Archives for February 2025

Do you make food resolutions? Maybe you are determined to eat less refined sugar, include more vegetables, or expand the number of home-cooked meals for your family in 2025. If you are in need of some inspiration, Smiley Library can provide you with fresh ideas from our latest additions to our cookbook collection.

Tieghan Gerard is serving large portions of comfort food that are do-ably delicious in her latest book, “Half Baked Harvest Quick and Cozy.” Creamy turmeric lemon chicken and orzo, baked broccoli cheddar-gruyere, and loaded potato topped with sour cream, bacon, and green onion are some of the soup options to fill your bowl. For some oven-baked dinner options, do try sheet pan mac and cheese, double-baked taquitos, gochujang margherita pizza, and cider-braised beef brisket. Tieghan offers a select number of desserts including blackout sprinkle cookies, maple banana pudding, apple honey cake, and frosted peanut butter brownies.

One way that people express their love and appreciation for others is through cooking and baking. Pamela Anderson did this for her two grown sons with a housewarming gift of family favorite meals written on recipe cards. Later, those cards were developed into her cookbook, “I Love You” for all of us to enjoy. Vegetables and bread take center stage with nourishing recipes for crispy saffron-spinach rice cake, harvest veggie pot pies, salad pizza, heirloom tomato galette with cashew cream, and herby French potato salad. Pamela’s love for bread shines through with cinnamon rolls with maple glaze which includes a sourdough variation, crispy stacks of waffles, soft pretzels, and rustic sourdough. These dishes and more are all Vegan-friendly as no animal products appear in her recipes.

“I love the excitement that dessert brings to daily life. A weeknight dinner feels a little more special topped off by dessert.” If you are a fan of sweet treats but also desire to reduce refined sugar, then check out “Not Too Sweet” by Jessica Seinfeld. Pineapple upside-down coconut cake, roasted strawberry pop tarts, chocolate brownies, and figs in a blanket are a sampling from the 100 recipes on offer. As an added bonus, many desserts are also gluten-free, grain-free, and/or dairy-free.

Finally, here is an extra helping of recent titles for mealtime inspiration: “Ottolenghi Comfort” by Yotam Ottolenghi, “Simply Jamie” by Jamie Oliver, “Martha the Cookbook” by Martha Stewart, “The Pasta Queen” by Nadia Caterina Munno, and “When Southern Women Cook” edited by Morgan Bolling.

President Abraham Lincoln, in his Emancipation Proclamation, declared, “…all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…”

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine, the Civil War museum and research center in Redlands under the auspices of A.K. Smiley Public Library, recently installed an insightful and poignant exhibit in its west wing, “…that All Men are Created Equal: Slavery in America.” Though not normally open on Mondays, we invite you to visit The Shrine and reflect on this exhibit and others this Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb. 17, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In our continuing observance of African American Heritage Month, in complement to this special exhibit, we will highlight here some of our new non-fiction acquisitions discussing the painful topic of enslavement of others and its legacy of continuing generational damage, challenging what it means to be ‘free.’

“I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free,” by 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer Lee Hawkins. Researching his ancestors in-depth, Hawkins looks to them for answers, spurred on by the nightmares he began experiencing in his 40s. He identifies the inheritance of violence-and resilience-that has followed his family in every generation since enslavement.

“In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World” is a collection of essays by key historians and scholars, provided by The National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is a companion book to an extensive exhibition of the museum, providing 150 illustrations of people and objects, framing the history of slavery in a global context. Discussing contemporary echoes of slavery, the authors also demonstrate how those affected have asserted and are asserting their humanity and their right to equal freedoms.

“A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is authored by Susanna Ashton, a professor of English and an expert on slavery and freedom narratives. Ashton painstakingly combed obscure records to find John Andrew Jackson, a fugitive slave who was hidden by Harriet Beecher Stowe one night and inspired her novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which is thought to have sparked the United States Civil War. His story takes us through nineteenth-century America: the war, Reconstruction, and the restoration of white supremacy.

Additional related titles include:

“Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History,” 1800? – 1831, by late historian Anthony E. Kaye and collaborator Gregory P. Downs

“A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune,” 1875-1955, by Noliwe Rooks

“We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance,” by Kellie Carter Jackson

“Galveston’s Juneteenth Story: and Still We Rise,” by Tommie D. Boudreaux and the Galveston Historical Foundation

“Slavery After Slavery: Revealing the Legacy of Forced Child Apprenticeships on Black Families, from Emancipation to the Present,” by Mary Frances Berry

Look for these books and more on our ‘New Book’ shelves, or on our Black History Month display in the Library.

Hello library users! February is African American History month! As all voices deserve a chance to be heard, here are some authors you may not have come across before but whose works leave a lasting impact.

Tricia Hersey’s latest work is “We Will Rest: The Art of Escape” which is the second of her ‘rest is resistance’ series. Today’s culture tends to be one of constant production, while Hersey sings the praises of rest. The work focuses on the fact that rest is not earned through labor but it is a right of all who exist. Resting is not only a way to honor ourselves but as an act of rebellion against a society that has taught us that our only value is in production. Hersey strives to reawaken our own connections to our own bodies as not just a tool for capitalism. Using prose and wood prints, Hersey shows that a higher plane of existence can be found in our own bed or couch.

You’ve heard of activists like Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, and Marcus Garvey, but what about Ella Baker, Barbara Johns, and Darnella Frazier? In Rita Omokha’s new work, “Resist: How a Century of Young, Black Activists Shaped America,” a light is shone on those activists that history has typically glossed over. The book maps out how these young people have affected not just their local communities but the country at large. Omokha is able to ground her narrative in her own experiences having traveled to over thirty states in thirty days and seeing how violence has affected these communities up close. The work is a reminder that even the youngest amongst us has a right to be heard.

Freda Epum is looking for home in her latest work, “The Gloomy Girl Variety Show.” She straddles the country of her parents and the country of her birth but never quite lands in either. Her belonging is further exacerbated by her mental disorders. Finding solace in the shows of HGTV and YouTube tours of apartments, Epum searches for her own place of belonging. Working with the literary tradition of autotheory and poetry, Epum delves within herself and into society as a whole. Art intersperses the work giving the readers another layer into the author’s mind and her journey to home.

“Between the Night and Its Music” is a compilation by the revered A.B. Spellman. Spellman is an author who came to prominence in the 1960’s and 70’s and who after a hiatus resumed his work in the 2000’s. The work features poems written before and after this break and shows how Spellman has evolved as a writer. The work displays Spellman’s love of music, specifically Jazz and Blues and has a distinct musicality. Spellman’s contemporary work is just as impactful as his earlier work and shows how he solidified his place as a component of the Black Arts Movement.

Happy African American History Month and remember that the library is for everybody!

A.K. Smiley Public Library currently has several new biographies to choose from, with more coming soon. Selections include presidents, scientists, military and international leaders, civil rights activists, entertainers, artists, sports figures, and others.

Presidents:

Scientists:

Military and international leaders:

Civil rights activists:

Entertainers: