Everyday Gratitude: Inspiration for Living Life as a Gift edited by Saoirse McClory, Kristi Nelson, and Margaret Wakeley

Often library patrons ask for a book of “inspiration” or “positivity” or “philosophy ” or “life.”   For them Everyday Gratitude may be the perfect choice.    Appealingly small and colorful, each page contains a short quote intended to inspire gratitude and attributed to its source.  Sources range from contemporary figures like the Dalai Lama, Angela Davis, and Julia Alvarez, to older sages like Zora Neale Hurston, Khalil Gibran, and ancients like Confucius and Lao Tzu.  

In addition to each quote the reader will find a question or two offering more reflection for readers to ponder. 

Unfortunately the irregularity of size and shape of the lettering for the quotes may be a hindrance to some students with reading challenges.  Nevertheless the small size and brevity of the text on each page makes it worthwhile for inclusion in collections,  and note the sewn-in ribbon book mark.  Backmatter includes acknowledgements and source credits.  

This slim volume may offer classes and bookclubs much material for rich discussion and debate around these seemingly simple, profound quotes. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Core Biography List

Which are the most popular and essential biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies in your collection?  Here are Passages Academy Libraries':

1) Yummy by Greg Neri, Illustrated by Randy DuBurke  (n.b. This hybrid volume contains an acknowledged element of fiction)

 

2) A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

3) The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X, Alex Haley and Attallah Shabazz

 

4) Life in Prison by Stanley Tookie Williams (n.b. Currently only available in a hardbound version)

5) Saddleback's Hip-Hop Biography series titles Drake, Nikki Minaj, Beyonce

6) LeBron James: King of Shots by Anne E. Hill

7) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures

8) A Question of Freedom by Dwayne Betts

9) Fist Stick Knife Gun by Geoffrey Canada, illustrated by Jamar Nicholas

10) Burned Alive by Souad

 

11) DK Biography: Barack Obama by Stephen Krensky

---Passages Academy Library Team

Before I Die by Candy Chang

What do you want to do before you die?  

Candy Chang contextualizes this question in New Orleans after the storm, the wake of tremendous personal loss, and the Stoics’ suggestion that to contemplate death is to restore perspective and make life meaningful. Chang introduces her book with this context, and then goes on to describe her project to paint an abandoned house in her neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stencil it with a grid of the sentence, “Before I die I want to ________________.”  Anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in public.  This book shares highlights via text and photographs of Chang’s New Orleans installation, and then goes on to show images and quotes as the community art installation found new life in new environs.  Artists and community members in Jerusalem, Germany, South Africa, Thailand, and more created similar projects to similar effect.  The book also includes “remixes,” stats, and directions for making this kind of wall project.  This book can inspire students to talk about public art, to think about the questions worth asking, and to reflect on what they hope to accomplish, as well as evoke responses to the aspirations from around the world contained within the covers. The design of the book uses pulled quotes against solid color rectangles alongside colorful images of text, rendering it accessible for emerging readers as well as their more sophisticated peers.  Recommended for independent reading, inquiry, and art educators. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Chang, Candy.  Before I Die.  New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013.  Print.

Cosmogirl! Words to Live By

“Women’s place is in the House-- and in the Senate.” juxtaposed a few pages away from “I love being a girl because I like making guys turn their head.” Hmm. While some of the quotes in this tiny book fall a little short of inspiration, I still strongly recommend this book because it has enough fluff to appeal to a reader looking for light reading combined with enough wisdom and provocative content to instigate deeper incidental thinking or thoughtful conversation. Each page features one to three quotes from individuals both famous and anonymously cited only by first name, age (teens), and the fact that she is a reader of Cosmogirl. This book could be a simple way to locate quotes to kick off a women’s history month inquiry project. The book is divided up into seven chapters covering It’s a Girl Thing, Love Lines, Spirit, Friends and Family, Tough Stuff, Dream it, Be it, and Life Lessons. With an introduction from the magazine’s editor-in-chief and an index to the famous folks quoted inside, the short 212 pages are more addictive than the cover might suggest.