Archives for August 2023

The ol’ “Back-to-School” saying has arrived! Parents, teachers, and students rejoice, right?! Well, have no fear, the Young Readers’ Room has a book to help your student with homework assignments or pleasure reading – we aim to please!

You can browse our non-fiction shelves for some interesting, educational reading, and peruse the New Book shelf for the newest selections. The non-fiction books in the Young Readers’ Room range from early learners, such as first or second graders, all the way up to middle school students. Come in soon to find that ‘just right’ book! The suggestions below can be found on the “New Books” shelf.

We’ll start with dinosaurs and go allllll the way back in time! Written by Jill McDonald, “Exploring Dinosaurs” will have your youngest paleontologist reading their way through this book in no time flat! Each colored page you will find not only written information, but a full-colored drawing of a dinosaur as well. Even cooler is the Stats section about each dinosaur. Find this book at J 567.9 M145e.

Shark Week has come and gone this summer, but we can always admire these great beasts through a book or two. Check out “Megalodon” by Kate Moening this week. Explanatory text will introduce you to this underwater beast from the Neogene period of the Cenozoic era, about 20 million years ago! The illustrations by Mat Edwards may have you double checking the pool, bathtub, and backyard for any unwanted guests! Find this book at J 567.3 M722m.

In keeping with, perhaps a tad scary for some, animals and such, you may enjoy checking out, “A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider, Jumper.” Written and illustrated by Jessica Lanan, this non-fiction treasure will have your youngsters exploring the smallest of spaces, searching for jumpers and imagining what life would be like, if they were just like her! The last four double-page spread contains single paragraphs of interesting information about jumpers. The final back pages contain a glossary, author’s note, and a section of finding and identifying spiders with resources included. A treasure indeed, as we come to understand the lives of jumping spiders. Find this book at J 595.4 L22j.

Heading back to the ocean, we’ll discover Suzanne Slade’s “Behold the Octopus.” The left-hand pages declare a one-word adjective which is explained in paragraph form on each right-hand page. The illustrations have you feeling as if you are under the waves, in the ocean, discovering these incredible creatures. Perhaps a trip to the aquarium will result in your family plans after checking out this book! Please find this title at J 594.56 SL12b.

My final recommendation for books this week is “Invisible Things” by Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller. A fun, inviting, colorful book about senses, written at a third grade AR level, this book will be read over and over again. Complete with ‘invisible glasses,’ er, “invisible things” – spotting glasses that kids pick up on the very first page. A fun, intriguing book for kids; adults will enjoy looking through as well. Once you’ve finished the book, the end page reminds you to be responsible by stating, “Please return your invisible “invisible things” – spotting glasses here.” Find this book at J 152 M612i.

Please let the Youth Services crew know which of these new books were your favorite… I know – I know; it will be hard to decide!

If you grow summer vegetables or are a lucky recipient of garden produce, then definitely stop by Smiley Library and check out our latest crop of cookbooks for new recipes and meal ideas. Here is a sampling of what’s in store.

Chef, gardener, blogger, and author Luay Ghafari shares his passion for growing seasonal produce and creating tasty vegetable-forward recipes in his new book, “Seed to Table.” Chapter 3 is where you can find Luay’s recipes for Tomato Tart, Peach Panzanella-Style Salad, Pasta alla Norma, and several cocktails such as Paloma Picante. Chef Ghafari also includes tips and techniques for preserving your harvest to enjoy all year, like herb-infused salts, refrigerator pickles, and fermented hot sauces. Many of his recipes include a QR code so you can access further content from his website with your smart phone.

There’s nothing like the sweet, juicy flavor of a home-grown tomato. Summer is the peak season for harvesting, sharing, and enjoying this edible gem. “Simply Tomato” by Martha Holmberg features 100 tomato-centric recipes that can be savored all year long. Familiar dishes like caprese salad, classic tomato soup, and fried green tomatoes are joined by Ravioli in Brown-Butter Tomato Sauce, Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce with Feta, Mint, and Parsley, Roasted Green Tomato Salsa, and Braised Beef Short Ribs with Tomato, Dried Porcini, and Red Wine.

In the third volume of “Magnolia Table,” Joanna Gaines encourages home cooks and bakers to slow down, savor, and enjoy the process of food preparation. Just like many restaurants, Joanna begins her book with bread. Warm from the oven varieties include Truffle Butter Rolls, French Bread, Garlic-Cilantro Naan, and Beer Bread. Fancy and casual main dishes like Seafood Paella, Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Tarragon Sauce, and Chicken Cordon Bleu, as well as Smash Burgers, Chili Pie with a Golden Cornbread Crust, and Cheesy Baked Ziti can fulfill most all of your dinner plans. Other notable dishes to try are Bananas Foster Pancakes, Chunky Blackberry Applesauce, Bacon Butternut Squash, and Peach Pie Trifles.

If one homemade cookie is good, then two must be better! Especially when they have buttercream frosting, ice cream, or chocolatey ganache in the middle. “Stuffed: The Sandwich Cookie Book” by Heather Mubarak gives us 65 delectable mix and match and filling recipes with color photos to tempt and delight dessert fans of all ages. A few of Heather’s swoon-worthy pairings include Candy Cane Shortbread with Peppermint Buttercream and White Chocolate Drizzle, Chocolate Truffle Cookies with Whipped Nutella Ganache, Brown Butter Toffee Walnut Cookies with Bourbon Ice Cream, and Gingerbread Cookies with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream.

Walking through the Redlands Bowl amphitheater today I read the inscription engraved over the stage, “Without vision, a people perish.” I pondered the meaning of the biblical verse. Does it mean that failing to examine ourselves, our culture, and the possibilities of our future, will lead to our downfall? Hm, too bad we can’t ‘phone a friend’ from ancient Rome…

Oh, I thought, in a sense, we can do just that—by crossing the street to Smiley Library. We can probably find some ancient Roman writings, or some historical analyses of ancient Rome right inside that building. If we study with these tools, we can learn from our ancient friends. Libraries are tool shops of critical-thinking implements for the self-examination that we need to survive. “Critical thinking” is defined as “disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.” With such discipline, we can teach ourselves and create that needed “vision.”

Of course, our society relies heavily on professional teachers who take on that burden of creating critical thinkers of us. As most are preparing now or have already begun teaching school for the 2023-24 year, we really must honor them, (thank you, teachers!) for it is an unenviable task, and a gift, to be able to pull out of each of us individuals our own unique vision and voice.

To gain some insight into what these heroes go through, we return to the library for a tool of learning. New to Smiley Library is, The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession, a new bestseller by investigative journalist and substitute teacher Alexandra Robbins. She provides detailed accounts of the lives of three teachers working in various regions of the country over a period of a school year. Robbins describes everything from the challenges they encounter in their work to how that work encroaches on their personal lives (as well as busting the myth that teachers laze around all summer). She sprinkles in interviews with additional teachers nationwide who share their challenges and wins. Robbins also provides essays on many of the big issues facing the profession today, everything from “school violence to outrageous parent behavior to inadequate support, staffing, and resources.”

You know, whether we are studying for ourselves in the library, or presiding over a classroom of students, we, each of us, is a teacher. Not all may be cut out to be a professional one, but all of us are teachers. It may be as simple as your new co-worker asking you how to complete a task, or a tourist on the street asking if you know how to get to the best sandwich place in town. You think on your feet, put yourself in their place, and try to lay out the path for them.

One group who does this type of teaching, as well as a more formal kind, are parents, and others in the village who help raise our children. We have a book for them too, Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age. Curriculum developer and longtime homeschooling parent Julie Bogart provides methods in this guide for “objectively evaluating data, learning investigative skills by making room for dissenting points of view, examining one’s own prejudices and biases, and understanding how bias plays into opinion making.” And she makes it fun with stories and activities for students of all ages.

Finally, Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed my Life is a feel-good and inspiring little book by ABC News journalist Deborah Roberts who curates a collection of essays and musings from celebrity friends and colleagues that share “how teachers changed them, imparted life lessons, and helped them get to where they are today.” Roberts has made a donation to DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit that encourages people to empower public school teachers by funding their classroom resources.

Summer continues to swelter on, sending us all scampering inside to savor the sweet sensation of … air conditioning. I couldn’t think of another s word. Either way, while you are waiting for cooler weather, here are some new poetry books to help you pass the time.  

Buffalo Girl by Jessica Q. Stark, starts with a warning. Stark aligns being a woman with being Little Red Riding Hood, and society as the Wolf waiting to devour her. But Little Red has much more agency than is realized and holds some dangers of her own. Exploring her mother’s immigration to the U.S. from Vietnam, Stark shows the racism faced by a family just trying to exist, the worst coming from the ones who should have been the most understanding. Oscillating between the past and the present, Stark explores her own upbringing as a part Vietnamese woman, and feeling alienated from it. Both women deal with a world that treats women’s bodies as a commodity and find ways to navigate that world. Stark uses her mother’s photography to create collages in the work to create an almost storybook-like effect, and shows that finding a way out may mean having to find a way in.  

Auto/Body by Vickie Vertiz is an examination of how the expectations on the bodies we inhabit, the lives we live, and the society around us, can sometimes use a tune-up. Growing up surrounded by car culture, Vertiz seeks to understand the inner workings of her youth. Vertiz explores the mechanisms of colonialism and racial violence perpetuated by society, and how even now colonies do not benefit from colonialism. Vertiz seeks to show how in womanhood, there is a lack of ownership of their own bodies afforded to women. But she also finds joys and pleasure in the body and finds community within the queer culture. Society often tells us what is wrong with our identities and our bodies, but what if we were our own mechanics, would we find the same diagnosis? 

Skeletons by Deborah Landau is a fun delve into what hides beneath the flesh. Starting at the beginning of the pandemic, Landau seeks to understand not just the bodies we inhabit, but how they connect to others. She remains impressively upbeat even in the wake of political turmoil and unprecedented public health crisis. Showing the isolation through the lockdown, Landau also shows the inherit loneliness that comes with being alive throughout her series of poems entitled “Skeletons.” Interspersing her “Skeletons” poems, the “Flesh” poems seek to uncover an understanding into our desires and the intimacy we find with others. Diving deep into what defines us, Landau seemingly finds what sustains us when the outside world ceases to make sense.  

Enjoy these books and more at A.K. Smiley Public Library, and let’s hope for some cooler weather soon.