News + Events

Teens, we interrupt our regularly scheduled book recommending to bring you some exciting news. While A.K. Smiley Public Library has been closed to in-person visits, we’ve been busy behind the scenes giving the Teen Underground space a mini-makeover…new paint, a little reorganization, some new signs: a subtle revamp we hope will make it easier to find things and easier on your eyes when we reopen on March 8. While things are definitely looking fresher, we quickly realized something was still missing. Something that could make the space feel energetic and vibrant. YOU.

We got to dreaming about ways you could leave your mark—literally—in this space. We noticed we had two blank walls, and they looked unnervingly spotless. Hmmmmm…

Blank walls + teen touch needed = the Teen Underground Mural Contest.

We are very excited to announce that A.K. Smiley Public Library is sponsoring a Teen Underground Mural Contest, open to teens ages thirteen to nineteen, and we invite all teen artists/designers/creatives to participate. Do you have ideas about what you want to see in this space? A gothic underground laboratory? A subterranean ode to anime? A wall-sized hand-painted portrait of Harry Styles sitting between the Smiley brothers? No? You can see why your creative vision is urgently needed.

In a nutshell, here’s what we’re looking for:

Since this space is located in the basement level of the library, our general theme is “Teen Underground.” We would love for this space to feel welcoming, inclusive, and relevant for our diverse teen library users. The mural design may, but is not required to, give a nod to teen literature (manga, anime, teen banned books, teen classics, you get the idea). The rest is up to you. We love creative interpretations…let your imagination go wild.

What’s in it for you, you may be wondering. We’re glad you asked. Of course, the winning teen designer(s) will get the unmatched thrill of seeing their original art in the teen space of the library. In addition, they will have an impressive community project under their belt to boost their artistic portfolio, college application, or resume.

Oh, and one more thing. The selected design, and installation of the design in the library space, will earn the teen designer(s) one-thousand dollars! An additional stipend of up to $500 will be awarded to purchase any necessary supplies.

If this is making your arm hair stand on end and your artistic teen eyeballs turn into glowing spirals—or, in other words, exciting you—we encourage you to visit the Teens page of our website at www.akspl.org/teens/ for additional contest information, mural dimensions, FAQs, due dates (April 30, 2021), submission details, and the official Teen Underground Mural Contest application.

We are ready to be wowed by your submissions and the Teen Underground space is definitely ready for its mini-makeover to be complete…your creativity is exactly what the space has been missing. And if you have zero interest in designing a mural, don’t worry. The space needs you too…and we can’t wait to welcome you back.

Kristina Naftzger

Youth Services Library Specialist

Young Adult LGBTQIA+ Books and Resources

February 26, 2021 By Kristina Naftzger

YA books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and experiences can sometimes be challenging to locate on the library shelves, but fear not, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s what you should know: the titles in the list below don’t focus exclusively on being queer. These are love stories, coming-of-age stories, dystopian stories, adventures, murder mysteries, graphic novels, memoirs, fantasy, nonfiction and, okay, some of them are mainly about being queer. Others are about friendship. Still others are about magic. The stories are as diverse as the characters who run around in them.

If you need assistance finding a book, we love helping. Remember, these are just the titles from the YA section, so feel free to use the online catalog if you’re not finding what you’re looking for. And if you have any suggestions for new additions, we’re all ears. Come let us know! We want this collection to reflect you and your interests.

Most of all, happy reading.

*Please note, several of these titles are available as eBooks. Download the OverDrive/Libby app to read them on your digital device.

Lower Level YA Fiction (Shelved alphabetically by author’s last name)

Here’s to Us – Abertalli, Becky & Silvera, Adam

What If It’s Us – Abertalli, Becky (eBook and eAudiobook also available)

This is Why They Hate Us – Aceves, Aaron H.

Home Field Advantage – Adler, Dahlia

The Black Flamingo – Atta, Dean

The Edge of Being – Brandon, James

All That’s Left in the World – Brown, Erik

Felix Ever After – Callendar, Kacen

The Heartbreak Bakery – Capetta, A.R.

The Red Scrolls of Magic – Clare, Cassandra (eBook also available)

Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List: A Novel – Cohn, Rachel (eBook and eAudiobook also available)

Things We Couldn’t Say – Coles, Jay

Notes from the Blender – Cook, Tish

Dreadnought – Daniels, April

Forget Me Not – Derrick, Alyson (eBook also available)

Some Girls Do – Dugan, Jennifer

Pet – Emezi, Akwaeke

The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door – Finneyfrock, Karen

The Passing Playbook – Fitzsimons, Isaac

Full Disclosure – Garrett, Cameron

Me Being Me is Exactly as Insane as You Being You – Hasak-Lowy, Todd

Her Royal Highness – Hawkins, Rachel

Rust in the Root – Ireland, Justina

Yesterday is History – Jackson, Kosoko

The Extraordinaires – Klune, T.J.

Darius the Great Deserves Better – Khorram, Adib

Kiss & Tell – Khorram, Adib

The Bridge – Konigsburg, Bill

Everything Leads to You – LaCour, Nina (eBook also available)

Meet Cute Diary – Lee, Emery

She Gets the Girl – Lippincott, Rachael & Derrick, Alyson (eBook also available)

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester – MacGregor, Maya

Last Night at the Telegraph Club – Lo, Malinda

Here the Whole Time – Martins, Vitor

Lakelore – McLemore, Anna-Marie

#MurderFunding – McNeil, Gretchen

The Art of Starving – Miller, Sam

Pumpkin – Murphy, Julie

Shine – Myracle, Lauren (eBook also available)

I’ll Give You the Sun – Nelson, Jandy (eBook also available)

Nick and Charlie: A Heartstopper Novella – Oseman, Alice (eBook also available)

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School – Reyes, Sonora (eBook and eAudiobook also available)

I Hope You Get this Message – Rishi, Farah Naz

Camp – Rosen, L.C.

The Midnight Lie – Rutkoski, Marie

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Sáenz, Benjamin Alire

And They Lived – Salvatore, Steven

Fans of the Impossible Life – Scelsa, Kate

The Girls I’ve Been – Sharpe, Tess

All Kinds of Other – Sie, James

They Both Die at the End – Silvera, Adam (eBook also available)

More Happy Than Not – Silvera, Adam (eBook also available)

The Gravity of Us – Stamper, Phil (eBook also available)

The Coldest Touch – Sterling, Isabel

Cemetery Boys – Thomas, Aiden (eBook and eAudiobook also available)

Kings of B’More – Thomas, R. Eric (eBook also available)

The Bone Spindle – Vedder, Leslie

Hell Followed with Us – White, Andrew Joseph

Lower Level YA Science Fiction (Shelved alphabetically by author’s last name)

The Darkness Outside Us – Schrefer, Eliot

Lower Level YA Graphic Novels (Shelved with the YA Graphic Novels by Call Number)

Flamer – Curato, Mike 741.5 C922f

Messy Roots – Gao, Laura 973.049 G159m

Heartstopper – Oseman, Alice 741.5 Os2h

Heartstopper – Volume 2 – Oseman, Alice 741.5 Os2h2

Bloom – Panetta, Kevin 741.5 P192b

The Golden Hour – Smith, Niki 741.5 Sm62g

Laura Deen Keeps Breaking Up with Me – Tamaki, Mariko 741.5 T15L

On a Sunbeam – Walden, Tillie 741.5 W144

Lower Level YA Nonfiction (Shelved with the YA Nonfiction by Call Number)

Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens – 248.8 F495q

Beyond the Gender Binary – 305.3 V191b

Gay America, Struggle for Equality – 306.76 AL78g

Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens – 306.76 B411q

Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard – Bertie, Alex 306.76 B462t

What’s the T? – 306.76 D325w

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto – 306.76 J632a

Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers – Franco, Betsy 811.6 F193

Lower Level YA Collective Biography (Shelved with the YA Collective Biography by Call Number)

No Way, They were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves – Wind, Lee YA Collective Biography W722n

Resources

Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance – A non-profit service organization for LGBTQ+ youth and allies in the Inland Empire

The Trevor Project

GLAAD

Safe Schools Coalition

Voting and Coding and Spiders, Oh My!… Drive-thru Family Day is October 10th

September 27, 2020 By Pamela Martinez

The Library is open! The Young Readers’ Room and Underground Teen sections are excited to invite our patrons, young and old, back inside to browse, study and read! Here is a list of five non-fiction books you will find in the New Book area of the Young Readers’ Room. Stop by soon to check them out and browse for some others while you are here!

In observance of the 100th anniversary of Nineteenth Amendment, we have the book, “Women Win the Vote” by Nancy B. Kennedy ready for checkout. Nineteen chapters are written about nineteen individuals who made a difference in the women’s movement. The final chapter mentions ten additional people who also made an impact for women in the U.S. Filled with colorful pages and information that POPS!, this book is great for learning something you may not have known before! This book makes history fun! The call number is J324.62 K384w.

How many of you enjoy working on the computer? How many of you enjoy figuring out difficult projects or playing computer games? Well, this next book will have you able to code your own computer games! “Get Coding 2! Build Five Computer Games Using HTML and JavaScript” by David Whitney contains step-by-step instructions on how to create your own computer game! Parents, you may enjoy this book as well as the kiddos! Colored drawings and easy to follow directions will have you playing a new game in no time! Please find this book under the call number J005.1 W612g on the New Book shelf.

“Be Your Best Self: Life Skills for Unstoppable Kids” by Danielle Brown and Nathan Kai will motivate your child to do their very best in order to achieve that dream or goal towards which they may be working. This book has short chapters that range from discussing what success is to how to stay motivated. Colored illustrations and easy to read text will help your child reach those goals, or maybe even set some new goals! Please find this book under the call number J158.1 B812b on the New Book shelf.

“Splendid Spiders” by Melissa Higgins has a book full of colorful, life-size photographs of spiders! An easy to read book, it may have you parents looking around more closely for these small, or LARGE insects! You’ll either find the photographs intriguing or creepy! With so much to learn about spiders, you’ll find useful information in this book. Please look for this under the call number J595.4 H535s on the New Book shelf.

Have you been wondering about outdoor science? Well, we have the perfect book for you: “Habitats” by Sonya Newland. This book is not only fun, it will teach the youngsters some great facts and let them experience science experiments too! Each double page spread has colored photographs and illustrations to help solidify the lesson. With easy to follow directions on how to complete a science experiment, this book will become a favorite! Please find this book under the call number J591.707 N461h.

We’re gearing up for our 17th Annual Family Day celebration on Saturday, October 10 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Join us to celebrate the Young Readers’ Room 100th Birthday celebration. This year’s event will be a drive-thru celebration. Please enter the Library’s front drive along Vine Street from Cajon Street (4th Street will be closed in both directions). Everyone will drive through the front drive and exit onto Eureka Street. We have a free book for every child and a free family book for the first 200 families who drive through. We will have six stations at which vehicles can stop along the drive, so be ready for some fun and surprises to celebrate with us! See you soon!

Honoring the Hispanic Heritage of Redlands

September 18, 2020 By Maria Carrillo

On September 9, 1932, El Aguila premiered at the Redlands House of Neighborly Service. Featuring the talents of members of the city’s Mexican American community, the long-awaited stage production included beautiful costumes, a stringed orchestra, and sets complete with family heirlooms to provide an air of authenticity. Written by Redlander Bruce McDaniel, the play tells the story of Estrellita and her beau El Aguila who is disguised as a bandit to avenge Estrellita’s family.

Stars Luisa and Jose Munoz, the rest of the cast, musicians, and crew won rave reviews from spectators, which included theater directors from the Padua Hills Theater and Pasadena Playhouse. A celebration of Mexican culture, El Aguila went on to be staged at the Beaumont Bogart Theater and the Little Theater in Padua Hills the following year.

Photographs of the lavish sets and costumes are a part of the House of Neighborly Service Collection in the Library’s Heritage Room.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed September 15 through October 15 in the United States.