Unshelved Book Review - It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

 My review of Cynthia Pelayo's It Came from Neverland was posted on LibraryJournal.com. 

You can find the review here. My other reviews for Library Journal are available on their site. 

I gave It Came from Neverland a well-deserved star. 

My Goodreads version of the review is below.

It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Notes for pending Library Journal Review.

In WWI era London, Wendy Darling struggles to get through each day, residing in her family home and working in the orphanage where she stayed after leaving the hospital. Her parents put here there when she and her brothers returned after being reported missing for three days. The real world horrors of a war which is at its beginning hang over the novel. Kensington Gardens is the center of many missing children. Wendy was not believed and her placement in the orphanage led to her estrangement from her brothers, John and Michael.
The Darling children were told to push their visit to Neverland down and not speak of it. The idea that trauma will go away if ignored is used by Pelayo to demonstrate that this tactic will only lead to the past feeding on hope, promise, and joy. Neverland and Peter are not as they are described in the storybooks as both have a hidden side. While she survived, Wendy lives in the past and in her stories. In Pelayo’s telling, stories are a way to navigate the past and its trauma.
Hints of the past are revealed slowly using alternating timelines. This allows for the perspective of Wendy from her childhood as well as her two brothers to be included. The tension and fear rise slowly in the novel and readers will be compelled to read further even as every shadow and noise in the dark becomes more menacing.

Wendy begins to see signs that Peter is returning and that the children of the orphanage are in danger. She and her brothers reunite to attempt to rescue a girl who has gone missing, like so many before her. However, they may not be strong enough to face their fears and trauma which lay hidden and unexplored for so long.

Beautifully written, terrifying, and filled with horrors both fairytale and real.

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Some of what we are unshelving at my library

Here are some of the book displays we have featured in my library! I hope you can find some inspiration for your own displays. We use a schedule and have a wide variety of staff volunteering to set up a display. 

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare:

Now Trending: BookTok Made Me Read it

Cli-Fi Books For Earth Day

Cookbooks (This is easy for anyone to fill in when they see a gap and different staff will select different titles.)

Movie Night (Movies for kids in the main aisle of our library)

Don't Judge a Book By The Movie

Let Them Eat Cake: Cookbooks for Those With A Sweet Tooth

Unshelved Book Review - Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison

Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rachel Harrison has once again used her magic to create a book with terror and humor while also being very rooted in the human experience, particularly that of young women. Willa has broken up with her long-term fiancé, Ravi. She is questioning herself about whether or not she did the right thing while bracing herself for seeing him again at their college friends' wedding. She makes it upstate to the wedding only to have it end in death and misery when a slasher crashes the wedding. Willa wakes up and repeats the day, over and over, with different but still horrifying endings.

What could be a wedding horror story with the clever twist of a time loop becomes an examination of uncertainty, anxiety, and the need to replay the past in our heads, wondering if we could have changed it. Doubting ourselves and taking the easiest path can lead to as much disaster as taking a risk and maybe making a mistake. In the midst of all of the emotion and horror, is a reminder that life is worth living.

The book is fast paced and suspenseful as Willa and her friends face increasingly high stakes. The characters are well-developed and bring their own joy, love, insecurities, and fears to what should be the happiest day in a young couple's life. As with all of Rachel Harrison's books, you will miss them when the book ends.

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Unshelve Your Collection - Using Celebrity Picks

One constant is that readers enjoy celebrity reading picks. We can see this every time someone like Taylor Swift is seen with a book under her arm. I have had great success with celebrity reading focused book displays. Bill Gates and President Obama are two people who come out with annual lists. When Gates recommended a book on the history of shipping containers I put it on a displays and it was checked out the first day.

You can find lists by searching for [celebrity name] reading list , favorite books, or reading recommendations. For a different take on this idea, you can create a display inspired by a particular album, artist, movie, or song. Use the title "Reading with [celebrity name] and put up those books along with titles you have that feature that actor, musician, or author. 

Here are some lists to get you started! If you create a display, I would love to see it. Tag me on social media or email me!

Billy Porter Shares His 6 Favorite Reads — Including This Viral Self-Help Book

Radical Reads: Celebrity Book Recommendations

Celeb Book Recs

celebrities with great reading lists?

20 Great Celebrity Book Recommendations

Amazon Book Review - Celebrity Picks

Listopia > books taylor swift has mentioned

What books do we know Taylor has read and liked?

Bad Bunny Reading List

 Listopia > Beyoncé Cowboy Carter Reading List

Pedro Pascal's Favorite Books Just Proves This Man Has Impeccable Taste

12 Celebrity Book Recommendations

Celebrities Who Read Diversely and The Books They Recommend

The Shameless Book Club: Jacob Elordi 

Pop Star Picks: Books, TV & Films Recommended By Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Zendaya & More

Book Recommendations from Celebrities

Unshelve Your Collection - Using Upcoming Books to Draw Attention to Your Backlist

 Book Riot sends out a newsletter devoted to horror called The Fright Stuff. The Friday, April 3 edition was titled "Scream-Worthy New Horror Books Coming Out in April 2026." Included were titles like: 

• Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman (Titan, April 7) You can see my starred review here.
• Morsel by Carter Keane (Tor Nightfire, April 14)
• The Take by Kelly Yang (Berkley, April 14) 
• Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square, April 14) 
• May the Dead Keep You by Jill Baguchinsky (Little, Brown Books, April 21)
• The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (Atria, April 21)
• Molka by Monika Kim (Erewhon, April 28) You can see my starred review here

Take a page from Concord, NH’s great indie bookstore, Gibson’s! Set up a display or bulletin board with covers from upcoming titles. Add a QR code with a link to your catalog where the patron can place a hold. Add read-alikes from your collection to the display. 

Never assume that all of your patrons know about even basic library services like placing a hold. You can mirror this display online and include a link to the catalog. 

Borrow ideas from newsletters and publisher’s marketing emails and use them to help market your backlist. 

RUSQ: A Journal of Reference and User Experience - Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays

 
I was fortunate to have an article published in RUSQ. The Reference and User Services Association of ALA relaunched its journal in 2024. It's purpose is "... to disseminate information of interest to reference librarians, information specialists, and other professionals involved in user-oriented library services." In Vol 61, No 2 (2026) Winter Issue you can find my article "Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays."

A pdf of the article is available online. 

I will quote from one paragraph here: 

" It centers a white, straight, Christian perspective as what is in “normal” books while making diverse books more of a niche interest, to be read by members of those communities and on special months. These books are not interesting or valuable because their authors and characters are diverse.  They need to be added to the displays, lists, and suggestions that are made to readers interested in a particular genre or topic. Moving who is centered in the culture of reading that is created in a library, allowing those who are marginalized to take center stage, even if a sign does not declare their identity, is actively promoting a culture of anti-racism. This active promotion does not require signage identifying the author’s characteristics to be actively anti-racist. These books are books that should be treated as titles to be potentially enjoyed by any reader. Deliberately developing a regular practice of adding diverse titles to all displays and lists both increase staff knowledge of those titles, creating more opportunities for them to be included in staff recommendations."

Upcoming Events - Penguin Random House Spring Book & Author Festival

 

I will be participating in the PRH Spring Book & Author Festival on Thursday, April 16. It's a free day-long event that has interviews, book buzzes, eGalleys, and more! There are authors of youth titles from picture books to young adult titles as well as adult fiction and non-fiction.  For those who need it, a CE certificate is available. The sessions will also be available for three months after the event. 

The panel I will be moderating is "Twisted Fiction." So far, the lineup of authors includes (with blurbs from the publisher): 

Bill Schweigart, author of Dirty 20 : The Sopranos meets Dungeons & Dragons when the son of a crime boss accidentally becomes a crowdfunding superstar and disrupts business on the streets with his RPG

Luke Larkin, author of The Unheld : Startling monsters and occult oddities abound in this chilling horror Western as a girl journeys across the haunted Montana Territory to rescue her father from an otherworldly creature.

Emeline Atwood, author of A Real Animal : In this unforgettable debut, a moment of metaphysical transformation launches a woman’s beautiful and terrifying journey through her twenties, through loneliness and complicated love that takes her from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the plains of Texas

Abe Moss, author of Morsels : Meeting the family is scary. Surviving them is a nightmare.

Heather Parry, author of Carrion Crow : In this viscerally dark, queer Victorian gothic, longing and transformation take wing through the secret selves we nurture when no one is watching.

These events are fun and educational for any library worker. You can view the Winter 2025 PRH Book and Author Festival here. There is not a cost to attend. Staff can register here. 

PRH also has a page with upcoming author events which you can share with your patrons. Working with local bookstores benefits both the library and the bookstore. We are not in competition. Readers often will buy books from authors they have discovered at the library.