Glorious Wrestling Alliance: An Interview with Cartoonist Josh Hicks

Newly released, the Glorious Wrestling Alliance: Ultimate Championship Edition gathers the best wrestlers in the universe to compete for championship title! The Great Carp, an amphibious wonder, is feeling the weight of his championship. Miranda Fury has donned a mask to smash wrestling’s glass ceiling. And Gravy Train is desperate for a new gimmick, but it’s hard when you’re shaped like a giant gravy boat. This hilarious graphic novel pays homage to the surreal theater of pro wrestling while diving deep into the identities and anxieties of these zany characters.

Today author and cartoonist Josh Hicks shares his favorite comics, the start of Glorious Wrestling Alliance, and why wrestling provides the perfect backdrop for this story. Read on to find a special video and book trailer!

Set in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts, Just Ash is a heartrending but ultimately empowering journey of an intersex boy learning to embrace both his body and his identity. Ash Bishop has never thought much about being intersex. But when he gets his period during soccer practice his friends and teachers start to view him differently, and his own mother thinks he should “try being a girl.” Gradually, Ash realizes that he needs to stand up for who he really is, or the cost of his silence might destroy his life. With Intersex Awareness Day coming on October 26th, this book is the perfect addition to your fall TBR list.

Today we welcome author Sol Santana to talk about the decisions she made while writing, the story’s setting, and her hopes for young adult readers.

We are delighted to invite you to join a Winter Reading Challenge, sponsored by Lerner and hosted by Beanstack. Our goal is to support school and public libraries in the US and Canada, and our theme is “Read for a Better World”, encouraging readers of all ages to explore diversity, empathy, and action through literature. We’ll provide digital access to all books in the challenge and there are prizes, including books, collections, and virtual author visits, for participating institutions.

Yesterday was Indigenous Peoples Day. Below you’ll find a list of books that cover Indigenous history, people or fictional characters, as well as an interesting resource to find out which Indigenous lands you’re living on.

This November, we’re celebrating nonfiction with a book-a-day read-aloud. Join us! Each Sunday, you’ll get an email with the week’s video links along with related books, teaching guides, and other resources. Learn more and sign up below!