diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 1ba8d06..e490495 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+0.9.7
+-----
+
+- made handling of document frontmatter more robust
+- added more descriptive message to the warning for omitting the :safe option
+
 0.9.6
 -----
 
diff --git a/lib/safe_yaml/version.rb b/lib/safe_yaml/version.rb
index 52496a3..d15047e 100644
--- a/lib/safe_yaml/version.rb
+++ b/lib/safe_yaml/version.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module SafeYAML
-  VERSION = "0.9.6"
+  VERSION = "0.9.7"
 end