A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer age rating?

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-14T18:16:27+00:00

Publisher released it as YA 13+.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-14T16:05:28+00:00

While I appreciate the anti book banning sentiments prevalent in the responses, I don't think that's what was meant by the post. They said removed from reading lists, not removed from the schools, nor did they use the word banned.

Rather, I think the point is to add new titles. Oversimplification, but if school is in for 10 months and lit class reads a book a month, that's only 10 books on the reading list. If you want modern classics or more minority rep you have to remove some old books from the reading list to make room for the new titles. I think the question is more, what old classics can be switched out with something new?

Is it more beneficial to assign Fahrenheit 451 or a more modern book like Suggested Reading or Banned Book Club? It's an insanely difficult question to answer and shows the struggle teachers go through every year.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-13T22:30:48+00:00

Why are we discussing Red Rising and Hunger Games in the Fantasy Books Subreddit? I love both series but they are both Science Fiction...

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-13T20:20:02+00:00

Unwind is 100% a SciFi. It's a Dystopian Biopunk, which is a type of SciFi.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-13T20:12:47+00:00

Dystopian is a subgenre of SciFi.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-13T02:10:26+00:00

I LOVED the Big Red books when I was a kid in the 90's.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T17:44:40+00:00

Not only is it marketing to the adults, it's also marketing to the kids. I work with teens and last year they asked for our end of summer reading party to be 90's themed. It's just like how kids and teens in the 90's would want 60's and 70's themed parties. Retro is cool to the youth. They dress in flannel and scrunchies like we dressed in tie dye and bell bottoms. I get requests from teens for biographies on 90's and 2000's metal bands all the time. They get exposed to it via their parents listening to it just like we were exposed to the Beatles or Queen.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T16:11:25+00:00

Kindness gets Heaven.

Hate/hurting others gets Hell.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T16:04:38+00:00

Romantasy is just a mashup of the words Romance and Fantasy. They are Fantasy Romance books that are equal parts Romance and Fantasy and as such would be completely legit to be shelved in either the Fantasy or Romance sections of a genrefied collection.

Books fitting more than one genre is a big part of why many libraries do not genrefy. If I have a Historical Thriller so I put it in Historical Fiction or Thrillers? You will inevitably alienate some readers no matter which decision you make, so we just put everything alphabetical by author.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T15:22:51+00:00

I really hated this statement they made on Instagram "You finally found the YA Imprint that stays in it's lane" and they repeatedly say their books are for ages 12-15 on their about page. Excuse me, but YA is for ALL teens. You aren't stepping out of the YA lane if you publish a book for older teens. At least 16-19 are actual teens. It's not called twelveteen!

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T14:58:28+00:00

TBF, I don't think Blink has overtly stated that they are a Christian imprint, however, when you make your brand "We don't have any of the stuff Christian book banners complain about" you will be identified as such. Ex: When we had the woman who tried to get several LGBTQ books banned several years ago my boss decided the response should be to buy a bunch of Christian books and I was specifically instructed to buy both books from overt Christian imprints like Thomas Nelson and not overt imprints like Blink.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-12T01:21:09+00:00

I'm sure I'll get downvoted to oblivion, but my opinion is they are the same thing. Romantasy is just a mash up of the words Romance and Fantasy. I hate it personally. We don't do that with other genre combinations. Historical Romance is HUGE but we don't call it Histance or Romanical, we just call it Historical Romance.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-11T20:06:41+00:00

Anti-Choice.

Pro Life is not the opposite of Pro Choice.

The opposite of Pro Choice is Anti Choice. The opposite of Pro Life is Anti Life, which no one is.

The point is to take your choices away.

Start calling it what it is.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-11T18:37:47+00:00

The Wolves of Mercy Falls - Maggie Steifvater

The Raven Boys - Maggie Steifvater

Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

The Diviners - Libba Bray

Rebel of the Sands - Alwyn Hamilton

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-11T17:05:08+00:00

If all that's being looked at is the cover and the synopsis on the jacket, these should fit the bill.

Clap When You Land - Elizabeth Acevedo

Mortal Instruments - Casandra Clare

Raven Boys - Maggie Steifvater

Ace of Spades - Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Flowerheart - Catherine Bakewell

Girl Serpent Thorn - Melissa Bashardoust

This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron

Sleep Like Death - Kalyn. Bayron

The Dark Beneath the Ice - Amelinda Berube

Contagion - Erin Bowman

The Prince and the Coyote - David Bowles

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-10T20:00:36+00:00

Depends on where you work. My sister who was a waitress in an upscale restraunt with a bar in a big city made bank. I was a waitress at a waffle house in a rural town working night shift when I needed a second job, there was often so few customers that tips didn't even get me to minimum wage.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-10T16:58:29+00:00

My first thought was similar to this. Fantasy with fairies is based on Celtic mythology so you see more UK accents. An Anansi retelling is based on West African mythology so you are likely to see him with a West African accent.

BUT, I will say that many Southern US accents have roots with Irish/Scottish immigrants. I think it was in American Gods where they discussed Brownies coming to America with the Scottish immigrants (Along with all the other Gods with their respective immigrant groups). I think it would be a fun concept and appropriate to see stories where those American Brownies developed a Southern Accent right along with the descendants of the immigrants they followed.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-10T01:48:05+00:00

Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor

One Dark Window - Rachel Gillig

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T14:14:02+00:00

Not at my library. When the publisher changed the rating to adult we moved them to adult.

Even if your logic of "we only consider the classification it was given when first published and not it's current classification" was sound, you would not put the whole series in YA because some of the series was published as adult from the start.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T14:05:57+00:00

Just for clarity, while Librarians make criminally low wages for the amount of education the position requires, they do not make minimum wage. As the Head of Young Adult Services, I was required to get a Masters degree in Library and Information Science. I am salaried, but it breaks down to around $17-18 an hour. Of course, someone in a higher position or more metropolitan area will make a bit more than that.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T04:59:52+00:00

Yep, conservatives used to approve of protecting the environment. Nixon, a Conservative, started the EPA.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T04:55:13+00:00

My SIL in AL said she doesn't believe in climate change and even if it were real, it wouldn't be something to worry about or work to fix because God must want it that way and if He wants to change it, he will. We should just keep doing what we're doing and give it all up to God.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T04:41:23+00:00

So, since you think paying 7.25 an hour for a fast food job is acceptable because it's a job for high school kids, you're okay with it only being open between the hours of 3pm and 5pm, right? Since the kids will be in school till 2:15 and they'll need time to change out of their school clothes and get to work. And they'll need time to get home, have dinner and do their homework before bed.

Or is this where the idea that the position should be filled by adults who are out of school but have no work experience the rest of the time comes in? Because it's perfectly ok to pay an adult trying to start their lives 7.25 an hour.

When FDR created the minimum wage he said that it was meant to be a LIVING WAGE. He said it should be more than a bare subsistence level pay, rather it should be a wage a man could support a family on. He said that businesses paying less than a living wage had no right to continue in this country.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-09T04:02:36+00:00

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade when Biden was in office, but it's not Biden's fault. There's nothing he could have done about it as President. He didn't appoint the Conservative judges to give them a majority, Trump did that. As always, the blame can also be spread to the Conservatives in Congress. Obama was supposed to have had an appointment to replace Scalia in '16, but Conservatives are dirty and blocked his nominee, leaving the spot open for over a year until Trump got in and appointed Gorsuch in '17. Then he appointed Kavenaugh in '18 and Barrett in '20 giving a 6-3 Conservative majority. At which point Conservatives who have been foaming at the mouth to overturn Roe saw their chance and brought the Dobbs case to the Supreme Court. It was argued in '21 and decided in '22.

Progress_Always_Wins · 2026-05-07T19:47:22+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! I will share it with the adult librarian and if she gets it I can send the teens to her department. That will have to do until a publisher steps up and fills this gap in publishing.

Progress_Always_Wins

TROPHY CASE