Tag Archives: reading

It’s Banned Books Week 2022

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Got a favorite book? Well, odds are good there’s someone out there in the United States who’d liked to see it censored. According to a recent Publishers Weekly article, the American Library Association “reported 681 documented attempts to ban or restrict library resources in schools, universities, and public libraries through the first eight months of 2022, on pace to shatter the 729 challenges ALA tracked in 2021.”

That’s where Banned Books Week comes in—an annual celebration of literacy in which the spotlight is shone on the problem of censorship in U.S. libraries and bookstores. To quote the Banned Books Week website:

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries…. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

This year’s theme is “Books Unite Us, Censorship Divides Us,” and with local politicians across the United States challenging the existence of certain books, seeking to ban them outright in libraries and bookstores, and, in a few cases, expressing a desire to burn them, the issue of censorship in the U.S. hasn’t been this threatening in decades.

Banned Books Week 2022 is happening right now, September 18–24, so visit the BBW website for more information, including a list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2021 that they’re celebrating this year.

Bonus: If you live in Queens, New York (home borough of Pan and her publisher, StarWarp Concepts), head on over to the Queens Public Library site and read all about “QPL’s 100 Most Popular Banned Books,” all available to check out in book, ebook, and audiobook formats.

The Summer Reading Days Are Dwindling…

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Here in the United States, the start of Labor Day Weekend—the unofficial end of the summer season—arrives on September 2nd, which means the days of summer beach reading are just two weeks away from shifting into the pumpkin-spiced world of fall (you might have already noticed the presence of its familiar scent wafting through your favorite coffee and donut shops).

So if you’re seeking an exciting book or two (or more) to read as summer comes to an close, you might want to take a look at the StarWarp Spotlight blog-post series at Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, in which they shine a spotlight on each of their numerous horror, dark urban fantasy, fantasy adventure, and nonfiction books, not to mention comic books and graphic novels. 

From the young-adult thrills of the Pandora Zwieback vampire-war novels and writers/gamers reference book Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination and the comic-book history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures to the Illustrated Classics Carmilla (perfect for fans of vampire fiction!) and the sci-fi adventure A Princess of Mars, StarWarp Concepts has a book that makes every day perfect for reading during the final days of summer—and beyond!

(Long Island City sunset photo © 2022 Steven A. Roman.)

Celebrating World Book Days and Nights in 2022

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Photo by blende12, courtesy of Pixabay

Happy World Book Day in the United States! Run by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), World Book Day (aka World Book and Copyright Day, and the International Day of the Book) is, to quote their website:

“World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.”

To explain this event further, let’s turn to Wikipedia for its origin story: 

“The original idea was of the Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andrés as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes [author of Don Quixote], first on October 7, his birth date, then on April 23, his death date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and [16th-century Spanish author] Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors.”

So then it’s really World Book Death Day? Hey, as long as it gets people to read…

Around the world (except for Ireland and the United Kingdom), World Book Day is held every April 23—so for more information, visit the World Book and Copyright Day site for all the latest news and events listings.

But the celebration doesn’t end at sundown, because April 23 is also World Book Night in the United Kingdom! Run by The Reading Agency, this annual gathering of book lovers is, to quote their website:

“World Book Night is a national celebration of reading and books which takes place on 23 April every year. Books are given out across the UK with a focus on reaching those who don’t regularly read, and are gifted through organisations including prisons, libraries, colleges, hospitals, care homes and homeless shelters, as well as by passionate individuals who give out their own books within their communities.”

For more information, visit the World Book Night site.

A whole day and night dedicated to reading? Well, that should actually be every day, shouldn’t it? Of course! Anyway, start celebrating and get to reading!

It’s National Library Week 2022!

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Hey, book lovers! National Library Week is once again upon us, and you know us: any reason to read is a good cause for celebration! 

According to the American Library Association (ALA), the organization that runs the event:

“First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries—school, public, academic and special—participate.”

This year’s theme is “Connect With Your Library” and promotes “the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other resources. Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes—in addition to books. But most importantly, libraries also connect communities to each other.”

National Library Week runs April 3–9, so check your local library for any special events they might have planned for the celebration.

It’s the Spring Training of Reading!

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mets-ya-gotta-readIf there’s one thing Pandora Zwieback loves—other than her boyfriend, her skill at painting, and…oh, yeah, monster fighting—it’s reading. And when it’s a literacy program that involves her favorite baseball team, well, she’s just all over it!

A partnership between the New York Mets and Delta Air Lines that launched last year, Ya Gotta Read (a playful twist on the old Mets saying, “Ya Gotta Believe!”) is, according to the press release:

…a program to help foster a love of reading in students. More than 5,000 students at nine elementary schools in Queens are participating in the program. The goal is for students to read one book a week for a total of six books. Students will write a book review for each book and hand it in to their teachers. The more books students read, the more prizes they will earn!

The student from each school that reads the most books will be awarded four field level tickets a Mets game at Citi Field and be invited participate in an on-field pregame ceremony. The student who reads the most books in the overall program will win four Delta Club tickets behind home plate.

The class that reads the most books will win a visit by a Mets player and Mr. Met and memberships to Mr. Met’s Kids Club. The top class from each school will receive additional Mets premium merchandise.

Ya Gotta Read runs from today (the start of Mets spring training—the day pitchers and catchers report for duty!), to March 25. For more information, and to follow the schools’ progress, visit the Ya Gotta Read page at the Mets website.

Ya Gotta Be Reading!

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mets-ya-gotta-readWell, here’s the sort of literacy program Pan can totally get behind—especially since it involves her favorite baseball team!

A partnership between the New York Mets and Delta Air Lines, Ya Gotta Read (a playful twist on the old Mets saying, “Ya Gotta Believe!”) is, according to the press release:

…a program to help foster a love of reading in students. More than 5,000 students at nine elementary schools in Queens are participating in the program. The goal is for students to read one book a week for a total of six books. Students will write a book review for each book and hand it in to their teachers. The more books students read, the more prizes they will earn!

The student from each school that reads the most books will be awarded four field level tickets a Mets game at Citi Field and be invited participate in an on-field pregame ceremony. The student who reads the most books in the overall program will win four Delta Club tickets behind home plate.

The class that reads the most books will win a visit by a Mets player and Mr. Met and memberships to Mr. Met’s Kids Club. The top class from each school will receive additional Mets premium merchandise.

Ya Gotta Read runs from February 12 (the start of Mets spring training) to March 23. For more information, and to follow the schools’ progress, visit the Ya Gotta Read page at the Mets website.

You’re Supposed to Encourage Them, Y’know…

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Ever since I got involved in book publishing, I’ve subscribed to the Publishers Weekly newsletter. (PW is a magazine that’s the bible for the industry—sort of a combination New York Times Book Review and literary Entertainment Weekly.) In one of the recent newsletters, there was a link to an article by bookstore owner Josie Leavitt, titled “She’s Not a Strong Reader”

“…after two failed attempts to get the book [the teenage girl] wanted, she finally let me help her. I got her a wonderful stack of Libba Bray and Sarah Dessen and left her alone, only to have her mother announce to me, ‘She’s not a strong reader.’ As if that explained why her daughter was taking her time to choose the right book.”

And that reminded me of a similar encounter I had at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con, only in this case it involved a young boy (maybe 10 years old) and a copy of a Young Adult novel that I was selling at my booth: Spider-Man Super-Thriller: Warrior’s Revenge.

Now why, you ask, would I be selling copies of a book written by Neal Barrett Jr.? Simple—because Neal didn’t write it, I did. In fact, it was my first novel! (Long story short, Neal’s manuscript had been rejected by Marvel Comics’ licensing division, and I was brought in to write an entirely new manuscript. Problem was, the covers had already been printed, so no author credit for me.)

Anyway, the boy’s eyes made a slow pass across the table and then locked on the Spidey cover. (It is pretty eye-catching, thanks to the great work of artists Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman.) He picked up the book.

“It’s a novel,” I told him. “Spider-Man and the Hulk fight the Super-Skrull.”

His eyes got real big. He thumbed through it, liked what he saw, and told his father he wanted it.

And Dad balked.

“I don’t know…” He thumbed through it, too. “It’s not a comic book. Are you sure you’re gonna read it?”

“Yes!” the kid said. “I really want it!”

Dad frowned. “I don’t know…”

I was a little surprised by his reaction. I mean, after a dozen or so years of exhibiting at comic cons I’d gotten used to teens and adults grimacing when they realized that things like my other Marvel project X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy and this Spidey adventure were actual books, with lots of words on the pages. Gah! How horrible that I actually expected them to read something without pictures! (Not that there weren’t some pictures—for Warrior’s Revenge, artist James Fry had provided ten fantastic illustrations.)

But here was a boy who saw all the words on the pages and still wanted to read it—and Dad was trying to discourage him? WTH, Dad?

“Y’know,” I said to the dad, “if he likes to read, that’s really not a bad thing.” The unspoken nudge being it would be a good thing to buy it for his son. (Besides, I was charging only three dollars—what a bargain! I mean, I recently saw a copy of it for sale at Amazon.com for $121.00!)

Dad sighed. “I guess…” He shrugged. “All right.”

He paid for the novel, I autographed it, and off the kid went, happily clutching his new book. And I stood at my booth and shook my head, wondering why any parent would want to discourage their child from reading.