U.S. Book Challenges Update: February 2026 Edition

Libraries and schools across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of attempts to ban or remove books from their shelves. I Love Libraries will continue to raise awareness by highlighting attempts to censor library materials, as well as efforts by librarians, parents, students, and concerned citizens to push back against them. This update includes news from New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Utah, as well as a look at an Ohio author who’s fighting back against book bans.

‘How I Library’ Episode 30: Jon King

In episode 30 of the “How I Library” podcast, show host and I Love Libraries editor Phil Morehart speaks with musician and author Jon King from the legendary post-punk band Gang of Four about his new memoir, “To Hell with Poverty! A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four.”

Mychal Threets Tastes the Rainbow on NPR

If you’re NPR fanatics like all of us here at I Love Libraries, you were most likely overjoyed to hear librarian, Reading Rainbow host, and honorary chair of this year’s National Library Week Mychal Threets on its quiz show, “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” this weekend.

Book Review of the Week: ‘Plague House’

“A win for adult horror fans and a surprisingly unique take on the haunted house story.” For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s book and media review publication, we have Jack Phoenix’s review of the trade paperback edition of the comic book, “Plague House,” written by Michael W. Conrad and illustrated by Dave Chisholm.

And the 2026 Carnegie Medal Winners Are …

The American Library Association has selected “A Guardian and a Thief” by Megha Majumdar as the winner of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and “Things in Nature Merely Grow” by Yiyun Li as the winner of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The selections were announced Tuesday, January 27.