Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!

But who are the authors and illustrators behind these great Loan Stars reads?

We find out in our series Meet the Loan Stars.

Meet Alex Gino

Alex Gino is the author of middle grade novels Rick; You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P!; and the Stonewall Award-winning Melissa. They love glitter, ice cream, gardening, awe-ful puns, and stories that reflect the complexity of being alive.

Alex’s latest novel, Alice Austen Lived Here, is on the May & June 2022 Loan Stars Jr. list!

Meet Alex and learn all about their love for libraries, book recommendations, and more in the interview below.

If you could visit any library in the world, where would you go?

I'd love to go to Alexandria — before the fire, if time travel is an option. There wouldn't be anything there I could read, but to be among all those scrolls, to know that there was so much recorded history ages ago, would be an unparalleled moment.

Do you have a favourite librarian, real or fictional?

I struggle with "favourites", but I gotta say, I deeply love the real, live Ann Clare LeZotte of Gainesville, Florida. Her connection with her local youth patrons, in particular her attention to the needs of her Indigenous population, is admirable. She's also a fabulous author in her own right.

Which book would you choose to recommend to library patrons?

Oh golly, it depends on the patron, doesn't it? But if there's someone out there who isn't touched by Shel Silverstein, I don't think I want to know them. And if it's been a while? He's a quick re-read, and no one else knows how to write on the neck of a running giraffe.

What does being a Loan Stars pick mean to you?

I am delighted and honoured for my stories, mostly about LGBTQIAP+ youth and community, to reach young people. It means that they will grow up in a different world than I did, for the better.

We’re delighted and honoured that you’re on our list!

Are you a Loan Stars-recommended author or illustrator who wants to be featured on our blog? Get in touch with us to get started.

Until next time!