Alabama Library List


Book Description




Poor Little Mixed Girl


Book Description

Based on a true life story: As if growing up in the hood wasn’t hard enough, as a biracial half White, half Black girl, LaMonica Powers has to also navigate finding her identity (whatever that means). She’s not accepted in the suburban White schools her mama carts her off to and she’s not fully accepted by the Black community either. Add in a heaping of undiagnosed ADHD, a cup of discipline dealt out “southern style,” throw in some seeds of God given talent and intellect - and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a pretty, hot, ghetto surprise. It would be a miracle if she didn’t fall prey to the statistical forces pulling at her from all sides. This coming of age tale is a cross between “A Hero Ain’t Nothin' But A Sandwich” and “A Child Called It.” If you love banned books then you’ll love this! Trigger warnings: Racial overtones acted out through politically incorrect speech, alcohol abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, rape, and very mild profanity. Praise For Poor Little Mixed Girl VERY GOOD READ! ANTICIPATION WITH EVERY PAGE, FELT AS IF I WERE THERE...CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT BOOK WHEN IT'S RELEASED. ~BILLIE SHEFFIELD SO ENLIGHTENING ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF THIS BOOK! VERY ENLIGHTENING ON SO MANY LEVELS! THIS BOOK GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO WALK IN LA MONICA'S SHOES FOR A WHILE AND I FEEL I AM BETTER OFF BECAUSE OF IT. I THINK THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST READ FOR EVERYBODY! LET'S KNOW BETTER SO WE CAN DO BETTER WITH OUR KIDS. GOD BLESS AND PROTECT ALL THE LA MONICA'S AND LORD OPEN OUR EYE'S TO SEE THEM AND HELP THEM. IN JESUS NAME! ~JENNIFER JO DANKERT WOW! AUTHOR LAMONIQUE MAC’S NEW MEMOIR IS SO REAL, SO COURAGEOUS, SO INSIGHTFUL, HER VOICE LITERALLY BECOMES THE READER’S INTERNAL VOICE AS PAGES ARE TURNED. THE READER IS LEFT WITH THE FEELING THIS IS THE REAL STUFF. HER REAL LIFE AS SHE HAS EXPERIENCED IT. LIFE AS AN ADOPTED CRACK BABY. A MUST FOR ANY WORKING WITH DISENFRANCHISED CHILDREN AND YOUTH. ~CAROL BRECKINRIDGE SUCH AN AMAZING STORY. YOU SEE MIXED RACES QUITE FREQUENTLY NOWADAYS, BUT DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE FOR THEM? THIS BOOK GIVES YOU INSIGHT ON HOW A BEAUTIFUL CHILD WAS TREATED FOR SOMETHING SHE HAD NO CONTROL OF.. HER RACE. THE AUTHOR GAVE GREAT DETAIL ABOUT HER LIFE AND IT'S SO EMOTIONAL YOU CAN’T HELP BUT TO FEEL COMPASSION. GREAT BOOK AND I CAN’T WAIT TO READ TO PART 2! ~SUELYNN VARGAS Excerpt from Poor Little Mixed Girl – Chapter 5. The Babysitter “Hey young man, is your name Randall?” “Yes ma’am.” “Well, I’m Ms. Demona. I’m helping Mrs. Powers out with LaMonica.” “Oh yes. I’m friends with LaMonica.” “Yes. That’s what I’m here to talk to you about. LaMonica doesn’t need any friends at this time. Especially not any friends that are boys. I’m working with Mrs. Powers to help get LaMonica under control. She comes from a rough background.“ “A rough background?” Randall asked. “Yes. She actually was one of those drug babies.” THE MIXED GIRL SERIES READING ORDER: Book 1: Poor Little Mixed Girl Book 2: Mixed Out (releasing April 7th 2021 & available for preorder) Book 3: Snakes in The Mix (releasing July 4th 2021 & available for preorder)




The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A heartwarming novel about secrets of youth rediscovered, hometown memories, and the magical moments in ordinary lives, from the beloved author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe “A gift, a blessing and a triumph . . . celebrates the bonds of family and friends—and the possibilities of recovery and renewal.”—The Free Lance–Star Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town’s popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. And as Bud often said of his childhood to his daughter Ruthie, “How lucky can you get?” But sadly, as the railroad yards shut down and Whistle Stop became a ghost town, nothing was left but boarded-up buildings and memories of a happier time. Then one day, Bud decides to take one last trip, just to see what has become of his beloved Whistle Stop. In so doing, he discovers new friends, as well as surprises about Idgie’s life, about Ninny Threadgoode and other beloved Fannie Flagg characters, and about the town itself. He also sets off a series of events, both touching and inspiring, which change his life and the lives of his daughter and many others. Could these events all be just coincidences? Or something else? And can you really go home again?




Honeysmoke


Book Description

A young biracial girl looks around her world for her color. She finally chooses her own, and creates a new word for herself—honeysmoke. Simone wants a color. She asks Mama, “Am I black or white?” “Boo,” Mama says, just like mamas do, “a color is just a word.” She asks Daddy, “Am I black or white?” “Well,” Daddy says, just like daddies do, “you’re a little bit of both.” For multiracial children, and all children everywhere, this picture book offers a universal message that empowers young people to create their own self-identity. Simone knows her color—she is honeysmoke. An Imprint Book "This will appeal to so many biracial kids looking for a way to embrace every part of themselves." —NBCNews.com "A terrific addition to the WeNeedDiverseBooks canon, where it joins such books as Selina Alko's I’m Your Peanut Butter Big Brother and Taye Diggs' Mixed Me!." —Booklist




The Freedom to Read


Book Description




The Library Book


Book Description

Susan Orlean’s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post). On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. “A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.




The Geometry of Hand-Sewing


Book Description

This sewing guide reveals a breakthrough method to simplify learning stitches of all kinds, with more than 100 stitches from the simple to the fanciful. As makers, we tend to learn different stitches over time without thinking much about how they relate to one another. But when Natalie Chanin and her teams at Alabama Chanin and The School of Making began to look at needlework closely, they realized all stitches are based on geometric grid systems. They also discovered that learning new stitches—even elaborate ones—became simple and easy when using grids as guides. In The Geometry of Hand-Sewing Chanin presents their breakthrough method, featuring illustrated instructions (for both right- and left-handed stitchers) for more than 100 stitches—from the basic straight and chain to complex feather and herringbone. Photos of both right and wrong sides are included, as well as guidelines for modifying stitches to increase one’s repertoire further. The book also offers downloads for two stitching cards with the grids on which every stitch in the book is based. These printable cards can be used as stencils for transferring grids to fabric.




Notes from the Commonplace Book of a Legal Antiquarian


Book Description

In the tradition of commonplacing, the recording of extracts from favorite texts, the author has selected sixteen pieces of poetry, prose and legal ephemera for the enjoyment of his friends-and he considers anyone who reads this volume a friend. xii, 38 pp.




A Very Special Easter


Book Description

Features baby animals spending time together and engaging in Easter activities with loved ones on a spring day.




Gone Crazy in Alabama


Book Description

The Coretta Scott King Award–winning Gone Crazy in Alabama by Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother Big Ma and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles’s half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven’t spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that’s been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible. Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books, as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time. Readers who enjoy Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming will find much to love in this book. Rita Williams-Garcia's books about Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern can also be read alongside nonfiction explorations of American history such as Jason Reynolds's and Ibram X. Kendi's books. Each humorous, unforgettable story in this trilogy follows the sisters as they grow up during one of the most tumultuous eras in recent American history, the 1960s. Read the adventures of eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, as they visit their kin all over the rapidly changing nation—and as they discover that the bonds of family, and their own strength, run deeper than they ever knew possible. “The Gaither sisters are an irresistible trio. Williams-Garcia excels at conveying defining moments of American society from their point of view.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) Coretta Scott King Award winner * ALA Notable Book * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year * ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice * Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * Washington Post Best Books of the Year * The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book * Three starred reviews * CCBC Choice * New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing * Amazon Best Book of the Year