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Jewish American Heritage Month
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Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American Poet
by Robert Pinsky
Autobiography: An alternatingly funny and poignant memoir from "our finest living example of [the American civic poet]" (New York Times). In late-1940s Long Branch, an historic but run-down Jersey Shore resort town, in a neighborhood of Italian, Black, and Jewish families, Robert Pinsky began his unlikely journey to becoming a poet. Descended from a bootlegger grandfather, an athletic father, and a rebellious tomboy mother, Pinsky was an unruly but articulate high-school C-student whose obsession with the rhythms and melodies of speech inspired him to write. Pinsky traces the roots of his poetry, with its wide and fearless range, back to the voices of his neighborhood, to music and a distinctly American tradition of improvisation, with influences including Mark Twain and Ray Charles, Marianne Moore and Mel Brooks, Emily Dickinson and Sid Caesar, Dante Alighieri and the Orthodox Jewish liturgy. Jersey Breaks offers a candid self-portrait and, underlying Pinsky's notable public presence and unprecedented three terms as poet laureate of the United States, a unique poetic understanding of American culture.
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American Shoes: A Refugee's Story
by Rosemarie Lengsfeld Turke
Young Adult Fiction: Told for the first time after seven decades of a family's collective silence, this story follows a brave and spirited young girl named Rose who escaped from Nazi Germany to forge ahead in an America she left as a small child.
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All-Of-A-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor
Juvenile Fiction: The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century.
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Nothing Could Stop Her: The Courageous Life of Ruth Gruber
by Rona Arato
Juvenile Biography: This biography of a renowned journalist and activist, whose 70-year career led her to places other reporters wouldn't or couldn't go, from Nazi Germany to the remote Arctic regions of the Soviet Union, shows how she fought for peoples' rights to live in safety and freedom.
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The Keeper of Stories
by Caroline Kusin Pritchard
Easy Non-fiction: A fire at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary library in 1966 destroyed thousands of books, but a neighborhood came together to save the stories within, in an uplifting true story of community and the essential role libraries and books play.
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Jalapeño Bagels
by Natasha Wing
Picture Book: While trying to decide what to take for his school's International Day, Pablo helps his Mexican mother and Jewish father at their bakery and discovers a food that represents both his parents' backgrounds.
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Mental Health & Wellness Month
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Never Been Better: A Novel
by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
Fiction: A year after discharge from the psych ward, Dee arrives in Turks and Caicos to attend her best friends' Matt and Misa's wedding, and to confess feelings for Matt, but disrupting their nuptials would jeopardize the entire support system that holds the trio together, forcing her to choose between love and recovery.
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Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories that Smash Mental Health Stereotypes
by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
Young Adult Fiction: Channeling their own experiences, sixteen exceptional authors subvert mental health stereotypes in a powerful and uplifting collection of fiction. A teen activist wrestles with protest-related anxiety and PTSD. A socially anxious vampire learns he has to save his town by (gulp) working with people. As part of her teshuvah, a girl writes letters to the ex-boyfriend she still loves, revealing that her struggle with angry outbursts is related to PMDD. A boy sheds uncontrollable tears but finds that in doing so he's helping to enable another's healing. In this inspiring, unflinching, and hope-filled mixed-genre collection, sixteen diverse and notable authors draw on their own lived experiences with mental health conditions to create stunning works of fiction that will uplift and empower you, break your heart and stitch it back together stronger than before. Through powerful prose, verse, and graphics, the characters in this anthology defy stereotypes as they remind readers that living with a mental health condition doesn't mean that you're defined by it. Each story is followed by a note from its author to the reader, and comprehensive back matter includes bios for the contributors as well as a collection of relevant resources.
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A Kids Book About Mental Health
by Dr. Lingras, Katie
Juvenile Nonfiction: This is a kids' book about mental health. Did you know it's something we all have? It's true! A person's mental health simply means how they understand their own thoughts, feelings, actions and interactions with others. This book was made to help kids identify and understand their own mental health. It teaches them that sometimes our mental health is positive, and other times it's not. Learning that we all have mental health reminds us that we aren't alone.
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Instafamous
by Erika J. Kendrick
Juvenile Fiction: Lyric Whitney Houston Darby has always wanted to be famous, just like her superstar mom, so when the hottest music-competition TV show announces auditions in town, it's her chance to compete, in a witty story that speaks to the importance of friendship and family.
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The Worry Balloon
by Mâonica Mancillas
Picture Book: On the first day of school, Isla's mind plays the what if game. Scary thoughts come, the world goes dark, and everything feels stormy. With Mami at her side, Isla takes a deep breath and blows her worries away in a big balloon. But as school gets closer, Isla's worries come back like a tornado.
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You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!)
by Taraji P. Henson
Picture Book:From award-winning actress and mental-health advocate Taraji P. Henson, You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) shows kids the great things that can happen when we approach others and ourselves with empathy, patience, and love. In this debut picture book from Taraji P. Henson, quirky, stylish and a bit off-the-cuff Lil TJ is ready for her first day of school. But when she gets there, TJ finds that everything she does is a little different than everyone else and she's standing out in all the wrong ways. Once TJ's classmate Beau notices, he relentlessly teases her. TJ is filled with anxiety and doubt until she recalls some important words of wisdom from her Grandma Patsy. When she looks inside to her own creativity and personality, she figures out how to help herself make new friends! and helps someone else too! You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) is the perfect read for: Easing back-to-school jitters and setting a course for the new school year; Helping children ages 4-8 to overcome anxieties and embrace what makes them unique; Classroom and library story time, as well as bedtime reading; Promoting mental wellness and learning socialization skills, embracing the importance of standing in their own uniqueness, and promoting friendship over bullying. Includes author's note with references for parents and teachers. Taraji P. Henson is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe winning actress, writer, and producer. She started the Boris Lawrence Henson foundation in 2018, which promotes mental health awareness and provides resources and services aimed at tackling the mental health crisis.
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Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI) |
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Connie: A Memoir
by Connie Chung
Autobiography: In this witty and definitive memoir, the trailblazing journalist recounts her groundbreaking career as the first Asian woman in U.S. television news, detailing her experiences with sexism, her major stories and her behind-the-scenes challenges and triumphs.
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You Know What You Did: A Novel
by K. T. Nguyen
Fiction: When her mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly, Annie Shaw finds her OCD coming back with a vengeance, and when the investigation zeroes in on her, her mind increasingly fractures and the only thing she knows is this: she will do anything to protect her daughter even if it means losing herself.
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Maya in Multicolor
by Swati Teerdhala
Young Adult Fiction: After realizing her freshman boyfriend is wasting her time and refuses to put a label on their relationship, college freshman Maya decides to reclaim her life but does not have a lot of confidence in romance, so she is not thrilled that her co-planner on the Holi planning committee is the heartthrob Nishanti Rai, especially since their visions (and personalities) do not match.
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Kill Her Twice
by Stacey Lee
Young Adult Fiction: In 1932 Los Angeles, when the Chow sisters stumble upon the body of Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, they set out to solve their friend's murder, putting them in the crosshairs of a killer.
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Kaho'olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People
by Kamalani Hurley
Juvenile Nonfiction: Discover the story of the smallest Hawaiian island, a place sacred to Native Hawaiians, from its formation long ago to its present-day restoration as a protected site. A remarkable narrative accompanied by stunning illustrations.
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Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All
by Maia Shibutani
Easy Nonfiction: Profiling 36 inspirational Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Olympic medalist siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani introduce readers to the important figures who have shaped life-altering policy, made indelible marks on pop culture and achieved their greatest dreams.
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We Who Produce Pearls
by Joanna Ho
Picture Books: This uplifting anthem for Asian America celebrates the richness and diversity within the Asian American identity and serves as a reminder of their self-worth, their legacy and, most of all, their destiny, reminding readers to rise up, speak out and step into power.
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Library Programs of InterestFor a full listing of our programs this month see our Events Page.
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Mercer County Library System
2751 Brunswick Pike Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 609-882-9246
https://mcl.org
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