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A.K. Smiley Public Library Blog

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

DID YOU KNOW? Carla Hayden is our current and 14th Librarian of Congress, becoming the first woman and the first African American to lead our national library.

"We are not makers of history; we are made by history." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“…in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, ‘Here I am -- read me.’” – Maya Angelou

Library Staff

Commemorating Earth Day: a reading list for children and adults

April 1, 2021 By Library Staff

BOOKS:

Silent spring / Carson, Rachel. Published 1962.

A climate of crisis : America in the age of environmentalism / Allitt, Patrick. 2014.

As the world burns : the new generation of activists and the landmark legal fight against climate change / Van der Voo, Lee. 2020.

Wild at heart : America’s turbulent relationship with nature, from exploitation to redemption / Outwater, Alice. 2019.

Natural rivals : John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the creation of America’s public lands / Clayton, John. 2019.

Stronghold : one man’s quest to save the world’s wild salmon / Malarkey, Tucker. 2019.

Visionary women : how Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters changed our world / Barnet, Andrea. 2018.

The wizard and the prophet : two remarkable scientists and their dueling visions to shape tomorrow’s world / Mann, Charles C. 2018.

Engineering Eden : the true story of a violent death, a trial, and the fight over controlling nature / Smith, Jordan Fisher. 2016.

Rachel Carson and her sisters : extraordinary women who have shaped America’s environment / Musil, Robert K. 2014.

On a farther shore : the life and legacy of Rachel Carson / Souder, William. 2012.

A force for nature : the story of NRDC and the fight to save our planet / Adams, John H. (John Hamilton). 2010.

Fraser’s penguins : a journey to the future in Antarctica / Montaigne, Fen. 2010.

The man from Clear Lake : Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson / Christofferson, Bill. 2004.

An inconvenient truth : the planetary emergency of global warming and what we can do about it / Gore, Al. 2006.

Getting to green : saving nature : a bipartisan solution / Rich, Frederic C. 2016.

Urban homesteading : heirloom skills for sustainable living / Kaplan, Rachel. 2011.

Living without plastic : more than 100 easy swaps for home, travel, dining, holidays, and beyond / Allen, Brigette. 2020.

The (almost) zero waste guide : 100+ tips for reducing your waste without changing your life / Mannarino, Melanie. 2020.

Climate-wise landscaping : practical actions for a sustainable future / Reed, Sue. 2018.

Sustainability made simple : small changes for big impact / Byrd, Rosaly. 2017.

Being the change : live well and spark a climate revolution / Kalmus, Peter. 2017.

The uninhabitable earth : life after warming / Wallace-Wells, David. 2019.

Climate of hope : how cities, businesses, and citizens can save the planet / Bloomberg, Michael. 2017.

The atlas of climate change : mapping the world’s greatest challenge / Dow, Kirstin. 2011.

How to avoid a climate disaster : the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need / Gates, Bill. 2021.

No one is too small to make a difference / Thunberg, Greta. 2019.

How to prepare for climate change : a practical guide to surviving the chaos / Pogue, David. 2021.

Unstoppable : harnessing science to change the world / Nye, Bill. 2015.

The genius of Earth Day : how a 1970 teach-in unexpectedly made the first green generation / Rome, Adam. 2013.

Nature’s allies : eight conservationists who changed our world / Nielsen, Larry A. 2017.

Extreme conservation : life at the edges of the world /Berger, Joel. 2018.

MAGAZINES:

Audubon / National Audubon Society, <1953-current>

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

 

KIDS

Picture Books

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

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

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

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)

Filed Under: News + Events

Explore the Library in celebration of Black history and culture using this extensive list of titles

February 1, 2021 By Library Staff

The staff of A.K. Smiley Public Library has gathered a list of our books and DVDs featuring Black history and culture themes with which to “honor, remember, and inspire.” Most of the items are new, but a few are older and may be just new-to-you. We hope you’ll take a moment to explore and possibly learn a little something you didn’t know.

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!

And finally, for 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:

  • “African American Literature” by Professor Charles Williams of Chaffey College
  • “Lincoln’s Greatest Decision: Emancipation and the Use of Black Troops” with Smiley Library Director Don McCue
  • “Black Voice News and the History of the Black Press” by Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds
  • “Hidden in Plain Sight: African Americans in the Library’s Historic Collections” with Archivist Dr. Nathan Gonzales

Also, we encourage you to visit these sites, the Library of Congress at  https://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) at https://www.pbs.org/articles/2021/02/celebrate-black-history-month-2021/.

*   *   *   *   *

Autobiographies, Biographies, and Memoirs

  • The Fierce 44 : Black Americans Who Shook Up the World / Reiss, Stephen
  • Just As I Am : a Memoir / Tyson, Cicely
  • The Truths We Hold : an American Journey / Harris, Kamala
  • Finding My Voice : My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward / Jarrett, Valerie
  • His Truth is Marching On : John Lewis and the Power of Hope / Meacham, Jon
  • A Promised Land / Obama, Barack
  • Becoming / Obama, Michelle
  • Tough Love : My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For / Rice, Susan E.
  • I Will Not Fear : My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire / Beals, Melba
  • Black Radical : the Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter / Greenidge, Kerri K.
  • Fannie Lou Hamer : America’s Freedom Fighting Woman / Brooks, Maegan Parker
  • Greyboy : Finding Blackness in a White World / Brown, Cole
  • Rosa Parks : In Her Own Words / Reyburn, Susan
  • The Dead Are Arising : the Life of Malcolm X / Payne, Les
  • Frederick Douglass : Prophet of Freedom / Blight, David W. *Pulitzer Prize winner, History, 2019
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : an American Slave / Douglass, Frederick
  • The Chiffon Trenches : a Memoir / Talley, Andre Leon
  • Officer Clemmons / Clemmons, Francois S.
  • Black Is the Body : Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine / Bernard, Emily
  • George Washington Carver : a Life / Vella, Christina
  • Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation / Norrell, Robert J.
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings / Angelou, Maya
  • My Journey with Maya / Smiley, Tavis
  • My Grandfather’s Son : a Memoir / Thomas, Clarence
  • Thurgood Marshall : a Twentieth-Century Life / Crowe, Chris
  • Black Klansman : Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime / Stallworth, Ron
  • Zora and Langston : a Story of Friendship and Betrayal / Yuval, Taylor
  • Mighty Justice : My Life in Civil Rights / Roundtree, Dovey Johnson

Cookbooks

  • The Full Plate / Curry, Ayesha
  • The Rise : Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food / Samuelsson, Marcus
  • Jubilee : Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking / Tipton-Martin, Toni
  • Sweet Home Cafe Cookbook : A Celebration of African American Cooking / Lukas, Albert

DVDs

  • Harriet [videorecording (DVD and Blu-ray disc)] / Erivo, Cynthia
  • Marshall [videorecording (Blu-ray disc and DVD)] / Hudlin, Reginald
  • Hidden Figures [videorecording (DVD)] / Melfi, Theodore
  • Blackkklansman [videorecording (DVD)] / Lee, Spike
  • Jackie Robinson [videorecording (DVD)] / Burns, Ken
  • 42 : [videorecording (DVD)] the Jackie Robinson Story / Helgeland, Brian
  • The Hate U Give [videorecording (DVD and Blu-ray disc)] / Tillman, George
  • Beloved [videorecording (DVD)] / Winfrey, Oprah
  • If Beale Street Could Talk [videorecording (DVD and Blu-ray disc)] / Jenkins, Barry
  • Green Book [videorecording (DVD and Blu-ray disc)] / Farrelly, Peter
  • Us [videorecording (DVD and Blu-ray disc)] / Peele, Jordan
  • Black Panther [videorecording (Blu-ray disc)] / Coogler, Ryan
  • Get Out [videorecording (DVD)] / Peele, Jordan
  • Moonlight [videorecording (DVD)] / Jenkins, Barry
  • 12 Years a Slave [videorecording (DVD)] / McQueen, Steve
  • Django Unchained [videorecording (DVD)] / Tarantino, Quentin
  • Lincoln [videorecording (DVD)] / Spielberg, Steven
  • The Help [videorecording (DVD)] / Stockett, Kathryn
  • Precious (based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire) [videorecording (DVD)] / Daniels, Lee
  • The Secret Life of Bees [videorecording (DVD)] / Prince-Bythewood, Gina
  • The Great Debaters [videorecording (DVD)] / Washington, Denzel
  • The Tuskegee Airmen [videorecording (DVD)] / Markowitz, Robert
  • Glory [videorecording (DVD)] / Fields, Freddie
  • Roots [videorecording (DVD)] / Margulies, Stan
  • To Kill a Mockingbird [videorecording (DVD)] / Mulligan, Robert

DVD Documentaries

  • John Lewis [videorecording (DVD) : Good Trouble / Porter, Dawn
  • Been to the Mountaintop [videorecording (DVD)] documentary / King, Martin Luther, Jr.
  • Up from Slavery [videorecording (DVD)] documentary / Hershberger, Kevin R.
  • Alice’s Ordinary People [videorecording (DVD)] documentary / Dudnick, Craig
  • A.k.a. Cassius Clay [videorecording (DVD)] / Ali, Muhammad

Fiction

  • How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? / Jemisin, N. K.
  • The Tubman Command : a Novel / Cobbs, Elizabeth
  • Confessions in B-flat / Hill, Donna (Donna O.)
  • Yellow Wife / Johnson, Sadeqa
  • Deacon King Kong / McBride, James
  • Trouble the Saints / Johnson, Alaya Dawn
  • His Only Wife : a Novel / Medie, Peace A.
  • Take a Hint, Dani Brown : Novel / Hibbert, Talia
  • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies / Philyaw, Deesha
  • At Night All Blood is Black / Diop, David
  • Black Buck / Askaripour, Mateo
  • Ring Shout, or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times / Clark, P. DjèlÍ
  • Lakewood : a Novel / Giddings, Megan
  • The Boyfriend Project / Rochon, Farrah
  • Memorial : a Novel / Washington, Bryan
  • Black Bottom Saints : a Novel / Randall, Alice
  • The Vanishing Half / Bennett, Brit
  • Luster / Leilani, Raven
  • The Prophets : a Novel / Jones, Robert Jr.
  • Dirty Music / Sinclair, Shaun
  • How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House / Jones, Cherie
  • Transcendent Kingdom / Gyasi, Yaa
  • The Girl with the Louding Voice / Dare, Abi
  • Red at the Bone / Woodson, Jacqueline
  • Careful What You Click For / Morrison, Mary B.
  • Influence : Death on the Beach / Weber, Carl
  • The Color Purple : a Novel / Walker, Alice
  • Beloved : a Novel / Morrison, Toni *Pulitzer Prize winner, Literature, 1988
  • The Bluest Eye / Morrison, Toni
  • A Mercy / Morrison, Toni
  • Song of Solomon / Morrison, Toni
  • Later Novels / Baldwin, James
  • The Help / Stockett, Kathryn
  • Push / Sapphire
  • The Secret Life of Bees / Kidd, Sue Monk
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin / Stowe, Harriet Beecher
  • To Kill a Mockingbird / Lee, Harper

Graphic Novels

  • Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred : A Graphic Novel Adaptation / Duffy, Damian
  • Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower : A Graphic Novel Adaptation / Duffy, Damian
  • I Am Alfonso Jones [text (graphic)] / Medina, Tony
  • Black Panther [text (graphic)] / Coates, Ta-Nehisi
  • To Kill a Mockingbird [text (graphic)] : A Graphic Novel / Fordham, Fred

History

  • River of Blood : American Slavery from the People Who Lived It : Interviews & Photographs of Formerly Enslaved African Americans / Cahan, Richard, editor
  • The Crooked Path to Abolition : Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution / Oakes, James
  • The Other Madisons : the Lost History of a President’s Black Family / Kearse, Bettye
  • The Kidnapping Club : Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War / Wells, Jonathan Daniel
  • Stony the Road : Reconstruction, White supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow / Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.
  • Black Origins in the Inland Empire / Skinner, Byron Richard
  • Guest of Honor : Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation / Davis, Deborah
  • The Broken Heart of America : St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States / Johnson, Walter
  • Stakes is High : Life after the American Dream / Smith, Mychal Denzel
  • When It Was Grand : the Radical Republican History of the Civil War / Keith, LeeAnna
  • We Were Eight Years in Power : an American Tragedy / Coates, Ta-Nehisi
  • The Kidnapping Club : Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War / Wells, Jonathan Daniel
  • Overground Railroad : the Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America / Taylor, Candacy A.
  • 50 Events That Shaped African American History : An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic / Wilson, Jamie Jaywann
  • Team of Rivals : the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln / Goodwin, Doris Kearns
  • Keeping Hope Alive : Sermons and Speeches of Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. / Jackson, Jesse
  • The Black Calhouns : from Civil War to Civil Rights with One African American Family / Buckley, Gail Lumet
  • Daisy Turner’s Kin : an African American Family Sage / Beck, Jane C.

Humor

  • Surrender, White People! : Our Unconditional Terms for Peace / Hughley, D.L.
  • You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey : Crazy Stories About Racism / Ruffin, Amber
  • The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell : Tales of a 6′ 4″, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-leaning, Asthmatic, Black and proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-up Comedian / Bell, W. Kamau

Literature

  • Letters to the Future : Black Women, Radical Writing / Hunt, Erica
  • The Toni Morrison Book Club / Bennett, Juda
  • In Search of The Color Purple : the Story of an American Masterpiece / Tillet, Salamishah
  • The Awkward Black Man : Stories / Mosley, Walter
  • Being Property Once Myself : Blackness and the End of Man / Bennett, Joshua
  • A Measure of Belonging : Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South / Barnes, Cinelle
  • Black Ink : Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing / Oliver, Stephanie Stokes
  • Rainbow in the Cloud : the Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou / Angelou, Maya
  • The Measure of Our Lives : A Gathering of Wisdom / Morrison, Toni
  • The Source of Self-Regard : Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations / Morrison, Toni
  • Goodness and the Literary Imagination : Harvard Divinity School’s 95th Ingersoll Lecture : With Essays on Morrison’s Moral and Religious Vision / Morrison, Toni
  • The Selected Letters of Langston Hughes / Hughes, Langston
  • Well-read Black Girl : Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves : an Anthology / Edim, Glory
  • Feel Free : Essays / Smith, Zadie

Music

  • Wild Thing : The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix / Norman, Philip
  • The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America/Moore, Marcus J
  • Queen Bey : a Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter / Chambers, Veronica
  • Odetta : A Life in Music and Protest / Zack, Ian
  • Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter / Jackson, Curtis “50 Cent”
  • Let Love Rule / Kravitz, Lenny
  • More Myself : A Journey / Keys, Alicia
  • I Am Restored : How I Lost My Religion But Found My Faith / Lecrae
  • Straighten Up and Fly Right : The Life & Music of Nat King Cole / Friedwald, Will
  • The Meaning of Mariah Carey / Carey, Mariah
  • The Beautiful Ones / Prince
  • Black Diamond Queens : African American Women and Rock and Roll / Mahon, Maureen
  • Billie Holiday : the Musician and the Myth / Szwed, John F.

Poetry

  • African American Poetry : 250 years of Struggle & Song / Young, Kevin
  • We Inherit What the Fires Left : Poems / Evans, William, III (William H.)
  • White Blood : A Lyric of Virginia / Petrosino, Kiki
  • Finna : Poems / Marshall, Nate
  • Living Weapon / Phillips, Rowan Ricardo
  • The Malevolent Volume : Poems / Reed, Justin Phillip
  • Owed / Bennett, Joshua
  • Make Me Rain : Poems & Prose / Giovanni, Nikki
  • How to Carry Water : Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton / Clifton, Lucille
  • Magical Negro : Poems / Parker, Morgan
  • The Tradition / Brown, Jericho
  • I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood / Clark, Tiana
  • Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart : Poems / Walker, Alice
  • Semiautomatic / Shockley, Evie

Politics, Civil Rights, Law

  • Rise Up : Confronting a Country at the Crossroads / Sharpton, Al
  • Fight of the Century : Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases / Chabon, Michael
  • The Sword and the Shield : the Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. / Joseph, Peniel E.
  • When They Call You a Terrorist : a Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World / Khan-Cullors, Patrisse
  • On the Other Side of Freedom : the Case for Hope / Mckesson, DeRay
  • Driving While Black : African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights / Sorin, Gretchen Sullivan
  • The Black Cabinet : the Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt / Watts, Jill
  • Vanguard : How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All / Jones, Martha S.
  • Blackout : How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation / Owens, Candace
  • Our Time is Now : Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America / Abrams, Stacey
  • Say It Louder! : Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy / Cross, Tiffany D.
  • The Zealot and the Emancipator : John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom / Brands, H. W.
  • For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics / Brazile, Donna
  • Franchise : the Golden Arches in Black America / Chatelain, Marcia
  • On Account of Race : the Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights / Goldstone, Lawrence
  • Deep Delta Justice : a Black Teen, his Lawyer, and their Groundbreaking Battle for Civil Rights in the South / Van Meter, Matthew
  • The Names of All the Flowers / Valentine, Melissa
  • Make Change : How to Fight Injustice, Dismantle Systemic Oppression, and Own Our Future / King, Shaun
  • The Annotated African American Folktales / Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

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

  • A Fool’s Errand : Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump / Bunch, Lonnie G.
  • Trailblazer : a Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America / Gilliam, Dorothy Butler
  • The Path Made Clear : Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose / Winfrey, Oprah
  • Talking Back, Talking Black : Truths About America’s Lingua Franca / McWhorter, John H.
  • Beyond Ebonics : the Linguistic Legacy of American Slavery / Baugh, John
  • Spoken Soul : the Story of Black English / Rickford, John R.
  • Black Talk : Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner / Smitherman, Geneva
  • Talkin That Talk : Language, Culture, and Education in African America / Smitherman, Geneva
  • Hidden Figures : the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race / Shetterly, Margot Lee
  • Letters from an Astrophysicist / Tyson, Neil deGrasse
  • We Could Not Fail : the First African Americans in the Space Program / Paul, Richard
  • Black Broadway : African Americans on the Great White Way / Lane, Stewart F.
  • The Compton Cowboys : the New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland / Thompson-Hernandez, Walter

Social Sciences

  • Distributed Blackness : African American Cybercultures / Brock, André L., Jr.
  • Hood Feminism : Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot / Kendall, Mikki
  • A Black Women’s History of the United States / Berry, Daina Ramey
  • A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing : the Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland / Hill, DaMaris B.
  • Girl Gurl Grrrl : on Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic / Hunt, Kenya
  • The Purpose of Power : How We Come Together When We Fall Apart / Garza, Alicia
  • Caste : the Origins of our Discontents / Wilkerson, Isabel
  • Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man / Acho, Emmanuel
  • Race Man : Selected Works, 1960-2015 / Bond, Julian
  • A Peculiar Indifference : the Neglected Toll of Violence on Black America / Currie, Elliott
  • Long Time Coming : Reckoning with Race in America / Dyson, Michael Eric
  • White Tears/Brown Scars : How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color / Hamad, Ruby
  • Daughter of the Boycott : Carrying On a Montgomery Family’s Civil Rights Legacy / Houston, Karen Gray
  • Culture Warlords : My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy / Lavin, Talia
  • Dispatches from the Race War / Wise, Tim
  • Wilmington’s Lie : the Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy / Zucchino, David
  • Black Futures / Drew, Kimberly
  • Conversations in Black on Power, Politics, and Leadership / Gordon, Ed
  • Wandering in Strange Lands : a Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots / Jerkins, Morgan
  • Just Us : an American Conversation / Rankine, Claudia
  • How to Make a Slave and Other Essays / Walker, Jerald
  • Black Fatigue : How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit / Winters, Mary-Frances
  • South to Freedom : Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War / Baumgartner, Alice
  • A Question of Freedom : The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War / Thomas, William G.

Sports

  • 24 : Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid / Mays, Willie
  • The Last Hero : a Life of Henry Aaron / Bryant, Howard
  • Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America / Stanton, Tom
  • The Mamba Mentality : How I Play / Bryant, Kobe
  • Mentalidad Mamba : Los Secretos de mi Exito / Bryant, Kobe
  • Olympic Pride, American Prejudice : the Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics / Draper, Deborah Riley
  • A Most Beautiful Thing : the True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team / Cooper, Arshay
  • The Second Life of Tiger Woods / Bamberger, Michael
  • Serena Williams : Tennis Champion, Sports Legend, and Cultural Heroine / Corbett, Merlisa Lawrence.
  • Jackie & Campy : the Untold Story of their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Line / Kashatus, William C.
  • Rickey & Robinson : the True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball / Kahn, Roger

Filed Under: News + Events

Friends of the Library Book Sale is Back!

August 27, 2020 By Library Staff

The Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library will conduct a book sale beginning Sunday, August 30, and continuing through Wednesday, September 2. The sale will take place in the Contemporary Club located at 173 S. Eureka Street in Redlands, behind the Lincoln Memorial Shrine.

The hours and prices are:

—Sunday, August 30, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

$3 per item

—Monday, August 31, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

$3 per item

—Tuesday, September 1, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

$2 per item

—Wednesday, September 2, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

$1 per item

Silent auction items also available!

Cash, check, and credit cards will be accepted. No coins at this time.

Reminders: Social Distancing will be observed. Masks will be available; wearing a mask will be required at all times.

 

Filed Under: News + Events

Online Workshop, “Every Voice Counts: Understanding the 2020 Census”

August 7, 2020 By Library Staff

A.K. Smiley Public Library has partnered with the San Bernardino Area League of Women Voters to present a free online Zoom workshop about the 2020 U.S. Census. View online the recording of the workshop, shared on the Library’s Facebook page, which took place Thursday, August 20.

The state of California has only had a 65% response rate to the 2020 Census. A census is more than a population count. It’s an opportunity to shape your community’s future. Census results determine how many seats each state gets in Congress. Results are also used to improve communities by improving schools, emergency services, social services, freeways, roads and bridges. It’s all about fair representation. Every voice counts!

Federal law keeps your census answers strictly confidential. You will not be asked about your citizenship status or political affiliation. Your answers can never be used against you in any way.

The 2020 Census is counting every person living in the United States and five U.S. territories. It takes less that 10 minutes to complete. You are able to respond online, by phone, or by mail.

Get answers to these questions and many more at the August 20th online workshop:

  • Is it safe to take part in the 2020 Census?
  • Will they ask about my immigration status?
  • Will my information be kept confidential?
  • What happens if I don’t answer the questions?
  • Is the Census politically motivated?
  • Should I list all the children in my home?
  • Will my family’s privacy be respected?

Register today by clicking here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n8orVGTqRvGkA2taVhp1iA

Filed Under: News + Events

Celebrating Black Authors and Black Lives

June 19, 2020 By Library Staff

We have received inquiries about the materials we have available in our collections by Black authors and/or on the topic of race relations. In the spirit of expanding public dialogue, the staff has put together the following partial list of titles in our collections, which is in no particular order.

Click on the title and be directed to the record of the book in our online catalog. From there you may click on “Place Hold,” (at no charge) while signed into your account, in order to request the book through our Books to Go program.

On the topic of diversity among authors, please see recent blog posts, Books for Teens Explore Social Injustice, as well as Books from Diverse Authors Help to Build Compassion, Understanding, and Discover New Voices in Poetry, each of which discusses some of these titles.

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

Adult Fiction & Nonfiction

  • Of Poetry & Protest: Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, Philip Cushway, editor
  • Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires, by Shomari Wills
  • Thick: And Other Essays, by Tressie McMillan Cottom
  • They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
  • Don’t Call Us Dead, by Danez Smith
  • New People, by Danzy Senna
  • We Were Eight Years In Power, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
  • An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
  • This Will Be My Undoing, by Morgan Jerkins
  • Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad
  • The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin (audio book)
  • Collected Essays (includes The Fire Next Time), by James Baldwin
  • An African American and Latinx History of the United States, by Paul Ortiz
  • Chokehold: Policing Black Men, by Paul Butler
  • What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays, by Damon Young
  • The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • I am not your Negro, by James Baldwin
  • Felon, by Reginald Dwayne Betts
  • The Tradition, by Jericho Brown
  • How We Fight For Our Lives, by Saeed Jones
  • What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America, by Michael Dyson
  • So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Olou
  • How To Be An Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
  • Breathe: A Letter To My Sons, by Imani Perry
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram X Kendi
  • The New Jim Crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
  • They Can’t Kill Us All : Ferguson, Baltimore, and a new era in America’s racial justice movement, by Wesley Lowery
  • Busted in New York and other essays, by Darryl Pinckney
  • Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal
  • Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman
  • Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education, by Mychal Denzel Smith
  • Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk About Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes, George Yancy, editor
  • Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
  • The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, Jesmyn Ward, editor
  • Black is the Body: Stories From My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine, by Emily Bernard
  • Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin
  • The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement, by Andrew G. Ferguson
  • The burning : massacre, destruction, and the Tulsa race riot of 1921, by Tim Madigan
  • Riot and remembrance : the Tulsa race war and its legacy, by James S. Hirsch
  • Charleston syllabus : readings on race, racism, and racial violence, by Chad Louis Williams
  • Black origins in the Inland Empire, by Byron Richard Skinner

Children (YRR) / Young Adult (YA)

          • The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (YA)
          • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (YA)
          • Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson (YRR)
          • Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes (YRR)
          • Dear Martin, by Nic Stone (YA)
          • All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds (YA)
          • Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds (YA)
          • Just Mercy: Adapted for Young Adults: A True Story of the Fight for Justice, by Bryan Stevenson (YA)
          • Unpunished murder : massacre at Colfax and the quest for justice, by Lawrence Goldston (YA)
          • Because They Marched : the People’s Campaign for Voting Rights that Changed America, by Russell Freedman (YA)
          • Stolen Justice : the Struggle for African-American Voting Rights, by Lawrence Goldstone (YA)
          • This is My America by Kim Johnson (YA)
          • Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini (YA)
          • All the Things We Never Knew by Liara Tamani (YA)
          • Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro (YA)
          • Grown by Tiffany Jackson (YA)
          • The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed (YA)

Filed Under: News + Events

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