2020 has turned out to be an involuntary trip to the Pit of Despair and most of us just can’t wait for this year to be over. But even though 2020 is filled with some seriously dark moments, there is still some positivity in the world, even in the world of books. So, to rip off John Krasinski, here’s some good news.
Small businesses everywhere are struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic, but Independent Bookstore Day (August 29th) gave a nice boost to local bookstores by raising online sales by 30 percent. Communities have also rallied around their local bookstores. Excelsior Bay Books was thrilled to see their town support them to let them continue to thrive.
Meanwhile, people in Chicago are raising funds to keep Heirloom Bookstore open after its founder passed away. Her friends continue to manage the bookstore and have raised over $15,000 to help keep her dream alive.
School is now back in session, and the women’s basketball team from Arizona State University decided to help out by reading books to kids virtually. Not only did they recreate the magical experience of reading a book with someone else, but they were happy to be able to do some community service in the midst of the pandemic.
Libraries, however, are using the pandemic as inspiration. Or, at least they’re using the response strategies as inspiration to fight another pressing issue: climate change. Libraries everywhere are working with local governments to form Climate Action Plans while also reducing their own waste and greenhouse emissions.
Unfortunately, the pandemic isn’t the only tragedy of 2020. Due to horrific police brutality, we are now having an uncomfortable but necessary conversation about race and diversity. But some people are using books to help open up the conversation about diversity and racial equality. Moms talk about how they build their children’s libraries using books filled with diverse characters, and even characters from different cultures. People are also using Little Free libraries to distribute antiracist and diverse books to their neighbors in both Arlington, Massachusettes, and Tacoma, Washington.
And, while the book industry has a long way to go to be truly inclusive, there are some baby steps happening that are worth celebrating. Northwestern University Press just hired Parneshia Jones as their first African-American director. She is one of two African-American university press directors.
Books are also becoming more diverse. In the past, non-binary representation in books was scarce, but that is slowly changing. Book Riot released a list of just some of the new releases featuring non-binary characters.
So, even though this year feels like someone tossed a bunch of dystopian novels into a blender and threw the shredded pages at a calendar, there’s still some positive things happening. Do you have any good news to share? Let us know in the comments.