This morning I enjoyed my coffee in a mug given to me by a friend / former coworker who credited me & my sex-positive platform with helping her shed shame around celebrating her body and proudly showing cleavage. Then I saw an email advertising an imprint of “clean” YA books & had a rage meltdown.

Happy Book Birthday @coreyannhaydu.bsky.social for her brilliant, immersive adult debut! I really couldn’t put it down, and recommend to anyone who has experienced complicated friendships as a child or adult; complicated feelings about becoming a mom; and complicated relationship with a mom.

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

How Book Bans Led to the Postponement of the Diversity Baseline Survey

Jason Low, publisher and co-owner of Lee & Low Books, issues a call to action to fellow members of the industry to focus their efforts on fighting book bans.

publishersweekly.com

“In cultures where even discussion of sex is taboo, predators flourish…The existence of sex in a book does not automatically make it pornography, and by diluting the meaning of that word we make it more difficult to protect kids.” YES. Thank you, thank you, thank you @shannonhale.bsky.social. 😭❤️

Shannon Hale@shannonhale.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I wrote a piece for an Utah paper about why books that deal with sex and assault are important for teens and shouldn't be labeled as pornography and banned. This is a major issue in my home state where many do not believe sex scenes in books are ever justified. www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...

My favorite cover yet for the trilogy’s conclusion! www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainmen...

LaDarrion Williams’s ‘Ashes at the Altar’ Cover Reveal Brings the ‘Blood at the Root’ Trilogy to a Stunning End

The author also offers a new message to fans as we prepare to say goodbye to Malik Baron and Caiman University.

cosmopolitan.com

This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.

Belated Happy #BookBirthday to the 2nd book in this NYT bestselling series packed with dragons, laughs, and wonderful metaphorical reminders of the value of making sure everyone has access to knowledge and (everyday) magic. Perfect light fantasy short reads! (And check out the dragon sprayed edges!)

Three x a year, we have launch meetings where our souls are healed as we hear about our colleagues’ amazing books that will give kids joy & inspiration & reflection. The Random House Children’s Spring ‘27 list is 🔥! And today I got to present this new incredible book from @rantingowl.bsky.social 💙

There's No Such Thing As The "Last Straw" • The BLM movement teaches us that there will never be an execution so unjust that it converts supporters of state violence into abolitionists. Change requires fighting, not waiting.

There's No Such Thing As The "Last Straw"

The BLM movement teaches us that there will never be an execution so unjust that it converts supporters of state violence into abolitionists. Change requires fighting, not waiting.

historycanthide.substack.com

The world is too much and what are days? But we must wish a one day belated #BookBirthday to this incredible graphic novel that brings readers the most adorable queer tween vampire roller derby you’ve ever seen. If you want to escape into goodness, please indulge in this read. ❤️

No spoilers, but if you watched the new Stranger Things episodes and fist-pumped the air for the thematic meaning of that final scene of episode 4, then you really have to read Terry Benton-Walker’s ALEX WISE VS THE END OF THE WORLD. Just saying! Here for all the stories of self-acceptance=power ❤️

This is such a moving read, and an important one for anyone too young to remember the AIDS crisis in the 80’s. The personal losses I had at that time paired with the understanding that the mass deaths occurred largely because of bigotry & stigma were formative in shaping my professional self.

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 9mo ago

An essay for World AIDS Day and the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks's valiant act of resistance, an essay on quilts and solidarity, on stitching the fragments together.

I mean, you don't have to understand the science to use it. Just open the curtain a little, a little like opening your heart a little through a poem. Then, much like the emotions flowing through the poem, the cooler air can flow into the shower without pushing the curtain.

Me: “My shower curtain is billowing in at me in the shower.” Him: “You can fix that with science.” Me: “I failed science in high school. Do you think I can solve this by writing a deeply emotional poem?”

Middle grade author James Ponti discusses how the recent Louvre heist, with its stranger-than-fiction twists, made a mockery of his research as a mystery writer buff.ly/6XygwYi

Happy #BookBirthday to Deeba Zargarpur!! The second Farrah Noorzad adventure is even better than the first! The kid characters are appealing, vulnerable, and so funny, and this time there’s a magic school storyline… who doesn’t love a magic school, especially when it’s for Jinn?? 😍😍

Headed to the office to present Spring 2026 books to librarians (AKA our warriors)! Yes it’s election day and I am wearing my Jewish identity & my belief in Batman’s hope & my passion for our freedom to read and hoping that NY and NJ can fight back today against sexual predators & right wing bigots!

We were so lucky to have a visit from our lovely Labyrinth Road author, graphic novel creator/middle-grade expert Emma Steinkellner! Emma even drew on our illustrator wall! 😍 It’s the perfect season to check out Emma’s bestseller, THE OKAY WITCH, & grab her NELL OF GUMBLING fairy tale comic diaries!

Happy (belated) Book Birthday here to @esmesymessmith.bsky.social for the publication of the conclusion to Labyrinth Road’s first MG series! These characters and the author who brought them to life have sustained me & given me (& so many readers) hope. 💙 We can always challenge unjust authority.

A bright spot of good news to end the week!

We've been sitting on this for a year and are stoked to talk about it. Jorge and I wanted to write THE CAT PROPHECIES: CLAW QUEST and show all the beautiful things about Colombia, and we're very fortunate Labryrinth Road wanted to publish it. We can't wait for everyone to meet Tito and the gang.

Children's Bookshelf@pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New book deals on the way from @liliwilkinson.bsky.social @nikkorpon.bsky.social @emilyerdosart.bsky.social + more buff.ly/xpykFFv

Do any of the professors or journalists or teachers also get their jobs back or nah

🚨! My friend found this caveat in an ER consent form she was pressured to sign before reading (see alt text for the highlighted sentence of concern). EVERYONE needs to speak up on this—a president’s executive order could stop an ER from necessary treatment?? @aclu.org

If, like me, you are a mother who took tylenol at some point during pregnancy and have a child with neurodivergency, please remember during any fake science announcements today that fake science doesn’t become more real just when it’s directed at our most vulnerable pressure points. 💙

Tomorrow RFK Jr and Trump plan to announce their “big news” about autism. Nothing they do is rooted in science, disability awareness or common decency. Remember to protect your digital space. Safeguard your spoons. Check on one another. Lean into the community for support

Spoon Saving Social Media Tips and How to Resist Online

The current political landscape is having a devastating impact on the health of those within the disability community. A look at how we can save spoons and leverage our unique powers to resist.

disabledginger.com

This GF apple cake is here to remind you that tonight through Wed is Rosh Hashanah, & next Wed evening through Thurs is Yom Kippur. For many Jewish people, these are the most sacred holidays of the year. Please don’t schedule meetings w/ Jewish colleagues or expect email replies on these days!

If I were to host a watchalong of A KNIGHT'S TALE with a no-holds-barred Sir Callie Q&A in October would anyone be interested?

a man with blonde hair wearing a knight 's armor smiles for the camera

ALT: a man with blonde hair wearing a knight 's armor smiles for the camera

media.tenor.com

Mainstream pundits have instantly sanitized and ignored Charlie Kirk's core political project and its impacts. He has been remembered by the mainstream press as someone they merely disagreed with, a debate me-guy whose words and actions had zero consequences: www.404media.co/charlie-kirk...

Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way

The mainstream media seems entirely uninterested in explaining Charlie Kirk's work.

404media.co

There are a lot of articles this week about the middle grade category. I have so many thoughts on this topic, as both a longtime editor of some mainstay middle-grade series, and a parent of a 12-year-old.

If you’ve ever compared unvaccinated kids to vaccinated kids, you’ve seen the former are more likely to die.

Jake Scott, MD@jakescottmd.bsky.social · 12mo ago

RFK Jr: “If you’ve ever compared an unvaccinated kid to a vaccinated kid… you see the bright eyes, the engagement, the social interactions, the curiosity. And you compare them to the child who even had one or two vaccines, and they’re completely different.“ This man is an existential threat.