Black History Month

Celebrating Black History Month means celebrating all aspects of the African-American experience.  With this in mind, we’ve created a reading list with a variety of topics.  Whether you like fiction or non-fiction, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the contributions of African-Americans to our society.  One can glean history from novels and biographies as well as from reading a “History of…” book, so we have included titles on fine arts, music, sports, history, religion, and more. 

When you come to the Library, peruse the glass display case and the wooden book shelf next to it.   The display case contains a broad range of “book covers,” from all sections of the library.   We did not put the actual books in the case because that would defeat the purpose; we want these books to circulate and be read!  Each book represented is one from our collection, though our copy may have a different cover.  There is a folder on top of the display case containing a complete list of what’s represented and its location in the library (this list is also linked to the Black History Banner on our website).  

These are, of course, just a smattering of titles.  If there’s a subject you love, try a catalog search and look for a title by or about African-Americans.  If fiction is your thing, take one of the Black Fiction Authors brochures (also on top of the display case).   Find a book and celebrate Black History Month! 

February’s Adult Reading Challenge “Clues”

We are happy to report that 45 patrons and 12 staff members have signed on for this year’s Challenge. If you are not one of these numbers we want to encourage you to join in the fun.  If you are trying to decide if this is something you want to do, we invite you to come by the Community Room Thursday, February 5^th from 12:30 until 2:00 for our first Portals Book Club and see what it’s all about. Everyone is welcome.

Now for February’s clues and explanations:

Black Author or Character: In celebration of Black History Month read any book written by a black author or any book that is about a Black character. 

Dogs- For this clue you can read any book that has a picture of a dog on the cover, has the word dog in the title, or has a dog in the story. To get in the mood check out the Westminster Kennel Club 139^th Annual Dog Show February 16^th and 17^th.

Libraryish-Book must feature a librarian and/or be set in a library.

February Author-Read a book written by an author born in the month of February. Some suggestions to get you started are John Grisham, Lisa See, Sharyn McCrumb, Jeffrey Shaara, or Amy Tan.

2 Additional Clues:

February’s additional clues will come from the map of the library you received when you signed up for the challenge. We have put up graphics on the shelves to match the map and make it easier for you to find these areas in the library.

The first area you are looking for is #7 on the map-Romance Inlet. You must read a book that comes from this section of the library. One way to know a book works for the challenge is if it has a Romance sticker on the spine. The only way a book from the fiction area will work for this clue is if the author is a current member of Romance Writers of America. You can find a list of authors who fit this criteria in the suggested reading guide in Reference or on the Some Suggested Reading lists on the 2015 Reading Challenge Page of our website.

The second released clue from the map is #11-Graphics Gulf.  This means you must read a graphic novel.  You may also choose from the graphic novels found in the Young Adult section. Both of these areas will have the graphic from the map where these books are found in the library. In order to count for the challenge a book must have the graphic novel spine sticker. 

These clues will be added to the Suggested Reading Guide on Thursday, February 5, 2015.

Remember you are looking for these 2 decals on the endcaps:

  and         

Also on the spine of the book you need to see these decals:

and  

Happy Hunting!