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Tag Archives: Black Voices
Book Club Spotlight – You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey
Yesterday (June 19th) was the second time in Nebraska’s history that Juneteenth was celebrated as an official state holiday. And to honor the celebrations, today’s Book Club Spotlight features Nebraska Native and host of her own Peacock late-night talk show, Amber Ruffin! Ruffin has talked extensively about Juneteenth, its history, and misconceptions in a fantastic segment on her show called How Did We Get Here, which is absolutely worth the watch. Ruffin has had an incredible career as a comedian, writing for Seth Meyers, the Golden Globes, and of course, The Amber Ruffin show. Her book, You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, co-authored with her sister Lacey Lamar, a worker in the health and human services field, consists of short but absurd stories recounted by Lamar of racism, from micro to macroaggressions in their hometown of Omaha.
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey is a collection of real stories told by Ruffin and Lamar, primarily focusing on Lamar’s life as a Black woman in Omaha and the unintentional (or intentional!) racism that she faces daily. While Lamar’s stories can get pretty bleak, the book’s goal is not wholly serious. The stories are wild and addicting, and it’s easy to get sucked in and finish the book in one sitting. The sisters are natural comedians who bounce off each other like they’re gossiping with you about a ridiculous thing that happened to them while getting your nails done together. And that’s part of the goal! To show the absurdity of racism when it’s filed down to the smallest moments of touching a Black woman’s hair to being stopped by the police for skipping down the street. Even the smallest moments build up over a lifetime of experience and paint a larger picture of racism that’s normalized in our culture.
“I have never been able to understand why white people have such a low tolerance for hearing about racism. I mean, we have to live it! The least you could do is nod your head.”
Amber Ruffin
Picked as the 2021 Omaha Reads title, the goal of You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey is different for each reader. For white readers, Ruffin hopes they will walk away with a new perspective on what it’s like to be a modern Black American. And she hopes Black readers will recognize themselves and know they’re not alone. It is both parts, a book of revelation and validation. Their second book, The World Record Book of Racist Stories, is a collection much like You’ll Never Believe. It includes stories from their parents, siblings, and other family members to bring even more laughs and gasps of horror from the wildest things people say and do.
If you’re interested in requesting You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request form here. There are 7 copies available. (A librarian must request items)
Ruffin, Amber; Lamar, Lacey. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey. Grand Central Publishing. 2021.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black Voices, book club spotlight, Juneteenth, Nebraska Authors
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Book Club Spotlight – I Have Always Been Me
During Black History Month, we’re showcasing books by some incredible authors to celebrate Black voices in literature. And this week’s highlighted book, I Have Always Been Me by Precious Brady-Davis, is a bold coming-of-age and coming-of-self story set in a familiar locale. Born and raised in Omaha, Brady-Davis serves as the director of communications at the Sierra Club, a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, and an LGBT+ and HIV activist. She was the first publicly out transgender woman on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and was featured on another TLC show, “My Pregnant Husband: documenting her and her husband’s journey to having a child together as a trans couple.
Precious was often the odd one out in her family and her Omaha community. Assigned as male at birth and growing up being perceived as one, she knew that her innate femininity was leading to bullying and unwanted attention. Being moved around between family members, foster care, and schools, it wasn’t until she started attending UNL that Precious began performing drag and was able to embrace the more authentic side of herself. During her education, Precious found her talent and love for diversity and inclusion advocacy through local programs and support from her peers and teachers. However, she had to reckon with her empathy and love for all people with what she was taught at home and in church. Precious recounts her intimate relationship with religion that shaped her youth and how it led to her continued ostracization by people she felt the closest to due to her gender nonconformity. And her reckoning between these two worlds that seemed so disparate is found to be fundamentally a part of her person. Eventually moving to Chicago to finish school at Columbia College, Precious continued to find and foster her queer identity, finally coming to herself as a trans woman and devoting her life to advocacy work, eventually falling in love and fully cementing her foundation for an incredible future ahead.
“For all of us who have been marginalized, who have been abandoned by those who are meant to love us, who have been damned by those who are meant to bless us, who have been looked at with disgust and told that we are wrong, that we are sinful, that we are abominations, now is the time to go forth and be fierce with clear intent while standing tall, showing that marginalized folks aren’t going anywhere as we activate our power.”
Precious Brady-Davis
I Have Always Been Me is a well-known tale of how a person can desperately search for a community as a child but be turned away at every corner. And it isn’t until they are introduced to the world of unconditional acceptance that they finally have the tools to escape survival mode to grow and flourish. While the subject may be new, the story will feel familiar to members of an adult or mature young-adult book group and can open the floor to discussion on the different ways people can be made to feel like outsiders and how vital community support is for disenfranchised young people. Stories like Brady-Davis’s are pivotal in normalizing and loving trans people, especially Black Trans women in Nebraska. Reading the interpersonal stories of affected people, like with any other minority group, lends a bigger picture to the conversation in ways only literature can and showcases the incredible resilience needed to simply be yourself.
If you’re interested in requesting I Have Always Been Me for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here. There are 10 copies available (A librarian must request items)
To see more of our Black Voices book club titles, visit here
Brady-Davis, Precious. I Have Always Been Me. TOPPLE Books. 2021.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black Voices, book club spotlight, books, Nebraska Author, Reading
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#BookFaceFriday – “Black Print with a White Carnation” by Amy Helene Forss
#BookFaceFriday celebrates Black History Month!
Extra, extra, read all about it with this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Black Print with a White Carnation: Mildred Brown and the Omaha Star Newspaper, 1938-1989” by Amy Helene Forss (University of Nebraska Press; Illustrated edition, 2014.) You can find this title in the Nebraska Library Commission’s permanent collection; the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons. Find great reads to celebrate Black History Month in all of NLC’s collections, including Book Club Kits, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.
“In addition to its well-researched look at Brown’s career, the book provides an informative description of the history of black-owned newspapers in North America, going back to the founding in 1853 of the Provincial Freeman, an antislavery newspaper in Canada.” ―Omaha World-Herald
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Club Spotlight – Long Way Down
It’s our first Book Club Spotlight of Black History Month, which means this month, we’re showcasing books by incredible authors to celebrate Black Voices in literature. Today’s author, Jason Reynolds, is the recipient of awards such as the NAACP Image Award and multiple Coretta Scott King honors and was the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Reynolds encourages us not to see the genre of YA as limiting, enjoying the freedom of emotion young people carry to tell good stories. Today’s spotlight, recipient of the Printz and Newbery Honors, Long Way Down, is written in free verse, through snippets of dreams and recollections, as a young boy is visited by the ghosts of his past.
After witnessing his brother’s murder, Will knows what he has to do. Follow The Rules.
1) Don’t Cry 2) Don’t Snitch 3) Get Revenge.
He doesn’t know who created The Rules and when, but he does know that it’s his duty to follow them. Because he knows, or at least he thinks he knows, who killed Shawn. Will finds his brother’s hidden gun, gets on the 8th-floor elevator and presses L. As Will goes further down the elevator, he is visited by those who are gone because of the same Rules he is now going to follow, and he is given a chance to either continue the cycle or break it apart.
“MY MOTHER USED TO SAY
Jason Reynolds
I know you’re young,
gotta get it out
but just remember, when
you’re walking in the nighttime,
make sure the nighttime
ain’t walking into you.”
For ages 12 and above, Long Way Down skillfully employs free verse to weave together an unforgettable story about the cycle of violence, especially in how it affects urban and Black communities. Reynolds prefers not to shy away from realism and challenging topics in his novels because the kids reading them have experienced or will experience the same situations in real life. Reynolds, himself, almost fell victim to the cycle when he was younger, and he uses his real-life experiences and emotions to cut to the core of why violence like this continues to happen. Much like Will’s elevator ride that only takes sixty seconds, but lasts a whole novel, reading Long Way Down, can be taken at whatever pace is comfortable to the reader’s skill level. And as violence in schools continues to be a constant fear, there will be plenty for young reading groups to discuss as the floors tick by.
If you’re interested in requesting Long Way Down for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here. There are 10 copies available (Items must be requested by a librarian)
To read more by Jason Reynolds, check out his Track Series, or, The Boy in the Black Suit (One Book For Nebraska Teens 2019).
Reynolds, Jason. Long Way Down. Atheneum. 2017.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black History Month, Black Voices, book club spotlight, books, Reading
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Book Club Spotlight – The Fishermen
While we’re busy getting snowed in this week, you’ll want to hunker down with a good book like this week’s spotlight! During the winter holidays, many of us spend our time around family or loved ones, and The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma is, first and foremost, a book about family. Written as a love letter to his brothers, Obioma explores the intrinsic connection between siblings and how easily chaos can sow a rift between them. I love sharing books that have a special connection to Nebraska, and The Fishermen, recipient of the 2016 Nebraska Book Award for fiction, is an excellent example of one such book. Born in Nigeria, Chigozie Obioma is currently the James E. Ryan Associate Professor of Creative writing at UNL. The Fishermen, his debut novel, also won the Inaugural FT/Oppenheimer Award for Fiction, the NAACP Image Awards for Debut Literary Work, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.
In 1990s Nigeria, under the dictatorship of Gen. Sani Abacha, there is a family of brothers. Ikenna, the oldest; Boja and Obembe in the middle; and the youngest, Ben as our narrator. When their father moves away for work, the delicate family structure begins to crumble without its leader. In a fit of rebellion, the four boys go behind their mother’s back to fish in a forbidden and polluted river, leaving her clueless, tending to their two youngest siblings. At the river, the boys encounter the town’s prophetic madman, who convinces Ikenna that he will be murdered brutally by one of his siblings. Driven mad by this prophecy, the family suffers the loss of another authority figure, as their eldest brother becomes suspicious, anxious, and even violent toward them. So, the four brothers, like Cain and Abel before them, are plunged into turmoil, testing their bond and loyalty to the bitter end.
“I heard someone say that the end of most things often bears a resemblance- even if faint- to their beginnings”
– Chigozie Obioma
Perfect for an adult book group that enjoys character-driven plots that tell a deeper story, The Fishermen is rife with metaphors and parables from Obioma’s Igbo roots. Described as “an essential novel about Africa with all of its contradictions—economic, political and religious—and the epic beauty of its own culture,” each of the brothers represents the four major tribes of Nigeria and how the political tumult in the country led to unrest between them. Even though the novel is an allegory for and takes place during a dangerous time in Nigeria’s history, this is not a historical war novel. While affected and aware of the situation, the children are more invested in their interpersonal lives rather than politics. This style reminds me of the show Derry Girls in how it isn’t only addressing issues in a political sense but also in a personal sense. And in this book is about strife and torn bonds, Obioma delivers hope for the future resting on the next generation’s unmarred shoulders.
If you’re interested in requesting this book for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here. There are 20 copies available with large print and audio CD (Items must be requested by a librarian)
Obioman, Chigozie. The Fishermen. Little, Brown and Company. 2015.
Book Club Spotlight – Pet
When asked to write a flagship title for the new Random House imprint “Make Me a World,” author Akwaeke Emezi set out to create a story that they would want to read if they were a teen today. Their final product, Pet, surpasses that goal, having earned a spot in TIME Magazine’s “100 Best YA Books of All Time”. In 2021, Emezi was named a Next Generation Leader by TIME and is a National Book Foundation “5 under 35” honoree, setting the standard (and a high bar) for contemporary childhood reading and authors alike.
“There shouldn’t be any monsters left in Lucille.” In the utopic town of Lucille, “angels” have defeated and locked away all the “monsters,” creating a small paradise where all are welcome. Unfortunately, these angels, who then took up positions of power, only locked away these monsters, and did not prevent them from being created. Then, one summer night, a horrifying creature emerges from Jam’s mother’s painting and warns her of a monster still in Lucille. And when the adults refuse to believe them, Jam, and the creature, Pet, have no choice but to go on the hunt alone. Finding themselves deep in the local library’s archives, Jam, with her best friend Redemption and Pet, finally learns what monsters are and how to spot them. The trio discover that the horrors the angels claimed to have defeated are still there. But with the world around them in denial, what can they do?
“But forgetting is dangerous. Forgetting is how the monsters come back.”
Akwaeke Emezi
Pet is a perfect jumping-off point for YA (or adult) book groups to explore the world of language and communication. Especially since Jam is selectively verbal, mainly communicating through sign, the language in this book is very specific and resounding. Because language is constantly evolving, Emezi asks the reader what happens when we lose the words that shape our experiences. Does something really go away just because you don’t talk about it? Community is also a strong theme in Pet, which can lead to discussions over how it affects our sense of self. For example, Lucille, an all-Black town, was written to be like the ones found in Toni Morrison’s novels, where they are a whole world unto themselves. What would it be like to live in such a welcoming and insular community like Lucille, where everyone belongs without question, even a Black trans girl like Jam? What does it mean when the characters say, “We are each other’s harvest? We are each other’s business. We are each other’s magnitude and bond”. And do they mean it?
Like our previous spotlight, Melissa, Pet was recently added to our collection thanks to a grant from the Reading Classic Committee. And a prequel, Bitter, was released in February 2022.
If you’re interested in requesting this book for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here. (Items must be requested by a librarian)
Emezi, Akwaeke. Pet. Make Me a World. 2019.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black Voices, Book Club, book club spotlight, LGBTQ+, Reading
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Book Club Spotlight – Sula
I believe that Toni Morrison is best read in the heat of the summer. I find her work sits with me best during extreme weather or extreme times. Her prose and unashamed depictions of Black lives always get to me, and her rhythm never falters. So when HBO announced they’re making a limited series adaptation of Morrison’s 1973 work, Sula, I figured it was a perfect time to add it to the Spotlight!
When reading Sula, we first learn about two towns on a hill—The Bottom on top and the white town below. We meet the people who came together to make the Bottom a community and have held it together since. Once the story has settled into the established Bottom, actions and judgments have taken place, and people’s livelihoods have come and gone; only then do we meet the titular Sula and her best friend/mirror Nel. Both girls are from families with deep ties in the Bottom, and are set up on entirely different tracks they have no choice but to follow. As we watch Sula and Nel grow older and split as they mature, Sula’s perception in and of the town changes. While Nel is the upstanding young wife and mother, Sula is the seductress, the rebel, and the reason for the town to unite against a common enemy. And for what end?
“She had no center, no speck around which to grow.”
Toni Morrison
I adore Sula as a Book Club read; it’s hard to understate the importance of the novel as a tool of Black Feminist literary criticism and work. Described on Oprah.com as “a lyrical blend of myth and magic, as real as a history lesson, and as enchanting as a fable,” the empty spaces of the novel are where it really shines. Because of these knowledge gaps, you, the reader, are integral to the meaning-making process of Sula. In a book club, one member might read it through a cultural lens, another for the feminist or psychological themes, yet another can find interest in simply the history of the period.
If you’re interested in requesting this book for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here. (Items must be requested by a librarian)
To see more of our Black Voices collection, visit the link here.
Toni Morrison. Sula. Knopf. 1973.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black Voices, Book Club, Book Club Kits, book club spotlight
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Book Club Spotlight – How to Be an Antiracist
Welcome to the first Book Club Spotlight of June! With Juneteenth this month, I thought we’d start by highlighting How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Dr. Kendi is a historian, and the founding director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. Having spent 45 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List, and named one of Time’s “must-read” books, How to Be an Antiracist now has two companion books: Antiracist Baby, and Be Antiracist.
Using a memoir approach, How to Be an Antiracist follows Dr. Kendi through his formative years, experiencing racism as a Black man and acting upon it himself. The narrative works as a starting point for those new to the antiracist ideology by examining ethics, intersectionality, and the history of racism/race from a first-person perspective. How to Be an Antiracist encourages its readers not just to be opposed to racism but to see how it affects every aspect of our lives and to challenge it.
“What a powerful construction race is—powerful enough to consume us. And it comes for us early.”
Ibram X. Kendi
Being only the second year that Juneteenth has been recognized as a federal holiday, discussions of race might be on your book club members’ minds. I’d recommend this for adult book groups who don’t know where to start in their discussion of race or just want to learn more about the racial system in America. Dr. Kendi leads the reader through difficult terrain in a manner accessible to the layman and ripe for discussion. His guided journal, Be Antiracist, can also help facilitate discussion amongst your members with questions such as: “Who or what scares you the most when you think about race?” and “What constitutes an American to you?”
If you’re interested in reserving this title for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here.
To see more of our Black Voices collection, visit the link here.
Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be an Antiracist. New York, NY: One World, 2019.
Posted in Books & Reading
Tagged Black Voices, Book Club, book club spotlight, books, Reading
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#BookFaceFriday – “Furious Cool” by David Henry and Joe Henry
#BookFaceFriday celebrates Black History Month!
Laugh and cry with this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World that Made Him” by David Henry and Joe Henry (Workman Publishing, 2013.) You can find this title in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries curated collection “Black Voices and Black History,” created to help users find great reads to celebrate Black History Month. Its 195 titles consist of literature, fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, and biographies.
“Richard Pryor lives again in the pages of Furious Cool by David and Joe Henry. With heart and grace and witnessing, they show us how and why this comic and tragic genius changed the culture of this country when he could not change himself. You may be meeting or rediscovering Pryor, but he’s likely to change you, too.” ―Gloria Steinem
Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive. Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 186 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,554 audiobooks, 32,935 eBooks, and 3,940 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!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Biography, Black History, Black History Month, Black Voices, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, ebooks, nonfiction, OverDrive, Richard Pryor
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