Brightwood Library in Springfield offering up 20 books for youngsters to read during Hispanic Heritage Month (Masslive)

Connecting with culture can be done through food and music and family traditions, but it can also be done through literature.

SPRINGFIELD — Connecting with culture can be done through food and music and family traditions, but it can also be done through literature.

For many Latino children and teens who grew up in the United States it can be difficult to connect with their ancestors, especially when knowledge of the language is lost or has become Spanglish, a combination of both English and Spanish words.

Springfield’s Brightwood Library head librarian Haydee Hodis and reference librarian Gregg Mitchell have offered up some books for children and teens and adults who are young at heart to explore Latin American culture during Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated in the U.S. from Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

While the books are mainly in English many are bilingual for those interested in practicing or learning new Spanish words.

Read more and see the list at Masslive.com!

 

Increasing Community Internet Access: Introducing Hotspots

The Library will circulate internet hotspots for those in the community that do not have internet access at home.

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. – May 5TH, 2021 – With the doors still being closed to the public, the Springfield City Library is determined to continue its efforts in maintaining and increasing access to Springfield residents. The Library will start circulating hotspots, effective immediately, for those in the community that do not have internet access at home.

CLICK TO SEE HOTSPOT AVAILABILITY IN THE CATALOG.

The borrowing program will begin slowly, with just six hotspots available at the Central Library, Mason Square and Forest Park Branches. The hotspots are available through curbside pick-up or during open hours.

Any Springfield City Library cardholder can check one out with their library card after signing a borrower’s agreement; patrons under the age of 18 will need a guardian to sign. The hotspots can circulate for 14 days, fine-free, but will stop working after the designated timeframe and must be returned to the location it was originally borrowed from.

The hotspots will come with instructions and library staff will be available to offer troubleshooting tips. Each hotspot supports up to 16 devices.

The Library is very excited to begin offering these hotspots and knows how important they can be. Tom O’Connell, Manager of Tech Services and Collection Development says, “We look around us and, seemingly, everyone already has access to the Internet – and all of the resources that come with it. But it is important to remember that – what most of us take for granted – many in our community still lack. These easy to use devices allow us to provide online access for patrons who would otherwise miss out on utilizing these resources – whether it is to do homework, or apply for a job, or look up a recipe; putting all of this information in their hands is the goal.”

The Springfield City library hopes that a positive response to these devices will lead to an acquisition of many more for each of the branches. Call your neighborhood branch to request a hotspot or dial 413-263-6828, ext. 218.

Founded in 1857, the Springfield City Library provides over 800,000 free print, physical, and digital resources for public enrichment. To learn more, visit www.springfieldlibrary.org

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Welcome To Your Library Videos

Watch these fun short videos about each of our 9 locations!

Central Library

Brightwood Branch Library

East Forest Park Branch Library

East Springfield Branch Library

Forest Park Branch Library

Indian Orchard Branch Library

Library Express at Pine Point

Mason Square Branch Library

Sixteen Acres Branch Library

Books About Anti-Racism and Marginalized Voices

A selection of books and audiobooks on anti-racism and marginalized voices from the Springfield City Library.

This is a list of anti-racism books held at the Springfield City Library as of June 27, 2020, with links to our catalog.

Those books available as electronic items (eBooks and eAudiobooks) in Hoopla have links as well.

We also have an extensive curated collection of electronic items (eBooks and eAudiobooks) available on Overdrive and through the Libby app.


Here are some top choices, alphabetical by author, with a more extensive list below.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2011) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

El color de la justicia: la nueva segregación racial en Estados Unidos por Michelle Alexander (2017) (también en Hoopla como audiolibro electrónico)

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963)

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DeAngelo (2018)

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)

Policing Black Bodies: How Black Lives Are Surveilled and How to Work for Change by Angela Hattery and Earl Smith (2018)

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall (2020)

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (2019)

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (2016) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele (2018) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (1984) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris (2018) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (2018) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds (2020)

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad (2020) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward, editor (2016)

Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence by Chad Louis Williams, Kidada E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blain (2016)

 


 

Black Lotus: A Woman’s Search for Racial Identity by Sil Lai Abrams (2016)

Cuz: Or, the Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle S. Allen (2017)

We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden (2018)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua (1987)

Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin (2019) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

Malaya: Essays on Freedom by Cinelle Barnes (2019)

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett and Dave Zirin (2018) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

Black is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard (2019)

A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali N. Gross (2020)

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (2008)

Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination by Herb Boyd (2017)

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics by Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, Minyon Moore, and Veronica Chambers (2018) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown (2018)

The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me by Keah Brown (2019)

The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism by Howard Bryant (2018)

Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women by Susan Burton and Cari Lynn (2017) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler (2017) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

This Stops Today: Eric Garner’s Mother Seeks Justice After Losing Her Son by Gwen Carr and Dave Smitherman (2018) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene A. Carruthers (2018)

We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang (2016)

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2017)

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney C. Cooper (2018) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education by Jennine Capo Crucet (2019)

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom, Tressie McMillan (2019) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir by Jason Timbuktu Diakite (2020)

Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Diaz (2019) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker (2016) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson (2016) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson (2017)

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt (2019)

How to Make White People Laugh by Negin Farsad (2016)

How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide by Crystal M. Fleming (2018)

Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin (2017)

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2019)

Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay (2014) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay (2017) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Inherently Unequal: The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1865-1903 by Lawrence Goldstone (2011)

On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone (2020) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership by Ed Gordon (2020)

In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero and Michelle Burford (2016)

En el país que amamos: mi familia dividida por Diane Guerrero y Michelle Burford (2016)

The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell it Like It Is by Fannie Lou Hamer (2011)

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry (2011) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes 2017

A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir by Daisy Hernandez (2017)

Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (2020) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland by DaMaris B. Hill (2019)

Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill (2016) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin (2018)

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (2020)

The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris (2018)

Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream [graphic novel] written by Blair Imani and illustrated by Rachelle Baker (2020)

Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving (2014) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape our Multiracial Future by Deepa Iyer (2015) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family by Mitchell S. Jackson (2019)

This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins (2018) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets by Feminista Jones (2019)

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones (2019)

Talking About Race: A Workbook About White People Fostering Racial Equality in Their Lives by Kaolin (2010)

Black Indians: A Heritage by William Loren Katz (2012) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Whiter: Asian American Women on Skin Color and Colorism by Nikki Khanna (2020)

Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time by James William Kilgore (2015) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (2018)

The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee (2015)

My Sister: How One Sibling’s Transition Changed Us Both by Selenis Leyva, Marizol Leyva, and Emily Chammah (2020)

The Turtle’s Beating Heart: One Family’s Story of Lenape Survival by Denise Low (2017)

The War on Neighborhoods: Policing, Prison, and Punishment in a Divided City by Ryan Lugalia-Hollon and Daniel Cooper (2018)

Real American: a Memoir by Julie Lythcott-Haims (2017) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire (2010)

Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown by Lezley McSpadden and Lyah Beth LeFlore (2016) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem (2017)

My Brown Baby: On the Joys and Challenges of Raising African American Children by Denene Millner (2017)

Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me by Janet Mock (2017)

Latinas and Latinos on TV: Colorblind Comedy in the Post-racial Network Era by Isabel Molina-Guzman (2018)

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (2011)

Brown, White, Black: An American Family at the Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion by Mehra Nishta (2019) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (1995)

Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)

An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz (2018)

Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry (2019)

Excessive Use of Force: A Mother’s Continuing Fight Against Police Misconduct by Loretta P. Prater (2018)

Invisible No More: Police Violence against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie (2017)

You Can’t Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson (2016)

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (2017)

Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City by A.K. Sandoval-Strausz (2019)

Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America by Sharmila Sen (2018)

Toxic Inequality: How America’s Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, & Threatens Our Future by Thomas M. Shaprio (2017) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman, editors (2019)

Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith (2016)

All Eyes Are Upon Us: Race and Politics from Boston to Brooklyn by Jason Sokol (2014)

How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin (2019)

Handcuffed: What Holds Policing Back, and the Keys to Reform by Malcolm K. Sparrow (2016) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

To Protect and Serve: How to Fix America’s Police by Norm Stamper (2016)

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings (2019) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi (2017)

Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation by Beverly Daniel Tatum (2007)

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2019) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2017) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

Black Fathers: A Call for Healing by Kristin Clark Taylor (2003)

A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History by Jeanne Theoharis (2018)

We Matter: Athletes and Activism by Etan Thomas (2018) (also on Hoopla as eBook)

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby (2019) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer (2019)

Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life by David Treuer (2012) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

The Good the Bad and the Blue by M. Triplett and H. Triplett (2018)

Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy (2015)

America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (2016)

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward (2013)

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington (2006) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington (2019)

Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race – And Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us by Benjamin Watson (2015) (also on Hoopla as eBook and eAudiobook)

Well-read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves: An Anthology by Glory Edim, editor (2018)

The autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (1965)

Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes by George Yancy, Maria del Gaudalupe Davidson, and Susan Joan Hadley, editors (2016)

The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang (2018) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon Young (2019) (also on Hoopla as eAudiobook)

Statement on Racial Justice

Statement from the Library Director and the Springfield Library Commission on Racial Justice

June 5, 2020

On behalf of the Springfield Library Commission and the Library Administration, we are writing to share our personal sense of heartbreak and devastation at the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. And we join you and the Springfield Community in your grief and justified anger. As we witness repeated episodes of violence and killings perpetrated against our Black Community by rogue police officers, it is impossible not to experience a deep sense of outrage, disbelief and grief. We honor the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many others. We are reaching out to you to share the grief and anger that we know you also feel, but also to reaffirm our common resolve. Both as private citizens and as members of this great institution, we must all do what we can to ensure that we foster a culture of inclusion, equity, and respect for one another. We promise to keep our resolve and strengthen our combined efforts against systemic racism until we can all see that this time justice will prevail and endure. We need to look to each other for strength and hope, and recommit ourselves to our shared goals of making the world a better place for all, especially black and brown people. Now is the time for us to come together as we serve together. Our work has never been more critical. Our concern for each other has never been more important.

We saw a young woman at a recent protest holding a sign with a quote from Angela Davis. It reads, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept” This quote is a perfect nest of powerful words to reflect about George Floyd’s death and a call to justice. These words beg people and organizations to change this unacceptable and systemic racism.

The Springfield Library Commission cherishes the work that library staff perform to address literacy challenges, the digital divide, to provide a place where everyone can share ideas and gain knowledge. We believe the incredible mission of the Springfield City Library serves as a powerful force to counter many inequities including racism.

The Springfield City Library is proud to have signed the Urban Library Council’s Statement on Race and Social Equity through which we, along with 167 other Urban Libraries have steadfastly committed to:

  • Eliminating racial and social equity barriers in library programs, services, policies and practices.
  • Creating and maintaining an environment of diversity , inclusion and respect both in our library system and in all aspects of our community role.
  • Ensuring that we are reaching and engaging disenfranchised people in the community and helping them express their voice.
  • Serving as a convener and facilitator of conversations and partnerships to address community challenges.
  • Being forthright on tough issues that are important to our communities.

It is our collective responsibility to examine what we are doing now in light of our commitments that we signed onto, to reevaluate our services and internal culture and to constantly improve and stand with our communities of color.

In the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Sincerely,

Stephen Cary: Chair, Springfield Library Commission

Molly Fogarty: Library Director

Molly Fogarty, Director
Springfield City Library – All Yours, Just Ask
220 State St.
Springfield, MA 01103
413-263-6828 ext. 290
lfogarty@springfieldlibrary.org

Stephen Cary
scary@focusspringfield.com

Book List – YALSA 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens

The official titles of YALSA’s 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been announced. | Teens

YALSA Top Graphic Novels 2019

The official titles of YALSA’s 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been announced.

The list consists of 103 titles selected from 178 official nominations – view the full list here.

The YALSA blogging team chose the following titles as its top ten – click the title to put on hold and pick up at a library near you!

TOP  TEN

Bloom. By Kevin Panetta. Art by Savanna Ganucheau. A recent high school graduate, Ari, works in his family-owned bakery and plays in an indie band with 4 of his best friends in a small coastal town. When an accident occurs at the bakery, Ari has to rethink what he wants to do with his life and what will bring him happiness.

Cosmoknights: Book One. By Hanna Templer. Art by the author. Pan lives a very ordinary world on a planet called Verdian. She spends most of her time working in her father’s shop and hanging out with her friend, Tara, who is a princess. But when Tara’s life takes a very different turn, Pan gets a chance to bring down an archaic medieval-type jousting tradition.

I Was Their American Dream: a Graphic Memoir. By Malaka Gharib. Art by the author. Malaka tells her story of being Filipino, Egyptian and American growing up in Cerritos, California. She details her life of being the “perfect Filipino kid” during the year with her mom while also trying to navigate the customs of her father’s home in Egypt during the summer.

Kiss Number 8. By Colleen AF Venable. Art by Ellen T. Crenshaw. The first seven kisses 16-year-old Amanda has experienced were less than exceptional. But after finding out that her father, her ultimate best friend, is keeping a secret from her, and realizing she may have a crush on Cat, her best friend from her conservative Catholic school, everything in Amanda’s life starts to shift. Which leads to her 8th kiss—the one that changes everything.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. By Mariko Tamaki. Art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. Laura Dean has broken up with Freddy three times. Laura Dean keeps coming back and Freddy keeps taking her back despite Laura Dean’s blatant cheating. After visiting a medium, Freddy finds herself questioning whether or not Laura Dean can be monogamous and how she can get on with her life without Laura Dean.

The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom. By David F. Walker. Art by Damon Smyth, Marissa Louise. The story of Frederick Douglass from his birth into slavery to his celebration by dignitaries is brought to readers in this spectacular graphic novel.

Pumpkinheads. By Rainbow Rowell. Art by Faith Erin Hicks. On their final night of work at DeKnock’s Pumpkin Patch, high school seniors and “Patch” friends Josiah and Deja decide to make their final shift an adventurous one as they explore the park’s many sights and tasty treats in search of the Fudge Girl, Josiah’s long-time, unrequited crush.

Simon & Louise. By Max de Radiguès. Art by the author. The school year is over and it’s time for Louise to leave on her family vacation for two months, leaving boyfriend Simon on his own. Within a day, Louise has changed her Facebook status to “single” and Simon has no idea why. Louise tells him her Dad forbids the relationship, but Simon refuses to accept that and leaves home to hitchhike to the beach town to win Louise back.

They Called Us Enemy. By George Takei and Justin Eisinger. Art by Harmony Becker. Before he was Sulu on the starship Enterprise, boldly going where no one has gone before, actor George Takei was a little boy struggling to understand why his family was packing up and going to live in a horse stable. Readers see history in a clear, concise, compelling context and follow Takei on his journey from childhood ignorance to righteous teenage anger and finally to a life of dedicated activism.

Witch Hat Atelier. By Kamome Shirahama. Art by the author. Coco dreams of being a magician. In her world, the only way to learn magic is to already be a witch and Coco is not. One day a band of traveling witches comes to town, and Coco meets the enigmatic Qifrey. Her world is turned upside down when she accidentally performs a spell that traps her mother in stone. To rescue her, she must leave with Qifrey and become his magical apprentice in a land far from home.

Forest Park Branch: “Gun violence, equality: The raw concerns of Springfield’s youth” (WWLP)

Outside the Forest Park Library are dozens of lawn signs with the raw concerns of Springfield’s youth.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – They can’t vote yet, but Springfield’s youth has a good handle on what issues face their community and their country.

Outside the Forest Park Library are dozens of lawn signs that look like the ones you typically see during election season. If you look closer, however, you’ll see the raw concerns of Springfield’s youth: gun violence, racism, and sexual harassment.

The project was spearheaded by Forest Park Library’s supervisor Alex Remy and allowed Springfield middle and high schoolers to fill in what they wanted ‘Freedom From’ and ‘Freedom For.’ It was inspired by a similar project at Waltham Public Library.

Click through for article and picture gallery.

Springfield children clock over 500,000 summer reading minutes… so far

MassLive highlights Springfield kids’ summer reading totals so far – join our Summer Reading Club to contribute!

From the article at MassLive:

So far this summer, Springfield children have read 27,919 times at 20 minutes a session, amounting to 558,380 minutes of page-turning as part of the Springfield Reads to Build a Better World summer reading project. The results were announced at an assembly Tuesday at Central High School.

“We’re more than halfway there, and we have a few weeks left of the summer,” said Goren-Watts, a principal planner and manager of data, education and municipal technology at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. “We need you all to keep reading, tell all your friends to keep reading.”

Springfield Reads to Build a Better World started in 2017. It is made up of 13 summer reading programs throughout the city along with the city’s summer schools.