I’m not going anywhere. At least, not in the near future. But one thing I love doing when I’m planning a vacation is deciding what book(s) to bring with me. As a matter of fact, whenever I start to think about where I might take my next vacation (or even just fantasize about less reachable … Continue reading Saturdays @ the South: Books on Vacation
This past week, various social media channels exploded over a controversy about the representation of marginalized children in literature. Some were saying that there are plenty of books out there about diversity, while many others decried that, despite what is out there already, there are not nearly enough. I won’t reproduce the arguments or participants here, … Continue reading Saturdays @ the South: Diversity in Books
2018 is a year for expanding our reading horizons, and we here at the Free for All are thrilled to be bringing you suggestions and discussions based on two different reading challenges. This week, we’re looking at Scholastic’s Reading Resolution Challenge. It’s a challenge geared towards younger readers, but since when should that stop anyone? … Continue reading Resolve to Read: The Pura Belpré Award
If you come into the Library this month, and take a look at our Card Catalog Display, you’ll notice our efforts to help you fulfill your New Year’s Resolution to read more/different/diverse (or all three!) books in 2018. And even if you weren’t planning on reading more books, or more diverse books, I think it … Continue reading Resolve to Read 2018!
The world is a fraught place, dear readers. And in such a world, it can be really, truly difficult to avoid seeing the world as an exclusively polarized place…as black/white, good/bad, right/wrong…and forget that very few things in human society are that simple.* A few weeks back, there was a bit of a brouhaha in … Continue reading From Library Land: Is Dr. Seuss Tired?
Last night, the winners of the 2017 Hugo Awards were announced at Worldcon 75, in Helsinki, Finland. We talked a good deal about the Hugo Awards a few months ago, covering the really troubling “Puppies” and their attempt to hijack the awards (which are voted on at the Con itself), as well as the need to … Continue reading Announcing the winners of the 2017 Hugo Awards!
On Sunday, this blog shared a letter from Ellen Oh on why We Need Diverse Books more now then ever. The various librarians who write Free for All are big fans of diversity in books. In the past, we’ve written posts about overall diversity in books and diversity in the horror genre. We’ve also shared reading suggestions for books that deal with … Continue reading Wednesdays @ West: Reading for Empathy