Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story by Natalie Haynes

“Why would anyone love a monster?’ asked Perseus.
‘Who are you to decide who is worthy of love?’ said Hermes.
‘I mean, I wasn’t…’
‘And who are you to decide who is a monster?’ added the messenger god.”
― Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story

Greek mythology has been a love of mine for decades. Medusa is one of my favorites, as she is misunderstood and usually only seen as a gruesome monster. My latest read is all about Medusa and other feared women. Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story by Natalie Haynes is full of snarky, sarcastic women and goddesses tired of putting up with anyone’s crap. This was a gorgeous retelling of a classic mythical tale.

Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. She is also the only mortal in a family of gods. Unlike her two older Gorgon sisters, Medusa feels pain, grows older, and, confusingly for her family, needs to eat and sleep. Being a mortal, Medusa’s lifespan is also significantly shorter than her sisters. Medusa knows she will die, just not when.

Athene is angry. The sea god Poseidon, her uncle, has assaulted Medusa in Athene’s own temple. She is absolutely furious that her sacred space has been violated. Needing to take out revenge, Athene decides to punish Medusa. Waking from what she thinks is a dream, Medusa is forever transformed into the monstrous creature that is remembered by all throughout history. A writhing mass of snakes has replaced her hair. Medusa’s gaze also holds the power to turn any living creature to stone. Terrified of her new power and scared she will accidentally destroy her sisters with one look, Medusa binds her eyes, winds her way deep into the caves, and decides to spend the rest of her days in solitude with only her snakes for company.

The Gorgons’ lives are forever changed when Perseus agrees to fetch the head of a Gorgon to save his mother from forced marriage to a king. His decision to do so without understanding the consequences means that Perseus has to call upon the help of his father Zeus and other gods, goddesses, and creatures to complete his task. He bumbles his way to the Gorgons, wreaking havoc along the way and forever changing the lives of people he has never met.

Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story is the story of women tired of being used. It tells the story of Medusa, bringing emotion, nuance, sarcasm, wit, and empathy into the devastating life of a mortal woman turned into a monster by a god’s actions. Medusa is blamed, punished, and turned into a monster because of an act that was done to her by a powerful man. She was the victim, yet most retellings of her life only show the monster. I enjoyed Haynes’ retelling as it gives the story of Medusa a modern feminist twist.

 

April’s Simply Held Nonfiction Picks

Have you joined Simply Held? If not, you’re missing out! Ten different nonfiction titles are chosen four times a year by our librarians and automatically placed on hold for you. Those selections come from the following categories: biography, body mind spirit, cookbook, explore your world, poetry, self-help, social justice, strength through struggle, theologies, and true crime. Join Simply Held to have any of the new nonfiction picks automatically put on hold for you four times a year.

Biography pick

Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

A nuanced portrait of the first acting woman president, written with fresh and cinematic verve by a leading historian on women’s suffrage and power

While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president—and though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. She climbed her way out of Appalachian poverty and into the highest echelons of American power and in 1919 effectively acted as the first woman president of the U.S. (before women could even vote nationwide) when her husband, Woodrow Wilson, was incapacitated. Beautiful, brilliant, charismatic, catty, and calculating, she was a complicated figure whose personal quest for influence reshaped the position of First Lady into one of political prominence forever. And still nobody truly understands who she was.

For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history. She was a shape-shifter who was obsessed with crafting her own reputation, at once deeply invested in exercising her own power while also opposing women’s suffrage. With narrative verve and fresh eyes, Untold Power is a richly overdue examination of one of American history’s most influential, complicated women as well as the surprising and often absurd realities of American politics.

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Body, Mind, Spirit pick

After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Live and Beyond by Bruce Greyson, MD

The world’s leading expert on near-death experiences reveals his journey toward rethinking the nature of death, life, and the continuity of consciousness.

Cases of remarkable experiences on the threshold of death have been reported since ancient times, and are described today by 10% of people whose hearts stop. The medical world has generally ignored these “near-death experiences,” dismissing them as “tricks of the brain” or wishful thinking. But after his patients started describing events that he could not just sweep under the rug, Dr. Bruce Greyson began to investigate.

As a physician without a religious belief system, he approached near-death experiences from a scientific perspective. In After, he shares the transformative lessons he has learned over four decades of research. Our culture has tended to view dying as the end of our consciousness, the end of our existence—a dreaded prospect that for many people evokes fear and anxiety.

But Dr. Greyson shows how scientific revelations about the dying process can support an alternative theory. Dying could be the threshold between one form of consciousness and another, not an ending but a transition. This new perspective on the nature of death can transform the fear of dying that pervades our culture into a healthy view of it as one more milestone in the course of our lives. After challenges us to open our minds to these experiences and to what they can teach us, and in so doing, expand our understanding of consciousness and of what it means to be human.

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Cookbook Pick

6 Spices 60 Dishes: Indian Recipes that are simple, fresh, and big on taste by Ruta Kahate; photographs by Ghazalle Badiozamani

A collection of 60 Indian recipes that are fresh and healthy, easy to prepare, and full of flavor.

Using just six spices—cayenne, coriander, cumin, turmeric, mustard seed, and asafetida—chef Ruta Kahate presents 60 delicious recipes that are easy to prepare and deliver rich, complex flavor. These dishes—including tons of nourishing veggies, raitas, grains, and dals—are fresh, healthy, and versatile enough to mix and match, plus they feature Instant Pot variations for maximum ease.

Serve up a quick lunch of Mustard Shrimp alongside a cool lettuce and citrus salad. Short on time after a busy day? Instant Pot your supper with a comforting Coconut Beef Stew. Prep a double batch of Parsi-Style Rajma on Sunday and enjoy it throughout the week—the flavors only get better over time.

With stories from Ruta Kahate’s culinary life around the world, plus vibrant, colorful photography that reflects the lively recipes within, 6 SPICES, 60 DISHES is a must-have for anyone who wants super-tasty, healthy meals that come together in a flash.

EXPERT AUTHOR: Ruta Kahate was a teaching cook for many years in the Bay Area before moving to Goa. She is adept at explaining step-process cooking to amateur home cooks, and her recipes are clearly written and well tested, coming out perfect every time.

AUTHENTIC RECIPES: Ruta Kahate was born and raised in India, and has since lived in California, Hong Kong, Goa, and Wisconsin. Her food is authentic and healthy, drawing on the Ayurvedic principles she lives by and her experience living in India and abroad.

Perfect for:

Home cooks of all levels
Anyone looking to expand their weeknight cooking repertoire
Busy people who need easy recipes but still want them to taste good
People who love Indian food
People who bought books like INDIANISH, MADE IN INDIA, and 5 SPICES, 50 DISHES

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Explore Your World pick

Looking Up: The True Adventures of a Storm-Chasing Weather Nerd by Matthew Cappucci

An energetic and electrifying narrative about all things weather—by one of today’s rising meteorological stars.

Get in—we’re going storm-chasing!

Imagine a very cool weather nerd has just pulled up to you and yelled this out the window of his custom-built armored storm-chasing truck. The wind is whipping around, he’s munching on Wawa, it’s all very chaotic—yet as you look into his grinning face, you feel the greatest surge of adrenaline you have ever felt in your life. Hallelujah: your cavalry is here!

Welcome to the brilliance of Looking Up, the lively new book from rising meterology star Matthew Cappucci. He’s a meteorologist for The Washington Post, and you might think of him as Doogie Howser meets Bill Paxton from Twister, with a dash of Leonardo DiCaprio from Catch Me If You Can. A self-proclaimed weather nerd, at the age of fourteen he talked his way into delivering a presentation on waterspouts at the American Meteorological Society’s annual broadcast conference by fudging his age on the application and created his own major on weather science while an undergrad at Harvard.

Combining reportage and accessible science with personal storytelling and infectious enthusiasm, Looking Up is a riveting ride through the state of our weather and a touching story about parents and mentors helping a budding scientist achieve his improbable dreams. Throughout, readers get a tutorial on the basics of weather science and the impact of the climate.

As our country’s leaders sound the alarm on climate change, few people have as close a view to how serious the situation actually is than those whose job is to follow the weather, which is the daily dose of climate we interact with and experience every day.

The weather affects every aspect of our lives (even our art) as well as our future. The way we think about it requires a whole-life overhaul. Rain or shine, tropical storm or twister, Cappucci is here to help us begin the process.

So get in his storm-chasing truck already, will ya?

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Poetry pick

Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds, artwork by Jason Griffin

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin, had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.

This title is available in the following formats:

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Self-Help pick

The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger, MD and Marc Shulz, PhD

What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.

What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.

The invaluable insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom is bolstered by research findings from this and many other studies. Relationships in all their forms—friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups—all contribute to a happier, healthier life. And as The Good Life shows us, it’s never too late to strengthen the relationships you have, and never too late to build new ones.

Dr. Waldinger’s TED Talk about the Harvard Study, “What Makes a Good Life,” has been viewed more than 42 million times and is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever. The Good Life has been praised by bestselling authors Jay Shetty (“Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz lead us on an empowering quest towards our greatest need: meaningful human connection”), Angela Duckworth (“In a crowded field of life advice and even life advice based on scientific research, Schulz and Waldinger stand apart”), and happiness expert Laurie Santos (“Waldinger and Schulz are world experts on the counterintuitive things that make life meaningful”).

With warmth, wisdom, and compelling life stories, The Good Life shows us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others.

This title is also available in the following format:

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Social Justice pick

A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for my Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till by Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr and Christopher Benson

In 1955, Emmett Till was lynched when he was fourteen years old. That remains an undisputed fact of the case that ignited a flame within the Civil Rights Movement that has yet to be extinguished. Yet the rest of the details surrounding the event remain distorted by time and too many tellings. What does justice mean in the resolution of a cold case spanning nearly seven decades? In A Few Days Full of Trouble, this question drives a new perspective on the story of Emmett Till, relayed by his cousin and best friend—the Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., a survivor of the night of terror when young Emmett was taken from his family’s rural Mississippi Delta home in the dead of night.

In a hypnotic interplay between uncovered facts and vivid recall, Rev. Parker offers an emotional and suspenseful page-turner, set against a backdrop of reporting errors and manipulations, racial reckoning, and political pushback—and he does so accompanied by never-before-seen findings in the investigation, the soft resurrection of memory, and the battle-tested courage of faith. A Few Days Full of Trouble is a powerful work of truth-telling, a gift to readers looking to reconcile the weight of the past with a hope for the future.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Strength Through Struggle pick

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

“There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself,” Hannah Gadsby declared in their show Nanette, a scorching critique of the way society conducts public debates about marginalized communities. When it premiered on Netflix, it left audiences captivated by their blistering honesty and their singular ability to take viewers from rolling laughter to devastated silence. Ten Steps to Nanette continues Gadsby’s tradition of confounding expectations and norms, properly introducing us to one of the most explosive, formative voices of our time.

Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in an isolated town in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997. They perceived their childhood as safe and “normal,” but as they gained an awareness of their burgeoning queerness, the outside world began to undermine the “vulnerably thin veneer” of their existence. After moving to mainland Australia and receiving a degree in art history, Gadsby found themselves adrift, working itinerant jobs and enduring years of isolation punctuated by homophobic and sexual violence. At age twenty-seven, without a home or the ability to imagine their own future, they were urged by a friend to enter a stand-up competition. They won, and so began their career in comedy.

Gadsby became well known for their self-deprecating, autobiographical humor that made them the butt of their own jokes. But in 2015, as Australia debated the legality of same-sex marriage, Gadsby started to question this mode of storytelling, beginning work on a show that would become “the most-talked-about, written-about, shared-about comedy act in years” (The New York Times).

Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, to their ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.

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Theologies pick

Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young with Brandi Larsen

Behind the tall, foreboding gates of a commune in Brazil, Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family, as the daughter of high-ranking members. Her great-grandmother donated land for one of The Family’s first communes in Texas. Her mother, at thirteen, was forced to marry the leader and served as his secretary for many years. Beholden to The Family’s strict rules, Daniella suffers physical, emotional, and sexual abuse—masked as godly discipline and divine love—and is forbidden from getting a traditional education.

At fifteen years old, fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself, Daniella escapes to Texas. There, she bravely enrolls herself in high school and excels, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military to begin a career as an intelligence officer, where she believes she will finally belong.

But she soon learns that her new world—surrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistan—looks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind.

Told in a beautiful, propulsive voice and with clear-eyed honesty, Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized, and is emblematic of the many ways women have to contort themselves to survive.

This title is also available in the following format:

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True Crime pick

Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University by Richard White

A premier historian penetrates the fog of corruption and cover-up still surrounding the murder of a Stanford University founder to establish who did it, how, and why.

In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband’s death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner’s jury, of strychnine poisoning. With her vast fortune the university’s lifeline, the Stanford president and his allies quickly sought to foreclose challenges to her bequests by constructing a story of death by natural causes. The cover-up gained traction in the murky labyrinths of power, wealth, and corruption of Gilded Age San Francisco. The murderer walked.

Deftly sifting the scattered evidence and conflicting stories of suspects and witnesses, Richard White gives us the first full account of Jane Stanford’s murder and its cover-up. Against a backdrop of the city’s machine politics, rogue policing, tong wars, and heated newspaper rivalries, White’s search for the murderer draws us into Jane Stanford’s imperious household and the academic enmities of the university. Although Stanford officials claimed that no one could have wanted to murder Jane, we meet several people who had the motives and the opportunity to do so. One of these, we discover, also had the means.

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Join Simply Held to have any of the new nonfiction picks automatically put on hold for you four times a year.

Bunny by Mona Awad

Mona Awad’s Bunny is cerebral, experimental, and on more than one occasion left me wondering “What in the world just happened?” 

The novel follows Samantha Mackey (or Smackie as her best friend Ava affectionately calls her) as she trudges through the last few semesters of her MFA program at a prestigious New England university. Fraught with writer’s block and an iceberg of unresolved trauma, Samantha hazily moves to and from workshop day after day where the only other creative peers she interacts with are the Bunnies–a Heathers-esque, culty group of women who make up the other four seats in Samantha’s cohort. 

The Bunnies–whom she distinguishes by nicknames Cupcake, Creepy Doll, Vignette, and The Duchess–invite Samantha to their private “Workshop,” which proves to be nothing short of a horrific brainstorming session come to life. 

Awad pokes fun at the self-indulgent creative process that often is evoked from intense writing programs such as the one in the novel, programs with which she herself is intimately familiar. Much of Bunny reads like a fever-dream: As Samantha’s grip on reality weakens, so does her reliability as the protagonist and narrator. The fun of this novel is in the constant guessing game of what is real and what is figment of her dissociated imagination. 

The overall plot of the novel would have been well served by a more purposeful exploration of Ava and her relationship with Samantha, as well as the hierarchy between the bunnies, which is apparent but never explained. While I was let down by some gaps in character development, the execution and overarching concept of Bunny is unique, engrossing, and wonderfully freaky.

April’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

It’s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Reminder that if you join Simply Held, these titles will automatically be put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling for her April pick.

Curious what Camp Zero is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

In a near-future northern settlement, the fates of a young woman, a professor, and a mysterious collective of researchers collide in this mesmerizing and transportive debut that “delivers its big ideas with suspense, endlessly surprising twists, and abundant heart” (Jessamine Chan, New York Times bestselling author).

In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is break­ing ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a chance to join the Blooms, a group hired to entertain the men in camp—but her real mission is to secretly monitor the mercurial architect in charge. In return, she’ll receive a home for her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother and herself.

Rose quickly secures the trust of her target, only to discover that everyone has a hidden agenda, and nothing is as it seems. Through skill­fully braided perspectives, including those of a young professor longing to escape his wealthy family and an all-woman military research unit struggling for survival at a climate station, the fate of Camp Zero’s inhabitants reaches a stunning crescendo.

Atmospheric, fiercely original, and utterly gripping, Camp Zero is an electrifying page-turner and a masterful exploration of who and what will survive in a warming world, and how falling in love and building community can be the most daring acts of all.

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Reese Witherspoon has selected Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld for her April pick.

Curious what Romantic Comedy is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

This title is also available in the following formats:

Join Simply Held to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

Do You Need To Update To OverDrive’s Libby App?

Still using the old OverDrive app?  The time is upon you to switch to the newer Libby app.

The old OverDrive app will become inactive at the end of April.  Downloading the Libby app takes just a few minutes.  There is no impact to your account.  The items that you have checked out and on hold will be there in the Libby app.

To use on a mobile device, you may need to update your Smartphone software.  Ensure your device is running at least:

  • Android 4.4+ (you’ll also need Chrome, not the stock Android web browser)
  • iOS 10+
  • Fire OS 4.5.4+

To download Libby to a Smartphone:

  • Go to your App Store.
  • Search for the words “Libby” and “OverDrive.”
  • Download the app.
  • Enter your App Store password to install the app on your device.
  • The app will ask you to associate your account with a library. Search for “Davenport” or “RiverShare.”  (Be careful.  Be certain to select Davenport, IOWA.)
  • Enter your library card number into the app.

After that, you should be good-to-go!

 

If you use a laptop or desktop to access OverDrive, you may still use OverDrive Read in your favorite browser.  OverDrive Read is compatible with:  Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.

 

The end of April is fast approaching.  Spend the time today to ensure you’ll be able to checkout in May!

 

Castor canadensis

Did you know that April 7th is International Beaver Day?  Yes, we have an entire day to celebrate the joy and wonder of the Castor canadensis, the North American beaver, and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber).

Beavers are known for many things.  For example, they transform their surroundings building dams to create pools of water.  These dams typically are 32 feet to 100 feet long, although one dam was measured to be over 2800 feet long.  These dams create ponds of water behind them.  And in these ponds beavers will often build a home called a lodge, with entrances below water, and a roof above water, creating a nice, homey, dry space on the inside.

Beavers originally populated the Quad-City area, and can still be seen today in our area.  One day last summer as I was walking on Sylvan Island I encountered a beaver running along the levee.  He was faster than I was, but I followed his path and found his lodge built in the river abutting the levee.  I looked and looked for any sign of him, but he was gone.  Probably, inside his lodge, I thought.  As I walked on I did notice the stumps of trees that he had created, pointing skyward.

Interested in learning more about beavers?  Then check out these titles:

Beavers:  radical rodents and ecosystem engineers / by Frances Backhouse.

Beavers / by Wil Mara.

Beavers / by Elizabeth O’Sullivan.

Awesome animal builders [videorecording] / National Geographic ; Robert Goldberg, producer and writer.

 Beavers / by Aaron Frisch.

 Here are some beaver fun facts to impress your friends with:

  • Beavers are the largest rodents in North America, averaging 40+ pounds.
  • Beavers are primarily nocturnal.
  • Beavers’ teeth are orange.
  • There are an estimated six million+ beavers in North America.
  • When they sense danger, beavers slap their tails on the water.
  • Beavers live about 10+ years in the wild.
  • Baby beavers are called kits.

Wishing you a happy International Beaver Day!

 

Enhanced Children’s Areas at Davenport Public Library

Please enjoy this guest blog by Jeff Collins, Library Director:

Even now, after her passing last summer at age 85, beloved children’s librarian Rochelle A. Murray is helping Davenport kids fall in love with reading.

“Miss Rochelle,” as she was known to generations of children, bequeathed to the Library a generous gift, which will help kids discover the fun of reading for many years to come.

Rochelle was a longtime children’s librarian, and although she had long since retired by the time I began my tenure as director, I have seen her touch throughout the Library and in the community. Now, her legacy will be indelibly marked, as Davenport Public Library embarks on an audacious $1.08 million-dollar private-donor funded project to bring vibrant new activities to the children’s areas at all three of our libraries: | Main | Fairmount | Eastern.

Davenport Public Library will add interactives, kiosks, wall panels, and more to our children’s areas in the coming year, helping kids to develop the early literacy skills so vital to their success in school and life. These vivid new spaces will allow children to engage in fun, multi-sensory activities that support early literacy and include letters and words, gears, magnetic pieces, song lyrics, varying textures, and other elements that are perfect for hands-on play. And of course, we will incorporate plenty of cozy nooks where children and their parents/caregivers can read books together!

Artist example of learning kiosk. ©2023 Burgeon Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Artist example of learning kiosk. ©2023 Burgeon Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Educational Learning Spaces
These enhanced spaces are educational and based on Every Child Ready to Read®, a research-based series of practices developed by the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children. Designed to help kids develop essential literacy skills and get on the right path to school readiness and student success, this program is based on two core concepts: 1) Reading begins at birth; and 2) Parents are a child’s first and best teacher. Every Child Ready to Read® focuses on emergent and early literacy development in the five practices of talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. Public libraries provide opportunities for young children and their parents/caregivers to develop these skills in safe, non-commercial environments, with free access for everyone in the community. Davenport Public Library already utilizes Every Child Ready to Read® practices in our early literacy programming, including storytimes, 1000 Books Before Kindergarten, parent education workshops, and supporting materials to help parents/caregivers prepare children for reading.

Access to these free, educational spots, gives everyone living in Davenport a strong start in early literacy to ensure that they are ready for kindergarten and beyond. Each newly designed children’s area will reflect the theme of nature, with each library branch featuring aspects of its local ecosystem:
| Main will feature a water/riparian habitat due to its proximity to the Mississippi River.
| Fairmount will feature woodlands/wetlands due to the Duck Creek watershed.
| Eastern will feature a prairie theme as it is situated at Prairie Heights Park.

Artist example of wall. ©2023 Burgeon Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Artist example of wall. ©2023 Burgeon Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Help us reach our goal!
So, while we are deeply saddened by the loss of Rochelle Murray, it is with enormous gratitude that we honor her legacy by embarking on this mission to bring opportunities to play and learn at the Library.

We welcome the participation of all citizens in this campaign. As of March 31, 2023, this project is 58% funded, but we still need $450,000 to bring it to success. Gifts of all sizes are welcome. Anyone interested in making a gift can do so online, or gifts can be mailed to FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library (321 Main Street, Davenport, IA 52801). Please designate your gift as for “Children’s Areas”. Donations of $5,000 or more will receive mention on a plaque at each library.

We need everyone in our community to help. Please join us in making early literacy a reality for Davenport children!

DONATE!

Thank you to our major donors!
(accurate as of March 31, 2023):

$200,000 and more
Rochelle A. Murray Bequest
FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library

$150,000 and more
Regional Development Authority

$5,000 and more
Community members

You can learn more about Rochelle’s life at Primary Selections from Special Collections and her obituary.

April’s Simply Held Fiction Picks

Have you joined Simply Held? If not, you’re missing out! Four times a year, we choose fiction titles for Simply Held members to read from multiple categories: Graphic Novel, Diverse Debuts, Rainbow Reads, Overcoming Adversity, Historical Fiction, Out of this World, Stranger Things, International Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Juvenile Fiction. Join Simply Held to have any of the new picks automatically put on hold for you.

Below you will find information provided by the publishers and authors on the titles we have picked for April.

Diverse Debuts:

Diverse Debuts: Debut fiction novel by a BIPOC author.

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

From a superb new literary talent, a rich, lyrical collection of stories about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it.

At Banneker Terrace, everybody knows everybody, or at least knows of them. Longtime tenants’ lives are entangled together in the ups and downs of the day-to-day, for better or for worse. The neighbors in the unit next door are friends or family, childhood rivals or enterprising business partners. In other words, Harlem is home. But the rent is due, and the clock of gentrification—never far from anyone’s mind—is ticking louder now than ever.

In eight interconnected stories, Sidik Fofana conjures a residential community under pressure. There is Swan, in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend’s release from prison jeopardizes the life he’s been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe’s and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, in apartment 21J, is a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can’t seem to escape the building’s gravitational pull. We root for the tight-knit cast of characters as they weave in and out of one another’s narratives, working to escape their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love. All the while we brace, as they do, for the challenges of a rapidly shifting future.

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Graphic Novel:

Graphic Novel: Fiction novel for adults of any subgenre with diverse characters depicted by color illustrations, sketches, and photographs.

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed

A brilliantly original debut graphic novel that imagines a fantastical alternate Cairo where wishes really do come true. Shubeik Lubeik—a fairy tale rhyme that means “your wish is my command” in Arabic—is the story of three people who are navigating a world where wishes are literally for sale.

Three wishes that are sold at an unassuming kiosk in Cairo link Aziza, Nour, and Shokry, changing their perspectives as well as their lives. Aziza learned early that life can be hard, but when she loses her husband and manages to procure a wish, she finds herself fighting bureau­cracy and inequality for the right to have—and make—that wish. Nour is a privileged college student who secretly struggles with depression and must decide whether or not to use their wish to try to “fix” this depression, and then figure out how to do it. And, finally, Shokry must grapple with his religious convictions as he decides how to help a friend who doesn’t want to use their wish. Deena Mohamed brings to life a cast of characters whose struggles and triumphs are heartbreaking, inspiring, and deeply resonant.

Although their stories are fantastical—featuring talking donkeys, dragons, and cars that can magically avoid traffic—each of these people grapples with the very real challenge of trying to make their most deeply held desires come true.

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Historical Fiction:

Historical Fiction: Historical fiction novel written by a BIPOC author with BIPOC main character(s).

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

There is one every generation, a seer who keeps the stories.

Luz “Little Light” Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930s Denver, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland in the nearby Lost Territory. Luz recollects her ancestors’ origins, how her family flourished, and how they were threatened. She bears witness to the sinister forces that have devastated her people and their homelands for generations. In the end, it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion.

Written in Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s singular voice, the wildly entertaining and complex lives of the Lopez family fill the pages of this multigenerational western saga. Woman of Light is a transfixing novel about survival, family secrets, and love—filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom are just as special, memorable, and complicated as our beloved heroine, Luz.

This title is also available in the following formats:

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International Fiction:

International Fiction: Fiction novel originally written in another language with BIPOC main character(s).

All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse ; translated from the French by Alison Anderson

Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse’s debut novel follows three generations torn apart by the genocide against the Tutsis, as they try to reconnect with one another, rebuild broken links, and find their place in today’s world.

Blanche returns to Rwanda after building a life in Bordeaux with her husband and young son, Stokely. Reuniting with her mother Immaculata, old wounds are reopened for both mother and daughter while Stokely, caught between two countries, tries to understand where he comes from and where he belongs.

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Juvenile Fiction:

Juvenile Fiction: Fiction chapter book with diversity, equity, or inclusion subject matter written for children 7-11

Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff

In this funny and hugely heartfelt novel from the Newbery Honor-winning author of Too Bright to See, a sixth-grader’s life is turned upside down when she learns her dad is trans

Annabelle Blake fully expects this school year to be the same as every other: same teachers, same classmates, same, same, same. So she’s elated to discover there’s a new kid in town. To Annabelle, Bailey is a breath of fresh air. She loves hearing about their life in Seattle, meeting their loquacious (and kinda corny) parents, and hanging out at their massive house. And it doesn’t hurt that Bailey has a cute smile, nice hands (how can someone even have nice hands?) and smells really good.

Suddenly sixth grade is anything but the same. And when her irascible father shares that he and Bailey have something big–and surprising–in common, Annabelle begins to see herself, and her family, in a whole new light. At the same time she starts to realize that her community, which she always thought of as home, might not be as welcoming as she had thought. Together Annabelle, Bailey, and their families discover how these categories that seem to mean so much—boy, girl, gay, straight, fruit, vegetable—aren’t so clear-cut after all.

This title is also available in the following formats:

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Out of this World:

Out of this World: Science fiction novel written by a BIPOC author with BIPOC main character(s).

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes . . .

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.

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Overcoming Adversity:

Overcoming Adversity: Fiction novel with diversity, equity, or inclusion subject matter written for people 14 and older.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

In this queer contemporary YA mystery, a nonbinary autistic teen realizes they must not only solve a 30-year-old mystery but also face the demons lurking in their past in order to live a satisfying life.

Sam Sylvester has long collected stories of half-lived lives—of kids who died before they turned nineteen. Sam was almost one of those kids. Now, as Sam’s own nineteenth birthday approaches, their recent near-death experience haunts them. They’re certain they don’t have much time left. . . .

But Sam’s life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, their next-door neighbor. Yet the past keeps roaring back—in Sam’s memories and in the form of a thirty-year-old suspicious death that took place in Sam’s new home. Sam can’t resist trying to find out more about the kid who died and who now seems to guide their investigation. When Sam starts receiving threatening notes, they know they’re on the path to uncovering a murderer. But are they digging through the past or digging their own future grave?

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester explores healing in the aftermath of trauma and the fullness of queer joy.

This title is also available in the following format:

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Rainbow Reads:

Rainbow reads: Fiction novel with LGBTQ+ main character(s).

My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

Earl “Trey” Singleton III arrives in New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, at 17, he is ready to leave his overbearing parents and their expectations behind.

In the city, Trey meets up with a cast of characters that changes his life forever. He volunteers at a renegade home hospice for AIDS patients, and after being put to the test by gay rights activists, becomes a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Along the way Trey attempts to navigate past traumas and searches for ways to maintain familial relationships—all while seeking the meaning of life amid so much death.

Vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements, Rasheed Newson’s My Government Means to Kill Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced coming-of-age story that lends itself to a larger discussion about what it means for a young gay Black man in the mid-1980s to come to terms with his role in the midst of a political and social reckoning.

This title is also available in the following format:

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Stranger Things:

Stranger Things: Horror novel written by a BIPOC author with BIPOC main character(s).

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.

Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—or redeem it.

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Young Adult Fiction:

Young Adult Fiction: Fiction chapter book with diversity, equity, or inclusion subject matter written for children 14 and older.

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

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April Is …

The world is “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful.”  That is what e. e. cummings said in his poem “In Just.”

In the first lines of her poem Song of a Second April, Edna St. Vincent Millay espoused:

April this year, not otherwise

Than April of a year ago,

If full of whispers, full of sighs,

Of dazzling mud and dingy snow:

It’s National Poetry Month.  Time to bring a bit of poetry into your life.

“Poetry?” you say.  “Too high flautin for me!”

Wrong!  After all, most of us are familiar with Dr. Seuss’ decree, “You must not hop on Pop.”

Spice up your month by checking-out one of these poetry books or one of the many others in our collection.

Poems to Read Again and Again : a Selection of the Famous and Familiar, edited by Stuart, Sarah Anne.

Life doesn’t Frighten Me, by Angelou, Maya.

Where The Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein.

Pop Sonnets : Shakespearean spins on your favorite songs, by Erik Didriksen.

The Poetry Remedy : Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind, and Soul, by William Siegart.

100 Poems to Break Your Heart, by Edward Hirsch.

Try your hand at creativity, much like Lewis Carroll when he wrote the first verse of Jabberwocky.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Or try writing some traditional haiku, with a 5, 7, 5 syllable style.

At last, spring has sprung.

Flowers shooting up from ground,

Stretching toward sun.

It doesn’t matter what you do.  Just go out and make your month more poetifabu !

 

Online Reading Challenge – April

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to India, the country that occupies the greater part of South Asia and is the second most populous country with roughly one-sixth of the world’s total population. India is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, made up of thousands of ethnic groups and most likely hundreds of languages. Our Main title this month is a nonfiction read entitled Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo. Below is a quick summary from the publisher.

In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.

As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi’s “most-everything girl,” might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.

This title is also available in the following formats:

As always, check our locations for displays with many other related titles to choose from!