Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Graphic Novels Help Kids Build Literacy Skills
Even though educators and librarians have known for decades that comics are actually good for kids to read, it’s really nice to see more and more writing–with links to the evidence–about the power of the graphic novel. Comics help kids build crucial literacy skills, and because kids enjoy reading them, it’s a win-win for all. This is a nice read that lays out the research in a highly readable and sharable way. Want your kids to pause their scrolling for a bit? Keep ’em elbow deep in comics!
‘Making The Scarlet Letter Into My Career’: My Life as a Sex Writer
This is an excerpt from a a memoir coming out this week, and it’s a good one. There are so many careers that the general public finds “less than,” and many of those have to do with sex–be it sex work or in the case here, taking sex writing seriously. It’s also about the ways sexuality has changed over the last couple of generations in some respects (and remained the same or stepped backwards in others).
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In many ways, I’d succeeded in challenging “all the shame”, as I had told my mom so long ago. I got regular emails and DMs from young women telling me that my first book had changed their lives. They said it made them feel less alone. It helped bring them greater pleasure, understanding and self-acceptance. Still, I privately struggled with my own sense of shame. I could barely talk about my work in my day-to-day life, especially after I became a mom; it felt indecent introducing my subject matter into our suburban parental existence, even though said parenthood was brought into existence most oftenby sex. I wondered, too, what it would mean for my child to grow up with a mother like me.
The Fight to Protect Mauritania’s Ancient Books
A good photo essay is always welcome, and that rings even truer when it relates to books. I know very little about the country of Mauritania and even less about its historic libraries. This piece talks about how Chinguetti’s former role as an important trading post helped the town develop a series of libraries to house holy writings (especially of the Islamic variety). The role of taking care of those important tomes has historically been passed down through families, but as the desert city has become more and more difficult to inhabit–thanks to climate change, its remoteness, and its lack of resources–some families wonder who will be overseeing these crucial cultural and historical institutions in the future.
Fae-Bulous BIPOC and/or Queer Romantasies
While romantasy has always been around, the portmanteau genre’s growth over the last several years can’t be overstated. There’s a romantasy for every kind of reader, and because of the number of books falling into the category being published, we’re seeing the shelves become richer in diversity, too. Check out this handy guide to BIPOC and/or queer romantasy readers, and subscribe to All Access for the full list of inclusive romantasy books.
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