Passively Recommending Books

  One book can be the inspiration for a book display or list. Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Marysue Rucci Books, 2023) flips the serial killer tale to focus on the victims and those left behind. The killer isn’t named although he’s based upon the most famous serial killer of the 1970’s who was eventually captured in Florida. There are two narrators, Pamela Schumacher who survived the killer’s attack on her sorority house and Ruth, one of the killer’s early Washington state victims, who disappeared from Lake Sammamish State Park. By leaving the killer unnamed and exploring the lives of the women who became victims, Knoll de-mythologizes the murderer and allow the women to be complex and fully human, apart from their connection with him. Fast-paced and disturbing, readers who enjoy crime stories told from a different angle will find this book compelling.   I mention several books below which would be read-alikes for this book. While one could go to the true crime section and just

Horror is very popular now which makes some library workers uncomfortable because it is a genre they personally avoid. There are plenty of resources out there to help you do don't be scared!  Remember that I am trying to avoid repeating resources in these guides. You will find horror information on some of the science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction guides.  One site you should have bookmarked is Becky Spratford's blog for horror fiction, RA for All - Horror.  She posts reviews, trends, and other vital information about horror fiction. There is plenty of detail about the major horror awards such as the Stoker Awards and the Splatterpunk Awards. In addition, it is the place to find information about Summer Scares . A project to promote reading horror in the summer, Summer Scares is a joint effort of United for Libraries, Book Riot, Booklist, The Horror Writers of America, and NoveList, a division of EBSCO Information Services. Three titles are picked for adults, young adults

 If you need a good idea for a fill-in book display, you can always return to the many reading challenges that pop-up in December and January. These challenges sometimes have an overall theme based upon a genre and sometimes they are very broad. Each month, a prompt to read a certain kind of book is presented. "Read a book that takes place in [city/country]" or '"read a book There are months where readers will struggle to find a title. In addition, some readers will discover a reading challenge that they didn't know existed. This might be an idea you reserve until June when you can set it up a half way through the challenge theme. While I am on record as advising against too many signs and decorations on a display, remember to include information about the challenge and where patrons can find out more.  Your book clubs can use these challenges for those months where there is a struggle to agree upon a title. There are challenges which focus on books by particular

  May has a variety of traditional and more adventurous reasons to set up book displays. Remember that you should use your programs and local events as inspiration as well.  Here are some suggestions for May book displays:  May Day- There are a variety of reasons to celebrate May day. It's the traditional start to summer. You could use Midsommer (the film) as an inspiration and include some non-fiction on wicca in addition to folk horror.  It's also International Workers' Day which would mean titles about the labor movement and work in general.  Star Wars Day: May the 4th be with you - Don't limit this display to just Star Wars films and titles. Look for other space operas in your collection which could use some exposure and put out some read alikes and watch alikes for Star Wars.  Mother's Day (2nd Sunday)- Besides the more obvious fiction and non-fiction about mother/child relationships and mothering in general, think about a "Bad Mothers" display. Books

  I will recap PLA 2024 at the end but there has been a lot of good talk about upcoming horror novels at the convention. I wanted to remind everyone that Summer Scares, a partnership between the Horror Writers of America, BookList and NoveList, is a great opportunity to promote horror outside of October.  I can guarantee that your patrons don't only think that beach reads are cheery and light. Living near the beach, I see people check out plenty of thrillers, suspense, and horror novels to take with them. Don't prejudge what your patrons are interested in and seasonally limit what portions of your collection that you market to them. There are adult, YA, and middle grade titles selected each year. They are always back list titles that are in print. An author is selected as spokesperson and this year it is Clay McLeod Chapman who is an excellent author to suggest to patrons who think they don't read horror. You can find out more about his books here .  There are free webinars

Day one of PLA 2024 included the panel Anti-Racist Readers Services: Beyond the Basics, sponsored by NoveList, and presented by Becky Spratford (RA for All), Robin Bradford, and Yaika Sabat. Becky has kindly posted the the slides on her blog . Becky and Robin have a course with NoveList called Actively Anti-Racist Readers Services to Readers  if you would like to learn more.  A question was asked about diversity in regards to human bodies, specifically looking for books with characters who are plus size or curvy. There are readers and librarians who have curated lists that you can draw from to create lists for patron and staff use. Even publishers have created lists . The titles can be highlighted on your social media as well to draw attention to the fact that your collection includes titles like this and even that they exist at all. Include them in your book displays and lists.  Take clues from the titles of the lists you do find and improve your search. As you will see, the titles of