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

1. The Yield – Tara June Winch
2. Possession – A S Byatt.
3. The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George
4. The Library Book – Susan Orleans
5. The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
6. The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians – James Patterson
7. Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doer
8. Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – Bo-reum Hwang
9. The Secret, Book and Scone Society – Ellery Adams
10. The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell
11. Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams
12. The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
13. The Cracked Spine – Paige Shelton
14. The Librarianist – Patrick deWitt
15. The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell
16. The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
17. The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
18. Dewey – Vicki Myron
19. That Librarian – Amanda Jones
20. The Library Book – Susan Orlean
21. The Librarian: a Memoir – Allie Morgan.

Books for Students

1. What You are Looking For is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama (Year 9 up)
2. 113th Assistant Librarian – Stuart Wilson (Coming out in November!)
3. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Young Adult)
4. The Lost Book of Magic – Amelia Mellor (Coming out in October!)
5. Land of L – Emily Rodda
6. The Book that Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence  (Year 10 upwards)
7. The Book that No One Wanted to Read – Richard O (Middle Fiction)
8. The Library Fish – Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Junior)
9. The Evil Librarian – Michelle Knudsen
10. Lirael – Garth Nix (Young Adult)
11. The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
12. The Littlest Library – Poppy Alexander
13. Hooray, Hooray it’s Library Day – Julie Grasso
14. The Little Street Library – Amy Adeny
15. I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf – Grant Snider (Graphic Novel)
16. Left Handed Booksellers of London – Garth Nix (Young Adult)
17. Mr Lemoncello’s Library series – Chris Grabenstein
18. Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian – Jessica Spanyol
19. Library Mouse – Daniel Kirk
20. Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians – Brandon Sanderson
21. Rondo – Emily Rodda
22. Pages and Co – Anna James
23. The Lost Library – Rebecca Stead
24. The Secret Library of Hummingbird House – Julianne Negri
25. The Medoran Chronicles – Lynette Noni
26. Words in Deep Blue – Cath Crowley
27. A Library of Lemons – Jo Cotterill
28. The Bookshop Girl – Sylvia Bishop
29. The Moonlight Dreamers – Siobhan Curham (Young Adult)
30. Strange the dreamer by Lani Taylor (Young Adult)
31. Luna Loves Library Day – Joseph Coelho
32. Ink and Bone – Roxanne Conrad (Young Adult)
33. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Young Adult)
34. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
35. The Librarian of Auschwitz – Antoni Hurbe (Young Adult)
36. Suggested Reading – Dave Connis (Young Adult)
37. The Travelling Bookshop – Katrina Nannestad
38. Fairy Tale Fan Club – Richard Ayoade (New)
39. Whisperwicks – Jordan Lee (New)

 

Picture Books

1. The Dictionary Story – Oliver Jeffers (New!)
2. Books Make Good Friends – Jane Mount
3. Parsely Rabbit – Frances Watts and David Legge
4. The Little Street Library – Amy Adeney
5. Dewey – Vicki Myron
6. The Librarian of Basra – Antonio Iturbe
7. Librarian – Busy People series – Ando Twin and Lucy M George
8. The Librarian’s Stories – Lucy Falcone and Anna Wilson
9. It’s A Book – Lane Smith
10. Help Wanted Must Love Books – Janet Sumner Johnson and Courtney Dawson
11. The Lost Library – Jess McGeachin
12. Midnight at the Library – Ursula Dubosarsky and Ron Brooks
13. Our Library – Donna Rawlins

Thanks again to everybody who joined and gave us so many great recommendations.