News + Events

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.

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)

Before social distancing was required in response to COVID-19, adult learners in the Redlands Adult Literacy Program met weekly with their volunteer tutors at A. K. Smiley Public Library or program-approved learning sites at Clement Middle School, Family Services Association and the Redlands Community Center. The tutor-learner teams worked shoulder-to-shoulder to help the learners improve their reading and writing skills.

On March 16th, the library was closed to the public due to COVID-19. The literacy program faced the major challenge of finding new ways for tutors to assist learners in meeting their literacy goals, while complying with the governor’s social distancing guidelines. Additionally, the request for literacy assistance grew, as 25% of adult learners were laid off due to the economic downturn.

Tutors and learners have met the social distancing challenge with innovation and creativity by using apps, online computer resources, and phones to meet. In fact, over 50 adult learners continue to meet with their tutors, participate in the family literacy program, use online software independently, and participate in the learner-led book club to improve their literacy skills. The following are a few of their stories:

Maria Antonia Amao and her tutor, Barbara Vester, continue to meet weekly. They use Zoom and Google Docs to “discuss and edit Maria Antonia’s writings in real time.” When asked how their virtual sessions compare to meeting in person, they said that their connection was as if they were sitting side by side in the library. Meeting online gives them more flexibility and they don’t need to commute. Barbara noted that their literacy routine is only interrupted when Maria Antonia’s children pop in to say, “Hello!”

Kathie Cejka and learner Wen Sung Hsu meet using the telephone. They have incorporated the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic into writing lessons. Recently, Wen Sung wrote this poem that echoes many of our experiences:

Sunday, pray, worship, preach, use Zoom.

Monday, class, teaching, discussion, use Zoom.

Tuesday, mothers group, chatting, use Zoom.

This poem and other tutor-learner writings are being forwarded to the California Library Literacy Services (CLLS), which is compiling a statewide collection of works related to the pandemic. These writings will be posted online and retained as part of the state’s historical record.

Adult learners who are parents of young children face new challenges as they help their children with on-line schoolwork. Tutor Joan Prehoda provides advice and encouragement to her learner who is navigating this new learning environment by sharing ideas such as sending emails to teachers if topics are unclear or inquiring about her child’s progress.

The family literacy program supports several families through Zoom twice each month and with one-on-one phone calls from co-leaders Renee Kennedy and Joan Prehoda. Joan shared, “Families are challenged to use what they have learned during Zoom sessions in their daily lives. During one session, parents learned how to make the most of reading time at home. Strategies such as, pointing out interesting things in the illustrations and encouraging children to predict what will happen next by using open-ended questions develop comprehension, create a bond between parent and child, and add to the enjoyment of reading.”

Adult learners have also used Zoom for bi-monthly book club meetings. Twelve learners are reading My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson under the leadership of adult learner leaders, Tanya Jauregui and Martha Romo. The book club members enjoy the opportunity to improve their literacy skills by reading a book independently and talking about its themes at their meetings.

Teaching adults to improve their reading and writing so that they can obtain better employment and help in the education of their family is the foundation of making “Redlands Strong.” The Redlands Adult Literacy Program invites you to volunteer to help adults in our community improve their reading and writing. If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please contact the Redlands Adult Literacy Program at (909)798-7565 ext. 4138 or email literacy@akspl.org. If you know of someone who needs help in reading and writing, please encourage them to take the first step in changing their lives by contacting the Redlands Adult Literacy Program.

The cornerstones of literacy are reading comprehension and effective writing. Over the last two years, the Redlands Adult Literacy Program has offered tutor training and learner workshops to help learners develop stronger writing skills. The focus on writing led to ten adult learners from the Redlands Adult Literacy Program entering into the Writer-to-Writer Challenge, sponsored by the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN). The SCLLN annual Writer-to-Writer Challenge invites adult learners throughout Southern California to write a letter to an author, living or dead, whose book has inspired them.

This year ninety-five adult learners from the Southern California region submitted letters to the challenge. Literacy coordinators screened the letters and selected the top five in each of four categories. Panels of adult learners then judged the top letters and selected one winner and two runners-up for each level of writing.

The Redlands Adult Literacy Program is happy to announce that three adult learners, Marisela Casillas, Maria Hernandez, and Tanya Jauregui, earned runner-up recognition from SCLLN.  Due to the Corona virus; however, the awards ceremony that would have recognized these learners has been postponed. The Redlands Adult Literacy Program acknowledges the achievement of all adult learners who submitted writing to the challenge and celebrates the three runners-up from Redlands.

Diane Shimota, adult literacy coordinator, asked each of the awardees what they had gained from their experience.

Marisela Casillas read the book Seedfolks and wrote a letter to its author Paul Fleischman. Seedfolks was the first book Marisela had read on her own.  She chose to write the author because she could relate to the characters in the book.

When asked how she felt when she first learned about the Writer-to-Writer Challenge, Marisela said she was “scared.” She was not sure she wanted to participate, but she wanted to improve her literacy so she decided to try. She began the writing process by talking with her tutor about the story. She understood one of the character’s challenges, because they were similar to her own as a single woman supporting herself in a new country.  When asked if she had done a lot of editing to her letter, Marisela replied, “Oh yes, many times.”

Marisela is proud of how much she has learned in the literacy program. When she re-read her letter last week she said, “Wow!” because the letter’s message still resonates with her. She would encourage all learners to submit a letter to the Writer-to-Writer Challenge.

Maria Hernandez entered the challenge with her letter to Stephanie Sammartino McPherson reflecting upon the book Peace and Bread about the life of Jane Addams. Maria was moved by the compassion Jane Addams felt for the poor, especially children and immigrants. Maria’s mother shared Jane Addams’ compassion for others and passed this along to Maria. Maria wrote, “Learning about Jane Addams inspired me to help others in the community. I provide blankets, clothes and meals to the homeless. I also care for senior citizens who are not able to drive or cook. As a mother, I also model compassion and service to my children the way my mother did for me.” Maria shares that writing a letter to an author “opens our mind to write our ideas and share our experiences about reading.”

Tanya Jauregui read Michelle Obama’s Becoming, and wrote, “…you gave me courage to find my voice and speak louder for the Adult Literacy Program… I need to keep using my voice to advocate for such an amazing program.” Tanya sees Ms. Obama as a mentor who has given her “new perspective on leadership and education.” Tanya encourages others to try to express themselves in writing because by writing their stories they may inspire others.

Reading is a personal experience and writing to an author helps readers think about how a book speaks to our own lives. Think about your favorite book. What would you say to the author of that book about why it was important to you? How has a book changed your life?

The Redlands Adult Literacy Program relies on its wonderful volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring.  If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please contact the Redlands Adult Literacy Program at (909)798-7565 ext. 4138 or email literacy@akspl.org. If you know of someone who needs help in reading and writing, please encourage them to take the first step in changing their lives by contacting the Redlands Adult Literacy Program.