At Scholastic, in the fourth quarter ended May 31, revenue fell 6%, to $476.1 million, and operating income fell 4%, to $51.4 million. For the year, revenue fell 3%, to $1.58 billion, and operating income fell 4%, $15.2 million.

In the quarter, the company said, "continued growth in Book Fairs and higher Entertainment revenues were more than offset by lower Trade and International revenues due to more challenging comparisons with the prior-year publishing schedule and lower revenues in Education." At the same time, "improved profitability in Children's Book Publishing and Distribution and Entertainment [was] partly offset by lower results in Education and International." 

In the quarter, the Children's Book Publishing and Distribution division revenues dropped 4%, to $276.3 million. Revenues for School Reading Events and Book Fairs rose 5%, to $186.6 million, reflecting higher fair count. Book Club revenues dropped 7%, to $12.2 million, primarily reflecting "lower participation."

In the division, Consolidated Trade revenues dropped 20%, to $77.5 million, reflecting "a challenging comparison with the prior-year publishing schedule," which included the release of Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, the fifth book in her Hunger Games series.

Education division revenues fell 13%, to $109.2 million, "primarily reflecting continued pressure on school and district spending for supplemental curriculum materials." But the company noted that "while fourth-quarter revenues remained below the prior year, the rate of decline improved in the second half of fiscal 2026 compared to the first half of the year, as the segment advanced its product, marketing and sales strategies following its repositioning."

International division revenues fell 13%, to $69.6 million, excluding favorable foreign currency exchange of $3.1 million, reflecting, again, "lower Trade revenues against a more challenging comparison with the prior-year publishing schedule."

Scholastic president and CEO Peter Warwick said, "Fiscal 2026 demonstrated the earnings power of a more focused Scholastic, as the company made substantial progress in a multi-year transformation of its governance, organization, strategy and balance sheet. Adjusted EBITDA rose, in line with guidance, positioning the company for growth in fiscal 2027.... Fiscal 2026 was also an important year of capital deployment and shareholder value creation. Following the sale-leaseback transactions, we returned significant capital to shareholders through share repurchases, a modified Dutch auction tender offer and dividends, and established a long-term leverage framework that supports both disciplined investment and continued capital returns. Together, these actions completed major elements of our financial transformation and provide Scholastic with greater financial flexibility to enhance shareholder returns."

Scholastic said that for the fiscal year 2027, it foresees growth of about 2%-4%, reflecting "expected growth in Children's Books, Entertainment and International, improved performance in Education, disciplined cost management and targeted investment in long-term growth opportunities."

Subtext is coming to Marietta St. in Atlanta.

Subtext, "a bookstore and quiet gathering space," will open in October at 342 Marietta St. NW, Unit 1, in Atlanta, Ga. Owned by Cristina Logg, the venue will serve as more than a bookstore. Logg aims for it to be "a quiet oasis from the noise of the city, where anyone from the nearby academics of Georgia Tech and Georgia State University to downtown dwellers can pop in and 'be comfortable reading a book… or [can] actually have a conversation with their date,' " the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

She added that while Subtext will serve drinks, it is not meant to be a "high energy" cocktail bar, but more of a place to sip a whiskey or gin drink (or coffee and tea). The business will seat 40 people. "Overall, the aesthetic of the space will lean Art Deco with soft curved lines, deep burgundies, a stone-topped bar and a mismatch of vintage furniture," the Business Chronicle noted. Franklin Fixtures created custom bookshelves for Subtext.

The 2,400-square-foot space will feature a cafe on the first floor, and a bookstore and lounge space in the 1,400-square-foot basement. What Now Atlanta reported.

"It's really meant for you to be able to come with your partner and have a quiet conversation, or you can come alone and read a book," Logg said. "You can come and play a game with friends if you want to.
 It's really a space meant to fulfill that quieter niche in the neighborhood."

She added that Subtext will emphasize local produce and food items at the cafe: "We want something where people feel comfortable during the day coming in with their kids and meeting with book clubs and using it as a community space. Then the evenings will be that quieter, contemplative space."

Following its May debut, Book Nook in Baldwin, N.Y., held a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Wednesday, July 22, News12 Long Island reported.

Located at 1205 Grand Ave., Book Nook is Long Island's only Black-owned bookstore and sells books for all ages with an emphasis on diversity and amplifying historically-marginalized voices. Owners and married couple Marlene Munn and Roberto Joseph have hosted storytime sessions and author discussions, and they hope Book Nook becomes a gathering hub and third space for the Baldwin community. 

"I just thought that this was a great community to be in," Munn told the Long Island Herald last month. "I felt that there were a lot of professionals here, and I thought it would be an asset."

Prior to opening Book Nook, Munn had a career in education, as a social studies teacher in Queens and as a professor of education at Hofstra University and Long Island University's Brooklyn campus. 

Her background in education informs much of what she does at Book Nook, and Munn plans to "develop programming so that kids can begin to converse about what they're reading and find people who are interested in some of the same things that they're interested in." Munn also intends to partner with and platform local writers, both traditionally and independently published. 

Per Long Island Life & Politics, Book Nook is Baldwin's only independent bookstore. 

At Wednesday's ribbon cutting, Munn told News 12 the community's feedback has been great. "Everybody that comes in here tells us, 'this is what we needed.' "

Hometown Bookstore hosted a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration last weekend at 520 East Main St. in Grayson, Ky. The Carter County Times reported that the new bookstore "showcases a wide variety of genres (virtually all of them) and is dedicated to providing Carter County, Grayson, and the entire region with the printed word. As the growing crowd lined up to enter the new store, more than one excited future customer said that Grayson had needed something just like this for a long time."

After the opening festivities, the bookstore posted on Facebook: "We would like to thank our local community and beyond for their support in bringing a bookstore to Grayson.... Yesterday, over 100 books found new homes, which was awesome for our first day and gave a glimpse into what readers are searching for. As a small business, we know we can't offer everything due to limitations, but our goal is to do our best to find that special book. Again, thank you to everyone who helped make our opening day successful. We are off to place a book order."

Owner Mari Ann Caudill, who has lived in Grayson for 13 years, told the Times that she developed a love for books when she was young. It has continued into her adult life, combining with a love for telling stories, which inspired her to become an indie author. 

She added that bringing a bookstore to life and into the community was a long and often challenging process: "It was very difficult. And I might do an e-book about that later. Funding is the major challenge. Some lenders feel as though bookstores are on the way out. But I was reading an article just the other day that said parents are pushing their children more toward books to keep them from spending so much time online."

In addition to a wide selection of mainstream books and popular titles, Caudill intends to build a selection of historical works about Appalachia and a section of general nonfiction. Also in her plans are author book signings and special programs like a children's story time.

The Booksellers Association Group has awarded £33,000 (about $43,990) to 73 bookshops through community grants in the first half of 2026, the Bookseller reported, noting that this initiative comes after the BA revealed it would be investing £200,000 ($266,615) in the bookselling sector during the National Year of Reading to provide funding, marketing resources, and partnerships to support projects in bookshops.

BA managing director Meryl Halls, on behalf of Alex de Berry, managing director of National Book Tokens, and Izzy Carlile, managing director of Batch, said: "When we announced our £200,000 investment at the beginning of the National Year of Reading, our ambition was to provide practical support to help bookshops inspire even more people to discover the joy of reading.

"Six months on, we are seeing that investment deliver real impact--from grants supporting innovative local projects and National Book Tokens campaigns encouraging customers into independent bookshops, to Bookseller Stories reaching hundreds of thousands of people and new partnerships creating opportunities for booksellers to connect with readers and other local organizations. Bookshops are already at the heart of reading communities across the U.K. The National Year of Reading gives us the opportunity to support, amplify and celebrate the work they do every day, and we look forward to building on this momentum throughout the rest of 2026 and beyond."

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The arrests last week of five people linked to two Hong Kong bookstores on suspicion of displaying and selling publications with "seditious" content became international news immediately. One notable moment during the arrests has now gone viral.

"Walking out of one of Hong Kong's last remaining independent bookstores, hands behind her back but head held high, the woman's T-shirt was emblazoned with a simple slogan: 'I am a bookstore employee,' " the Guardian reported.

Since then, the phrase has spread across Taiwanese social media amid concern for the fate of Hong Kong's booksellers. "On the social media platform Threads, booksellers, lawmakers, and activists shared the hashtag 'I am a bookstore employee' to show their support for Hong Kong. Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, also weighed in, writing on Facebook: 'Ideas and words should never be silenced by political pressure,' " the Guardian wrote.

One of the offending titles may have been Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China (published in the U.S. by Crown) by NPR journalist Emily Feng. There was an immediate sales jump for the book in Taiwan, and Acropolis Publishing ordered an emergency reprint of 10,000 additional copies.

Sara Sung, senior editor at Acropolis, said some readers were buying copies as "a statement of democracy and freedom.... They're showing that they will not be silenced or intimidated by censorship from China."

One chapter in the book, titled "The Bookseller," chronicles the story of how Causeway Bay Books founder Lam Wing-kee, who died recently, and his colleagues were abducted to China for "destabilizing China and defaming its leaders," the Taipei Times noted. Lam had told Feng that "he could not wrap his mind around why a party state as big and powerful as China's would care about one tiny bookstore."

"Evidently, they cared a lot," Feng wrote, "because the books--or rather, the fact that they could be published at all--was a symbol of the brash Hong Kong identity the party [the Chinese Communist Party] had grown increasingly concerned about." 

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Waterstones will open its first new bookstore on continental Europe in almost 30 years this October on Avenue Louise in Brussels, Belgium, the Bookseller reported, making it the company's second location in the Belgian capital.

The new store will sell English-language books across its two floors, with a selection that aims to offer "something for every reader and knowledgeable booksellers will be happy to help with recommendations."

Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., hosted Ocean Vuong on the final leg of his paperback tour for The Emperor of Gladness (Penguin Books) for a sold-out show (700 tickets) at the Rio Theatre. Pictured: Vuong (center) with author Karen Tei Yamashita and his conversation partner, the poet and professor Ronaldo V. Wilson, in the green room.

Coco Zephir is a bookseller and marketing assistant at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Mass. She loves romance titles and here offers a roundup of upcoming and recent books that she's most excited about:

Every Version of You by Natalie Messier (Gallery Books)
When Joey Vasquez is offered a second chance at life, she jumps! With memories intact the second time around, she re-emerges as a freshman in college, ready to fix what was broken. Forcing what she thought she wanted isn't all it's cracked up to be, as other moments fall into place that lead her to believe maybe the cosmos has other things in store for her.

For believers in fate and second chances, this debut is ripe with beautiful dialogue and quirky twists.

Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi (Penguin Books)
This book has claws and teeth. Once it sinks in, prepare to be devoured.

When cardiologist Sean encounters younger, enigmatic Julien, she feels something she wasn't looking for. When their relationship deepens, more questions arise than are answered about Julien and his past, causing Sean to seek answers that may threaten her existence.

For fans of twists, this paranormal love story filled with steam, action, and a full cast of characters is waiting for readers who prefer their books with bite.

Return to Sender by Stephanie Parente (Dial Press)
After months of grief following their father's death, Violet sees a spark in her teen sister, Phoebe, when Phoebe opens mail destined for a long-lost love, written by a stranger named Dexter who has used the sisters' address. The problem is that the mail has been "returned to sender." How will this lost love letter ever reach its recipient?

On an impulse, Violet, Phoebe, and Dexter set out on a cross-country road trip to deliver this declaration of love, turning their three lives into a close-quarters tangle of emotion. For fans of Cara Bastone--a romance where the journey is the ultimate destination.

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton (Berkley)
The 1960s space race collides with a love story that spans time and space in An Infinite Love Story from Chanel Cleeton.

When astronaut Joe's rocket goes missing in space, his wife, Viv, is left on the ground waiting for the fallout with the rest of the world. As she attempts to unravel what went wrong, their love story unfurls for readers in a gorgeous and unexpected way.

"It's Christmas...in JULY!" McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich., posted on Instagram. "We got so many fun and festive items in for the holidays that we couldn't bear to keep them in the box! Some of us are excited about this display and some of us not so much."

Posted on Instagram by Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.: "You won't believe what we just saw in the sky!" 

First Chapter Bookshop in Seneca, S.C., shared a photo of its latest seasonal chalkboard message: "Reminder: bookshops are excellent natural sunblock." 

Today:
Fresh Air: Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered: My Years as a Nun (St. Martin's Griffin, $20, 9781250323538).

Tomorrow:
NPR's Weekend Edition: Sophie Blackall and Phoebe Wahl, author and illustrator of Story Rug (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316535380).

Apple TV "has stepped up to preemptively" to acquire the rights to Peculiar Stars, the upcoming (November 17 release) novel from bestselling author Rebecca Yarros, in "a competitive situation, with multiple studios and producers pursuing," Deadline reported, adding that Apple TV is "staking a claim in the romance series space, announcing its ambitions in the genre where the streamer has had limited presence so far."

Apple Studios will develop Peculiar Stars as a TV series, with Yarros serving as executive producer through her Full Measures Productions. A search is underway for a writer to adapt the novel. 

The State Library of New South Wales in Australia has released a shortlist for the A$25,000 (about US$17,430) National Biography Award, which celebrates excellence in biography, autobiography, and memoir writing. In addition, the A$5,000 (about US$3,485) Michael Crouch AC Award will be presented for the best debut biography or memoir. The winners will be named in mid-August. This year's National Biography Award finalists, who receive A$2,000 (about US$1,395), are:

Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine
Chameleon by Robert Dessaix
Max Dupain: A Portrait by Helen Ennis
Groomed by Sonia Orchard
Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family by Micaela Sahhar 
Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath by S. Shakthidharan

The judges also highly commended Desire Paths by Megan Clement.

photo: Phrachan Thewi

Chloe Lauter is a writer based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel, The Flayed Man (Soft Skull Press, July 21, 2026) explores family curses, bloodthirsty ghouls, and budding romance set against the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

Atmospheric horror about generational curses and what we owe the people that we love. Or: vampires in the Mojave Desert!

On your nightstand now:

I'm finishing Bliss Montage by Ling Ma and my friend Henry Barajas's graphic novel Death to Pachuco, a noir set during the zoot suit riots in Los Angeles. Next up, Uncanny Valley Girls by Zefyr Lisowski, which I've been looking forward to for ages.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I've always loved fairy tales, and I have fond memories of the various beautifully illustrated fairy tale books I grew up with. Oh, and Ursula K. Le Guin's Catwings series. It's about a litter of kittens born with wings. The books are very charming and sweet. I was a cat lover from day one I guess!

Your top five authors:

Sara Gran. Come Closer is a modern horror classic, and her mystery novels are both brilliantly plotted and emotionally profound.

Brian Evenson. He is an absolute master of horror and suspense. Reading his work feels like a craft seminar in the best way.

Shirley Jackson. The queen of atmosphere. The first paragraph of We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of the greatest literary openings of all time.

Carmen Maria Machado. Her writing is so precise and compelling. Certain passages reliably bring me to tears.

And lastly, Agatha Christie, because I've read absolutely everything she's written (and I do mean everything) at least twice.

Book you've faked reading:

I can't think of any I've truly committed to fake reading, though I'm sure there are books I've nodded along about in polite conversation despite not having read!

Book you're an evangelist for:

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. It's a novel-in-verse about werewolves. It's tender and brutal in equal measure, and the type of Los Angeles noir that's less Hollywood and more San Fernando Valley. I'm constantly trying to get people to read it.

Book you've bought for the cover:

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I find both the title and the cover incredibly intriguing. Luckily the book more than lives up to both!

Book you hid from your parents:

When I was maybe 13 or 14, I convinced my dad to get me a copy of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow, which he would only do on the condition that he read it first to make sure it was relatively age-appropriate. He read it, went "maybe in a few years," and put it in a safe hiding place... or so he thought!

Long story short: I found it and got away with hiding it long enough to finish the book. I did eventually get found out, though.

Book that changed your life:

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. The tactile nature of Winterson's writing and the deeply embodied way the book talks about love unlocked something in my brain.

Favorite line from a book:

A line I like a lot is from The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin: "You can go home again, the General Temporal Theory asserts, so long as you understand that home is a place where you have never been." Even when things feel stagnant, I know I am in process of a great change, and I look forward to discovering what home will become.

Five books you'll never part with:

I'm pretty unsentimental about physical books, but if I choose to interpret this as five books that have moved or influenced me (not including any I've already mentioned)...

Bear by Julia Phillips
Black Flies by Shannon Burke
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Embassytown by China Miéville
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. It's an incredible thriller from front to back, but there's nothing quite like reading that ending for the first time.

What a difference a few centuries can make. According to James Marriott, a journalist for the London Times and the author of the lively but heartbreaking jeremiad The New Dark Ages, "reading is dying." It wasn't always so. Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, invented in the 15th century, "had opened the way for the mass circulation of books." By the 18th century, "everyone, everywhere, had started reading: men, women, children, the rich, the poor." Fast forward to the 21st, however, and English literature students at U.S. colleges have "struggled to understand the first paragraph of Dickens's novel Bleak House." What's a concerned bibliophile to do? Marriott's answer, winningly if ironically, was to write a book.

It's a good one. Marriott believes in the supremacy of the written word. He grew up in the north of England in the early 2000s, where his father, an English teacher, "brought me up to regard literature as the central part of life." Over the years, he's seen video win the battle for command of attention spans. He cites several villains, but for Marriott, the biggest is the smartphone. "The introduction of smartphones into human culture is analogous to the introduction of an invasive species into a fragile ecosystem. Almost everything else withers away and dies," adding that they represent "the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history." He asserts that, compared to other technologies that prioritize imagery over words, "smartphones are dangerous because they are much more effective predators of our attention" due to their "sheer ubiquity": unlike a flat-screen TV, one can take them anywhere.

There's much more to Marriott's argument, including his concern that video's triumph constitutes a threat to democracy, which he says is unsustainable without the reasoning skills literacy fosters. Its rise, moreover, explains the success of Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump, who figured out that to achieve their ends, "politics needed to become entertaining; for that it required chaos and drama and personality." One could have a vigorous debate over whether smartphones are inherently more corrosive than, say, the equally ubiquitous penny dreadfuls of the 19th century. That this book raises the question in the first place, however, is to its credit. Like-minded souls won't be cheered by this exceptional work, but it's always nice to know one isn't alone. And that's something the centuries haven't changed. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

Shelf Talker: The New Dark Ages, a lively jeremiad by journalist James Marriott, is a provocative nonfiction work about the scourge of smartphones, their threat to literacy, and the implications for democracy.