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Cathy Rentzenbrink writes: “Reading has always been everything to me, keeping me afloat when the sea of life gets choppy. I would become the author of a novel in my own beloved subgenre of books that are not only fiction, but about fiction; that are full of bookworms who strive to make sense of themselves and their world by reading and writing about it. Here, roughly in the order I encountered them, are 10 of my most cherished.”
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In 1928, a Fredonia, Kansas, barber named I. A. Persinger began compiling a collection of “Wash Tubbs” comics, a daily newspaper strip by artist Roy Crane. Soon, the scrapbook expanded with handwritten insights and drawings from Persinger and his customers, commenting on life during the Great Depression. Almost 100 years later, Persinger’s scrapbook has found a new home among the rare books and manuscripts of Columbia University Libraries.
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August is Women in Translation Month. To celebrate this special occasion, Words without Borders has chosen 11 books by some of its favorite Asian women writers in the WWB archives. From Indonesia, Macau, Vietnam, India, and more, these titles range across genres and themes, delving into questions of migration, coming of age, family, politics, and other topics. While this list is by no means comprehensive, it may inspire your reading list for #WITMonth and beyond.
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Eleanor J. Bader writes: “As public schools across the US welcome students back to in-person learning, an estimated 7 million children will find themselves in a school without a professionally trained school librarian. Indeed, according to ALA, only 61% of K-12 schools currently have full-time librarians on staff. Sadly, this isn’t a new issue.”
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Pamela Martin-Diaz writes: “Dolly Parton believes, ‘You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children.’ In support of this belief and in honor of her father who never learned how to read or write, she established Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, regardless of their family’s income. The idea of getting books into the hands and homes of children is fundamental to not only DPIL, but is also the purpose and heart of children’s librarianship.”
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Tirzah Price writes: “The exciting thing about children’s literature is that it’s constantly changing, so if you’re an adult reading this, there are some amazing books that have been published since your elementary and middle school days, and children’s writers are constantly elevating the field with their incredible writing and stories. Even if you don’t have any kids in your life, there is no one stopping you from picking up some amazing children’s books that run the range from silly to serious and will help expand your perspective. Here is just a small selection of some amazing children’s books that adults should read, too.”
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Richard Byrne writes: “Historical photographs, paintings, sketches, and maps can inspire all kinds of history questions. Not only are historic photographs, paintings, sketches, and maps useful as discussion starters in a classroom, they’re also useful in prompting fun research questions. Here are 12 good places to find historical imagery to spark inquiry.”
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Alex McElroy writes: “The beach is no place for a book. Reading is not a beachy activity. Reading is for armchairs and bay windows and loverless beds. Bring a book to the beach and you’re agreeing to ruin the book. No matter how careful you are, sand will stuff the creases between the pages—seven years after a beach trip during grad school, I still find sand in my copy of Delmore Schwartz’s collected poems. Life is full of excellent places to read. Stop pretending the beach is one of those places.”
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The People’s Archive has acquired and cataloged the photo collection of Chip Py (right) as part of DC Public Library’s Go-Go Archive. The 1,900-plus photo collection includes concert performances of Chuck Brown, Rare Essence, Backyard Band, Familiar Faces, Suttle Thoughts, Be’la Dona, and Da Mixx Band. The Chip Py Photograph Collection is the largest acquisition for the library’s Go-Go collection to date.
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Bobbi Newman writes: “Many people are experiencing increased stress and anxiety as we continue to battle COVID-19. A blog post from the director of the National Institute of Mental Health states: ‘The mental health impacts of COVID-19 continue. From all that we know, it is clear these impacts will outlive the pandemic itself.’ The American Psychological Association reports that many people are coping with their stress in unhealthy ways including increased alcohol consumption.”
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A Texas school district announced in early August that it would remove or suspend nine books from its secondary school book club readings lists. This comes as part of a months-long process in which the Leander Independent School District, near Austin, has removed or threatened to remove a number of books including titles from Jacqueline Woodson, Margaret Atwood, and Carmen Maria Machado, among others. The removals come in response to a campaign from some local community members against books they say are “inappropriate” for children. Many of the removed or suspended books address difficult but important issues related to race or gender, including racial discrimination, LGBTQ+ relationships, mental health, and sexual assault and violence.
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Tom Huddleston Jr. writes: “One morning in December 2004, four men in gray wigs and fake beards embarked on a daring heist. Their target: several volumes of some of the world’s rarest books, later valued at more than $5.7 million in total, located in the special collections library at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Almost two months later, police arrested the almost-perpetrators of a multimillion-dollar art heist—not hardened criminals, it turned out, but four local college students.”
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