The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded Monday and, as we’re sure you’ve already heard, the big poster child this year was everyone’s favorite, Lin-Manuel Miranda, for his unstoppable musical Hamilton. In your completely justified celebration, however, you might’ve missed some other, wonderful works that deserve your attention as well. There was The Sympathizer, the debut novel about a Vietnamese spy in wartime, and Black Flags, the extensive chronicle on the rise of ISIS that beat out popular favorite Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. If you consider yourself a book aficionado, these 18 books beckon at least a read-through. Check out the full list of non-book winners and finalists here. Fiction: Winner: The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen Finalists: Get in Trouble: …
A well-designed library is not just appealing to the eye, but it must also be a place where people want to gather to discover new things about their world and their community. That benchmark is more difficult to achieve than you’d think when your library is outdated, under maintained, or nowhere near you. That’s why each year the American Institute of Architects honors the places that succeed in this through the Library Building Awards. The 2016 recipients had some ambitious designs, from bridging a river to an eight-story tribute to ancient Greece. Check them out below or, if you’re nearby, visit in person! …
A new initiative in England is attempting to get supportive books into the hands of teens suffering from mental health issues. But this is not run through a library; the initative works by having doctors prescribe these books to their younger patients. The Reading Agency, a UK charity dedicated to reading awareness, established the Reading Well Books on Prescription program in 2013 to help adults cope with phobias, dementia, and other mental health issues. Now, the charity has expanded its effort to young teens, creating a list of titles from both fiction and non-fiction that examine those issues in an empathetic, …
Movie rights to the YA novel When Audrey Met Alice, written by Rebecca Behrens, have been purchased by a pair of Hollywood producers—setting the stage for a full-fledged adaptation in the coming few years. The novel follows the daily life of Audrey Rhodes, the frustrated, neglected 13-year-old daughter of the President. When she discovers the diary of Teddy Roosevelt’s then-17-year-old daughter, Alice, Audrey becomes emboldened by her wild, rebellious attitude. Following the former First Daughter’s lead, Audrey finds both excitement and trouble through all manners of misadventures. Few details have been released about the project so far, so we’ll have …
The trailer for Disney’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic The BFG was released this week. Check it out below! The trailer shows young Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) being whisked away from her lonesome orphanage by the BFG himself (Bridge of Spies’ Mark Rylance) to a land of magic and adventure. Much like its new adaptation of The Jungle Book, Disney’s The BFG looks pumped with childlike fantasy, immersive special effects, and an innocent youth dropped into a colorful CGI battle of good and evil. The new adaptation, which has been in the works as far back as 1991, is will hit the …
