Summer can be an overwhelming time for many libraries. Kids are on school break, summer reading programs are in full swing, and soon-to-be vacationers are seeking travel reads.
And even if things don't speed up at your library during the summer, things rarely slow down for library staff. You've got to utilize all the tools you've got to keep up. This summer, NextReads can serve as the handy multi-tool on your reading suggestion keychain. For example:
- Don't have enough staff (or time) to craft your own direct-to-reader newsletters? Our newsletters arrive ready to go.
- Looking for a quick way to stay up to date in genres outside your reading interests? NextReads has you covered with fiction and nonfiction for adults and kids.
- Need lots of notice to prep programs or displays around buzzworthy new books? The NextReads Advance List shares selections three months before publication.
And speaking of planning...
Here's a sneak peek of this summer's NextReads selections
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A variety of famous names appear on NextReads newsletters this summer, including Black Shield Maiden by Willow Smith and Jess Hendel (Fantasy and Science Fiction), Hip-Hop is History by Questlove, and The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos (History and Current Events), as well as Roswell Johnson Saves the World!, a new series launch from Chris Colfer (Books for Kids and Tweens).
- If summer means series books for your library patrons, they're in luck! Plenty of high-profile series are updating soon, including Steven Rowley's Guncle books (Fiction A to Z), Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries (Mystery), Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe universe, and Tomi Adeyemi's popular Legacy of the Orisha trilogy, which concludes in Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Teen Scene).
- Readers can revisit familiar settings in new books from Elizabeth Strout and Abi Daré (Fiction A to Z).
- Celebrate Pride this June by reading about real LGBTQIA lives in a themed list from Biography and Memoir. Check out a variety of queer love stories in summer Romance picks by Casey McQuiston, Chenecia C. Higgins, Alexandria Bellefleur, Cat Sebastian, and many more.
- June also brings recommendations for swimming-themed backlist books from Books for Kids and Tweens, plus beach reads from Picture Books.
- Kids who adore the quirky and thoughtful side of the graphic novel spectrum will appreciate Vera Brosgol's Plain Jane and the Mermaid and Sara Varon's Detective Sweet Pea: The Case of the Golden Bone (both featured in Books for Kids and Tweens).
- Our bibliographers have birds on the brain, and readers will too with a flock of avian-related reads. Nonfiction fans will enjoy Dennis Gaffin's Birds Through Indigenous Eyes, Amy Tan's The Backyard Bird Chronicles (Nature and Science), and Karen Valby's The Swans of Harlem (Biography and Memoir), while fiction readers can turn to Sarah T. Dubb's Birding with Benefits (Romance) and Veronica Roth's When Among Crows (Fantasy and Science Fiction).
- Finally, if Summer Scares isn't enough for the bloodthirsty horror hounds in your community, don't miss the themed list of Bram Stoker Award winners in June's Horror newsletter.
Rebecca Honeycutt is Senior Reader Services Librarian for NoveList. She is currently reading The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines by Mo Netz.
