and the other medals and accolades that signify that a book for kids is worth the read.*
Have money to spend? ➡️ Buy one of the books for a classroom, Little Free Library, or young person near you!
- Maybe Chooch Helped for a little one expecting a new sibling? Or Brownstone or Shut Up, This is Serious for a tween?
- If you order one of the latest Coretta Scott King honorees from Bookshop today, you’ll have it to share during Black History Month.
- If you’re one of the zillion people who’ve recommended James to me this past year, maybe grab a copy of Big Jim and the White Boy and have a book club with a young person in your life.
Have a few minutes instead of a few dollars? ➡️ Go to your library system’s website and submit a request for them to add some to their shelves. Real librarians say it matters! Here’s what it looks like on Chicago’s website, if you scroll down to the footer:
And because I know I have subscribers in these places, here are suggestion forms for DC, Princeton, Los Angeles, and New York.
* We remember what Solange told us about gatekeepers. That said, I randomly decided to listen to the award ceremony announcements this morning and was very moved by the choked-back tears and the shrieks of joy, as well as by the diversity of the committee members, author/illustrators, and award categories themselves. I’ve only read one book named in the whole video — Chanel Miller’s unsurprisingly wonderful Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All — but I’m adding a bunch of the others to my StoryGraph TBR list.
Until tomorrow,
Julia
