A.K. Smiley Public Library Blog

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

* June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month! *
Learn more about it by checking out a related book from our book display in the Library, or from our post here.
Teens, find our LBQTQIA+ reading list--designed for you--on our website's Teen page, listed under the Services tab!

Library Staff

Books selections for LGBTQ Pride Month

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For more information, including 2022 events, resources, and audio/video, visit the Library of Congress.

Find our selections below. Click through the links to our catalog where you can place books on hold:

 

NON-FICTION

Culture and groups

Vocal Music, Stage Presentations, Public Performances, Drawing

Poetry and Literature

History of North America

FICTION

Celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month — browse our reading list

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May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, so Smiley Library is offering a sampling of our books as a celebration of those Americans of Asian and Pacific islands descent. Read summaries and reviews of the selected books, listed below, by accessing our catalog through the books’ links.

We also recommend https://asianpacificheritage.gov/ to connect with online events, exhibits, and collections.

A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

NON-FICTION

Minor feelings : an Asian American reckoning / Hong, Cathy Park

Poetry, Essays, Literature

Dear memory : letters on writing, silence, and grief / Chang, Victoria
Yellow rain : poems / Vang, Mai Der
A god at thedoor / Doshi, Tishani
All the flowers kneeling / Tran, Paul
Why not me? / Kaling, Mindy
The impossible city : a Hong Kong memoir / Cheung, Karen
The best American poetry 2021 / Smith, Tracy K.
Time is amother / Vuong, Ocean
Beast at every threshold : poems / Wee, Natalie
Vessel : a memoir / Cai, Chongda
They called us enemy / Takei, George (graphic novel)
Spirits abroad : stories / Cho, Zen
Skinship : stories / Choi, Yoon
Disorientation / Chou, Elaine Hsieh
Seoulmates / Frederick, Jen
Fiona and Jane / Ho, Jean Chen
Tales from the cafe : a novel / Kawaguchi, Toshikazu
The cabinet / Kim, Ŏn-su
Lemon / Kwŏn, Yŏ-sŏn
Leave society / Lin, Tao
The wedding party / Liu, Xinwu
A place for us / Mirza, Fatima Farheen
Earthlings : a novel / Murata, Sayaka
My annihilation / Nakamura, Fuminori
Love in the big city : a novel / Park, Sang Young
She who became the sun / Parker-Chan, Shelley
The ministry of utmost happiness / Roy, Arundhati
Gold diggers / Sathian, Sanjena
Hao : stories / Ye, Chun
Interior Chinatown / Yu, Charles
Tokyo Ueno station / Yū, Miri

SCIENCE FICTION

If we each can do a little, together we can do a lot! Variety of Earth Day topics, all ages; local event April 27

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“Invest in our Planet” is the theme for Earth Day, April 22, 2022.

Use the following reading list for adults, young adults, and children to find a way you can help!

 

But first, how you can invest in our community ~

Learn about local efforts to reduce climate change and positively influence our collective health and sustainability on a local level:

What: Presentations by Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action (ANCA), Redlands Conservancy, and CA Climate Action Group. Table presentations by Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library, Redlands Conservancy, and ANCA

When: Wednesday, April 27, at 6:30 pm (doors open at 6:00 pm)

Where: A.K. Smiley Public Library Contemporary Club, 173 S. Eureka St., Redlands

It’s free to the public; no registration is required.

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Also, 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! Some restrictions apply; give us a call at 909-798-7565 for more information.

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READING LIST OF BOOKS FOR ADULTS:

Activists, Innovators, & Inspiration

Animals & Plants

Climate Change, Global Warming, and the effects on our environment

Environmental Toxins

Hope

Mitigation, Preparation

Plastics & Recycling

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

The Science: let’s figure this out

Trees & Forests

MAGAZINES

YOUNG ADULT

Fiction

Nonfiction

Graphic Novels

CHILDREN

Picture Books

Chapter Books

Mysteries

Graphic Novels

Nonfiction

Easy Readers

Spanish

Recent Smiley additions by and about remarkable women

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“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Celebrate Women’s History Month in March with these titles, on display in the Library

In addition to considering the books below, visit https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ for more information on Women’s History Month and its 2022 events. 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 commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

ASALH’s 2022 Black History Month theme, virtual events, and the Library’s newest offerings

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The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, founded in 1915, assigns a theme each February for the observance of Black History Month. In 2022 the theme on which the Association is focusing is Black Health and Wellness. The intention, as ASALH writes, is not to “limit the exploration of the Black experience, but to bring to the public’s attention important developments that merit emphasis.” We encourage you to visit the Association’s website and learn more about this year’s theme and previous ones. You may also wish to participate in its month-long 2022 Black History Month Virtual Festival.

Events and programming are also available at these sites, the Library of Congress at https://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) at https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/pbs-showcases-rich-collection-of-stories-to-celebrate-black-history-month/.

In recognition of Black History Month 2022 here at Smiley Library, our staff has created an addendum, directly below, to our lists of 2020-21. Peruse our most recent acquisitions featuring Black history and cultural themes, and Black authors, with which to continue to remember, honor, celebrate, and inspire. These books are on display in the Library near the Circulation Desk. As always, ask a librarian for help finding anything.

New Books – Fiction

Harlem Shuffle / Whitehead, Colson
Skye Falling : a Novel  / McKenzie, Mia
Palmares / Jones, Gayl
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted : a Novel / Allen, Jayne
In Every Mirror She’s Black / Akinmade-Akerström, Lola
The Sweetness of Water / Harris, Nathan, Sgt.
The Year We Learned to Fly / Woodson, Jacqueline (Young Readers) – coming soon
Filthy Animals / Taylor, Brandon (Brandon L. G.)
While We Were Dating / Guillory, Jasmine

New Books – Nonfiction

Call Us What We Carry : Poems / Gorman, Amanda
The Disordered Cosmos : a Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred / Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
The Essential June Jordan / Jordan, June
Letters to My White Male Friends / Ross, Dax-Devlon
Dear Black Girl : Letters from Your Sisters on Stepping into Your Power / Winfrey Harris, Tamara
Hip Hop (and Other Things) : a Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated / Serrano, Shea
Colorization : One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World / Haygood, Wil
The Black History Book / Blyden, Nemata Amelia
Such Color : New and Selected Poems / Smith, Tracy K.
The Matter of Black Lives : Writing from The New Yorker / Cobb, Jelani
Changes : an Oral History of Tupac Shakur / Pearce, Sheldon
King of the Blues : the Rise and Reign of B.B. King / De Visé, Daniel
Dear Senthuran : a Black Spirit Memoir / Emezi, Akwaeke
Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision : Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in her Life and Literature / Nittle, Nadra
Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat : Poems / Rae, Khalisa
Unprotected : a Memoir / Porter, Billy
On Juneteenth / Gordon-Reed, Annette
The 1619 Project : a New Origin Story / Hannah-Jones, Nikole
My Remarkable Journey : a Memoir / Johnson, Katherine G.

2020 – 2021

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a son of formerly enslaved parents, embarked on the establishment of February as Black History Month. He was a teacher and school administrator who in 1912 became the second African American, after W.E.B. Du Bois, to earn a PhD from Harvard University. In February 1926 he launched the precursor of the celebration with “Negro History Week,” designated for the second week in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Dr. Woodson also founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Each year the Association, which continues to support Dr. Woodson’s cause, assigns a theme to the celebration. The theme for 2021 is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity” — ideas to ponder as we read.

Please refer to previous blog post Celebrating Black Authors and Black Lives for additional titles. Take a look too at our extensive Catalog for older items on the subject, as well as those for children and young adults. Check them out through our Books to Go program or in person during our new public hours.

Also, don’t forget our eLibrary which includes, besides e-items for download, the new Black Life in America database. This primary source collection provides materials in which you may research the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media, from 1704 to today. It is an expansive window into centuries of African American history, culture, and daily life — as well as the ways the dominant culture has portrayed and perceived people of African descent.

Streaming video service Kanopy, also located in our eLibrary, features films about racial and social injustice. Inspiring documentaries, like “The Talk: Race in America,” “P.S. I Can’t Breathe,” and many others, can help contribute to a more open dialogue about race relations in modern America.

And finally, for even more ways in which to learn about Black history, view the Heritage Room’s Black History Month webinar series. available for viewing at the AKSPL Special Collections YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx1V0OiVDDpGORavA_W6icQ,  or on Facebook under the Video tab.

The offerings include:

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Centennial Anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of White residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is alternatively known as the “Tulsa race riot” or the “Black Wall Street massacre.”

See also, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission website, https://www.tulsa2021.org/, and find our books on the subject here:

Juneteenth, on June 19

Juneteenth (a combination of June and nineteenth) is also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day. It is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it is now celebrated annually throughout the United States, with increasing official recognition resulting in its declaration as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. It is commemorated on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865 announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas.

For more information check out our Blog post, Juneteenth, the celebration of emancipation from slavery, now recognized as a federal holiday, and find our books on the subject here:

Visit the University of Redlands website to learn about its Inaugural Juneteenth Celebration, which took place virtually from June 15 through June 17, 2021.

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2020 – 2021

Autobiographies, Biographies, and Memoirs

Cookbooks

DVDs

DVD Documentaries

Fiction

Graphic Novels

History

Humor

Literature

Music

Poetry

Politics, Civil Rights, Law

Sciences, Philosophy, Journalism, Language, Mathematics, Technology, Performing Arts

Social Sciences

Sports