What's New

In celebration of Black History Month, I would like to share some new fiction titles written by Black contemporary authors that either highlight current social issues or show positive representation in their works. Providing books to a community that are written by people of color is important because books have the ability to educate the reader about the struggles and triumphs Black people have endured and still face in America.

“Black Buck” by Mateo Askaripour is the author’s debut novel and is already receiving a lot of buzz. “Black Buck” is a satirical novel about a young Black man named Darren Vender who is completely content working as a manager at Starbucks, living with his mother, and spending time with his girlfriend in New York City until one day he reverse-sells a cup of coffee to Rhett Daniels, a CEO of tech startup Sumwun. Rhett likes what he sees and hires him for a sales position at Sumwun. Pressured by his mother to find a better job, Darren reluctantly takes the position and discovers that he is the only Black man working there and he immediately encounters racism. Darren decides to completely flip the system by creating a job training program for people of color to help empower them in the workforce. Reminiscent of the cult classic “Fight Club,” this sharp book will hook you in at page one.

If one is looking for something on the lighter side to read, “Take a Hint, Dani Brown” by Talia Hibbert is the perfect book for you. “Take a Hint, Dani Brown” is a contemporary romance novel about casual acquaintances, PhD student Dankia Brown and Zafir Ansari, a retired rugby player and security guard at the university Dani attends. When a video of the two of them goes viral, in which he’s heroically rescuing her from a disaster drill, things between them start to heat up. When describing her work, Hibbert says that “she writes sexy, diverse romance because she believes that people of marginalized identities need honest and positive representation.”

Aside from these two new titles which we have available for check-out, here are a few other new novels to read in celebration of Black History Month.

“His Only Wife” by Peace Adzo Medie

“Yellow Wife” by Sadeqa Johnson

“This Close to Okay” by Lessa Cross-Smith

“The Secret Lives of Church Ladies” by Deesha Philyaw

“The Kindest Lie” by Nancy Johnson

“The Rib King” by Ladee Hubbard

Call, email, or go online to reserve one of these titles today. Information on how to reserve an item can be found on our website, www.akspl.org.

For many years, the simple act of tending plants has brought a touch of joy into my life. Swirls of sweet peas climbing a trellis, fragrant rosemary plucked and ready to enrich a tomato sauce, a cheeky little gopher munching away in the carrot patch. Oh wait, that last example didn’t exactly incite a joyous feeling! Nevertheless, late winter is the perfect time to start planning your spring garden and I definitely hear mine beckoning. You can even mail order your plants, like I did with my olive trees, no thicker than a pencil when they arrived, now fruitful and towering as an impressive grove. Your efforts will result in a beautiful garden ready to emerge and befriend you for another season.

“Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden” by Jessica Walliser is an informative book explaining how pairing certain vegetables in your garden will improve soil, yield a more productive crop, attract beneficial insects and strengthen resistance to disease. Her organic approach and suggestions are all backed by studies. Lure pests away from your harvest crops by trap cropping. If aphids are attacking your collards, try drawing them off by interplanting calendula. This will deter aphids from eating the collards and attract beneficial bugs to control the aphid population. Other suggestions include cover crops to improve soil and living mulches to discourage weeds. This interesting book offers creative ways to produce a thriving vegetable garden.

No matter where they live, all gardeners experience challenges along their growing pathways. In my own garden, I’ve had a late frost turn my lettuce bed into an icy tundra right out of the movie Frozen. Disappointing, yes, but I did let it go. It’s always interesting to see how fellow gardeners respond to their own challenges. Although based out of Novia Scotia, Niki Jabbour’s “Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden” has innovative solutions, even for us Californians. Here are some of her great takeaways. Make a cold frame for starting seeds using a recycled window sash. Plastic PVC pipe or metal tubes can be used to make small and large hoop frames, perfect for wind and pest protection. Shade cloth extends the spring season and more importantly for us, prevents sun scald on leaves and vegetables once the heat begins. While our weather may be quite different, it’s how we respond to it that makes each garden special. Many of these ideas, thoughts, and tips will give you the confidence to start your own special garden. Niki clearly has found a way to make growing under cover work for her. You can too.

There is nothing like using home-grown herbs to enhance your culinary creations. They smell great and taste so fresh. “Grow Your Own Herbs: the 40 Best Culinary Varieties for Home Gardens” by Susan Belsinger and Arthur O. Tucker is the perfect gardening book for anyone who loves to cook. The authors provide an overview of each herb, the type of conditions they grow in and a color photograph for identification. They include plant characteristics and flavors, harvesting and preserving ideas, and suggestions on how to use them in your cooking. There are appetizing recipes too, like herb pastes, herb vinegar and herb butter. Garlic, basil, cilantro and mint may be familiar names, but have you tried stevia, lovage, or saffron? Whether you grow them inside on a sunny windowsill or outside, they’ll add amazing flavor to all your dishes.

Enjoy these gardening books and a large selection of others, available through our Books to Go service. The details are on our website at www.akspl.org. Start gardening now; it’s time to get growing!

The Redlands Adult Literacy Program recently published Our Stories, A Collection of Writings, Volume 3, which includes writings from adult learners enrolled in the Redlands Adult Literacy Program. Over 40 adult learners and tutors contributed written works for the anthology. These works focused on the learners’ journeys to literacy, personal reflections, family and friends, memories and adventures, and reflections about books the learners had read. This year, a special chapter entitled ‘Pandemic Reflections’ was added to the anthology providing an opportunity for authors to share the impact that the pandemic has had on their lives.

Diane Shimota, adult literacy coordinator, shared that the anthology “provided an opportunity for adult learners to write stories from their hearts, choosing just the right words to express themselves, and then to share those stories with the broader community.” Previously, the Redlands community would be invited to a “Celebration of Authors” event, where adult learners would read their works to an audience that included their families and friends. Because of the social distancing requirements caused by the pandemic, this year the Library recorded authors reading their stories, so that the whole community could experience the joy of hearing the works of adult learners who are working to improve their literacy. You are invited to view these remarkable videos which are posted at www.akspl.org/literacy.

This anthology’s pandemic reflections were especially heart-felt and relevant as everyone continues to adapt to changes caused by the pandemic. Several learners wrote about the losses they had experienced, like the inability to see family or gather in large groups, supporting children with online school, learning how to meet with tutors remotely, and adapting to wearing face masks.

Author Martha Torres wrote an especially poignant account of what it was like when her sister was diagnosed with the COVID virus in her story Terrible News. She described the anguish she felt when she was unable to be at her sister’s side and the joy she experienced when her sister recovered. Also in the pandemic chapter are a series of six-word stories, written by tutors and learners, who described a pandemic experience in six words. Marisela Casillas wrote this six-word story: “I enjoy seeing my family more.” Six-word stories are fun to write and capture experiences succinctly – you may want to write a six-word story of your own!

In addition to stories on the pandemic, several learners wrote about their journeys to literacy. Cinderella Tran, in The Literacy Path, wrote in detail about how she felt coming to the library to ask for help with her reading and writing. She recalled her first contact with the program, what it felt like to meet and work with her tutor, and how her life changed after she attended literacy computer classes and learned how to use the internet. Cinderella shared that the knowledge she has gained was a “treasure that all of her tutors have given [her].”

Copies of volumes 1, 2, and 3 of Our Stories, A Collection of Writings are available for checkout at A. K. Smiley Public Library. We encourage you to take a moment and read about the fascinating lives of adult learners.

To help adults who want to improve their reading and writing, the Redlands Adult Literacy Program relies on its wonderful volunteer tutors. If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please contact Diane Shimota, adult literacy coordinator, with 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 program is free and tutoring can be scheduled at the convenience of the adult learner and tutor.

Some picture books are not just pictures, oh, no. Picture books can be full of beautiful, wonderful words, sprinkled together in an art form. Please check out these new picture books (with and without words) through our Books-to-Go program!

I remember as a child reading picture books that had no words… I became the storyteller. My words filled the pages with language and sentences that I deemed fit to tell the story to go along with the pictures!

My imagination was being developed through my eyes as they searched the illustrations, taking a thorough glance at each tiny line in the drawing. Let your child have the opportunity to develop their imagination with this next book suggestion.

The first choice this month is “Field Trip to the Ocean Deep” by John Hare. A wordless picture book that brings imagination to life! Let your children embrace their imaginations through storytelling. Let the pictures guide them through the pages of this underwater adventure! There are details that need to be seen and told. I can just about picture their little faces as they turn the page to continue the story, in their own words!

My next recommendation is written by Michael Karg and illustrated by Sophie Diao, entitled “I Am The Wind.” The story is written as a poem; the illustrations add that little bit extra to engage the reader into the book. Wind blows through every country in the world; the wild animals that are included on each page enhance the words to the next level. Well written and illustrated greatly, this book is a must read!

Bringing more nature to our recommendation of new books, the next must-read title is “I Talk Like a River,” written by Jordan Scott and illustrated by Sydney Smith. This is a personal account from the author of his experience as a little boy who had trouble saying words. This story will bring a bit of understanding to children about bullying as well. The illustrations are well done and the story, well, the story is truly amazing. Kudos to the author for sharing his childhood experience with us, to help us understand the difficulty some kids face.  Check out this story today and share it with someone you care about.

“Mr. Brown’s Bad Day,” written by Lou Peacock and illustrated by Alison Friend, is a sweet story about Mr. Brown. He is ‘a very important businessman’ traveling through the pages as he shares his day with the reader. Mr. Brown never leaves his very important briefcase behind; it goes everywhere Mr. Brown goes. What do you suppose Mr. Brown keeps in his very important briefcase, hmmm? Well, check out this book and you will find out what a very important man, er, tiger, keeps in his very important briefcase, at the end of the story!

“I Am One, A Book of Action,” written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, is a lovely book for children to get up and get going to do something meaningful. Being kind, thoughtful and productive can lead to amazing results. This story is inspirational, a winner indeed!

Pamela Martinez is A.K. Smiley Public Library’s Youth Services Librarian.

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Charles M. Schulz

A 9x13x2” baking dish is the only pan you’ll need to make every sweet recipe in Edd Kimber’s latest book, “One Tin Bakes.” For those of you who may not know, Edd Kimber is a British baker, food writer and the winner of the first Great British Bake Off competition. With this book, home bakers can create Raspberry Cheesecake Streusel Squares, Peanut Butter Brookies, ‘Coffee’ Coffee Cake with an espresso swirl and Apple Fritter Monkey Bread. Chocolate lovers will want to bake Edd’s favorite dessert which is the Milk Chocolate Caramel Sheet Cake sprinkled with nuts and cacao nibs.

On the front cover of this next book is a gorgeous layer cake adorned with multi-colored pastel buttercream flowers. It is the first of many luscious cakes, cupcakes and other confectionery delights in Bobbie Lloyd’s “The Magnolia Bakery Handbook.” Bobbie is very generous with her baking knowledge, instructions and techniques so that home bakers have opportunity to achieve picture-worthy results. Besides dazzling cakes, there are cookies, bars, muffins, scones and a chapter dedicated to banana pudding. This pudding chapter features flavor combinations such as Java Chip Banana, Peanut Butter Banana, Salted Caramel Banana and Pumpkin-Gingersnap Banana Pudding.

Of all desserts, ice cream is the most accommodating and versatile. A scoop dresses up a serving of cake or pie, it can be sandwiched between two cookies, doused in hot fudge or scooped into a waffle cone and eaten before it melts. Rose Levy Beranbaum, who is best known for her baking books, has confessed her love for ice cream. “Rose’s Ice Cream Bliss” contains the secrets for making super creamy frozen desserts without any iciness. Flavors range from the familiar vanilla, strawberry, and cookies ‘n’ cream to the more unique Silken Black Sesame, Turkish Stretchy and Red Wine ice cream.

If you were to choose a favorite pie, what would it be? Maybe it’s banana cream, chocolate silk, pecan or deep dish apple. Whichever it is, you’ll find it and many more within Ken Haedrich’s book, “Pie Academy.” Creating a pie crust from scratch is easy when you follow Ken’s clear and simple directions provided at the beginning of the book. There are 25 different pie doughs including crumb crusts that don’t involve a rolling pin. For variety, there are 255 delicious fillings to place in those crusts like Blueberry-Peach, Maple Pumpkin, Sour Cream-Blackberry, Snickers Brownie and Coffee Mud Pie with an Oreo Crust. January 23^rd was National Pie Day. However, it’s not too late to make one in honor of Pi Day on March 14^th.

These cookbooks and many more are available now through A.K. Smiley Public Library’s “Books-To-Go” program. For more information, please visit our website at www.akspl.org or call 909-798-7565.