What's New

The Redlands Adult Literacy Program is preparing to publish its seventh volume of Our Stories, A Collection of Writings, composed of writings from adult learners and tutors who participate in the Redlands Adult Literacy Program. This year’s collection includes the voices of over 40 authors, including young voices from the Family Literacy Program. As tutor Claudia Guillaume wrote in the anthology’s introduction, “Welcome to Our Stories,” each story “adds a unique perspective…that illustrates the courage to accept challenges and overcome learning and language barriers while navigating daily life with resourcefulness, determination, and grace. This anthology is a reflection of the heart, soul, and imagination.”

Our Stories, A Collection of Writings, Volume 7 will soon be available at A. K. Smiley Library for checkout. In the interim, we would like to share a few of the authors’ messages.

Author-learner Pedro Cruz wrote “The Freedom to Read,” a story illustrating several ways that the adult literacy program is important to him. He wrote, “When I began the program, I was hesitant to read a book. Now I am eager to check out my next book.” He shared that his self-esteem and confidence have increased through reading a wide variety of books. Pedro wants to read about history, different cultures and experiences, and different types and styles of photography. “I want people … to be more active in supporting your local libraries and your literacy program. I advocate for you to help people to understand how important the freedom to read is and how valuable the literacy program is to us and to our community.”

Several stories in this anthology included descriptions of how the lives of the authors have changed when they overcame the challenges they faced due to their low reading and writing skills. One author wrote about how his reading has improved a lot over the year and a half that he has been part of the literacy program. “I have read about 20 books…. I like to read biographies, true stories that encourage me to work harder.” Now, when he goes out to eat, he can read the menu. He reads books to his young granddaughters and he is able to pay attention to details like paying his own bills. The literacy program has given him confidence and he expressed his gratitude for all of the help he has been given.

Stories in this collection reflect the wide range of writing levels of adults in the literacy program. Each author worked diligently through the writing process with the assistance of a volunteer tutor. By working with their tutors, learners develop vital literacy skills that help them overcome obstacles in their lives.

On September 17, the Redlands City Council will consider the approval of a proclamation declaring Sunday, September 29, Adult Literacy Day in Redlands. In prior years the City Council declared Adult Literacy Day in Redlands to emphasize the importance of literacy in employment, family education, and civic engagement.

To further celebrate the life-changing impact of literacy, the Redlands community is invited to join the Adult Literacy Program in its Celebration of Authors on Sunday, September 29, at 2:00 pm at The Contemporary Club, 173 S. Eureka St., Redlands. Adult Learners will read from their works which were published in the anthology.  Light refreshments will be served.

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering with the Redlands Adult Literacy Program, please contact Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator, at (909) 798-7565 ext. 4110 or email literacy@akspl.org. The next volunteer tutor orientation is scheduled for September 11, 2024, at 6:00 pm at A.K. Smiley Library. Please contact the literacy program to reserve your space.

If you know of someone who needs help in reading and writing, please encourage them to take the first step in changing their life by contacting the Redlands Adult Literacy Program. Tutoring is free and confidential.

Back to school week has arrived! Some students are beginning a new era of their school experiences. Perhaps a new school, a new teacher, and new friends are on the horizon. To help navigate these new experiences, here are just a few of the school-themed books we have on hand to help your student adjust to new surroundings. The Youth Services Crew is always happy to offer more titles for you as well!

Here are a few picture books for the younger readers you may like to check out. Llama Llama Back to School written by Reed Duncan will have youngsters eager to head back to school tomorrow!  Kids have had a nice summer break, so how do parents gear up the excitement for the kids to get prepared for school? Llama Llama’s mama is reminding him that school is starting up soon…what’s a llama to do? Check this one out to find out if Llama Llama is school ready.

Libby Loves Science States of Matter by Kimberly Derting will have students excited about science class! Libby and her friends are learning about matter and experiments when a new student enters the class. Will Libby and her friends be able to survive the melting ice cream incident? Check this out quickly and enjoy a cool scoop of ice cream as a treat!

Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Back to Scare School is written by Zack Zombie. Seventh grade was a breeze for Zombie. But how will eighth grade be for a successful seventh grade graduate? Filled with humor and perhaps a couple of scary zombie moments, check this book out and have a good old-fashioned scare!

Isabel and her Colores Go to School written by Alexandra Alessandri will have kids excited to get to school as quickly as possible! Isabel is nervous about starting a new school. But as many new kids find out, friendships are easy to make. And with Isabel’s keen sense of drawing pictures, the language barrier can’t stop instant friendships. Check out Isabel’s story today.

Poor David has got his work cut out for him with the dastardly twins, who happen to be his neighbors. David is excited to start school to get a break from the Romero twins, but lo and behold, new triplets who are quite menacing are now students in his school. What is David going to do? Check out Twins vs. Triplets Back-to-School Blitz by Jennifer Torres right away and find out if David is able to fend off all of these obnoxious siblings.

“Let the Games Begin” is an aptly named book in Smiley Library’s new fiction collection, given that the exciting opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris takes place today — magnifique! You may want to enhance your Olympic games viewing experience by sprinting into this debut rom-com novel by Rufaro Faith Mazarura. Taking place at summer Games in Greece, it sparkles with romantic glances, accomplished Olympians, underdog heroics, and well, the brilliant sand, sea, and skies of glorious Greece!

More books on the world of sporting out this year in non-fiction include “The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports.” Named a Most Anticipated Book by Esquire, Town & Country, and Electric Literature, author Michael Waters uncovers, for the first time, the separate stories of Zdeněk Koubek and Mark Weston, both high-achieving athletes in the 1930s who were assigned female at birth and began to live as males as adults. The news of their transitions was carried by global media outlets and they became celebrities only to be quickly forgotten. Waters’ research discovers other pioneering trans and intersex athletes from their era, as well as what he has identified as Nazi influence on and misdeeds by the International Olympic Committee that have had lasting consequences for the trans community.

Learn more about the Games and two modern Olympians in the memoirs of Caster Semenya, a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals, and Kara Goucher, two-time Olympian, and winner of the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships in the 10,000 meters. Each has a unique story of challenges that they finally felt ready to share.

Semenya in “The Race to Be Myself” recounts the progression of her talent and success which has been overshadowed by criticism and speculation about her body, and how gender plays out in sports, our expectations of female athletes, and the right to compete as you are. Goucher’s memoir, “The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team,” was a New York Times bestseller; in it she shares how she was lulled into the abusive doping world by her coach, distance running legend Alberto Salazar, and how she became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level.

Reaching the Olympic level of competition is not for the faint of heart — even for our rom-com characters, and that is probably why we enjoy watching Olympians compete, because we know their top-level dedication is beyond what most of us could do, so we celebrate their hard-won victories and feel for them in their devastating defeats. Cheers to each of those participating in the 2024 Games!

Look for an extensive list of the Library’s Olympic-themed books and movie DVDs posted here on Smiley Blog earlier this month.

During these hot summer days, it’s best to stay inside and stay cool. What better way to spend time indoors than with a good book? What about creepy Science Fiction? These new books are the perfect way to enjoy Summerween!

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s new work Lost Ark Dreaming, is a story of hope in a world that is drowning. A crumbling structure, built to withstand the rising floods by a corporation, houses the last of humanity. The society, located off the coast of West Africa, is separated by class and reflected in the floors of the building. Uppers, the wealthy and managers of the company, live in the top floors while the poorest and undesirables are housed below the water line in the lowers. Yekini, unremarkable cog in the corporations from the middle floors, is tasked with an expedition to investigate a problem in the lowers. Accompanying her is Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the uppers. Along the way the two discover some of the corporation’s dark secrets and Yekini becomes determined to dredge those secrets up from the depths.

In Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes, Dr. Ophelia Bray is out to atone for the horrors her family has committed. Her mother is the scion of a rich and powerful corporation that would rather throw money at a problem than ever admit guilt, and her father is a mass murderer who committed unspeakable acts during a bout of psychosis. Hoping to separate herself from her family’s legacy, Bray agrees to join a dangerous mission to explore a planet. While there, she is tasked with researching a possible preventative measure for psychosis caused from deep space travel. But people start to act strangely. People start to see things. People start to die. Bray needs to get to the bottom of what is happening and figure out if the danger originates from this unknown world or if it was in Dr. Bray all along. Filled with twists and turns, Ghost Station is a terrifying look at the horrors we find in the void and those within ourselves.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, centers on Charles, a robot valet for his human master in a world where humanity has declined. Every day is the same for Charles, check the itinerary, lay the clothes out, shave the master, a never-ending list of repeating tasks Charles is more than happy to tick off. Until one day, Charles cannot complete his tasks. His master is dead and Charles is the one who did it. The problem is Charles has no idea why he did it and now is stuck in a circle of task that can never be completed. But Charles is not the only one stuck in this bureaucratic circle, all robots seem to be stuck as well. Charles must find a way in the world that has lost all direction. What happens to a world full of robots built to care for humans when there are no humans left?

Enjoy these books and let the creepy season begin!