Earth Day Inspirations

 

Earth Day Inspirations

(Image courtesy of freepik.com)

There’s no better time than around Earth Day to think about the impact humans have made on the planet and set new goals toward repairing the damage.  Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator from Wisconsin, launched the first Earth Day in 1970 as a grassroots movement centered primarily on college campuses and the  movement has made noteworthy steps forward, spreading to become an internationally recognized observance.

While thinking about the consequences of human actions on the environment can seem overwhelming, the fact that Earth Day exists and that there was a bipartisan push to start it gives hope that we can unite again to make a difference.  Here are some inspiring reads about individuals and groups who are making a difference for the environment:

 

For teens/adults:

No One is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg

Our Only Home by the Dalai Lama

Climate Justice by Mary Robinson

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates

The Day the World Stops Shopping by JB MacKinnon

 

For kids:

One Earth by Eileen Spinelli

The Girl Who Heard the Music by Marni Fogelson

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade 

We are all Connected by Gabi Garcia

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer 

Thank You Earth by April Pulley Sayre

Climate Change: the Choice is Ours by David Miles

Our Planet: There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty

How we Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate by Lynne Cherry

Earth Day and the Environmental Movement by Christy Peterson

 

Kids Fiction:

Zonia's Rain Forest by Juana Martinez-Neal

Sydney and Simon: Go Green by Paul and Peter Reynolds

Willodeen by Christina Applegate (tweens)

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

 

Cultural Insights: Books featuring Middle Eastern and Muslim characters

 

Cultural Insights: Books featuring Middle Eastern and Muslim characters 

Are you looking to increase your cultural competency?  While weeding the collection last month, we were sad to notice that our books with Middle Eastern and/or Muslim characters have not been circulating very well and thought the advent of Eid-al-Fitr this week would be a good time to highlight them.  There are relatively few books published each year with Middle Eastern characters and still a lot of prejudice and bias against Arab Americans and Muslims that comes through in media portrayals.  How many positive portrayals of Middle Eastern characters do you see in the movies? (We’d truly like to know! Feel free to comment below.)

Some good basics to know:  What is Eid-al-Fitr? It is the Festival of Sweets, coming at the end of a month of fasting, reflection, and prayer for Ramadan and celebrated this week! (April 21-22, 2023)  Are all Arab Americans Muslim? No, surprisingly in the U.S., only 24% of Arab Americans are Muslim.

How many Arab Americans can you name?  Here are a few: actress Salma Hayek (Lebanese/Mexican); singer Paula Abdul; model Gigi Hadid; Today Show host Hoda Kotb; Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger; Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal; football star Doug Flutie; Mothers Against Drunk Driving founder Candy Lightner; Hollywood actor and producer Tony Shalhoub; and Jacques Nasser, former president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co.

If you’d like to read more stories from an Arab American or Muslim American perspective, here are a few to consider:

 

The lines we cross by Abdel-Fattah

                Michael’s parents take him to anti-immigration rallies, which he doesn’t think too hard about until a girl named Mina shows up in his classroom. Confident, funny, and razor-smart, Mina challenges the beliefs Michael has grown up with.

 

Internment by Samira Ahmed

                In a frightening near future, Islamophobia reaches a frenzy and Muslim-Americans are rounded up and sent to concentration camps for observation.  Layla, a teen girl, brainstorms ways to gather support outside the camps and leads a revolution.

 

All American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie

                Deep look into the life of a teen girl discovering her faith and recognizing the Islamophobia around her.

 

Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

                Maya is the only Muslim and Indian girl at her school, and while she’d like to go to NYC to study film, her overprotective parents would like her to study medicine closer to home.  After a terrorist attack in their state, following close on the heels of 9-11, Maya’s family is under close scrutiny with many in the community sure they are to blame.

 

Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami

                Autobiographical account of the journey of Morrocan immigrants as they become US citizens, using the experiences to explore rights, liberties, and protections that highlight the double standards and wrongs in our society.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist.

World Art Day/Week of the Young Child

 

Evansville is celebrating the Week of the Young Child this week and we think it is very fitting that World Art Day also falls on this week! (April 15)  Here are some of our upcoming events for this week:

Music Monday: Movers & Makers (Butterfly craft)

Wednesday: Storytime at 10am, First Chapter Book Club for grades 1-2 at 3:30 pm

Artsy Thursday: Potato Stamping at 10 am

Friday: Baby Storytime at 10 am, Family Fun Night, 5:30-7:30 pm at Levi Leonard Elementary Gym

 

Family Fun Night is a free event organized by AWARE and will have bouncy houses for the kids, arts & crafts, food, and games, with many community organizations participating. 

 

Looking for some artistic inspiration for World Art Day?  Here are a few “how to“ art books from our collection:

 

Children’s Art Books:

                Draw Silly Superheroes, Call #:  J743.4 Colins

                Usborne Art Ideas: Big Book of Things to Draw, Call #: J741.2 Watt

                Usborne Book of Art Ideas, Call #: J745.7 Watt

               

               

Teen Art Books:

                Drawing and Painting Fantasy Worlds, Call #: YA 743.87 Cowan

                Sketching Manga-Style, Call #: YA 741.5952 Hayashi

                Manhwa Mania, Call #: YA 741.5 Hart

               

Adult Art Books:

                Watercolor is for Everyone, Call #: 751.422 Ewing

                Seeing the Light, An Artist’s Guide, Call #: 751.4 Carr

We also wanted to mention Creative Bug, a resource the library subscribes to! From courses on painting to clay, crochet, sewing, candle-making, and jewelry design, it offers step by step videos on all the creative topics you can imagine.  To access, click on CreativeBug under "Online Tools-Classes" from the Eager Free Library's website: https://www.als.lib.wi.us/EFPL/online-tools/  (Requires your library card number to verify you are a library patron.)  Have fun creating!

National Library Week/National Poetry Month

 

It’s National Library Week (April 23-29) during National Poetry Month (April) so we’re hoping for some poetic submissions on our “I love libraries because” hearts.  Pick up a paper heart in the library and show us some love!

We have 3 poetry activities this month if you’d like to be well versed… (it would be poetic justice if National Pun Day were in April, too, but we’re a month early for that one, sadly.) April 1^st was our first poetry share, and we’d love to hear more of the poems you’ve written on Saturday, April 29 at 10 am. We’ll also have a “Pancakes for Poetry” event for teens on Wednesday, April 5 at 3:30 pm at the Teen Advisory meeting.  Read any poem, get a pancake!  We hope to see you soon at the library!