I started to teach myself how to crochet last year and have fallen in love with the craft. It’s amazing how many resources are out there to help teach a new craft, including your local library which is where I picked up a copy of Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary: 125 Essential Stitches to Crochet in Three Ways by Dora Ohrenstein. At the title suggests, the book is packed to the brim with different types of stitches. However, it goes further than just teaching you the stitch itself, also making sure you understand the anatomy of the stich and how to shape it, as well as an introduction on how to read a stitch chart and what common abbreviations mean, making the book perfect for even those starting crochet for the first time.
Ohrenstein breaks the stitches down into categories, starting with “The Basics”, foundational stitches to understand and build off of. Each other category has a unique quality about them: “Closed Stitches”, “Mesh Filet, and Easy Laces”, “Popping Out: Textures Stitches”, “Exploding Shells”, “Classic Laces”, and “Undulating Stitches: Ripples and Waves”. Each entry includes a stitch chart and a photo of a swatch to show what a finished piece might look like, and some have notes if there’s something particular to look out for when repeating the stitch pattern.
I’m excited to dig further in and find a few stitches to really try out and build with, and definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking to learn how to crochet and build pieces on your own without needing a pattern
Ohrenstein, Dora. Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary: 125 Essential Stitches to Crochet in Three Ways. Abrams, 2019.
Nobody in this week’s #Bookface is going to get pinched! Part of our reading challenge for March is to read a book with Green in the title. So we picked, “The Girl in the Green Dress: A Mystery Featuring Zelda Fitzgerald” by Mariah Fredericks (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2025) a 1920s murder mystery featuring Zelda Fitzgerald and Morris Markey. It’s available as a as an ebook and audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We’d love to know what titles you picked to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
“[A] riveting standalone… Fredericks brings the period to life beautifully, and the often-caricatured Zelda never feels less than three-dimensional. Add in an enthralling investigation and a complex, fame-hungry lead, and it’s undeniable: Fredericks has struck gold.”
— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Language is more than words we use to communicate with each other. Language helps us organize our reality, and shared language can create and reinforce shared perspectives and emotional experiences. Complicated, nuanced concepts can be described in single words rich with meaning, when people need this to happen–when their lives depend on it, or when they just want to share a laugh. If you’re interested in how language and culture and humanity and the natural world all interact (and especially if you’re also interested in the history of Ireland), I’m recommending Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape by Manchán Magan. Short, punchy, informative chapters reel easily from tragedy to comedy, as Magan contextualizes his family’s stories (and Ireland’s stories) in ways that will intrigue and enlighten any reader.
The 2026 paperback I am reading was published after Magan’s untimely death in 2025. (The book originally came out in 2020.) Magan was passionate about the Irish language that he grew up speaking, and you can easily find many online interviews and podcasts about his books and writings on this topic–as well as many other topics he wrote and posted about, like travel and indigeneity. His own page about the book, including many interviews, is here.
There is also a preview of the audiobook here if you’d like to hear some of the words pronounced (I definitely wanted this audio information). The narrator is his brother, a frequent collaborator on many projects.
Magan, Manchán. Thirty-Two Words for Field : Lost Words of the Irish Landscape. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2026.
“Wait a minute, #BookFace. Are you telling me that you built a time machine…!
We’re springing forward through time this weekend with daylight savings, but this week’s #BookfaceFriday is going much further!
“The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells (The Perfection Form Company, 1979) is a dystopian, post-apocalyptic, science fiction novella about a time traveler’s firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years into the future where he discovers two separate human species. It’s available as a Book Club Kit from the Nebraska Library Commission, with 12 copies for your reading group to borrow. You can also find “The Time Machine” as both an eBook and an audiobook with other stories through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, along with several other novels from H.G. Wells.
“This book being one of the forerunners in time traveller genre throws light on a completely different kind of future from the conventional techie high-fi version. This book introduced me to a unique possibility.
H.G Wells has done an excellent job by describing the minute details about the future earth and making us imagine the world he envisioned. His creativity and attention to detail amazed me. The book was written in the 1890s and yet is still a masterpiece and relevant now.”
— Medium
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
“With Custers’ Cavalry” by Katherine Gibson Fougera is now available on cartridge and for download on BARD, the Braille and Audio Reading Download service. BARD is a service offered by the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress.
“From the memoirs of the late Katherine Gibson, widow of Captain Francis M. Gibson of the Seventh Cavalry, U.S.A. (retired).” This book describes a phase of army life during the 1870s and 1880s from the perspective of the army wives who were left behind by the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
TBBS borrowers can request “With Custers’ Cavalry” DBC02138 or download it from the National Library Service BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website. If you have high-speed internet access, you can download books to your smartphone or tablet, or onto a flash drive for use with your player. You may also contact your reader’s advisor to have the book mailed to you on cartridge.
In Nine Persimmons Kerry James Evans traces a geography both intimate and far-flung—Tuscaloosa and Biloxi, Charleston and New Orleans, the Cloisters above Washington Heights, a banana orchard in the Azores, a journey to Rome. The poems move with the gravity of pilgrimage, their compass set between wandering and witness, as they cross from ballfields and shipyards into the charged realms of myth and ritual. Evans’s gift lies in how the ordinary gathers its own divinity: persimmon seeds split to forecast winter, a grandmother’s weed-eater gospel, Camaro burnouts paired with tarot, psalms rising as pelicans wheel into sudden sky. In this light Nine Persimmons reveals how the most unassuming corners of existence sometimes hold the deepest truths.
A Question of Justice: Criminal Trials, Notorious Homicides, and Public Opinion in Twentieth-Century Mexico, by Elisa Speckman Guerra. Series: Confluencias.
Mexico is a country beset by violence and insecurity, with 98 percent of violent crimes unsolved and 94 percent of crimes unpunished. These staggering statistics illustrate the critical need to understand the history of Mexico’s penal law and justice system, from its evolution and development to its public image and effects on Mexican society.
In A Question of Justice Elisa Speckman Guerra elucidates Mexico’s penal law and justice system in the twentieth century from the disciplinary perspectives of both history and law. Looking at the critical period from 1929 to 1971, Speckman Guerra investigates the democratic rule of law and to what extent it was followed within the justice system, as well as judicial proceedings considering the role of gender, class, and race. For that reason, Speckman Guerra also delves into homicides involving very well-known victims, like the famous singer Guty Cárdenas, and notorious murderers, such as the Olympic medalist Humberto Mariles; the public image of police, judges, defendants, lawyers, and other actors involved in penal processes; and the representations of crime and justice in print and on film. This extensively researched study illuminates the evolution of Mexico’s penal laws, institutions of justice, and sensationalist media and violence, thereby addressing issues that are critically relevant today.
The Raymond D. Fogelson Papers: Essays on Ethnohistory, Ethnology, and Native American Studies, edited by Sergei A. Kan and Michael E. Harkin. Series: Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology.
Raymond D. Fogelson was a luminary theoretician in the interdisciplinary field of ethnohistory who advocated for Indigenous-centered theory and ethnographic writing in the field of Cherokee studies and ethnohistory. Fogelson’s unique methodology was to look for institutions that Cherokees and Native peoples themselves considered traditional and to carefully study them.
Fogelson taught in the anthropology department at the University of Chicago and trained leading ethnohistorians of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Dedicated to his graduate students, the corpus of his influential scholarship resides in journal articles, academic presentations, and public lectures. In this essential collection, Sergei Kan and Michael E. Harkin have assembled Fogelson’s pioneering articles as a resource for ethnohistorians in the twenty-first century.
They Are Dead and Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America, edited by John M. Kinder and Jennifer M. Murray. Series: Studies in War, Society, and the Military.
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in 2020 reignited a passionate nationwide debate over Confederate memorials and flags as symbols of white supremacy in our public landscape. Controversies about Confederate monuments, however, have overshadowed more consequential battles over Civil War memory taking place in American politics, popular culture, and civil society today.
Integrating the voices of Civil War historians, public historians, and scholars of contemporary America, They Are Dead and Yet They Live explores the use (and abuse) of Civil War memory in the modern era, from the Civil War Centennial and the civil rights era through the political turmoil of the present day. Moving the conversation of Civil War memory beyond Confederate monuments to crucial debates about the Civil War’s usefulness as a frame for understanding America’s recent struggles, these essays show how Civil War memory is as politically urgent and socially relevant today as it was a half century ago.
Celebrate Black History Month with this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin with an introduction by Edward P. Jones (Beacon Press, 2012.) You can find this title in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries curated collection “Black History: Paying tribute to black history, culture, and contributions” created to help users find great reads to celebrate Black History Month. Its over 100 titles consist of literature, fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, and biographies. Nebraska OverDrive has several James Baldwin titles available for readers, in both ebook and Audiobook format. You can also browse the Nebraska Library Commission’s Book Club Kits collections for African American voices!
“The wonderful thing about writers like Baldwin is the way we read them and come across passages that are so arresting we become breathless and have to raise our eyes from the page to keep from being spirited away.” ―Edward P. Jones
“He named for me the things you feel but couldn’t utter . . . articulated for the first time to white America what it meant to be American and a black American at the same time.” ―Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Like so many others, I was laid low by the tragic news of Rob and Michelle Reiner’s deaths. I responded by watching movies Rob directed, including This is Spinal Tap (1984) and its recently released sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025). For the uninitiated, both films focus on Spinal Tap, a fictional heavy metal English band consisting of Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) on lead, rhythm guitar, and vocals; Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) on vocals, rhythm, lead, and acoustic guitar; and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) on bass guitar and vocals. Their repertoire consists of songs they wrote together from their early classic, Gimme Some Money to the wildly popular Big Bottom. Continuing to blur the lines between fiction and reality, the trio of actor-musicians actually toured as Spinal Tap, playing at venues like Wembley Stadium, Glastonbury, and Carnegie Hall.
After watching both movies, I listened to, the audio book edition of A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, narrated by Rob, Christopher, Michael, and Harry. The first part of the book explains how the quartet came up with ideas for the film by gathering ridiculous situations observed from real heavy metal bands. It also covered how difficult it was for the movie studio to understand the concept of the first ever mockumentary and the craft of “schnadle” or “schnäedling,” a term Christopher Guest invented to describe the specific brand of improvised acting performed by the cast. The second part of the book is a conversation with the characters from Spinal Tap schnäedling the origin story of the band.
Most impressive is the fact that Christopher, Michael, and Harry are bonafide musicians and song writers. It’s the question they are most often asked, leading Michael to wonder why the general public cannot understand or appreciate that comics can also be accomplished musicians. Their musical talents were also showcased in the film, A Mighty Wind (2003) featuring more of their originally written folk songs displaying their instrumental versatility. This is Spinal Tap has entered our popular culture in many ways, most notably in our vocabulary. The well-known phrase “these go to 11” was even included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018 to signify something turned up to maximum volume or capacity beyond the maximum standard. This Is Spinal Tap was added to the Library of Congress Film Registry in 2002. To be nominated for the LC Film Registry, films must be at least 10 years old, and have “cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance.” The hardest part of the book to listen to was the four men speculating how the movie Spinal Tap would figure into their obituaries. For Rob, it was in the first line.
If it weren’t for Spinal Tap, we wouldn’t have shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Arrested Development.Ricky Gervais created The Office after he fell in love with Spinal Tap. Then he sold something created in America back to America. If laughter is good like a medicine, introduce yourself to Spinal Tap or any of the mockumentary movies created by Reiner or Christopher Guest and discover the comic tonic of schnadling.
A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, with David Kamp. Gallery Books. 2025
Join us tomorrow for the 15th annual Big Talk From Small Libraries online conference. Registration is still open, so head over to the Registration page and sign up!
We have a full agenda for the day, with speakers from academic and public libraries presenting on a wide variety of topics specifically tailored for small libraries: intellectual freedom, mental health, food insecurity, STEAM, serving disabled patrons, school/university/public library partnerships, a Tiny Art Show, and much more.
And, Nebraska library staff and board members can earn 1 hour of CE Credit for each hour of the conference you attend! A special Big Talk From Small Libraries CE Report form has been made available for you to submit your C.E. credits.
This event is a great opportunity to learn about the innovative things your colleagues are doing in their small libraries serving fewer than 10,000 people.
So, come join us for a day of big ideas from small libraries!
Last Book Club Spotlight, we began our celebration of Black History Month and the incredible achievements of the authors in our collection. And to no one’s surprise, we will be covering yet another amazing African-American author who spent her life uplifting Black voices through literature. Dubbed “Liberation Literature”, Virginia Hamilton authored 41 books that celebrated the African-American experience. Her prestigious legacy continues in the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth, and in the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Hamilton spent over a decade researching and compiling histories for Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave. So many stories tell of the brave abolitionists who fought on behalf of those enslaved, but Hamilton wanted to tell a different story. One that centered the person, and not just the idea. Burns was more than a symbol, he was a young, frightened man, who sought his unalienable right to freedom.
Ten years before the American Civil War, marines and infantrymen, state militia – thousands of them, all descended on Boston to secure a young man back to the bondage of slavery in Virginia. They mercilessly attacked the protesting crowd and they walked on. Shouts of “liberty!” rang in the air. A few months prior, Anthony Burns escaped from enslavement in Virginia by stowing away on a ship, and now the Fugitive Slave Act had caught up to him. But Boston had been preparing for this. All across the city, calls were sent out to members of the Vigilance Committee who had at its command lawyers, scholars, doctors, suffragettes, and ship captains as well as working men and women both black and white. All were dedicated to the cause of freedom for slaves. These members were gathering in support and strength, providing legal services, fighting the unjust court, and attempting to secure funds to buy his freedom. But locked away in the courthouse, the only freedom Anthony knew he could count on was the freedom of memory.
“Overnight, without his ever knowing it, Anthony Burns became a symbol of freedom.”
Virginia Hamilton
Sometimes it feels like if we want to get a good grasp of history and learn a lot about a subject, we need to tackle gigantic tomes to get an understanding. Hamilton’s Anthony Burns, is knowledgeable, precise, and concise, which makes it a great tool amongst young and adult readers and groups alike. She weaves in relevant historical details and moments to help the reader understand the wider picture of why Burns’ capture in May of 1854, was so impactful. Only a few years prior, “upstanding” citizens of Boston paraded another figurative slave, Thomas Sims through the town square to his captors. Now, with anti-slavery sentiment growing in the north, in conjunction with the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act, Boston was ripe for a riot when Burns was quite literally stolen off the street and held in a makeshift prison. In Anthony Burns, the reader spends much of their time inside his thoughts and memories. How did a young man end up in such a position, and what could he hold on to to survive the inhumane trial set before him? Much like The Legend of Bass Reeves by Gary Paulsen, a lack of firsthand accounts and resources on Anthony Burns’ life exist, therefore Hamilton had to take what she knew about his life, and fill in those gaps creating a thoughtful and rich “historical reconstruction” of his past.
“For once I wanted readers to have a book in which the oppressed slave, a common man, was at the center of his own struggle.”
Virginia Hamilton, Afterword
If you’re interested in requesting Anthony Burns for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 14 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Hamilton, Virginia. Anthony Burns. New York:Knopf. 1988.
Set in 1975, fellow outcasts, Saint and Patch are best friends, navigating high school in small town Missouri. Girls have been going missing, are they runaways, tired of small town life, or is it something much more sinister? When Patch witnesses an attack and attempted abduction of the local golden girl, Misty, he becomes a town hero with consequences that will last a lifetime. While trying to stop the abduction, Patch himself is wounded and taken, leaving Saint alone and reeling. The local police chief may have given up on finding Patch and the missing girls, but Saint can’t. Little does Saint know that looking for Patch and his kidnapper will shape her entire future. After being taken, Patch is kept in total darkness, his only companions are his own thoughts and Grace, a girl that brings him food and nurses him back to health. She tells him stories of the outside world, but while she seems so real to Patch, could she be just a figment of his fevered imagination? In this story, small town dynamics intersect with the secrets people keep, and how lives lived so close together can become inextricably intertwined, yet the question remains, do we ever really know our neighbors. Filled with tragedy and loss, survivor’s guilt and obsession, this novel follows Patch and Saint as they search for answers after that one fateful day where everything changed. A story that spans decades and told from the point of view of multiple characters, All the Colors of the Dark will take the reader on a journey of redemption, love, and loyalty.
Whitaker, Chris. All the Colors of the Dark. Crown. 2024.
With President’s Day this week we took a deep dive into the many presidential or political autobiographies and biographies available in the Nebraska OverDrive collection. This week’s #BookFace, “Grant” by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press, 2017) is hailed as vast and panoramic biography of a complicated man. This nonfiction read is available as an ebook and Audiobook from Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We also have Chernow’s books about George Washington, Mark Twain, Titan, and his biography of Alexander Hamilton that inspired the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.”
“[A] beautifully written portrait . . . . Chernow doesn’t gloss over Grant’s struggle with alcoholism or his tendency to trust shady operators. However, his willingness to protect the gains of freemen and to fight the KKK was an example of the moral courage he consistently displayed. This is a superb tribute to Grant, whose greatness is earning increased appreciation.”
— Booklist, Starred Review
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
This week’s #Bookface goes out to everyone who just wants someone who can make them laugh. Celebrate Valentines Day with Aziz Ansari’s offbeat tales of dating in the modern world, “Modern Romance” ( Penguin Press, 2015) will have you laughing and shaking your head the entire read. It’s available as a as an ebook and audiobookthrough Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and is the perfect addition to any February reading list.
“With his first foray into the literary sphere, Ansari handedly accomplishes what he set out to do. Modern Romance provides insight into what people do to find love. He infuses their stories with his sass and parallels their shame with much of his own. On top of that, Ansari’s advice is easy to follow and backed with science and research. Modern Romance is the pinnacle of romantic guides—at least until a new dating app makes it obsolete.”
— VOX
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Every once in a while, it is good for readers to pick a book outside their usual choices. For some, that unexpected choice might be something light and fun. That choice might be Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People.
Described as a quirky Swedish comedy, Anxious People begins with a failed bank robbery. It was a cashless bank! The inept robber escapes into a nearby apartment building and inadvertently takes refuge in a unit where an eclectic group of strangers has gathered for a real estate viewing. What begins as farce quickly turns into an unlikely hostage situation.
At its heart, the book is about anxious people, and they are anxious for many different reasons. Backman presents enough of those reasons for readers to recognize themselves or others in the story. His main characters include the robber, the hostages, and the police (a father and son), all of whom are distinct and memorable. One of Backman’s strengths is his ability to create memorable characters with distinct stories, flaws, and depth.
Written with warmth and humor, the novel explores underlying themes: poverty, depression, family relationships, desperation, and the daily struggles of ordinary life. Each character’s backstory is gradually revealed, highlighting how interconnected lives can be and how individuals cope with their personal challenges.
The story unfolds through a series of interviews and flashbacks. As the narrative evolves, the hostages form a curious bond and, with empathy, conspire to help the bank robber. How these events ultimately resolve is best left for the reader to discover.
In interviews, Fredrik Backman has said that the book was inspired by his own experiences with anxiety. He has noted that while many people worry about similar things, they often feel isolated in those experiences.
For readers seeking a novel that falls squarely in the “feel-good” category, without ignoring life’s complexities, Anxious People is an excellent choice.
Anxious People was later adapted into a six-episode Netflix series that premiered in 2021. One of Backman’s earlier and best-known books, A Man Called Ove, was a bestseller and was later adapted into a motion picture starring Tom Hanks.
Backman, Fredrik. Anxious People: A Novel. Atria Books. 2020.
How beautiful it is that through literature and storytelling, we are able to celebrate and explore other lives and journeys of emotional, challenging, and joyous histories, fact or fiction. While visiting the University of Chicago to celebrate and learn about emancipation on it’s 50th anniversary, Dr. Carter G Woodson saw a need to create a society focused on the preservation and education of African Americans history. By 1926, his society and “Negro History Week”, was well underway, and now a century later we continue to celebrate Black History Month. Many authors in our Book Club Collection and featured on Book Club Spotlight personify Black Excellence, despite a system built against them. Today, we follow Isabel Wilkerson, the first African-American Woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for her work as Chicago Bureau Chief for The New York Times, in her discussion of that system through her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
What comes to mind when you hear the word, “caste”? Most likely, your first thought is the Caste System in India. Because of someone’s birthplace and familial ties, they are relegated to a subset of personhood that can never be changed. A system that places the “other” not because of their actions, but by seemingly random guidelines and tricks of fate set long ago. To us in the United States, it sounds a little absurd… after all, aren’t “all men created equal”? Or is the problem closer to home than we think? In Caste, Wilkerson addresses racial disparities in the United States, specifically between two of her designated “castes”, Black and white. She takes us through the history of the United States through the lens of a caste system, rather than a strictly racial one. Wilkerson draws from historical examples of this caste system at work, her own personal experiences, and the work done by scholars both in the Indian Caste System, and prominent scholars in the United States by explaining what defines a caste system, what pillars, framework, and subjugation it exists under. Altogether creating a moving and seminal work detailing the otherwise hidden and mislabeled Caste System of America,
“They were punished for being in the condition that they were forced to endure.”
– Isabel Wilkerson
Caste is a stunning and eye opening recontextualization of how racial oppression exists in the US. Not only does it teach the reader a new way to look at our history and our present. But it gives them the tools to understand and grow. Wilkerson did not write Caste to stoke anger or create enemies between these castes we have found ourselves unwitting participants of, but to unite us against the injustices of the past and prepare for a better future. Caste is a book meant to be talked about, making it a perfect addition to any Book Club Group who value good discussion and challenging works. It is important that books that teach us so much about ourselves and our history remain accessible for audiences. Like our last spotlight, The Light of Days by Judy Batalion, there is a Young Adults Edition available for a younger audience interested in the topic.
“We are not personally responsible for what people who look like us did centuries ago. But we are responsible for what good or ill we do to people alive with us today. We are, each of us, responsible for every decision we make that hurts or harms another human being. We are responsible for recognizing that what happened in previous generations at the hands of or to people who look like us set the stage for the world we now live in and that what has gone before us grants us advantages or burdens through no effort or fault of our own, gains or deficits that others who do not look like us often do not share. We are responsible for our own ignorance or, with time and openhearted enlightenment, our own wisdom. We are responsible for ourselves and our own deeds or misdeeds in our time and in our own space and will be judged accordingly by succeeding generations.”
Isabel Wilkerson,Caste
If you’re interested in requesting Caste for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 8 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste. Penguin Random House. 2020.
Hear about ‘Empowering Families Through Literacy: Tools and Strategies from Nebraska’s Statewide Initiative’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, February 11 at 10am CT.
Join us for an engaging session highlighting Nebraska’s statewide efforts to strengthen family literacy through cross-sector collaboration, inclusive practices, and accessible tools. This presentation will showcase the work of the Nebraska Department of Education’s Family Literacy Advisory Committee, including a newly developed implementation guide and centralized resource hub designed to support schools, libraries, and community organizations. Participants will explore practical strategies and adaptable tools that librarians can use to deepen their role as literacy leaders in their communities. Whether you serve young children, adult learners, or multilingual families, this session will offer valuable insights and resources to support and enrich your local literacy efforts.
Feb. 18 – Communicating Your Library’s Value and Getting your Board “On Board” to Help!
Feb. 25 – Pretty Sweet Tech
March 4 – Tour de Force: Build Bridges by Leading Tours of Your Library
March 11 – Public Library Survey: Nebraska’s New Data Collection Tool
To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.
NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.
The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
Sharpen your knives, and get ready for a perfectly scrumptious #Bookface. If you’re looking for a Valentines read but aren’t a fan of romance, then this week’s #BookfaceFriday, “The Dead Husband Cookbook” by Danielle Valentine (Sourcebooks, 2025) is just the pick for you. It’s available as a as an ebook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and is the perfect addition to any anti-valentines day reading list.
“A tasty and wildly macabre story that foodies and horror fans will devour, probably in one big gulp…Valentine scatters an enjoyable assortment of recipes throughout the narrative that will tempt the reader into heating up the skillet.”
— Booklist, STARRED review
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
This this week’s #BookfaceFriday is for all those people who love the winter and the cold. “Some Like It Cold” by Elle McNicoll (Wednesday Books, 2024). Recommended for high school readers, this romance novel is Hallmark movie meets will-they-won’t-they rom com. It’s available as a as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens. If you are not one of those people who enjoy the cold, please wrap up in your coziest blanket with a hot beverage and disassociate from the frigid temps outside with a good read. (This is what I will be doing.)
“Some Like It Cold is a heartfelt romance that is sweeping in its scope and tender in its emotional depth. McNicoll has crafted a powerful ode to love in all its forms: of community, of home and of ourselves – as well as the genre of romance itself. A clever, poignant and healing love story”
— Bea Fitzgerald, Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl, Goddess, Queen
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
In the 1970’s, advertisements in practically every issue of Hot Rod magazine teased the specs of various American muscle cars, creating demand that appealed to most adolescent males. The same adolescent males who couldn’t afford such beasts because they worked their tails off at KFC for $3.35/hour, but could afford the Hot Rod magazine (typically around 75 cents), and had the ability to dream. An example: The AMC Rebel—“Not as fast as a 427 cu in Chevrolet Corvette or Chrysler Hemi engine, but it will beat a Volkswagen, a slow freight train, or your old man’s Cadillac.” While garnering the reputation of producing crappy cars, AMC’s Rebel is no slouch, if you can find one. The station wagon version is especially rare. Oddly, the appearance of the Rebel looked more like something Evel Knievel would cruise around in as opposed to the Dukes of Hazzard, and was made in Wisconsin, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. While the roots might be different, perhaps the musical equivalent of these American muscle gems lies in what has been labeled southern rock. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about labels, and how assigning a single word or a short multi-word description oftentimes is an erroneous and inaccurate oversimplification of people, places, and things. Not to mention divisive. Individuals (and groups) are usually much more complex than the resultant one-liner label. In the case at hand, why do we assign these labels to so many musicians that are merely from the south? Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant gets the label because his band toured with the confederate flag in the 1970’s (and continued do so up until 2012) at the behest of the record company, being told repeatedly it was a symbol of “southern pride” (yet another label). Others see it as a symbol of the racist roots of some southerners (see Neil Young’s Southern Man). However, no such label gets attached to ZZ Top (Texas) or Tom Petty (Gainesville, FL), who also flew the same flag at shows (although the argument can be made for LS not retiring the flag sooner than these others). Also notwithstanding the fact that Van Zant spoke out publically against the segregationist policies of then Alabama Governor George Wallace and supported (as did Gregg Allman) Jimmy Carter for President. I have to think LS might be a much different outfit if Ronnie (the band’s leader) wouldn’t have died in the October 20, 1977 plane crash (age 29).
Ted Danson appeared in blackface with then girlfriend Whoppi Goldberg, as did Howard Stern (doing a bit in blackface as Ted Danson doing blackface), Jimmy Kimmel, and many others, including blackface frequent flyer/aficionado Justin Trudeau. Yet somehow they seem to get a pass from criticism in mainstream media because they are sufficiently apologetic. But who gets to decide what is sufficient or not sufficient? Prince Harry dressed up for a costume party as a Nazi Afrika Korps soldier, complete with the swastika armband. He gets pandered to by Oprah to promote his book (he’s deeply sorry). Just a few years ago, Bill Maher interviewed Ben Sasse, and jokingly called himself the N-word when Sasse suggested he come to Nebraska to “work the fields”. The list goes on and on. Look, the takeaway is everyone makes mistakes, say things they regret, and many individuals are way more complex than any label that might be assigned to them. Most critics generally don’t take the time to move past the label and explore the complexity of the individual, or even attempt to find common ground. This certainly is the case in today’s write up, concerning generally the Allman Brothers Band, and specifically founding member Duane Allman. In 2026, let’s move past the labels (and hypocrisy) and decide for ourselves. It’s also OK for you and me to come to different conclusions. And furthermore, perfectly acceptable (in fact encouraged) to obtain a copy of Live at Fillmore East and crank it up to about 98 db.
It is important to note that the southern rock label assigned to the Allman Brothers Band had nothing to do with any record company stage props. It was mostly because they just happened to be from Jacksonville, FL (same as LS), and lived and recorded at The Big House in Macon, GA. The label was also perpetuated by journalistic clowns such as Grover Lewis, who wrote an article about the band for Rolling Stone (untimely published a few days after Duane’s death). The article is flooded with pot shots about the way band members talked with a southern good ol’ boy drawl (e.g. Gawgia), and referred to them collectively (including one of their drummers (yes, they had 2 drummers) Jaimoe, who happens to be black and as of this writing the only surviving original member of the band, age 81) as Dixie Greasers. Skydog was the nickname given to Duane Allman – a combination of two different nicknames – Dog (given by Muscle Shoals, AL studio founder Rick Hall, for Duane’s long hair and mutton chops), and Skyman (given by Wilson Pickett, for Duane’s over the top guitar playing and use of recreational substances). This book is a comprehensive look at Duane’s life, the time and struggles before forming the Allman Brothers Band, and up to his death in 1971 at the early age of 24. Although the Allman Brothers Band continued to record and make music after Duane’s death by motorcycle accident, without Duane there certainly would have been no Allman Brothers band. The book illustrates the depth of his slide guitar prowess and widespread influence. It also covers his collaboration with many other musicians, including Wilson Pickett, Eric Clapton (Duane wrote the opening guitar riff in Layla), King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Herbie Mann, and Boz Scaggs. Shortly after Duane’s death, the Allman Brothers Band released Eat a Peach, a double album mixed with live and studio recordings, both with and without Duane’s guitar playing. Of course, Capricorn (their record company) suggested the double album be titled The Kind We Grow in Dixie. Rightfully rejecting the proposal, the Allman Brothers Band decided on Eat a Peach, citing a quote from Duane:
“I’m hitting a lick for peace – and every time I’m in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace. But you can’t help the revolution, because there’s just evolution. I understand the need for a lot of changes in the country, but I believe that as soon as everybody can see just a little bit better, and get a little hipper to what’s going on, they’re going to change it. Everybody will – not just the young people. Everybody is going to say, ‘ Man, this stinks. I cannot tolerate the smell of this thing anymore. Let’s eliminate it and get straight with ourselves.’ I believe if everybody does it for themselves, it’ll take care of itself.”
Poe, Randy. Skydog: The Duane Allman Story. Backbeat. 2008.
Underfunded libraries, schools, and organizations that provide educational services to children or youth are invited to apply for a Coretta Scott King Book Donation Grant.
Every year, in the process of choosing the Coretta Scott King Book Award winners and honor books, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table Jury Committee receives multiple copies of over 100 titles by African American authors and illustrators.
Awarded
by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, the grant program provides
books submitted for consideration for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards to
libraries and other organizations to expand their collections.
Applicants must demonstrate the following:
Why the collection is needed in their community?
Why the collection is needed in their agency or institution?
How would acquiring the collection will help to better serve the children and youth of their community?
That the materials will be made freely available to children and youth without censorship
A committee appointed by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee Chair will review the applications and based on the total number of points, determine the recipient or recipients of the materials. To assure agencies and institutions receive age appropriate books, the committee reserves the right to divide a single grant among two or more agencies or institutions.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.
