Book News You Can Use 7/31/15

Book News out of Charleston this week: A woman wrote a letter to the local paper's editor complaining about a book her daughter (who will be a freshman at one of the local high schools) had to read for English class.  Her complaint was that it was too vulgar and that the book should be off the summer reading list (even though the child could have read another book off the list).  To make a long story short, she got her way and the school pulled the book almost three weeks before school starts.  One, if her daughter doesn't know some of that stuff that's mentioned in the book, she will by the time she graduates.  And if I was a kid or a parent of a kid who read that book and it was pulled from the reading list, I would be ticked.  Just because one parent has a problem with it doesn't mean that other parents feel the same way.  Here are reactions from the local library's YA department and the author of the book.  There is a campaign to raise money to buy copies of the book for students if they want it.  Thank God I have a mother who allowed me to read what I wanted to read as a teen and figured I could handle it.

Relax in Paradise to the undisputed Queen of True Crime, Ann Rule. I made that up but I truly doubt  people will disagree.  Writer Michelle Dean composed a tribute and tells why we true crime fans loved Ann so much.  Investigative Discovery will have a marathon featuring episodes of shows Ann was on tomorrow morning.

Congrats to the winners of the RITA Awards!

Congrats go to the nominees of the Booker Prize!

Congrats to Cheris Hodges for her Jessie Redmon Fauset Award nomination!

There's no link, but congrats also go out to Soror Victoria Christopher Murray for winning the Osceola Award during Delta Sigma Theta's National Convention this week. It goes to a soror that has made significant contributions to the arts.

See Kwame Alexander's Newbery Award acceptance speech here.

Happy 50th Birthday J. K Rowling!

Between her thoughts on the Sandra Bland case and Bill Cosby's (alleged) victims, Roxane Gay has been writing her butt off.

What happens when a African-American children's writer and a former President have a conversation?

Lauren Francis-Sharma and Dolen Perkins-Valdez talk about the tradition of storytelling, among other things, here.

Angela Flournoy talks about her success in the publishing industry.

N.K. Jemisin talks about how it's like to be an African-American female writing fantasy and science fiction.

Here are two stories (here and here) about the new book The Sisters Are Alright.

The author of the new biography about Iceburg Slim gives a synopsis of the writer.

The documentary about Sonia Sanchez will premiere tomorrow in Philadelphia.

The movie adaptation of Room will be released in October.

Michael B. Jordan will star in the movie adaptation of Just Mercy.

Reading Rainbow is coming to Netflix!

I have been enjoying a series of short stories imagining how the Huxtables would react if Cliff died.

This writer talks about how The Baby-Sittters' Club (especially Stacey) help her cope with being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

Here's a wonderful story about how a mailman helped a boy get books after the kid asked for junk mail.