Pride Month Display & Book Recommendations

If you follow me on Twitter, you might’ve seen me post about my (small, inclusive, non-offensive) Pride Month display (pictured below) that I put up in the library that was taken down.

 

I couldn’t care less about the work I put into the display. What I care about are the teens who didn’t get to see the display before it got taken down, who didn’t get to find a book that they could find themselves in, who didn’t get to see that at least one librarian cares about them in this state. I’m sad because none of the teens who could’ve benefited from this display were asked what they thought about it. I’m sad because before the display was taken down, FOUR of the books in the display were checked out, which means at least one teen saw that display and thought, “Wow. This is for me,” but no other teens were given that option.

I can’t say much about the display or why it was taken down, unfortunately. There was a much longer post here, but all I’m going to say no is that the display was taken down. Kayla, the young adult librarian at one of the other libraries in our system, also had to take her display down (pictured below).

What Kayla had to say:

What you’re saying is, “The kids who need these books, this visibility, and this support are not as important as the people who might get upset about it.”
….
What I just got told, by the people who refer to us all as a family, is that I can only be proud of myself if other people don’t have to see it. What I just got told, by the people who are supposed to uphold the idea of freedom of information for the public, who are supposed to serve the community as best they possibly can, is that some parts of that community matter more than others.

Good to know.

Kayla and I are not giving up and we will continue to find a way to continue to support our LGBTQIAP+ youth and ALL youth in our communities.

————————————

So while all of this was happening, someone asked me on Twitter so share a list of the books I put in my display so he could add them to his TBR. I wanted to share them with all of you, so here’s the list of books I had in my display plus a few I wanted to include but were already checked out. I hope that you’ll find at least one of them that will benefit you.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Two Boys Kissing and Every Day by David Levithan (honestly, everything by David Levithan)
In Real Life by Joey Graceffa
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Binge by Tyler Oakley
Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

A Work in Progress by Connor Franta
Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World by Jack Andraka
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Far from You by Tess Sharpe
Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

Other books that I wanted in my display but they are already checked out (which is even better):

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
Winger and Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Jerkbait by Mia Siegert
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

There are so many other books I wanted to include. I would also recommend checking out Dahlia Adler’s LGBTQ Reads website for more recommendations!

If you are interested in hearing about what happens with this situation, I’ll be tweeting updates, so follow me @StefaniSloma.

Thursday Thoughts: Kevin Henkes Display at the Library

A lot of you have said that you really like when I share stuff from my job at the library – about programs or displays or whatever, so I thought I’d share this really fun display I did that I’m really proud of.

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) is running a contest centered around Kevin Henkes’ new book Waiting, and the grand prize is a freaking visit from Kevin Henkes!! So, of course, I wanted to try and win. Librarians (and booksellers) could request a promotional kit, and then they were asked to create a display that creatively and effectively promoted Waiting. This is what my display is all about: All of the characters in Kevin Henkes’ new book are waiting on something, so I wanted to see what our patrons (kids to adults) were waiting on. I asked everyone to write what they were waiting for on pieces of paper, and we had a multitude of answers – from Halloween to payday, grades to coffee on the front porch, a new baby brother to a big brother coming home from college, a visit from a fairy tale princess to an appearance by Kevin Henkes’ at the Pearl Public Library. All of the Henkes characters in the display, which come from many of his books, were hand drawn and colored by me, and I placed them around the display as if they were looking up at Waiting. My favorite is Owen with his fuzzy yellow blanket. It was SO MUCH FUN drawing all of these characters and seeing what all our patrons were waiting on. Other favorite answers: more teeth, 5 o’clock, my birthday, college, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Some of my answers: my next road trip, new books,

Bookish Talk: Library Displays!

As you may or may not know I work at a library. One of my favorite things about my job is doing the displays – I love getting artsy fartsy and creative. It’s super fun. I know several of my followers also work in libraries, so I thought it’d be fun to share some of my displays with you. Feel free to use my ideas – just send me a picture so I can see what you did! Also, link me up to your displays in the comments if you have pictures! 🙂 You can also follow me on Instagram where I post most of my displays as well as lots of bookish pictures.

Thanksgiving display

Fall books display – actually most of the books with this are sad, dark books, which I feel are the most appropriate for fall.

No-Shave November display. Sign reads: We mustache you to check out these stache-tastic books!

Halloween/horror books display

Fall display. Floating words say: Fall in love with a good book. All books had “Fall” in the title.

My Teen Read Week display. Theme was “Turn Your Dreams into Reality”

Banned Books Week display

I’ve done a few more, but these are my favorites of the ones I’ve done so far. Would you guys be interested in seeing more of these as I continue doing them? I don’t want to post something you don’t want to see!