The Premier League returns! And Marcus, Luke, Pete, and Jim Full On Campbell are here for a data romp ahead of the weekend.

We discuss intimate exchanges in the tunnel between Sean Dyche and Jürgen Klopp, Wayne Rooney’s return to the fold, and a World Cup runner-up heads to the ninth tier!

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In July 2024 — nine years ago — We Need Diverse Books was founded. The nonprofit dedicated to addressing the lack of diversity in publishing emerged in response to yet another major book event showcasing a slate of white authors as their stars…plus Grumpy Cat. The movement to call out the whiteness of the industry was not new, but that year, it hit a fever pitch.

Malinda Lo tracked queer YA books published starting in 2011, continuing in 2012, 2013, and pulling together a great chart documenting change in this category between 2003 and 2013. Lo also tracked diversity in the YA bestsellers, as seen in Publishers Weekly in 2012, as well as diversity within the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Her number crunching on The New York Times Best Seller List in YA for 2013 made clear how few authors of color and characters of color were being given the budgets to succeed, if they were being published in any representative manner by the industry at all.

The act of reading comes with many benefits for readers. Reading increases brain activity, according to one 2013 study, improves skills associated with “building, navigating, and maintaining social relationships,” increases a reader’s vocabulary, and can even lower blood pressure and heart rate after reading for only 30 minutes. It’s pretty established that reading is good for you. But it’s not exactly the coolest hobby around. In a world of daredevil hobbies, sports enthusiasts, and concert-goers, staying in on a Friday with a book isn’t the most exciting tale to tell to your coworkers come Monday morning. To non-readers, reading can seem downright boring.

But reading is so cool! With the assistance of celebrities spotted with books out in the wild, TikTok’s push to get reading into the mainstream again, and the rebellion of reading certain books, it’s the coolest it has ever been. However, certain books are maybe ever so slightly cooler to be seen reading. While it’s super cool to own what you like without feeling the shame of other people’s opinions, those a little more conscious of the wandering eye of strangers might lean toward books that have a cooler sense about them.

Whether it’s because of their cover, because TikTok loves it, or your favorite celebrity has sung its praises, here are ten cool lit fit books to pick up as we head into cool girl fall.

I’m not a big horror reader, although I’ve been reading more of it since realizing just how much the horror umbrella encompasses. I’m still not super into classic monster books, though. Zombies don’t do it for me most of the time. Neither do vampires. But I love books that explore monstrosity. This is currently one of my favorite subgenres, though I’m not exactly sure what to call it. I’m talking about books that play with what it means to be a monster. Books starring characters that are both monster and not-monster. Books that delve into who we label monster, and why someone might choose to become one. Can a monster be a mother? A girl? Is grief a monster? Are monsters unforgivable? Misunderstood? These questions are so juicy. I could read about them forever.

These eight books are not your typical monster stories. Some of them don’t even feature “monsters” at all — they’re about emotional monsters, the monsters we make of memory, humans doing monstrous things. Many of them focus on transformation — a mother turns into a dog, a girl turns into a mermaid, a scientist tries to become part of a wolf pack. They’ve all changed the way I think about what it means to be a monster — often with a dose of creepiness along the way.

Phrases like “coping skills,” “social emotional learning,” and “growth mindset” are the latest in buzzy educational jargon. However you describe it, adults are starting to adapt to the fact that we cannot ignore the mental health of children. While we accept that kids need explicit instruction in how to read or multiply or understand scientific concepts, for a long time, we acted like an ability to recognize and manage emotions would come naturally as children age. A short time spent observing emotionally stunted adults should disabuse us of that notion. Luckily, there has been a sea change, and children’s books about mental health have surged alongside.

Children carry all the same baggage as adults, but without the autonomy to do many of the things we do when it all gets to be too much. Most kids can’t decide when they’ve earned a little treat, make the choice to go for a long walk, or reach out to a mental health professional without support from someone else. While some kids may accidentally stumble on the skills that help them calm down and process, others might have understandable breakdowns and then be scolded for acting out of control. This is where the books about children’s mental health come in. Step-by-step teaching skills for what to say and how to respond when challenging situations arise is the biggest gift we can give the children in our lives. As adults, we’ll likely pick up some coping skills along the way.

Below, I’ve gathered several picture books that support children’s mental health, covering topics from anxiety to personal autonomy to flexible thinking. Ready to grow those social-emotional skills? Read on.

Spider-Man is one of Marvel Comics’s most popular characters, without question. The wall-crawler has a nice history with video games, but when Marvel’s Spider-Man hit the PlayStation 4 in 2018, it was an immediate smash. From the open world of Manhattan to the stellar story, performances, and combat, everything was working right. Insomniac Games followed it up with a smaller, budget title called Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, continuing their success.

Now, a full-sized sequel is about to drop for PlayStation 5. It promises to continue the story from the first games, including both Peter Parker and Miles Morales in the adventure. What else do we know about the sequel? Based on the trailer, Harry Osborn will feature heavily. In the first game, he was presumed dead, though the ending showed otherwise. Kraven the Hunter will be a major villain. Oh, and the black symbiote suit means fascinating things for Peter and the appearance of Venom.

That might sound like a lot, but video games have the luxury of packing a lot of story content and characters in since the game can span lots of hours. The first game relied heavily on Mister Negative, Silver Sable, Mary Jane, and Aunt May, after all. That said, with so many new characters to the story that Insomniac is telling, there are a lot of comics to read if you want some background. Here are 10 comics to read before playing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

You may have seen your local Friends of the Library around, even without knowing who they were. You may have purchased used books from a sidewalk sale or donated to a fundraiser or signed a petition and not known that you were talking to volunteers from a local group fighting for your library. But what are these groups?

Friends of the Libraries are nonprofit groups that support libraries in their communities. They are run by volunteers and exist in the US, Australia, France, South Africa, and the UK.

As an example, I did a quick Google search to find my group — the Chicago Coalition of Library Friends. Their most recent project is to build public consensus and lobby the city to keep libraries open longer because from 2010 to 2021, hours were reduced from 64 hours a week to just 48. Their work helped to get back library hours on Sundays, from 1 to 5 p.m., which is a huge win.

Why the wives and girlfriends of footballers hold such a fascination for Brits

September 8 – October 28, 2023

September 8 – October 21, 2023