Christmas Fiction: A New Trend?

Posted on December 1, 2015

By Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly

It seems like there are more fiction authors than ever who are publishing Christmas titles. Many can be categorized as “women’s fiction,” but there are a number of Christmas crime books as well. Why is it so popular (and lucrative) to write a Christmas novel? Is this a new trend or simply a tradition?

Christmas novels have been around since roughly Charles Dickens’ time. Sir Walter Scott wrote the Christmas poem “Christmas in the Olden Time” (1904) and William Sandys’ Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) are examples of Christmas titles that pre-date Dickens, but A Christmas Carol by Dickens was among the first Christmas titles in the form of what we consider a “novel” today. Dickens felt that the best way to educate people about poverty and social injustice was through an emotional, touching Christmas story, rather than through political pamphlets. He wanted people to be kind and generous toward one another, and used “the spirit of Christmas” to make his point (1).

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Readers Advisory: Books for Tweens

By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner

“Tween” is that age group somewhere between child and teen, roughly 4th through 7th grade. It is a time of dramatic change: physical, emotional, and mental. These kids have personalities, opinions, talents, and imaginations. They care about things. It is a spectacular age for reading because they have vocabularies and comprehension rates that can handle more intricate storytelling.

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Our 10 Plus Favorite Book Blogs

Book Blogs for Librarians

By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner

Book blogs are everywhere. One of the best features of technology is when readers can share with other readers.  The love of books is shared by so many people across the web. These websites are great for everything from collection development, new releases, genre favorites and discussions.  However, literary types tend to get a bit stuffy. We prefer something less precious and more about the greater landscape of entertainment. Preferably with a bookish touch.

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5 Simple Readers’ Advisory Best Practices

Public Library Best Practices

By Kara Kugelmeyer

How do you discover your next read? I am always on the lookout for my next read.  For me one of life’s sweetest moments is discovering a new title that I am sure will open up a new universe for me.

With thousands of books published each year and no way to read them all… sigh. Finding those trusted sources to recommend my next read is important to me. While there are a host of ways to find that next good book, I the best is to ask the original readers’ advisory service – public librarians.

Readers’ advisory (RA) is both and art and a science and practitioners support all formats: print, large print, eBooks, audio, etc., and of course all genres as well!

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