[Music] one thing that's happening and that I think is going to happen more in 2024 is folks are going to be reading outside of their usual genres you know so people seem to be more adventurous and they want to try you know they'll try a science fiction or fantasy they'll try a romance looking for something new ready for new ways to discover old favorites what to watch for and where to find it we have the inside scoop next on PBS [Music] books hi I'm Heather Marine montia and you are watching PBS books happy New Year th this is a the time of year we often make our New Year's resolutions I've already started to have friends and family and colleagues ask what books they should read as they commit to their New Year's resolution to read more books as many of you know I am not only the national director of PBS books but a trained librarian Believe It or Not sometimes even I struggle to determine what to read I know everyone says you can't tell a book by a CO by its cover but as someone who loves art and often roams through libraries and bookstores aimlessly it's kind of hard not to well I usually pick up a book Because of its cover and then I flip it over and I find the juicy stuff the reviews of the experts telling me what they think and over time I noticed noce that book list was a consistent reviewer on many books in all genres so what is booklist and who are these mysterious experts Behind These amazing recommendations well today we are fortunate to have George Kendall the editor and publisher of bookless Publications part of the American Library Association it is my pleasure to welcome George welcome thank you so much Heather and thank you to PBS books for hosting booklist and myself and our editors today we are so excited to be here well so let's get started um for those people out there in the world who don't know what is the American Library Association sure that's a great place to start um the American Library Association which is sometimes referred to as America's oldest and largest Library Association was founded in 1876 in Philadelphia uh the mission at the time was to provide leadership for the development promotion and Improvement of librarian Information Services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and to Shure uh information access for all so the core values of the organization revolve around advocacy information policy professional uh and leadership development but we really aspire to extend and expand Library services in America and around the world so as part of this initiative ala runs conferences our largest is our annual conference that this year takes place in June in San Diego um we also develop learning uh resources for information Specialists and we produce books journals and other products that are helpful for librarians and librarianship well as as someone who is from the library world what I will say is the American Library Association is always creating amazing resources for us to do our jobs better and and it's something that's really unique and special so not only do we know that Librarians are among some of the most trusted people in our society helping to provide access and education but the Ala is helping to guide us and they're helping to support us in our work so I'm familiar with booklist we already talked a little bit about book list and booklist has been trusted in in libraries it's been a trusted name in libraries for a really long time can you tell the audience about what is booklist sure happy to so booklist is one of those products I mentioned that ala produces it's a journal we call it it was launched in 1905 so a long time ago um as a way to assist collection development in libraries so what we do is we publish what we refer to as pre-publication book reviews or reviews of books before they are available for purchase so libraries then you know they subscribe to book list and they use the book list reviews to help build their Collections and you know since 1905 we developed and expanded a lot and now in addition to book reviews we publish a lot of readers advisor materials author interviews uh special collections for for Library workers um so we publish reviews and special content for adult readers AUD a books books for youth of all ages including children and today I'm really excited that you'll hear from our editors responsible for all of these sections in fact readers may have seen excerpts from book lists on book covers and wondered you know what is book list but often a great book on the back you'll see reviews from different sources and one of them is often booklist we now know what booklist is but what is book list reader because PBS books we've partnered with booklist reader since May of 2023 but I but booklist reader is new so for for everyone can you share what is booklist reader and where can they get it yes yes so like where I said booklist is really for libraries and Information Specialist booklist reader is a newer publication and we're extremely proud of our partnership with PBS books um that's really geared towards Library patrons and consumers so if book list reader we publish uh read aik top 10 lists author interviews and so much more um but it's books that are published and available now and should be available in your library we also publish content from PBS books in every issue each month um so uh we're we're really excited about it that product if you go to your library you should ask if it's available it's it's really a guide and a companion for readers to find books they may not might not have otherwise discovered and it really has a lot of great recommendations some of which you may hear today from our editors well and I just want to underscore that because I I feel that there's never been so so much content there is a vast amount of content out there right now and I I feel that book listreet are yes it it has PBS books as part of it so I am a bit biased but what I will say is that the editors and the recommendation from the editors are it's amazing and helps you to navigate it helps the reader to navigate how to find the right book that's right I would say that for anyone I think this is all of us me included who's ever struggled with what to read next booklist reader is the answer uh it really has great recommendations and guides for um all different ages and all types of readers well George thank you so much for taking time to be with us today I am so excited to be able to introduce um some of your editors that you've we we've brought here to share about their expertise so that they can share with us some of their favorite books for the first quarter of 2024 so thanks George thank you so much Heather see you soon all right everyone so we're gonna jump into learning a little bit about what Donna Seaman who's the editor of adult books and Susan Maguire who is the senior editor collection man management and Library Outreach person um at the book list and at the American Library Association welcome Donna and welcome Susan thanks for having us we're so excited to have you and what I was thinking how we could start is um Donna if you could share a little bit about the overall adult genre and what we'll be hearing from you today and also from Susan um and then just jump into it you know what are some of the most anticipated books of 2024 and why all right well thank you um so the adult book section in book list covers books for grown-ups and we cover a wide range of non-fiction um history social studies Health Medicine poetry essay collections You Name It We review it um in fiction we do um you know general fiction or literary fiction as well as all the genre fiction historical fiction romance uh science fiction fantasy crime of course uh we look at hundreds and hundreds of books every month and select as many as we can to review we have reviewers all across the country and even out of the country uh that review freelance for us so it's quite the operation to try and net as many new books as we can um so and then we each of course have our own areas of enthusiasm and expertise so it's always hard to narrow things down but I I did it I came up with some nonfiction books that particularly excited about and of course you know we're looking ahead so we're looking to Spring here um so I guess I'll just start with my first yes um oh the backyard Chronicles so I did a double take when I saw this book now I know all of you out there are familiar with Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club um the Valley of Amazement was her last novel and she Amy Tan wrote A Memoir in between called um where is it here a oh I don't have it anyway she wrote A Memoir in here oh here it is where the past begins a writer's Memoir and in that Memoir she mentioned that she loved to draw but that she stopped drawing well she went back to drawing during covid um she became really fascinated by birds apparently Amy Tan lives in a bit of a paradise in um northern California she has a roof garden and many trees in her yard and she started noticing many different birds this book is full of these beautiful drawings you can see from the cover and they're not just bird illustrations like scientific their portraits as though Amy Tan made characters out of these birds it's also her journal from 2017 to 2022 um of her working at home and watching birds and she's a tremendous essayist and she tells all these little stories so this book is just full of surprises it'll be a lovely April book for bird watching season it also made me think about how we've seen many many bird books in the last couple years tons of books about birding how birding helps nature how birding you know it's kind of a mission for people uh so this really fits in with a long list of bird books and D you said it would be out in April in April yes just in time for Earth Earth month and for the spring and Amy T is someone I think she was on our show a few years ago and she also there was a show about her on American Masters on pbat so that's a great tie in to and this book looks amazing yeah it's really special thank you um oh yes so the black box now here's another writer that you will all be familiar with both as a writer and a documentarian of course Henry Lewis Gates Jr um so each of um Professor Gates's books looks at a different aspect of black history he looked at the black church he's looked at reconstruction Jim Crow here he focuses on a subject very close to my heart which of course is literature so this is a very new take on history of African-American literature the Black Box um begins with um Professor Gates describing a scene where his daughter has just given birth he's asks his son-in-law if he has checked the box so the background here many of you know that Henry Lewis Gates is very interested in genealogy and he's had that whole show about you know he's had his own um genetic testing he says he's 50% subsaharan African and 50% European he figures his daughter is 75% European his son-in-law is 100% but he asked his son-in-law which if he checked the Black Box meaning did he identify Gates's granddaughter as black and the answer is yes so that's one box and that is just full of history and why that matters and why would you ask and why do we do that there's other black boxes slavery um stereotypes so throughout this book which is based on a course that um Professor Gates teaches at Harvard he goes through black literature in the US and kind of analyzes how it deals with identity and how different people feel about being a black American over the decades and how it's changed from Fredick Douglas to Tony Morrison to Terrence Hayes it's a really rich deep book as always with Professor Gates so we will all learn a lot and see things in a different perspective yeah and uh Henry Lewis Gates actually not only is Finding Your Roots um on PBS in January but in February a new documentary called gospel will be airing on PBS and I know that's super anticipated and this comes out I think in early March um and so that's exciting as well I'm looking forward to reading it fantastic and I have one more um yes oh so basketball right you don't have to love basketball to love this book um this is there's always this year on basketball and Ascension by hanif Ador a MacArthur genius um and won the Carnegie medal for his previous book a little devil in America here he's doing many many things using the game of basketball as you know kind of a um sort of a crucible for life um he's a real proponent of his hometown of Columbus Ohio which he dearly loves he grew up there talks about his childhood they had a hoop on their garage so many neighborhood um kids came over and played he talks about LeBron James of course he's in Ohio but he's also the key word here is Ascension um so he writes a lot about his the neighborhood he grew up in which Outsiders called a war zone but which to him was home that he dearly loved how do you rise up you know what is Ascension as a human being as a child going growing into adulthood um writes about you know music and and miracles and Faith and Healing and witness uh it's an incredibly Rich book it's structured like a game so it's in quarters it's in minutes um he takes time out to talk about aviators another form of Ascension he also Chronicles his own personal life some of which involves descension such as when he becomes unhoused or incarcerated uh it's a beautiful poetic book and it's got a lot of movement in it you know it's sort of like a game itself like you can picture him on the court you know he's kind of like dodging and swirling and shooting and it's incredibly Dynamic um and his frames of reference are huge he also talks about you know really tough subjects uh police murders of unarmed young um black men the protest movements um you know losing his mother as a young child what that was like it's a full full Rich book and his writing is just I think magnificent Donna can you share a little bit about some your fiction picks yes I'm happy too Heather I'll start with 14 days which is 14 days during the covid lockdown in an apartment building in Manhattan uh the tenants and the new superintendent gather on the roof in the evenings and they start telling stories and these are remarkable stories each of the tenants has had a completely different life and you're reading this and you're like oh my God the imagination involved here well the fact is this is the brainchild of 36 different writers from Margaret Atwood to Andre Cruz to Scott jro I mean Celeste in Tommy Orange it's a collaborative project it's brilliant and really moving and a lot of fun um Burma sahib is by Paul tho a writer you all be familiar with a great travel writer and a novelist he takes us to Burma in 1922 and he has the nerve to write in the voice of young Eric Blair who was on his way to becoming George Orwell so this is very much the making of a writer novel and it is intense and um really beautifully written and finally The Great Divide how many novels have you read about the building of the Panama Canal when I looked in a booklet vast archive I could only find one and it was that was 15 years ago so Christina henriquez writes about that um she starts with a notice looking for workers it says work in paradise and then makes it very clear that the working on the the pan Canal was nothing like paradise it was quite hellish um so she has local people protesting she has laborers from all around the world um including a um 16-year-old from Barbados a young woman looking for work uh it's a great view of Panama at that time the U different levels of you know different class and race issues and The Great Divide as splitting communities and family and lives it's um her previous novel was the book of unknown Americans that was 10 years ago it's great to have a new book by Christina herenz and I think this is going to be very popular wow that sounds amazing thank you for those picks and I'm really hoping um that we can build on that and hear a little bit from Susan Maguire about her picks so I'm gonna talk about a few titles from the major genres and one I I don't know if this is a a trend but I think one thing that's happening and that I think is going to happen more in 2024 is folks are going to be reading outside of their usual genres you know so people seem to be more adventurous and they want to try you know they'll try a science fiction or fantasy they'll try a romance so these are books that I think will have some broad appeal that um genre readers and non- genre Reas alike will want to pick up so up first we have River Mama by zelica Reed Benta coming from aroan in February this is for readers who like to explore big issues wrapped up in compelling deceptive light stories in it Alicia is a college grad working a dead end retail job in Toronto so she has bigger problems to deal with than an encounter with a river goddess who threatens to leave the world taking all of the rivers she controls with her unless Alicia helps to retrieve a comb that was stolen from her but two of her friends fellow Jamaicans get dragged into the quest and her involvement seems inevitable river mama explores Heritage and Birthright diaspora and the restlessness of early adulthood but but it is also a fun race against the clock page Turner with friendship and Community Building at its heart so I think that one will find a great audience out there another novel with a strong thread of friendship is the romance this could be asked by Kennedy Ryan which Heather if you like covers this is going to be one for you because look at that cover um this comes out from Forever in March Ryan is a mastered emotional conflict and setting up seemingly impossible odds for her characters on their way to happily ever after her breakout hit Before I Let Go is a gut-wrenching Second Chance romance that came out last year this could be us is related to Before I Let Go the heroins of each books are best friends but they can totally be read as a standalone so don't worry if you haven't read that first one it features a woman whose picture perfect life is torn apart when her husband is arrested for embezzlement as she struggles to keep everything together for the sake of her daughters she's tempted by the one man who should be avoiding at all cost C the man who put her husband away no it's juicy it's heart-wrenching and it features a secondary story line about teenagers with autism struggling to cope with change so if you like your romances emotionally intense and with a strong relationship fiction feel this one is for you um on the other end of the romance spectrum is the romcom I can't talk about romance without mentioning romcoms they are still going strong as hugely popular as ever when grumpy meant Sunshine by Charlotte Stein comes out from St Martin's Griffin in February as the title suggests is to take on the popular grumpy Sunshine Trope featuring a Gruff ex- footballer hero he's British so hence the soccer ball on the cover um and his bubbly ghost riter heroin when the ravenous public mistakes their working relationship for a romantic one they pretend to be an item but the Sparks they're pretending to feel start to feel very real like all good romcoms when grumpy me Sunshine features Whi smart banter hilariously awkward situ situations but it also brings the emotional heft as the two come to terms with their real feelings and it's very steamy so if you like steamy you're going to want to try this one for a mystery I have something a little different this one doesn't have any murder in it so it's a little departure but the Kagawa food detectives by hasashi Kashi translated by Jesse Kirkwood comes out from putam in February former police officer nagari and his daughter Kishi run an outof the way Diner in Kyoto that is also home to a tabby cat named drowsy there's drowsy on the cover the diner is almost impossible to find they run a small ad in the newspaper and the building only features a small sign for the business but whoever needs to find it anyone who needs someone to track down the food associated with a particular memory to taste a particular dish one more time finds it like a former colleague of nagar whose current girlfriend doesn't make nabaki udon like his late wife used to make and he needs to taste the dish just one more time before embarking on a life-changing Journey or the woman who wants to create a meal from 55 years ago one that came with an unexpected marriage proposal no matter what the food mystery is the Proprietors of the Kagawa Diner make connections through kishi's careful interrogation and nagar's ingenious cooking readers will Delight in these quiet introspective stories about the healing power of good nostalgic food can't get enough food and another book that centers around food but is completely different is sweetness in the skin by isi Robinson coming from Harper and April akesa Agnes Edna Patterson everyone calls her pumpkin lives with her indifferent mother her grandmother and her beloved Aunt Sophie on just this side of the wrong side of the tracks in Kingston Jamaica she and Sophie dream of leaving Kingston behind and moving to Paris when Sophie's job sends her to France not quite Paris but close enough she promises to send for 13-year-old pumpkin as long as she passes her French exams but when when pumpkin's grandmother dies her only Ally left in the house is gone and pumpkin sees her dreams of France flipping through her fingers until she comes up with a scheme to sell her delicious baked goods to raise money for the exam she makes sweet potato pudding coconut drops chocolate cakes and business is booming until her mother and her school find out what she's up to putting the entire plan in danger sweetness in the skin it's funny it's a heartfelt debut Coming of Age story with a vivid setting and richly drawn characters I dare you not to root for pumpkin you won't be able to resist her so those are just a few of the genre titles coming out in 2024 that I'm excited about and that I like I said I think we'll find a wide audience yeah I think they're so diverse in their topics all of what both both you and and Donna spoke about it's really really interesting I I'm really excited to start to read some of those I know I have a few on my shelf but I haven't had time to crack them open so thank thank you so much for that um if you have any closing thoughts for the adult fiction or non-fiction reader of of something to look forward to um and any last thought Donna or Susan well I would just say that there's been a remarkable amount of biographical historical fiction and I know we have more of that coming um featuring all sorts of writers artists and other people I think that's a really interesting Trend I agree I have go I was just gonna say I have a few on my list that I'm hoping to highlight um just because it's I I do love historical fiction but it's it's really interesting because I do see this trend as I've been looking and reading to connect with um amazing especially amazing women or stories I'm less less familiar with and to learn about other things that were going on at that time what about you Susan gosh I mean I just you know um Wanted reiterate that people are um stretching their usual reading habits and um trying new things and I feel like romance is being infused into every every genre so you better start like in Romance because it's everywhere well thank you so much um and now we're gonna jump into a little bit about an audio audio books so for me I read all the time and one of the things love about audiobooks and why I'm so excited to welcome Heather Booth who is the audio editor of book list is because I feel that reading an audiobook gives me as as an adult an opportunity to drive to clean to do everyday chores and to be reading and to be learning and so I I'm just excited to throw it over to Heather to hear a little bit about what books maybe if you could talk a little bit about your genre what you're going to be talking about today and then what books you recommend for 2024 sure thing yeah um it is a really great interesting time to be an audiobook listener and an a audiobook fan like you I am listening to something nearly all the time I think a lot of us are it's so much easier for us to do that than it has been in years Generations past um you know podcasts radio streaming audio platforms um and audiobooks are part of that so for those viewers um who have been listening on CD or other formats I want them to know that downloadable audio is something they can access through their Library um if they haven't explored downloadable audiobooks through their Library um please do make a make a plan to check out what your library has on offer you might be really surprised by the ease of use the versatility um the variety of options out there and how easy it is to get those audio books and now you're not fumbling with the CDs in the car yeah and if I can just second that at least you know my local library we have three different platforms whereby you can borrow with a click of a button and download it and listen to it sometimes you're if it's a popular book you're on a wait list but it will still your turn comes up and you get to listen um so I know many people think of some of the the subscribe to different um book listening audio books but also I just I just want to Echo what Heather Bo is saying because I think the library does give you that ability on on various platforms like hoopla or Libby um and there is one more that or there are many more but has that keeps on changing yeah exus 360 is another that I believe they might have just changed boundless I think is what they're going by now but yeah things are changing things are always improving and progressing and new features all the time um so yeah it's definitely worth uh when you stop at your library to pick up the book list reader stop at the desk and ask the Librarians if they can give you a tour of their downloadable options because there's there's a lot and it's great it's really great so let's get into it I want to here I'm waiting all right so um I the books that I've selected to talk about today really do focus on the audio version there are so many phenomenal audio versions of books that are that are great on their own um but these I I selected to kind of give a sample of what's new and what's interesting in audio narration I'm starting with crime time which is um a book that exemplifies something we're seeing a lot more in the past few years it's an audio original book so this is a book that you cannot get in print you can't get a copy of it to read it's only available as audio this one comes from the husband wife team uh Jennifer rose and Drew Pine uh Jennifer rose is the author of the perfect marriage and the forthcoming home is where the bodies are which is going to be available in print crime time is a fun full cast mystery Brown so it unites a somewhat reclusive mystery writer with her long-lost half brother who has dreams of hitting it big as an influencer um so in the midst of filming something that he hopes is going to become viral he gets himself and his sister on the wrong side of some dangerous people uh crime time also something that's nice about these audio Originals it clocks in at just under four hours long so it's an ideal selection if you want the engagement and escapism of a mystery of listening to an audio book but you don't have a whole lot of time um audio Originals can be great for this many of them are shorter in length um Crime Time uses clever and immersive production techniques that also make it feel kind of like an oldtime radio show and I have a clip to exemplify what this sounds like where does this tunnel lead you'll see come on are you worried about seeing him again I don't know I'm more worried about what's going to happen to us I thought you said he was going to get us out of danger I said he was the only person that could help us we're far from being in the clear yet whoa is that a VA door like they have a Banks yeah but it locks from the other side so how do [Music] we wow you look just like your mother don't sorry I've missed you so much yeah so I thought that was a really fun clip you kind of get the sound effects feeling you get the full cast feeling um not all audio originals are like this but some are and it's just a real treat something really different that the audio version offers so next up is Jonathan slifers the Lost van go this one is read by Eduardo ballerini if you're a big audio listener you're certainly familiar with the voice here and the name bini is a virtuosic narrator he's phenomenal he's skilled in European accents I wholeheartedly recommend listening to pretty much anything that he reads in fact this year he's book List's voice of choice narrator so this is a recognition given once a year to a narrator whose body of work over the past year displays significant range in Talent the Lost van go is a great example of why bini earned this honor so this title is a followup to the last Mona Lisa which was a 2021 release but you don't have to have read the first one to read this santeler assembles the same crew of intern International art sths for this globe trting adventure and this time tracking the path of a van go that fell into the wrong hands during World War II ballerini is wonderful he seamlessly shifts his narration among accents and tones to distinguish characters in conversation and he keeps the tension up as danger mounts which really is a wonderful thing um as a listener it's a naration that completely sucks you in and will make for plenty of just five more minutes listening moments as you're sitting in your car or you know just waiting for the next thing to happen uh next up we have a debut westart Kill by Dan mcdorman is read by Robert pekov it's 1976 4th of July weekend in the bicentennial and a private eye is invited to the to be the guest at an exclusive and isolated East Coast Social Club he immediately senses that beneath this polished veneer of cocktail parties and and not quite legal hunting excursions something sinister is happening this sounds like a classic mystery and in many ways it is but what the author does here and what the narrator Robert pekov illuminates so deliciously is to turn the challenge turn the genre a little bit and challenge the genre um when he shifts his narration into this fourth wall breaking aside that the author has constructed it really really sounds like a different book it sounds like a non-fiction book where he's talking directly to us the reader somebody who appreciates and understands or is trying to understand better the mystery genre all of this is clearly distinguished from his ability to voice a great range of characters many of whom are quite similar to one another so this is another great talent of an audiobook narrator to take a group of people that have quite a lot in common and make them different this is a great example of perfect narration perfectly paired to a clever title next up we have something that's going to be familiar to PBS fans the wonderful world of James Harriet a Charming collection of classic stories um so James Harriet obviously the author of the books all creatures great and small and those that followed it and the center of the center character of the the PBS show Harriet wrote extensively about his life as a mid-century Country veter veterinarian in England and this collection pulls some really heartwarming and favorite Tales from those collections that will Delight fans of the show and anyone seeking a quaint and warm-hearted story as an extra bonus for this audio Edition listeners will get to hear the stories told by Anna madley and Nicholas Ralph they are the actors who portray the characters on the series so if you're fan of the the show on PBS you can hear more of those those actors and those characters in this narration and when did this come out because I feel like I know in 20120 all creatures great and small came out and that portrayed the pictures of um of the PBS Cara Masterpiece uh all creatures great and small how did this sneak out without me knowing oh that's a good question um this one is from McMillan and I believe it's just coming out in January oh yeah so it it's really nice something that I um I do encourage people to do is look for collections like this look for classic things that they have maybe read in the past or things that they're familiar with because frequently you'll find new audio editions and each is going to bring something new to the table and possibly help you understand and appreciate your favorites in a different way thanks yeah so that's a um non you know based in non-fiction collection title that would be easy to share with young people and so is this one so ketta the autobiography of Mrs ketta Scott King um is another from MacMillan um and it's read by January Lavoy so this in print is a picture book um as she reads Mrs King's words um it really does feel like Janu Lavoy is embodying the late civil rights leader she brings this wonderful empathy and energy it really is going to help young listeners feel connected and hopefully understand more deeply um Mrs King's role in the Civil Rights Movement the audio production keeps young listeners in mind and provides a full soundscape for the words um and we have an example here if you'd like to listen um the scene is from early on when ketta meets her future husband soon after I spoke with Mary Martin called and introduced himself as we talked about our different schools over lunch I felt his stare I found him easy to talk to and we chatted about everything from questions of War and Peace to racial and economic justice as he was driving me home home we stopped at a light and he turned to me you have everything I have ever wanted in a wife when can I see you again so it's just a beautiful recording um I think that they did a lovely job um bringing that era to Young listeners finally I'd like to end with another non-fiction adaptation for youth the distance between us the young rers Edition so this is narrated by Raina it was written by Raina Grande um narrated by Alejandra Roso so young people who grew up watching cartoons on TV might recognize her voice from the Winks series which is a really another another fun way to connect uh youth to audiobooks and audiobook narration this is the story of a family separated by borders time and distance what's so notable here is how the narrator fully embodies each family member's perspectives and emotions making for a transfixing and moving Memoir and using all of those skills that she uh gained as a cartoon narrator well thank you so much for sharing all of those audiobooks I really have gotten into audio books both for myself and also to share with my my kids as a a moment if I don't have time to read the read a story before bedtime um and I I just really appreciate having some piics for 2024 so thanks Heather sure than and now I'm really excited to introduce um Sarah Hunter who is the editor of books for Youth and graphic novels as well as Maggie Reagan who is the senior editor for Youth and what's so much fun is to be able to go through we're going to start with graphic novels and then we're going to do young adults and then we're going to close with youth and if I could ask you to briefly talk about your genre um the genre you'll be discussing before you jump into your description and your top picks for 2024 sure so um the great thing about graphic novels is that it's more than just a genre it's it's a format for a wide variety of genres and um I think there's a misconception that comics and graphic novels are just for kids but that could not be further from the truth um there are Comics available for every kind of reader on every kind of topic um I read a comic about how to knit recently and it was wonderful and the pictures were fantastic um so I I'd really encourage listeners to um do a little searching in the graphic novel section at your library because odds are that you're going to find a story in your favorite genre in a totally new format that you can engage with in a different way um so some of the books that I'm excited about this year um the first book I'd like to talk about is my favorite thing is Monsters uh book two by EML Ferris this is probably one of the most hotly anticipated graphic novels this year um the the book the first book uh came out in 2017 which was her debut and the is supposed to come out the next year but it has taken nearly 5 years to get this book out um and it's really worth the wait um it follows the story of a 10-year-old girl named Karen Reus who lives in a CI neighborhood in Chicago in 1968 and she views herself as a little wearwolf that's a picture of her on the cover there in her own uh imagination of her of her person um and she's obsessed with both horror comics and the Art Institute of Chicago and Ferris combines both of these elements in this really original fantastic style which she renders completely in ballpoint pen which is just incredible if you think about it so you see these reimagined horror comics that relate to what she's seeing in her neighborhood but then also these like really beautiful very detailed Renditions of paintings from the Art Institute um and they combine really seamlessly in this fascinating story that like brings a lot of sophistication to um ideas of memory and identity and family and like the troubling secrets in her family but also a Noir tinged plot of uh murder and gangsters it's really thrilling and unusual um and I'd recommend anybody who's interested in visual art um at all and Comics especially to take a peek at this one um the next one also pertains to Art uh this is a graphic Memoir um by uh by iwayway the uh renowned Chinese artist and human rights activist who's known for his affecting and challenging installations um and this Memoir is framed as a series of stories that he tells his son and each story is centered on one of the characters from the Chinese zodiac um and unlike most Memoirs um he uh he goes beyond just his life story to offer these like very meaningful and deep philosophical ruminations on Art and power and freedom that really drive his work and his understanding of himself and his understanding of humanity in general in the world um the artwork in this one is by Jean Luca constantini um and it's this really um f lined detailed black and white artwork that uh beautifully and realistically renders faces and emotion and poignant moments in the stories that like really bring the like emotional heft of the story to bear um and finally uh in a complete an utter change of pace this is a sweet teen romance um called a Lunar New Year Love Story by Gan Luen Yang and Leen fam um this is a book for teens but I I do want to say that Gan Yang is uh one of the most Adept writers of emotional Nuance um in the ya space and he has done an exceptional job at writing this um very sweet love story um and I think even though it is uh targeted at teens it's one that would really get a kick out of too it centers on Val which is short for Valentine who um until she's in high school loves everything about Valentine's Day um but then becomes disillusioned when she discovers a family secret um and there's a lot of uh depth folded into the story it's also about friendship and family um and at its heart it's truly a Coming of Age story uh for Val and how she learns to um see herself in the world world and uh Leon fam's artwork is charming and expressive and like full of beautiful color um Lion dancers uh is are a pivotal part of the plot and the way she draws them moving and dancing really captures that like really boisterous movement that you would see at a New Year's parade um there's a lot to love here it's very uh it's deceptively deep and I really think that adults and teens would get a lot out of it I love those choices and um I I'm really excited to actually delve into many of them especially the the last one I think will be will be fun I sometimes need something love and love heartfelt and um I like both of the illustrator and the and the author so it'll be it'll be a lot of fun for me to delve into that now there are also our youth uh graphic novels as well that I I know that they um tell the story in in a different way and I've noticed that that's also taken off a lot in the in recent years um so I also encourage people out there to to look in the section the graphic novel section um and sometimes there's one in the adults uh in the library in libraries and also in kids Maggie um I would love to hear a little bit because you're here to talk about young adults are you not I am hi um thank you so much for having me for having all of us um I think kind of like what Sarah was saying about graphic novels uh ya as a category is something that kind of gets classified as a genre and like shoved into a corner a little bit um but it's really just a whole it's a whole category it's a whole spectrum of things um there are books and ya for for kids who are just like transitioning from middle grade into high school there are books in ya that are for kids in college um there are some crossover like teenager into adult titles um some books for kids like right in the middle of high school it's a whole range it's just an age group and it's a whole range of books and you can find books from pretty much any genre in there so we're seeing we've been seeing a lot of horror as you can probably tell from some of these covers right now but like romance is always a popular genre and there's been some really interesting things happening in the ya romance space lately um it's really I think in a lot of ways it's just a really really bold space because teens are really curious and in some ways are really forgiving audience so you just see so many creative risks being taken in ya and so many interesting things happening um and things evolve at lightning speed so whether you have teenagers and you're looking to buy books for them or you're an adult who's kind of looking for something a little boundary busting it's just always an area worth exploring um so I tried to pull some books from a couple of different genres to sort of represent that um and I'm here to talk about some of the early 2024 ones that are kind of sticking out to me as some of the most exciting um if you are a booklet subscriber you might recognize uh the first one I'm going to talk about which is a Camila Kohls so let them burn um that book is out in January and it was the cover of our November issue um that issue was the spotlight on first novels and this is a debut and it was just a stunningly detailed debut uh it's a Jamaican inspired High fantasy it's about the aftermath of a war um it features two magical sisters who have different Destinies um and then also has the bonus of featuring some Dragon riding Invaders so if you know someone who liked the World building of Laney Taylor strange the dreamer or if you're an adult reader um who couldn't get enough of the Dragon infused politics of the prior of the orange tree this could be a really great pick for you it's also a great pick if you know some Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon fans who are really missing their shows in this like wrer strike downtime um this could be a really great option um so another book that we've been buzzing about on staff um and I know Sarah is going to recognize this one is LL mckin escaping Mr Rochester um that's a retold and updated version of Jane air uh so we're seeing kind of a lot of these reimagined Classics lately in books that are taking um Shakespeare is kind of its own thing but also just like classic novels and and uh reimagining them and also sort of updating them so um this one is actually the Love Story between Jane and berth and Mason and um as you might be able to tell from the title they are also plotting to uh flee thornfield Hall and the oppressive Mr Rochester I have seen a couple of authors refer to themselves as um like designated the designated Rochester hater of their book club so if you're among the Apparently growing number of people who is not enamored by and is actually more suspicious of Mr Rochester um or if you just like reimagine Classics uh then this is going to make a great pick it's a great book club pick um you could kind there's a couple others that have come out recently you could pair it along with Betsy Cornwell's another great title reader I murdered him um or my plain Jane which is by Cynthia hand Brody Ashton and Joanie Meadows um those would all go great together with um probably some talk of murder there's a few other January books that aren't in this list and that I won't talk too much about but that you just might want to keep on your radar um that they're coming up and we're really excited about I've got Tor B know is my throat and open grave for horror fans because there are just so many of you now um Mark J Grayson Sky end which is the fantasy dystopia uh one of my reviewers called that the book's best book she's ever reviewed for us and karolina I has shut up this is serious which is um just general fiction about a Mexican-American teen navigating life it's probably my favorite title of the year so far um and then speaking of horror in February uh one of my personally most anticipated books of the year is Melissa to Albert's new book the bad ones um I've been waiting for this book for basically the last seven months you might know Melissa Albert is the author of The Hazelwood um more recently our crooked Hearts all of her books have this wonderful creepy atmosphere to them um and this one she goes full supernatural horror with the story of two estranged friends uh and a haunting local Legend um and just a really killer cover no pun intended um and if you're not in work don't worry because we do have one that's all romance um and that's Edward underhills this day changes everything um and in this one two queer teenagers wind up in New York City with their marching bands meet and embark on a scavenger hunt um and this a really sweet love story that takes place all in one day and there are a couple books like that that have been popular lately um you might know Brandy coar is the voting booth Adam svera they both die at the end or ni yunes the sun is also a star so if you're kind of looking for um some fun companion reads that all have that like quick 24hour like heightened feeling those all go well together and then one more to keep an eye out for in February is the girl the ring in the baseball bat which is a light fantasy Coming of Age dramedy about 3 um so thank you so much if you're interested in more ya titles are curious about non-fiction uh or if you want to see what's coming up this spring um we're always posting about that on booklist social media um so you can check us out online awesome so I want us to jump into youth I mean this is all amazing but I also know there are a lot of us out there who like to buy books for young people um and so if you could make some recommendations of what should we be buying for youth in the in the first quarter of 2024 sure so um if you have a space mad kid who cannot stop thinking about planets and stars and space and nebulas um I'm really excited about um a book called Cosmic collisions asteroid versus Comet by Mark J Kutner and illustrated by Matt Shu um this is out from an imprint that's run uh through MIT called MIT kids um it's an imprint of Candlewick um and as you might anticipate from MIT this book is full of scientifically robust and engaging information um and this one is an entertaining matchup between celestial bodies framed in the classic question of who would win and the text inside makes it sound like they're calling a boxing match it's really really fun um it playfully introduces Concepts and facts about asteroids comets space in general and how scientists observe and make predictions in astrophysics so not only do they explain who would win but why they know who would win which I think is a really um cool concept here uh this is a really energetic presentation that is just perfect for middle-grade readers especially those who like want to one up all their friends with more facts and I think we probably know a lot of those um in the realm of fiction I'm also really excited about about a book called Max in the house of spies by Adam gidwitz um Adam gidwitz wrote a book I really loved a few years ago called the inquisitors tale which is based on Canterbury Tales it's really fun but also like deep in in its own way um and similarly um this is a World War II spy Thriller and he brings that same combination of smart humor and compelling action and like Research into a historical period um and this story is centered on a savvy 11-year-old with a pair of ghosts on his shoulders who infiltrates Nazi ranks as a spy um and it's a book about World War II and the Holocaust but there is a surprising amount of levity that um is not glib uh that's a really difficult thing to pull off um but uh gwts is really capable um and he really finds the perfect balance here uh kids who like fast-paced stories with compelling plot but also Rich atmosphere and fun characters are a natural choice for this book um I know that Illustrated novels are very popular especially Journal style um are really popular and one I'm really looking forward to is called meet me on Mercer Street by bookie vat um this one has just like as you can see from the cover a really warm genial art style it's about a girl who comes back from a summer trip to find that her best friend and her best friend's family's grocery store is completely gone from their Urban neighborhood um and in trying to figure out what happened to her friend in her friend store she meets her neighbors creates a more like robust sense of community with her neighbors and learns that her neighborhood is gentrifying um and she works together with her neighbors to sort of push back on this the store that is taking over her friends uh family's former space um and this one really captures like a very distinct uh kid voice and the artwork really helps carry that home and obviously there are um important themes that touch on a lot of kids' lives like in income insecurity um meeting neighbors um gentrification Urban neighborhoods but all of that is very under the surface um it's it's really focused on the main character's voice um and then in picture books I will quickly talk about two um the first one I want to talk about is the book that almost rhymed by Omar Abed and illustrated by hatim Ali um this follows a little boy who's trying to write a rhyming story um but whenever he gets to the resolving line of his poem uh his little sister chimes in with uh one something that doesn't rhyme and two something that makes the story far more outlandish um it is really fun very silly it plays with rhyming picture book conventions in a really satisfying way that I think uh like slightly older picture book readers would really appreciate um because it sort of turned some of that on its head um and The Sibling Dynamic is just really spot-on um this is a really fun one that I think we'll get a lot of repeat reads um and then finally I would be remiss if I did not mention a picture book biography um in the in our context here uh talking to PBS fans this is a picture book biography of David attenburrow um beloved naturalist uh by Haley Rocco and illustrated by John Rocco um this book has stunning artwork um John Roco artwork is always really beautiful you can see from the cover here that uh there are like really Lush pictures of natural spaces um and it tells the story of David David aten's uh career um based on his observations of a changing planet and uh centered on his activism which of course is very important to him as a lot of his more recent specials have emphasized um and he talks uh it talks in particular about diminishing Wild Spaces on the Planet as a driving um Factor behind his his uh continued um career and readers will come away not only with a strong sense of his life but also just like a really powerful call to action to fight against climate change which of course is top of mind for lots of people um so those are my recommendations for the young people in your life I think uh there's a wide variety of choices here this has been great um I think I hope everyone out there enjoyed it as much as I do I think the diversity of so many people giving us so much advice um you are such a team it's incredible um and I just want to thank you all for taking the time and sharing with us your knowledge about how many and and I think you alluded to it how many people across the country or how many people really are reviewing and sharing that knowledge with all of you to give it to us do you have an estimate are you asking how many reviewers we have for for for book list and I don't have an exact number we first of all we a lot of us review uh who are on staff our editors here who you just heard from and myself included we review for book list um but we also work with a lot of outside Freelancers who review for us many of them are also Library workers so we have deep connections with Library and communities in that way um for a number of reviewers I I I'm not sure I know I don't I turn it over to some of our editors who may know better than me it varies between youth audio and adult though well it's it been incredible to really hear what your editors have recommended and the the clear Devotion to making sure you understand everything in the genre and that you're really recommending to us um the best so thank you and and I as someone who's been reading booklist reader I I can attest that it every month it expands what I know and what I consider reading so uh don't forget check your local library for booklist reader um and I think some independent bookstores might carry it as well is that is that true George um yes we are working to get booklist reader in as many places as we can independent book stores uh included so yes awesome thank you all for joining us and for sharing these great finds it's time to close the program but before we go I'd like to thank all of you for joining us for more book finds remember you can check out our great library of behindthescenes conversations with authors you love and discover your next favorite book along the way at our website at PBS books.org make sure you like And subscribe to PBS books on Facebook and YouTube so you never miss an an episode until next time I'm Heather Marie montia and happy [Music] reading [Music]