Staff Picks

This book dives into how some big trends in the past few decades have shaped today's political, social, and cultural atmosphere in the U.S. It takes on three major "untruths" that have crept into modern thinking: “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker” -- where overprotective parenting has shielded children from challenges and has made younger generations less emotionally resilient; “Always trust your feelings” -- where people are encouraged to follow emotional reactions over logical and rational problem-solving; and “Life is a battle between good and evil people” -- where black-and-white mindsets fuel polarization and conflict. The authors connect these trends to the rise of "common enemy politics" and the intense divide in America today. What I really appreciated about this book was that it wasn’t just a pessimistic report of these negative trends. Instead, the authors actually offer advice for parents, schools, and young people to break out of these patterns. This book has a way of being brutally honest about the challenges that America is facing and will continue to face, but still leaves you feeling hopeful by the end, as it ends on a positive note. Personally, as someone who’s grown up in this generation, it made me reflect on how I was raised and how I see others being raised, especially as I get ready for college. It gave me awareness of these issues and practical ideas on how to approach America’s political and social climate with more emotional awareness and resilience. If you like politics, sociology, or just want a better understanding of why things feel so divided these days, I would totally recommend this book. It’s not just informative, well-written, and politically unbiased (which is always nice to see in political non-fiction), but it’s a wonderful guide for anyone who wants to help make things better.

 

-Ainsley, twelfth-grade volunteer

 

Publisher's Description: 

This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

 

When Delphine and her sisters visit their mother, they do not expect to end up participating in a Black Panther rally, but as they spend their days at the local community center, they learn to confront the racism that they have taken for granted all their lives. Ultimately, this is a moving and heartfelt story of a young girl and her changing relationships with her mother, her sisters, and her own Blackness.

 

Publisher's description: In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

 

An all too plausible story of how being in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to unwarranted incarceration--or revolution. "Revolution has always been in the hands of the young." -Huey Newton

 

Publisher Description: 

Marcus, aka "w1n5t0n," is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works--and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison, where they're mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state, where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself. Can one teenage hacker fight back against a government out of control? Maybe, but only if he's really careful . . . and very, very smart.

 

Find Little Brother in our online catalog.

A beautiful, lyrical glimpse into the life of an African American girl growing up in the south in the 1960s and beyond. History, triumph and poetry combine to make this multi-award winning book a delight to read.

 

Publisher Description:

Jacqueline Woodson, the acclaimed author of "Another Brooklyn," tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.