Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday August 7th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Bookshops and Libraries. This is a topic close to every reader’s heart, so we were eager to dive into everyone’s recommendations.
We asked our members to share their favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction titles to do with bookstores and libraries. Contributed titles are split into Adult, Books for Students (covering Middle Grade and Young Adult, with additional info provided) and Picture Books.
Many thanks to Deb at The Younger Sun who is an invaluable resource, providing many recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable, and would be happy to help you with any book-buying needs!
Penguin Books supported this session! They sent three new books (in this meeting’s theme) to one lucky school who participated in the event. A massive thanks to everyone at Penguin Books for helping us encourage reading!
Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.
New Titles shared by Deb from the Younger Sun
Adult
The Yield – Tara June Winch
Possession – A S Byatt.
The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George
The Library Book – Susan Orleans
The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians – James Patterson
Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doer
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – Bo-reum Hwang
The Secret, Book and Scone Society – Ellery Adams
The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell
Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Cracked Spine – Paige Shelton
The Librarianist – Patrick deWitt
The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
Dewey – Vicki Myron
That Librarian – Amanda Jones
The Library Book – Susan Orlean
The Librarian: a Memoir – Allie Morgan.
Books for Students
What You are Looking For is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama (Year 9 up)
113th Assistant Librarian – Stuart Wilson (Coming out in November!)
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Young Adult)
The Lost Book of Magic – Amelia Mellor (Coming out in October!)
Land of L – Emily Rodda
The Book that Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence (Year 10 upwards)
The Book that No One Wanted to Read – Richard O (Middle Fiction)
The Library Fish – Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Junior)
The Evil Librarian – Michelle Knudsen
Lirael – Garth Nix (Young Adult)
The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
The Littlest Library – Poppy Alexander
Hooray, Hooray it’s Library Day – Julie Grasso
The Little Street Library – Amy Adeny
I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf – Grant Snider (Graphic Novel)
Left Handed Booksellers of London – Garth Nix (Young Adult)
Mr Lemoncello’s Library series – Chris Grabenstein
Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian – Jessica Spanyol
Library Mouse – Daniel Kirk
Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians – Brandon Sanderson
Rondo – Emily Rodda
Pages and Co – Anna James
The Lost Library – Rebecca Stead
The Secret Library of Hummingbird House – Julianne Negri
The Medoran Chronicles – Lynette Noni
Words in Deep Blue – Cath Crowley
A Library of Lemons – Jo Cotterill
The Bookshop Girl – Sylvia Bishop
The Moonlight Dreamers – Siobhan Curham (Young Adult)
Strange the dreamer by Lani Taylor (Young Adult)
Luna Loves Library Day – Joseph Coelho
Ink and Bone – Roxanne Conrad (Young Adult)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Young Adult)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Librarian of Auschwitz – Antoni Hurbe (Young Adult)
Suggested Reading – Dave Connis (Young Adult)
The Travelling Bookshop – Katrina Nannestad
Fairy Tale Fan Club – Richard Ayoade (New)
Whisperwicks – Jordan Lee (New)
Picture Books
The Dictionary Story – Oliver Jeffers (New!)
Books Make Good Friends – Jane Mount
Parsely Rabbit – Frances Watts and David Legge
The Little Street Library – Amy Adeney
Dewey – Vicki Myron
The Librarian of Basra – Antonio Iturbe
Librarian – Busy People series – Ando Twin and Lucy M George
The Librarian’s Stories – Lucy Falcone and Anna Wilson
It’s A Book – Lane Smith
Help Wanted Must Love Books – Janet Sumner Johnson and Courtney Dawson
The Lost Library – Jess McGeachin
Midnight at the Library – Ursula Dubosarsky and Ron Brooks
Our Library – Donna Rawlins
Thanks again to everybody who joined and gave us so many great recommendations.