Library Staff

Celebrate Earth Day every day — by learning — a reading list for all ages

April 1, 2023 By Library Staff

A reading list for adults, young adults, and children to learn more about why we need Earth Day, and how to enjoy it…

Celebrate Earth Day in Redlands, Saturday, April 22

♥ Participate in your choice of a variety (dozens!) of hands-on events around town sponsored by ANCA (Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action) and many other Redlands environmental organizations. Refer to www.redlandsearthday.org/ for more information, and to register.

♥ Donate books in front of Smiley Library on Earth Day, and at Redlands Community Center, from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. “The 3 R’s: Recyle & Reuse *Books* to Reduce the Carbon Fooprint!”

♥ Learn more about why so many have been observing Earth Day since 1970; take a look at “A Brief History of Earth Day,” a short, enlightening PowerPoint presentation by ANCA member Andy Green.

Enjoy the Great Outdoors in a state park in honor of Earth Day ~

Visit participating California state parks for free with your library card by checking out a vehicle’s day-use state park pass!

California State Library Parks Pass / California State Library, Parks Pass Program, 2022

Follow any of these links to our catalog to read more about it, and to place on hold.

READING LIST OF BOOKS FOR ADULTS:

Pollinators: why birds, bats, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, small mammals, and most importantly, bees are vital to our environment

100 plants to feed the monarch : create a healthy habitat to sustain North America’s most beloved butterfly : the Xerces Society / Lee-Mader, Eric, 2021
Where have all the bees gone? : pollinators in crisis / Hirsch, Rebecca E., 2020
How to attract birds to your garden / Rouse, Dan, 2020
The pollinator victory garden : win the war on pollinator decline with ecological gardening : how to attract and support bees, beetles, butterflies, bats, and other pollinators / Eierman, Kim, 2020
Our native bees : North America’s endangered pollinators and the fight to save them/ Embry, Paige, 2018
100 plants to feed the bees : provide a healthy habitat to help pollinators thrive / Lee-Mäder, Eric, 2016

The Science: let’s figure this out

The physics of climate change / Krauss, Lawrence M., 2021
Unsettled : what climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters / Koonin, Steven E., 2021
Brave green world : how science can save our planet / Forman, Christopher, 2021
The field guide to citizen science : how you can contribute to scientific research and make a difference / Cavalier, Darlene, 2020
Our once and future planet : restoring the world in the climate change century / Woodworth, Paddy, 2013
Unstoppable : harnessing science to change the world / Nye, Bill, 2015

Trees & Forests

Elderflora : a modern history of ancient trees / Farmer, Jared, 2022
Forest walking : discovering the trees and woodlands of North America / Wohlleben, Peter, 2022
The treeline : the last forest and the future of life on earth / Rawlence, Ben, 2022
Ever green : saving big forests to save the planet / Reid, John W., 2022
Trees in trouble : wildfires, infestations, and climate change / Mathews, Daniel, 2021
The songs of trees : stories from nature’s great connectors / Haskell, David George, 2017

MAGAZINES

Audubon / National Audubon Society, <1953-current>
California today / Planning & Conservation League (Calif.) <1973-1980>
Environment / Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, <1993-current>
The Mother earth news / The Mother Earth News, Inc., <1973-current>
National Geographic / National Geographic Society (U.S.), <1905-current>
Natural history / American Museum of Natural History, <1921-current>
Sierra [serial (magazine)] : the Sierra Club bulletin / Sierra Club, <1985-current>

YOUNG ADULT

Fiction

My Chemical Mountain – Vacco, Corina (YA VAC)
The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love – Sheldon, Dyan (YA SHE)
Salvage – Duncan, Alexandra (YA DUN)

Nonfiction

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming – Gore, Al 363.738 G66in
Where Have All the Bees Gone? Pollinators in Crisis – Hirsch, Rebecca E. 595.79 H615w

Graphic Novels

How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial – Cunningham, Daryl 001.9 C917h

CHILDREN

Picture Books

Peppa Pig and the Earth Day Adventure – (JE PEP)
Be a Tree – Gianferrari, Maria (JE GIA)
Arthur Turns Green – Brown, Marc Tolon (JE BRO)
Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration – Capucilli, Alyssa Satin (JE CAP)
Dear Earth…: From Your Friends in Room 5 – Dealey, Erin (JE DEA)
These Seas Count! – Formento, Alison (JE FOR)
A Small History of a Disagreement – Fuentes, Claudio (JE FUE)
We Are Water Protectors – Lindstrom, Carole (JE LIN)
Ballyhoo Bay – Sierra, Judy (JE SIE)
Miss Fox’s Class Goes Green – Spinelli, Eileen (JE SPI)
Greta and the Giants: Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s Stand to Save the World – Tucker Zoe (JEFO TUC)
Just a Dream – Van Allsburg, Chris (JEFO VAN)
Earth Day, Birthday – Wright, Maureen (JE WRI)
My Forever Dress – Ziefert, Harriet (JE ZIE)

Chapter Books

Willodeen – Applegate, Katherine (J APP)
Violet Mackerel’s Pocket Protest – Branford, Anna (J BRA)
Watch Out World, Rosy Cole is Going Green: Rosy Cole’s Bright, Though Not Exactly Popular, Ideas About Garbage, Worms, Dirt, and Other Gifts of Nature – Greenwald, Shelia (J GRE)
Scat – Hiaasen, Carl (J HIA)
Flush – Hiaasen, Carl (J HIA)
Hoot – Hiaasen, Carl (J HIA)
Save the Earth – Klein, Abby (J KLE)
Marty McGuire Digs Worms! – Messner Kate (J MES)

Mysteries

Nate the Great and the Earth Day Robot – Sharmat, Andrew (J M SHA)
Cam Jansen and the Green School Mystery – Adler, David (J M ADL)
Earth Day Escapade – Keene, Carolyn (J M KEE)

Graphic Novels

Luz Sees the Light – Davila, Claudia 741.5 D289L
Getting to the Bottom of Global Warming – Collins, Terry 363.738 C696g

Nonfiction

The Wild World Handbook: How Adventurers, Artists, Scientists – and YOU – Can Protect the Earth’s Habitats – Debbink, Andrea 333.95 D35w
It Starts with a Bee – Gallagher, Aimee 595.79 G135i
How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other – Klein, Naomi with Stefoff, Rebecca 363.738 K672h
Earth Day – Cella, Clara 394.262 C33e
Earth Day – Hooray – Murphy, Stuart 513 M597e
What a Waste – French, Jess 363.72 F888w
The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs – Messner, Kate 333.95 M564b
Caillou: Every Drop Counts – Johanson, Sarah Margaret 333.91 J599c
Sustainable Water Resources – Rooney, Anne 363.61 R674s
One Child, One Planet: Inspiration for the Young Conservationist – Llewellyn, Bridget McGovern 363.7 L77o
Our House in on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet – Winter, Jeanette 333.7 W734o
Trash Revolution: Breaking the Waste Cycle – Fyvie, Erica 363.72 F999t
Join the No-Plastic Challenge! A First Book of Reducing Waste – Ritchie, Scot 363.72 R51j
The Plastic Problem – Salt, Rachel 363.72 Sa37p
Discover It Yourself: Pollution and Waste – 363.73 D631
Taming Plastic: Stop the Pollution – Bates, Albert 363.738 B318t
Our Environment: Everything You Need to Know – Pasquet, Jacques 577 P265o
Climate Change: The Science Behind Melting Glaciers and Warming Oceans, with Hands-On Activities – Sneideman, Joshua 551.6 Sn26c
If Bees Disappeared – Williams, Lily 595.79 W673i

Easy Readers

Earth Day – McNamara, Margaret (JER MCN)

Spanish

El Guardian del Pantano – Garrett, Ann (JSPE GAR)
Calentamiento Global – Buchanan, Shelly (JSP 363.738 B851c)

Adult Literacy changes lives

February 12, 2023 By Library Staff

By Ann Leonard and Martha Kennedy, Adult Literacy Advisory Committee Members

Adults who ask for help with reading and writing have enormous courage. The Redlands Adult Literacy Program provides a safe place for adults to work one-on-one with compassionate volunteer tutors to improve their literacy. There are many reasons why adults want to improve their literacy. In some instances, their education was interrupted by family circumstances, others found that current job demands require them to improve their literacy levels, and others want to help their children with schoolwork and enhance communication with their children’s teachers. Every adult who enters the adult literacy program has goals that they want to achieve.

Zaida Maytorena is a custodian for a local school district where, thanks to her hard work with her tutor, she is now able to read and write emails for work. She joined the literacy program two years ago when higher literacy skills became essential at her job. She works with her tutor weekly and has read several books, published three stories in the adult literacy anthologies, and improved her confidence. She is on the road to achieving her dream of becoming a certified nursing assistant. Zaida shares, “I’m so happy to stay here, learning with my teacher. I hope others come to join this program. Before coming here, I had problems understanding what I read. I also learned to write reports for my work, and I felt proud when I impressed the vice principal because I could write!”

An estimated 20% of adults in California lack proficiency in reading and writing. In 1992 the California Library Literacy Services (CLLS) was established to “help reduce the high level of illiteracy in California and connect more Californians to their libraries.” The Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library, who recognized that adult literacy is a critical predictor of employment, health, and civic participation, supported and encouraged the work of volunteers Katherine Gifford and Trudy Waldron to re-establish the Redlands Adult Literacy Program in 2010. In 2014, the Redlands City Council confirmed their support of adult literacy by funding a literacy coordinator. Diane Shimota, the current adult literacy coordinator, has been essential in making the program sustainable and expanding it to include computer literacy, family literacy, book clubs, anthologies, remote learning, and writing programs.

Diane connects a myriad of statewide and local efforts. She actively participates in CLLS network conversations with literacy coordinators throughout the state to share strategies for programming that enable adult learners to achieve their goals. In addition, she connects with local organizations like the YMCA and Redlands Community Center to provide additional tutoring locations and support to adult learners. She coordinates with the Adult School and Crafton Hills College to ensure that the adult literacy services augment the opportunities at other educational institutions. Thanks to Diane’s efforts of talking to service groups about the value of the Redlands Adult Literacy Program and bringing learners with her to share their stories, service groups like Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library, Redlands Area Interfaith Council, American Association of University Women, Redlands Charitable Resources Coalition, Redlands Community Foundation, and others have supported the program with generous contributions.

The Redlands Adult Literacy Program depends on four key components: volunteer tutors, local donors, library trustees, and Diane’s dedicated leadership. From its inception, volunteers have stepped forward to help adults improve their reading and writing. Many of these volunteers later say that they have received the gift of working with and learning from adult learners. Local donations provide a vital match to CLLS funding and, more importantly, are a statement of local support, allowing the Redlands Adult Literacy Program to provide a full range of services and materials. The library trustees commit space, staff resources, and vision to ensure that the adult literacy services are available today and in the future. Diane commits countless hours to ensure adult literacy services are available to the entire community and has developed a robust, compassionate, and innovative program that is responsive to the challenges adult learners face in these rapidly changing times. The city of Redlands and its residents are fortunate to have such a capable and dedicated leader.

The demand for tutors is increasing and the Redlands Adult Literacy Program is seeking more volunteers. Would you like to help someone learn to read and write? Consider attending and encouraging someone you know to come to the next volunteer tutor orientation scheduled for Wednesday, March 22 at 6:00 p.m. in the Library Assembly Room. If you have questions or plan to attend the tutor orientation, please call Diane Shimota at (909) 798-7565 ext. 4138, or email literacy@akspl.org. If you know of individuals who need help in reading and writing, please encourage them to take the first step in changing their lives by contacting Diane Shimota. All literacy services are free and confidential.

New titles to explore in celebration of Black History Month

February 6, 2023 By Library Staff

These new books — and more books honoring Black history, culture, and authors — are on display in the Library. Come in and check them out, or connect to our catalog at the links below and place them on hold!

Black origins in the Inland Empire

Author: Skinner, Byron Richard

Illustrated Black history : honoring the iconic and the unseen

Author: McCalman, George

His name is George Floyd : one man’s life and the struggle for racial justice

Author: Samuels, Robert

My people : five decades of writing about Black lives

Author: Hunter-Gault, Charlayne

The Black Panther Party a graphic novel history

Author: Walker, David

The high desert

Author: Spooner, James

Black women will save the world : an anthem

Author: Ryan, April

When they tell you to be good : a memoir

Author: Shakur, Prince

The world we make

Author: Jemisin, N. K.

True : the four seasons of Jackie Robinson

Author: Kennedy, Kostya

The last folk hero : the life and myth of Bo Jackson

Author: Pearlman, Jeff

A visible man : a memoir

Author: Enninful, Edward

Bessie Smith : a poet’s biography of a blue’s legend

Author: Kay, Jackie

Truth‘s table : Black women’s musings on life, love, and liberation

Author: Uwan, Ekemini

Ride-or-die : a feminist manifesto for the well-being of Black women

Author: Hubbard, Shanita

The black man’s president : Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, & the pursuit of racial equality

Author: Burlingame, Michael

A house built by slaves : African American visitors to the Lincoln White House

Author: White, Jonathan W.

Black and female : essays

Author: Dangarembga, Tsitsi

The light we carry : overcoming in uncertain times

Author: Obama, Michelle

Vigilance : the life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad

Author: Diemer, Andrew K.

Reading list: Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated September 15 – October 15

September 15, 2022 By Library Staff

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month.

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.

The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30-day period.

For more information, visit HispanicHeritageMonth.gov, enjoy our display inside the Library, and check out some of our books listed below, such as My Broken Language by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and co-writer of In the Heights, Quiara Alegría Hudes. Hudes tells her lyrical story of coming of age against the backdrop of an ailing Philadelphia barrio, with her sprawling Puerto Rican family as a collective muse.

In addition, you may search our catalog for our large collection of Spanish language materials, or contact the Heritage Room to view local Hispanic heritage items, such as these photos featured in our previous blog post, Honoring the Hispanic Heritage of Redlands.