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A.K. Smiley Public Library Blog

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

BE LIKE A TREE:
Connect with your roots. Turn over a new leaf. Bend before you break. Enjoy your unique beauty. Keep growing. ~Joann Raptis
And might we also add:
Give of yourself to a library.

Archives for July 2022

Summer reading contest, kids vs. adults–chance to win great prizes! Entertaining programs, free lunch for youth

July 22, 2022 By Pamela Martinez

Summer is in full swing, weather-wise, and reading-wise, here in southern California at A.K. Smiley Public Library! Our Summer Reading Program theme this year is “Read Beyond the Beaten Path.” The Youth Services Crew brainstormed a fabulous Summer Reading Game this year…a weekly game of “Capture the Flag!” We have challenged the Adult Services Department to a reading challenge of who can read the most pages…kids or adults?! We are currently into Week 5 and going strong! The current, fourth week score is: Kids: 492,122/Adults: 84,902.

As you can see, the Youth Services team is ANNIHILATING the Adult Services team! Toddlers, kids, tweens, and teens are reading ferociously, where, well, you adults need to pick up the pace, A LOT!  Adults, you can pick up your Summer Reading Program Book Review forms at any of the service desks, including the Young Readers’ Room! We would love to see a rousing comeback by the adults for this year’s reading challenge competition. Let’s see you adults log in those pages for the final two weeks and give these toddlers, kids, tweens, and teens a good run for the grand finale score!

Toddlers, kids, tweens, and teens can sign up in the Young Readers’ Room anytime. We have special reading logs for each age group, and prizes, oh yes, we have prizes! Toddlers (ages 0 – 3) can earn a sticker each week for turning in their reading logs.  The kids (ages 4 – 9) will earn a different prize each week for turning in their reading logs. Tweens (ages 10 – 12) and teens (ages 13 – 19) will earn one ticket for every 50 pages they read. The tickets are then distributed to one of the many prizes they’d like to try to win. We have such a generous community of businesses that have donated gift cards again this year for the Youth Services Summer Reading Challenge: A’la Minute; Look Cinema; Happy Camper Creamery; Flowstone Climbing; Nichos Ice Cream; Cookie Co.; Tie Dye Tees; Redlands Art Association; The Frugal Frigate; and Jack’s Toy Shop matched a grant with the City to donate. A great big THANK YOU to all of these businesses who so generously gave from their shops to our kids! We appreciate it!! We have also purchased other gift cards as well, so we have a nice selection of gift cards to choose from.

Don’t despair adults, you will have the opportunity to win a gift card as well! There are other businesses who donated gift cards towards the Adult Services Reading Challenge, as well as the gift cards that the library or The Friends of the Library purchased: Bricks & Birch; Saverino’s; Olive Avenue Market; Oscar’s Mexican Restaurant; A’ La Minute; The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe; Carolyn’s Café, and The Breakfast Shack…and the GRAND PRIZE winner will receive a $100 shopping spree from Gerrard’s Market!

So, get to reading and filling out those reading logs or review forms and let’s see who will ‘Capture the Flag’ for the next two weeks! The Youth Services Crew is so excited to see the final number of pages read by our community!

We are also offering an on-line reading platform again this summer through the Beanstack website: Beanstack: Reading Challenges and Personalized Recommendations

Log on today, get registered, and you can begin earning virtual badges!

As a part of our Summer Reading Program this year, the Youth Services Department offers some entertainment for our youth to go along with the reading fun! We have two shows for children each Tuesday, so come on out and join us.

Special entertainment is available at 10:00 a.m. each Tuesday morning in the park, behind the library, in front of The Lincoln Memorial Shrine, and the same show is repeated at 2 p.m. inside at The Contemporary Club. Please come to just one of the shows are we are breaking up the huge crowds of folks.

Tuesday, July 26, the stages will be taken over by crowd-pleaser, Michael Rayner: Michael Rayner: Comedian/ Juggler/ Actor/ Strange Guy. The Grand Finale show will be with crowd favorite, Christopher T. Magician: christophertmagician.com.

Also, each Tuesday at 11 a.m., the Redlands Unified School District Child Nutrition Services team is here to serve a free lunch to each and every child, tween and teen! The food has been a delight and they always have extra goodies to share as well!

Teens, don’t you fret, we also have two more programs for you this summer as well! We’ve been having a great time with you all during the summer. The next event will be Wednesday, July 27, “Survival Skills,” with The University of Redlands Outdoor Programs. Our Grand Finale for the teens (ages 13 – 19) will be an anime workshop with world renown Carlos Nieto: Anime Your Way | Online Drawing Platform. You can find more information about our Teen Underground Department here: Teens (akspl.org)

We look forward to seeing the Summer Reading Challenge pages read exceed our expectations in the next two weeks, and we hope to see you attend one of the last two shows we have to offer you this summer! The Youth Services Crew is here to help you find the perfect book selections for the remainder of your summer!

Filed Under: What's New

Get inspired by sweet and savory dishes from around the world!

July 17, 2022 By Diana Lamb

“What I’ve enjoyed most though is meeting people who have a real interest in food and sharing ideas with them. Good food is a global thing and I find that there is always something new and amazing to learn – I love it!” – Jamie Oliver

Have you tried cooking with a wok? If you are at all curious or would like to improve your skills, then check out “The Wok” by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. This exceptional book is brimming with interesting kitchen-based science, helpful techniques, and a variety of delicious recipes. Soon, you’ll be cooking take-out favorites like Sweet and Sour Pork, Pad Thai, and General Tso’s Chicken at home.

“Learning Korean” by Peter Serpico is a welcome introduction to the variety of flavor profiles found in Korean home cooking. Some of the recipes you may want to try are BBQ Beef Short Ribs, Onion Pancake, Black Bean Noodles, refreshing Jujube Tea, Crab Soup, and Pork Dumplings. Peter also includes over a dozen varieties of Korea’s best-known dish, Kimchi.

Whether you are slurping, scooping, or twisting them, noodles are a fun food to eat. “That Noodle Life” by Mike Le and Stephanie Le give you 75 international pasta-centric recipes for more fun and easy meals. Tomato Lime Shrimp Cold Noodle Salad or The Soba Bowl are refreshing options to enjoy right now. Garlic-Butter Bucatini with Oyster Sauce would be yummy with grilled meats and veggies or on its own with an optional green salad.

Have you ever visited a Chinese Bakery? If not, then let Kristina Cho, in her new book “Mooncakes and Milk Bread,” introduce you to some of her savory and sweet treats inspired by Chinese bakeries. With an abundance of color photos and clear instructions, you may choose to make tender BBQ Pork Buns, flaky Curry Chicken Puffs, Honey Pistachio Mooncakes, or Shiny Fruit Cream Cake to share with family and friends.

Filed Under: What's New

Finding home again: the harrowing journey of the refugee

July 9, 2022 By Teresa Letizia

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the meaning of home. I recall a line from the journal of fictional character John-boy Walton, “Home, an island, a refuge, a haven of love.”

Our homes, and by extension, our communities, are supposed to be our refuge. We know and love others in our communities; we have comfort in the customs and language of our people. So, what is it like to be forced to flee our homes, especially by the threat of violence in a time of war — when our neighbors are dying and our familiar is being demolished — and become refugees? Several critically acclaimed new books at A.K. Smiley Public Library address the refugee’s plight.

I began contemplating this topic while reading I Will Die in a Foreign Land, a debut novel by Kalani Pickhart. An award-winning historical fiction, it is set during the 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution, when then-President Yanukovych chose to forge an alliance with Russian President Putin, and thousands of Ukrainian citizens chose independence by peacefully protesting. Their protests were met with violence by military police, killing over one hundred civilians.

Pickhart weaves into the novel the fictional stories of protestors whose paths cross, while deftly filling out a tapestry with historical and cultural threads. Though she does not address the plight of the refugee who has fled, she does connect us with characters in upheaval, those who remain in order to fight for the home in which they are no longer comfortable, the democratic home they want to save.

Two other award-winner titles deal with the harrowing true accounts of recent refugees.

The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees was written by Canadian war reporter Matthieu Aikins. In 2016, Aikins chose to join his friend, Omar, a young Afghan driver, translator, and former interpreter for the American military, in his dangerous journey on the smuggler’s road to Europe, one of millions of refugees who left their homes that year. Omar was raised in exile in Iran and Pakistan, returning to Kabul as a teenager in 2002, only to have the Taliban return to power in 2015. Aikins describes their journey as “mostly waiting punctuated by moments of terror.”

Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds: A Refugee’s Search for Home is chronicled by refugee Mondiant Dogon, with journalist Jenna Krajeski. Dogon was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a Tutsi family. At age three, he and his family fled his home village; the Rwandan genocide against Tutsis had spread into Congo. In the Rwandan refugee camp where they stayed, food was scarce. Later, desperate for a better life, Dogon returned to Congo, only to be imprisoned there, and forced into becoming a child soldier. As an adult, he has earned an MA in international education from New York University, and has become a human rights activist and refugee ambassador. The book’s title comes from one of his poems.

One other new contribution, Learning America: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children, recounts the efforts of a former refugee who wishes to share her good experience in America after arriving from Jordan. She is author Luma Mufleh who designs productive learning environments for refugee children. Mufleh believes in healing their traumas to help foster belonging, ultimately aiding the success of their education, and creating that “haven of love.” She is the founder of Fugees Family, with schools now in Georgia and Ohio and an expanding footprint bringing educational equity to refugee resettlement communities across America.

For easy access to these titles in the Library’s catalog, find this article on Smiley Blog on our website, www.akspl.org, or directly at www.blog.akspl.org. Using your library card, you may reserve a book through our catalog, at no charge, by clicking on “Place Hold.”

For more reading recommendations on Ukraine, find Toward Understanding the War in Ukraine, a Reading List, published in February on Smiley Blog.

Filed Under: What's New

Electronic resources at Smiley Library

July 8, 2022 By Jennifer Downey

If you have an A.K. Smiley Public Library card, you can do so much more than check out books. Your library membership gives you instant access to eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, popular magazines, streaming movies, databases, and much more. Check it out for yourself at www.akspl.org/elibrary.

An exciting new addition to our eResources is the database Hispanic Life in America, offered free through NewsBank. This resource covers the experience and impact of Hispanic Americans as recorded by the global news media from 1704 to today. Updated daily using over 17,000 sources, Hispanic Life in America provides full-text searching as well as access to content by topic, event, and eras in Hispanic American history. This is a useful resource for students and anyone interested in learning more about the nuances of Hispanic American history.

Flipster offers instant access to several popular magazines including People, Consumer Reports, National Geographic, the Advocate, and Rolling Stone. You can read the latest issues of these magazines on your computer, phone, or other device any time, any place.

Do you plan to travel to distant lands this summer? Then check out Pronunciator to brush up on your language skills. Pronunciator is an online platform that can help you learn any of 173 world languages, from Icelandic to Tagalog. Specific courses are available for travelers, health care workers, and those seeking in-depth studies.

All this and more is free with your A.K. Smiley membership. Log on and have an adventure!

Filed Under: What's New

Keep cool with some refreshing new poetry

July 3, 2022 By Ciara Lightner

Summer is fully upon us, making leaving the air-conditioned comfort of the indoors harder to extricate ourselves from. But what to do with all that time indoors while the sun cooks everything in sight to a crisp? Books of course! Here are some new poetry books to help you while away the bright summer months.

Award winning author Jennifer Huang’s debut work “Return Flight” connects the past to the present through an examination of the self. Generational trauma and the concepts of home are interspersed throughout, working to understand their impact on the human psyche. Through their work, Huang uses images of intimacy to aid in the defining of a person. All these memories are not just seen with sadness, there is joy as well. Huang shows us that both sorrow and joy can exist in the same realm.

Nicky Beer explores the joy of artifice in her latest work “Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes.” Beer explores the concepts of imitation and what it means when the fake is more real than the original. She shows how imitation is an art form in its own right such as through the art of drag. She references many other pop culture representations of illusion as well, such as Marlene Dietrich and Batman, to get at the heart of the question, what is truth? Beer’s poetry uses redaction and the concept of stereoscopes to invite the reader to see that the truth can look very different depending on which way you are looking at it.

Shane McCrae, in his latest work, “Cain Named the Animal” explores the idea of what it means to exist. Having undergone an unusual and traumatic upbringing, he questions how different circumstances might have led to a different existence. McCrae turns back time, and postulates how an imperfect god might result in a flawed world. He also uses the idea of cyclical time to explore the ability to look inwards. By creating a world that circles back on itself, McCrae shows how such a thing would allow for reflection and new revelations.

Enjoy these books and try to stay cool this summer!

Filed Under: What's New

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