iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 4h

All 16yo Audrey knows about her mom is that she was an aspiring scream queen who worked with legendary horror director Warren Rothstein. So when the Wagner Student Film Festival announces Rothstein is this year’s guest judge? She decides it’s time to flex her director muscles and win. #DVPit #YA

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 6h

THE FOREVER WONDER CLUB 53k #MG When the city council shuts down her grandma’s psychic shop, 12yo Dolly Moon decides to open her own underground tarot business to earn money for her family while she figures out how to fight back against the city’s unfair ruling. #DVPit

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 6h

12yo Asher just found out his late father's mysterious keepsake is the key to a magical world. And when he and 2 friends get pulled into it, he discovers something else: His dad’s alive and well. And by well, he means imprisoned for treason. Welsh folklore inspired! #DVPit #MG 58k

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 9h

12yo Oscar and his D&D friends are going to save his uncle’s store. How? Hosting a gaming tournament, of course. But when they preview a game called Nightmares, they accidentally unleash the board’s monsters on the town. Ghouls?✅ Werewolves?✅ Giant dolls?✅ Evil scarecrows?✅ And more!😱 #DVpit #MG 🏳️‍🌈

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 10h

12yo Cody starts a dog-walking business to fund his family’s trip back home to Nashville. But when he falls for a boy & a girl at his new school AND gets blackmailed by the 8th grade Queen B, he worries he’ll be stuck (& crushed) in Sweetbrier forever. SIMON VS. + LIFE OF A CACTUS #MG 42k #DVpit 🏳️‍🌈

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 12h

THE HAIRY TRUTH ABOUT GROWING UP 45K humorous #MG 11yo Shannendoa has until the end of summer break to find a way to jumpstart his puberty and outgrow his humiliating nickname, Shannon Doughy, before middle school begins. WIMPY KID + STARFISH = body positivity and hilariously mad science! #DVpit

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 13h

ED WOOD X A DISASTER IN 3 ACTS 16yo Audrey never knew her mom. But legendary horror movie director Warren Rothstein did. So when the Student Film Fest announces he’s this year’s judge, Audrey forms a team to make a chaotic horror short sure to get Rothstein’s attention. And her answers. #DVpit #YA

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 13h

JUMANJI X STRANGER THINGS When 12yo Oscar and his D&D group play a vintage board game, they unknowingly unleash a horde of monsters and are forced to battle each of the game’s bosses before their town is destroyed. THE GAME OF NIGHTMARES 58k MG horror #DVpit 🏳️‍🌈 #OWN

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 15h

CRUSHED 42k MG 🏳️‍🌈 12yo Cody’s mission? Save his family from small-town exile. His plan? Start a dog-walking empire to fund the trip home. Not in his plan? Falling for a boy & a girl, getting blackmailed by the Queen B, and being forced to compete in the annual Halloween costume contest. #DVpit #own

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 16h

TALES OF A TEENAGE SCREAM QUEEN | 56k 16yo Audrey has ?s about her late B-movie scream-queen mom. Too bad the guy who knew her best is elusive director William Rothstein. When the Student Film Fest announces him as this year’s judge? She makes a plan: Make a movie. Win. Get her answers. #DVpit #YA

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#PreDV TALES OF A TEENAGE SCREAM QUEEN 16yo Audrey is done being ghosted by William Rothstein, the horror director who knew her late scream-queen mom so she rallies a ragtag crew of misfits to create a horror short and earn the Wagner Student Film Fest’s grand prize: a convo with Rothstein. YA 56k

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#PreDV When 11yo Shenandoah wakes up with a real chest hair he decides to turn his bedroom into a makeshift mad scientist’s lab to complete his puberty transformation before sixth grade starts so he can outgrow his humiliating nickname Shannon Doughy. THE HAIRY TRUTH ABOUT GROWING UP 45k humorous MG

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I finally remembered my password for Bluesky.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

What if the phenomenon of days being shorter as we age is actually because we move through space faster, picking up speed as we get older. Maybe we forget things more because we have less time to remember them! Maybe we stumble because we’re being thrown off balance as we rocket through the cosmos!!

media.tenor.com

a woman is holding a cup of coffee and the words something to think about are above her

Alt: a woman is holding a cup of coffee and the words something to think about are above her

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

I’m teaching a banned books lesson next week for the first time since I became a librarian because 1) I’m at that point in my career where I’m finding which hills I’m ready to die on and 2) we have way too many amazing books that I want to show off for it!

media.tenor.com

a poster that says stop bans on honest education

Alt: a poster that says stop bans on honest education

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Every summer around this time I have a nightmare where the school has moved the library to some room I’ve never seen and I have to quickly reorganize EVERYTHING but the kids show up and they’re all loud and mean and no matter what I do nothing helps so I wind up questioning my career choices.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Fourth of July? Nah, we went all in on Summerween this year. #summerween

Vanilla wafers with red and white icing decorated to look like used band-aids. Gross, I know.

A picture of a very fun board game called Ransom Notes.

Blood bags filled with unicorn, vampire, and werewolf blood. Don’t worry, the blood was fake. The alcohol in them was very real though.

Hotdogs and salsas and various foods to get us through the night.

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Reposted by Brooks Benjamin

Jen @popgoesthereader.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

🌟 Pop! Goes The Reader's 42 Most-Anticipated Middle Grade Books: July-September 2025 🌟 popgoesthereader.com/42-most-anti... #BookSky #MGLit #KidLit

Book covers of ten middle grade books being published from July to September 2025. Books featured include Defanged, Ride or Die, Grin, Aarzu All Around, Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, Bubblegum Shoes: The Case of the Contraband Closet, The Haunting of Bellington Cottage, Zed Moonstein Makes A Friend, This Way To Happy and Millie of the Manor

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

I’m attempting to turn this into a cat-friendly sanctuary for our ferals. This is the before and after (so far). When I say I had a brush with death trying to get rid of all that poison ivy, I mean it. It’s trying to kill me y’all.

A bit of yard overgrown with deadly amounts of poison ivy that I must have wronged in another life because it wouldn’t stop trying to pull me underground.

The same bit of yard void of poison ivy (good riddance) with some red mulch covering the ground.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

I can’t help but hear Meryl Streep’s voice any time Donut speaks in the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. @mattdinniman.bsky.social, thank you for such a fun series!

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

I just realized the manuscript I’m working on right now would do very well with a map. WHICH MEANS I GET TO MAKE A MAP FOR MY STORY!!!! Which also means I’ll be obsessing over that for the next several weeks. Good times, good times. #writesky #writingcommunity #author #scifi

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Wild question, but is there anyone out there who is fluent enough in Russian who could help me out with some phrases (mainly some not-so-nice ones) for a manuscript? #writingcommunity #writing #author #authors #writinghelp #russian

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

I feel like we’re all Season 2 Player 456 going into 2025. #squidgame #squidgame2 #art

A pen sketch of Player 456 from Squid Game. The left side of his face is his picture from season one: innocent, naive, and smiling. The right side of his face is his picture from season 2: hardened, wise, and prepared.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Started reading We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and immediately picked up on the House of Leaves vibes only to be validated by this fun Easter egg a bit later on:

Picture of a page from We Used to Live Here.
It says:

“REPLY 4:
USER: Navidson_27”

Navidson is the surname of the family who lived in the creepy house in House of Leaves.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

The only thing more dangerous than a rich egomaniac in charge is a stupid rich egomaniac in charge and I fear we've got about a baker's dozen of them at this point.

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Reposted by Brooks Benjamin

rachel elliott @okieelliott.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

hello, is anyone from saturday night live on here? and would you like to see a fan-drawn commercial bumper with many drawings of Mr Martin Short in santa hats??

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Depression: Do you have it? Or are you just a Pisces? A question I ask myself on the daily 😂

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

This makes me sound way cooler than I actually am, but I’ll take it.

My score from blueskyroast.com calling me the librarian with a literary lift and my posts a delightful mix of book smarts, cat love, and pizza dreams.

Again, from blueskyroast.com, this time calling me the witty wordsmith with MC energy that includes being a librarian and author, having punny humor, and being able to engage with middle schoolers.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Went to work out today and saw a former student at the gym. Him: Hey, Mr. B! Me: Hey, K! Him: I didn’t know librarians lifted weights. Me: Yeah, it’s how we train to shelve books. Him: Nice. Me: Also bigger muscles means more space for tattoos.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

This is giving I’m going to start a restaurant where I steal scraps off people’s tables in other restaurants and repackage them with some extra salt and charge them because why not?

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

They could use both! Also, I’m not sure what kind of outreach publishing has with librarians, but something tells me there’s a bit of a disconnect between the two.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Seriously, though, thrillers. April Henry IS my thriller section, so If anyone has more recommendations for middle-school-appropriate thrillers, I’m all ears!

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Since we’ve been talking trends, I figured I’d share some more I’m seeing in my middle school library: 1) thrillers 2) scary (like real scary and not spoopy scary) 3) books students see excerpts of on iReady 4) books like certain video games (Fortnite, Red Dead, CoD especially)

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Another thing I’m trying to teach teachers I work with? Shorter chapters and short books don’t have to be stepping stories to long books with big chapters. Some readers simply prefer shorter stories. Others like longer ones. We need both types of books and both are totally valid.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Graphic novels get devoured at our school and I’ve heard the same from librarians everywhere. NIV are sleeper hits for my students once I convince them it’s less short form nature poetry and more epic album you read the lyrics to.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Oooh, I bet there’s a correlation there that would make some publishers and bookstores cry! And when we think of the effect having a lack of these books carries over to when these readers are adults? That’s make everyone else cry too.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Awesome! That one year difference makes it so much easier to “sell” a book to 7th graders! Now if we can start getting some more 14 and 15 year old MCs…

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

100% There’s a gap that I know publishing is so desperately trying to fill, but since it all comes down to $ it feels like nothing more than a catch-22 right now.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Same! If they do exist I haven’t found them. Anyone know of any good books that fit this mold?

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Yes! I don’t know how many books talks I’ve given where students immediately perk up if I mention the book is a quick read or has short chapters. That stuff is just as important as story is to some younger (and heck, older) readers!

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

So true! I’ve even had a few students ask me for books where the action starts in chapter one. I totally get that. Students nowadays have so much pressure put on them (testing AND social media? No thanks) so maybe a quick enjoyable read is exactly what they need.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Absolutely this! So many of my readers are asking for 1) thrillers, scary, dark 2) funny This makes total since to me since so many adults I know are wanting the same types of stories right now.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

This, too! This is one of the many reasons I love #BookTok because it has some amazing tween and teen reviewers. I get so many good recommendations that way.

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Brooks Benjamin @brooksbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

This! My 8th grade readers (and even the majority of my 7th graders) are looking for that step in the reading ladder between MG and upper YA. Edgy, but safe. As their ms librarian, I’m desperately looking for that too!

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