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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the stories we covered ourselves on Book Riot this week.
We have some good news in the world of books and reading today: Reading Rainbow is coming back! The original TV show was hosted by LeVar Burton and ran from 1983 to 2006. It’s hard to overstate just how beloved this educational children’s series was—and still is. Now, after 20 years, it’s finally coming back!
Here are ten of the best books of October, according to indie booksellers. Many of these we also recommend on Book Riot, so I’ve quoted our relevant recs when available. Be sure to click through to the ABA website for the full list, including six Indie Next Picks that are now out in paperback.
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Mark your calendars and book your flights to New York in spring 2027, because that’s when the new Baby-Sitters Club musical is set to premiere. The musical is set twelve years after the events of the books (which were originally published from 1986 to 2000). Now adults, the four founding members of the Baby-Sitters Club—Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey—return to their hometown of Stoneybrook, CT to honor the pact they made with each other when they were thirteen years old. As the four women reflect on their past lives, the friendships, and the hardships, they come to some life-changing realizations about themselves and what matters most.
As reported by Frank Strong, what makes this case even more infuriating is that district officials used Artificial Intelligence to create their list, allowing them to abdicate responsibility for the decision to an even further degree. First, they can blame state legislation for the removal of books, then they can blame A.I. for identifying these specific titles.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was published in 2021, and four years later, we’re getting a movie adaptation. The film of the same name stars Emily Bader as Poppy and Tom Blyth as Alex, and it comes out on Netflix January 9th. Netflix has just released the first teaser trailer, which you can watch below.
So what does the latest report find? Starting at the top level, PEN found that since 2021, nearly 23,000 titles have been banned across 45 states and 451 public school districts.
There are a ton of new titles on the bestseller lists this week, which makes for a nice change.
In another blow to the First Amendment Rights of library users, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the Escambia County school board did not violate student or author rights when it pulled And Tango Makes Three from school library shelves. This is the second ruling in a matter of months to put the approved content of public library and public school library materials into the hands of government officials.
From romance novels to thrillers to historical fiction, these were the most read books on Goodreads this month.
