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Book cover for Mamie Fish, last seen on The Gilded Age, was a grande dame of New York and Newport society who flaunted conventions and opened up the stuffy 400 of Mrs. Astor.  Learn more about how America evolved from the Puritans who didn't celebrate Christmas to a society of the well-to-do willing to spend their wealth to purchase their way into titled families in Europe.  Fish set the pace in fashion, parties, and tweaking expectations of who women should be (and not heard).

Publisher's description:
From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige. Marion Graves Anthon Fish, known by the nicknames "Mamie" and "The Fun-Maker," threw the most epic parties in American history. This Gilded Age icon brought it all: lavish decor; A-list invitees; booze; pranks; and large animal guest stars. If you were a member of New York high society in the Peak Age of Innocence Era, you simply had to be on Mamie Fish's guest list. Mamie Fish understood that people didn't just need the formality of prior generations - they needed wit and whimsy. Make no mistake, however: Mamie Fish's story is about so much more than partying. In Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time, readers will learn all about how Fish and her friends shaped the line of history, exerting their influence on business, politics, family relationships, and social change through elaborate social gatherings. In a time when women couldn't even own property, let alone run for office, if women wanted any of the things men got outside the home - glory, money, attention, social networking, leadership roles - they had to do it by throwing a decadent soiree or chairing a cotillion. To ensure people would hear and remember what she had to say, Mamie Fish lived her whole life at Volume 10, becoming famous not by playing the part of a saintly helpmeet, but by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly. It's time to let modern readers in on the fun, the fabulousness, and the absolute ferocity that is Ms. Stuyvesant Fish - and her inimitable legacy.

Find Glitz, Glam and a Damn Good Time in our online catalog

Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied  Her Way to Power: Wright, Jennifer: 9780306834608: Amazon.com: BooksMamie Fish, last seen on The Gilded Age, was a grande dame of New York and Newport society who flaunted conventions and opened up the stuffy 400 of Mrs. Astor. Learn more about how America evolved from the Puritans who didn't celebrate Christmas to a society of the well-to-do willing to spend their wealth to purchase their way into titled families in Europe. Fish set the pace in fashion, parties, and tweaking expectations of who women should be (and not heard).

Publisher’s description:
From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige. Marion Graves Anthon Fish, known by the nicknames "Mamie" and "The Fun-Maker," threw the most epic parties in American history. This Gilded Age icon brought it all: lavish decor; A-list invitees; booze; pranks; and large animal guest stars. If you were a member of New York high society in the Peak Age of Innocence Era, you simply had to be on Mamie Fish's guest list. Mamie Fish understood that people didn't just need the formality of prior generations - they needed wit and whimsy. Make no mistake, however: Mamie Fish's story is about so much more than partying. In Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time, readers will learn all about how Fish and her friends shaped the line of history, exerting their influence on business, politics, family relationships, and social change through elaborate social gatherings. In a time when women couldn't even own property, let alone run for office, if women wanted any of the things men got outside the home - glory, money, attention, social networking, leadership roles - they had to do it by throwing a decadent soiree or chairing a cotillion. To ensure people would hear and remember what she had to say, Mamie Fish lived her whole life at Volume 10, becoming famous not by playing the part of a saintly helpmeet, but by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly. It's time to let modern readers in on the fun, the fabulousness,and the absolute ferocity that is Ms. Stuyvesant Fish - and her inimitable legacy.

Find Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time in our online catalog.

Cover Art As a first-generation American who has been the family interpreter since I was a child, this book brought tears to my eyes! It is an honor and a privilege to interpret for my parents who do not speak English fluently, but at times it was too much for a young child to handle. This picture book perfectly encapsulates the experience of many first-gen kids who do their best to help their parents, whilst acknowledging the weight of responsibility.
 
Publisher description:
A sharp and heartfelt picture book about a young soccer-loving girl who's an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents.
 
 
 
Cover ArtDungy, a CSU professor and poet, writes about the flower garden and native prairie space at her home in Fort Collins. Dungy, who is African American, shares stories along with the scientific names of her plants. A chapter might begin with rabbits living in her yard, then shift to the history of how plants and seeds arrived with Africans who survived the Middle Passage to be sold into slavery. She weaves modern events with family history and historical research about the United States.
 
Publisher’s description
Poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominately white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013, with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens. In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.

Find Soil  in our online catalog
Cover ArtTender, nostalgic, hilarious.
 
This graphic novel explores the complex questions persistently posed to many masculine-presenting folks which are: What does it mean to be a "man"? What feelings, experiences, and circumstances contribute to the development of toxic masculinity? Is there such a thing as positive masculinity, or is masculinity in itself inherently toxic?
 
Neatly packaged in a hilarious narrative about an imaginary shark, this text encourages deep engagement from youth and adults alike, and will especially resonate with middle schoolers.
 
Publisher's description:
A hilarious middle-grade graphic memoir about boyhood, toxic masculinity and a shark named Jaws. For fans of Guts and New Kid.
 

 

Cover ArtThis beautifully written and poetic book addresses the complexities that came about for Palestinians and Jews before, during, and after the establishment of Israel. Ultimately revealing the human nature that ties us all together, this deeply moving and profound novel shines light on the ripple effect that harm can do to a person, a city, a state, a culture, and a world. The book begs the reader to determine that passion can blur the lines of love and hate and blind us to an exit of a cycle.
 
Publisher description:

This is Amal's story, the story of one family's struggle and survival through over sixty years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, carrying us from Jenin to Jerusalem, to Lebanon and the anonymity of America. It is a story shaped by scars and fear, but also by the transformative intimacy of marriage and the fierce protectiveness of motherhood. It is a story of faith, forgiveness, and life-sustaining love. Mornings in Jenin is haunting and heart-wrenching, a novel of vital contemporary importance. Lending human voices to the headlines, it forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining political conflicts of our lifetimes

Cover ArtYoung Angie translates a lot of things for her Cantonese-speaking dad when they move to Canada. Together, they navigate new experiences and learn more about each other in this sweet, community-focused story.
 
Publisher description: A young girl helps her dad navigate life in a new country where she understands the language more than he does, in an unforgettable story about communication and community. Angie is used to helping her dad. Ever since they moved to Canada, he relies on her to translate for him from English to Chinese. Angie is happy to help: when they go to restaurants, at the grocery store, and, one day, when her dad needs help writing some signs for his work. Building off her success with her dad's signs, Angie offers her translation skills to others in their community. She's thrilled when her new business takes off, until one of her clients says he's unhappy with her work. When her dad offers to help, she can't imagine how he could. Working together, they find a surprising solution, fixing the problem in a way Angie never would have predicted. A gorgeously illustrated picture book from up-and-coming author-illustrator Jack Wong (When You Can Swim, Scholastic) that is at once a much-needed exploration of the unique pressures children of immigrants often face, a meditation on the dignity of all people regardless of their differences, and a reminder of the power of empathy.
 

 

Cover ArtThis book was an excellent depiction of the complexities of life when you are working to provide for yourself and those you love and how that can be exploited. Written with such distinct voice that allows you to deeply empathize with the characters, Mottley has created a wonderfully insightful read.
 
Publisher's description:
Kiara Johnson and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex that calls itself, optimistically, the Royal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent-which has now more than doubled-and to keep the 9-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. What begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger one night soon becomes the job Kiara never wanted but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. And her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland police department.
 
Cover ArtThis book will simultaneously break and heal your heart. An exploration of how expectations can often be limiting and of the difficulty in navigating the maze that is family dynamics. Julia's journey to understanding her family and her self is inspiring and identifiable across many cultures. Easily one of my top three recommendations for teen readers, a truly excellent book.
 
Publisher description:
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
 
Find I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter in our online catalog
Cover ArtAbdurraqib's writing is passionate, jumps off the page at times, and has rhythm and meaning for every word and at the corners of every sentence. He articulates what it means to be a true fan, how that fandom is intertwined with the city you're from, and how a lot of times that city lets you down but you keep showing up, because you've always dreamed of the day your team, your city, can rise above it and get national recognition for redemption, even if it's just for that moment.
 
Publisher's description: 
While Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed author, a gifted poet, and one of our culture's most insightful music critics, he is most of all, at heart, an Ohioan. Growing up in Columbus in the '90s, Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron were forged, and countless others weren't. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tensions between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role-models, all of which he expertly weaves together with memoir: "Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father's jumpshot," Abdurraqib writes. "The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.
 
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