Collage of listed book covers

Recommended Reading: Books for Election Season

October 16, 2024

True understanding takes breadth and depth. Often, it takes a book. For this election season, Booklist editors have compiled two fiction and nonfiction reading lists, for both adult and young adult readers. Among the nonfiction reads are titles offering historical context, a portrait of exemplary leadership, and inquiries into the workings of American democracy and … Continue reading Recommended Reading: Books for Election Season



ALA Unveils 2023 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 15, 2022

The 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include: Fiction Greenland, by David Santos Donaldson (Amistad). While working on a historical novel about British author E. M. Forster’s Egyptian lover, Mohammed el Adl, writer Kip confronts his own trauma and alienation. Donaldson delivers a psychologically acute portrayal of a queer Black … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2023 Carnegie Medals Shortlist


Reading Ukraine

March 15, 2022

Nonfiction All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin, by Mikhail Zygar (PublicAffairs, 2016) Russian journalist Zygar portrays four Putins—“Putin I the Lionheart,” “Putin II the Magnificent,” “Prince Dmitry,” and “Putin the Terrible”—while presenting a thorough accounting of his many crimes against humanity. What Zygar discovered is that Putin’s inner circle has been … Continue reading Reading Ukraine



Call Number Podcast episode 63: Getting Outdoors

Call Number Podcast: Getting Outdoors

June 22, 2021

First, ALA Editions Senior Acquisitions Editor Rachel Chance speaks with Web Administrator and Local History Specialist Erin Rothenbuehler and Programming Director and Local History Specialist Sean Duffy from Ohio County (W.Va.) Public Library about a series of programs they offer on bugs, most notably the Brood X cicadas. Next American Libraries Associate Editor Sallyann Price … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Getting Outdoors


AAPI booklist covers

Recommended Reading: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May 17, 2021

Library workers across the country have condemned the harassment and violence, and the American Library Association’s Executive Board—along with the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association—has issued statements against these attacks. In consultation with Terry Hong, Booklist advisory board chair, we have compiled this list of recommended titles for Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month this May … Continue reading Recommended Reading: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month


2021 Carnegie Medal Winners for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced

February 4, 2021

The selections were announced February 4 at the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards virtual event, sponsored by NoveList. McBride’s novel takes place in a vibrant, multicultural 1969 Brooklyn neighborhood, and introduces readers to Cuffy “Sportcoat” Lambkin, the titular deacon and least likely of heroes. When Sportcoat shoots Deems Clemens, the … Continue reading 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced


Covers of 2020 National Book Award Winners and award seal

2020 National Book Award Winners

November 19, 2020

Listed below are the winners and finalists in each category, with excerpts from the winners’ Booklist reviews (where available). Fiction Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (winner)  “Although the cover claims that Yu’s (Sorry Please Thank You, 2012) latest is a novel, his fiction, as always, defies easy labels. This hybrid conflates history, sociology, and ethnography … Continue reading 2020 National Book Award Winners



Lauren Francis-Sharma, author of Book of the Little Axe (Photo: Anna Carson DeWitt)

Libraries Transform Book Pick: Lauren Francis-Sharma

August 10, 2020

This interview was first published in Booklist’s August 2020 issue. A historical novel set in Trinidad in 1796 and the Crow Nation of the Great Plains in 1830, Francis-Sharma’s second novel (after ‘Til the Well Runs Dry) follows the struggles and adventures of Rosa Rendón, who pushes back against the restraints associated with her sex and … Continue reading Libraries Transform Book Pick: Lauren Francis-Sharma


Reading for Change

Reading for Change

June 5, 2020

Booklist recently compiled a list of antiracist books and other resources for librarians and readers. The full list is reprinted below.  It can, of course, also mean reading. We’ve seen the antiracist reading lists; there’s New York magazine’s roundup, Betsy Bird’s comprehensive piece for Fuse8, the Stacks’ collection of nonfiction, the list goes on. There’s … Continue reading Reading for Change