Hutchins Library News Blog

In 1970, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea of a nationwide environmental teach-in, and he recruited Denis Hayes to be the national coordinator. That first event became known as Earth Day, and the event has been observed ever since on April 22. Today communities in the United States and around the world engage in actions to focused on nature and environmental issues. Today the observance is coordinated by EarthDay.org.

Here is a selected list of resources that may be of interest.

Some books from Hutchins Library. You can find these and other books searching the library catalog.

The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair by Denis Hayes

Call Number: Stacks 363.7 H417o 2000

ISBN: 9781559638098

Publication Date: 2000-02-02

Everyone talks about the weather but no one ever does anything about it. Sadly, that old joke is no longer true. A large body of increasingly compelling scientific evidence is telling us that many things we do -- from the kinds of cars we drive to how we heat our homes -- are directly affecting our global climate in unprecedented and alarming ways. But what can any one person do about this vast, global problem? Help fix it! And it doesn't have to be a do-it-yourself project; we citizens and stewards of the earth can unite in greater numbers and power than ever before.In The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair, Earth Day leader and renewable energy expert Denis Hayes tells us how changes in individual, local, and national energy choices can slow or even stop the dangerous build-up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, while at the same time saving us money, helping the economy, creating new jobs, and enhancing human health. A how-to home improvement guide for the planet, the book: describes the problem of global warming today as well as its likely effects in the future considers the sources of energy available to us, and explains why one of them is the Earth's best hope offers dozens of ways to painlessly reduce your own energy use provides action steps to affect the world's energy use and help change policy tells where to go for further help and more information The first Earth Day in 1970 helped launch the modern environmental movement. Rather than waiting for elected officials to take action to address environmental abuses, environmental maverick Denis Hayes and his compatriots took the lead in bringing the subject to the forefront of American consciousness. Through three decades, the idea of Earth Day has flourished, and now more than ever, individuals need to take matters into their own hands and create change from the ground up and from the whole earth down. As citizens and consumers, we hold a vast capacity for improving our environment and leaving a bright legacy for our children. For seasoned green veterans and environmental newcomers alike, The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair is the must-have book for the next century.

 

American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau by Bill McKibben (Editor)

Call Number: Stacks 820.936 A5115 2008

ISBN: 9781598530209

Publication Date: 2008-04-17

As America and the world grapple with the consequences of global environmental change, writer and activist Bill McKibben offers this unprecedented, provocative, and timely anthology, gathering the best and most significant American environmental writing from the last two centuries. Classics of the environmental imagination, the essays of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Burroughs; Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac; Rachel Carson's Silent Spring - are set against the inspiring story of an emerging activist movement, as revealed by newly uncovered reports of pioneering campaigns for conservation, passages from landmark legal opinions and legislation, and searing protest speeches. Here are some of America's greatest and most impassioned writers, taking a turn toward nature and recognizing the fragility of our situation on earth and the urgency of the search for a sustainable way of life. Thought-provoking essays on overpopulation, consumerism, energy policy, and the nature of nature, join ecologists - memoirs and intimate sketches of the habitats of endangered species. The anthology includes a detailed chronology of the environmental movement and American environmental history, as well as an 80-page color portfolio of illustrations.

 

Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley

Call Number: Stacks 333.72 B858s 2022

ISBN: 9780063212916

Publication Date: 2022-11-15

New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the Long Sixties (1960-1973), telling the story of an indomitable generation that saved the natural world under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. With the detonation of the Trinity explosion in the New Mexico desert in 1945, the United States took control of Earth's destiny for the first time. After the Truman administration dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II, a grim new epoch had arrived. During the early Cold War years, the federal government routinely detonated nuclear devices in the Nevada desert and the Marshall Islands. Not only was nuclear fallout a public health menace, but entire ecosystems were contaminated with radioactive materials. During the 1950s, an unprecedented postwar economic boom took hold, with America becoming the world's leading hyperindustrial and military giant. But with this historic prosperity came a heavy cost: oceans began to die, wilderness vanished, the insecticide DDT poisoned ecosystems, wildlife perished, and chronic smog blighted major cities. In Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long Sixties: Rachel Carson (a marine biologist and author), David Brower (director of the Sierra Club), Barry Commoner (an environmental justice advocate), Coretta Scott King (an antinuclear activist), Stewart Udall (the secretary of the interior), William O. Douglas (Supreme Court justice), Cesar Chavez (a labor organizer), and other crusaders are profiled with verve and insight. Carson's book Silent Spring, published in 1962, depicted how detrimental DDT was to living creatures. The exposé launched an ecological revolution that inspired such landmark legislation as the Wilderness Act (1964), the Clean Air Acts (1963 and 1970), and the Endangered Species Acts (1966, 1969, and 1973). In intimate detail, Brinkley extrapolates on such epic events as the Donora (Pennsylvania) smog incident, JFK's Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Great Lakes preservation, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the first Earth Day. With the United States grappling with climate change and resource exhaustion, Douglas Brinkley's meticulously researched and deftly written Silent Spring Revolution reminds us that a new generation of twenty-first-century environmentalists can save the planet from ruin. Silent Spring Revolution features two 8-page color photo inserts.

 

Natural Visions by Finis Dunaway

Call Number: Stacks 333.7209 D897n 2005

ISBN: 9780226173252

Publication Date: 2005-11-15

Walden Pond. The Grand Canyon.Yosemite National Park. Throughout the twentieth century, photographers and filmmakers created unforgettable images of these and other American natural treasures. Many of these images, including the work of Ansel Adams, continue to occupy a prominent place in the American imagination. Making these representations, though, was more than a purely aesthetic project. In fact, portraying majestic scenes and threatened places galvanized concern for the environment and its protection. Natural Visions documents through images the history of environmental reform from the Progressive era to the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, showing the crucial role the camera played in the development of the conservation movement. In Natural Visions, Finis Dunaway tells the story of how visual imagery--such as wilderness photographs, New Deal documentary films, and Sierra Club coffee-table books--shaped modern perceptions of the natural world. By examining the relationship between the camera and environmental politics through detailed studies of key artists and activists, Dunaway captures the emotional and spiritual meaning that became associated with the American landscape. Throughout the book, he reveals how photographers and filmmakers adapted longstanding traditions in American culture--the Puritan jeremiad, the romantic sublime, and the frontier myth--to literally picture nature as a place of grace for the individual and the nation. Beautifully illustrated with photographs by Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, and a host of other artists, Natural Visions will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in American cultural history, the visual arts, and environmentalism.

 

The End of Eden by Thomas Rain Crowe; Robert Johnson (Artist)

Call Number: Stacks 333.7 C953e 2008

ISBN: 9781893239807

Publication Date: 2008-01-01

The essays of Thomas Rain Crowe combine with the stirring illustrations of Robert Johnson to produce a prophetic vision of the world in which we live -- a vision of what we have and what we stand to lose through our careless disregard for the Earth and its finite resources. Crowe shows us the means by which we may save ourselves and our planet.

 

 

For the Health of the Land by Scott Russell Sanders (Foreword by); Aldo Leopold; J. Baird Callicott (Editor); Eric T. Freyfogle (Editor)

Call Number: Stacks 333.951 L587f

ISBN: 9781559637633

Publication Date: 1999-09-01

A collection of previously unavailable essays by environmentalist Aldo Leopold, building on the tradition of ethical land use and developing the concept of land health and the practical measures landowners can take to sustain it. Containing over 40 short pieces arranged in a seasonal almanac form along with longer essays arranged chronologically, each piece is introduced and set in context by the editors.

 

Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman

Call Number: Stacks 363.705 F911h 2008

ISBN: 9780374166854

Publication Date: 2008-09-08

In his brilliant, essential new book, Friedman takes a fresh and provocative look at two of the biggest challenges we face today: America's surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11; and the global environmental crisis, which is affecting everything from food to fuel to forests. In this groundbreaking account of where we stand now, he shows us how the solutions to these two big problems are linked--how we can restore the world and revive America at the same time. Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the astonishing expansion of the world's middle class through globalization have produced a planet that is "hot, flat, and crowded." Already the earth is being affected in ways that threaten to make it dangerously unstable. In just a few years, it will be too late to fix things--unless the United States steps up now and takes the lead in a worldwide effort to replace our wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation that Friedman calls Code Green. This is a great challenge, Friedman explains, but also a great opportunity, and one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth; it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America. In vivid, entertaining chapters, Friedman makes it clear that the green revolution we need is like no revolution the world has seen. It will be the biggest innovation project in American history; it will be hard, not easy; and it will change everything from what you put into your car to what you see on your electric bill. But the payoff for America will be more than just cleaner air. It will inspire Americans to something we haven't seen in a long time--nation-building in America--by summoning the intelligence, creativity, boldness, and concern for the common good that are our nation's greatest natural resources. Hot, Flat, and Crowded is classic Thomas L. Friedman: fearless, incisive, forward-looking, and rich in surprising common sense about the challenge--and the promise--of the future.

 

 

Storming the Wall by Todd Miller

Call Number: Stacks 304.873 M651s 2017

ISBN: 9780872867154

Publication Date: 2017-09-12

As global warming accelerates, droughts last longer, floods rise higher, and super-storms become more frequent. With increasing numbers of people on the move as a result, the business of containing them--border fortification--is booming. In Storming the Wall, Todd Miller travels around the world to connect the dots between climate-ravaged communities, the corporations cashing in on border militarization, and emerging movements for environmental justice and sustainability. Reporting from the flashpoints of climate clashes, and from likely sites of futures battles, Miller chronicles a growing system of militarized divisions between the rich and the poor, the environmentally secure and the environmentally exposed. Stories of crisis, greed and violence are juxtaposed with powerful examples of solidarity and hope in this urgent and timely message from the frontlines of the post-Paris Agreement era.

 

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells

Call Number: Stacks 304.28 W195u 2019

ISBN: 9780525576709

Publication Date: 2019-02-19

 It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible--food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An "epoch-defining book" (The Guardian) and "this generation's Silent Spring" (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it--the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation--today's.

 

 

Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich

Call Number: Stacks 363.738 R499L 2019

ISBN: 9780374191337

Publication Date: 2019-04-09

By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change--including how to stop it. Over the next decade, a handful of scientists, politicians, and strategists, led by two unlikely heroes, risked their careers in a desperate, escalating campaign to convince the world to act before it was too late. Losing Earth is their story, and ours. The New York Times Magazine devoted an entire issue to Nathaniel Rich's groundbreaking chronicle of that decade, which became an instant journalistic phenomenon--the subject of news coverage, editorials, and conversations all over the world. In its emphasis on the lives of the people who grappled with the great existential threat of our age, it made vivid the moral dimensions of our shared plight. Now expanded into book form, Losing Earth tells the human story of climate change in even richer, more intimate terms. It reveals, in previously unreported detail, the birth of climate denialism and the genesis of the fossil fuel industry's coordinated effort to thwart climate policy through misinformation propaganda and political influence. The book carries the story into the present day, wrestling with the long shadow of our past failures and asking crucial questions about how we make sense of our past, our future, and ourselves. Like John Hersey's Hiroshima and Jonathan Schell's The Fate of the Earth, Losing Earth is the rarest of achievements: a riveting work of dramatic history that articulates a moral framework for understanding how we got here, and how we must go forward.

 

Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes; Erik M. Conway

Call Number: Stacks 174.95 O669m 2011

ISBN: 9781608193943

Publication Date: 2015-02-26

Featuring a new Foreword by former Vice President Al Gore, Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. "Important and timely. We ignore this message at our peril."--Elizabeth Kolbert Merchants of Doubt has been praised--and attacked--around the world, for reasons easy to understand. This book tells, with "brutal clarity" (Huffington Post), the disquieting story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. The same individuals who claim the science of global warming is "not settled" have also denied the truth about studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Merchants of Doubt rolls back the rug on this dark corner of American science. Now with a new Foreword by former Vice President Al Gore, and with a new Postscript by the authors.

Want to do some more research on Earth Day or other environmental and nature topics? You can use one of our periodical databases. You can find our databases from the library website going under "Electronic Resources." You could try the following databases to find articles popular and scholarly:

• GreenFile
• Agricola
• Science Direct
• J-Stor

From the web, in addition to the links above:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Earth Day page.
• The National Geographic Society Earth Day page.

Welcome to another edition of "From Our Shelves," where I read a book from our collection and write a short review about it to help you decide if you want to read it or not. This week (April 7-13) is National Library Week, a week to promote libraries, their services, and advocate for supporting our libraries. Hutchins Library will be celebrating with a series of events this week. The library sent out campus wide emails with the flyer listing the events. I hope the campus community will join us.

These are challenging times for libraries given issues such as book challenges and bans. In fact, the American Library Association reported a record number of unique book titles challenged in American libraries in 2023. This week then I am featuring a book that looks at some of this history. The book is Burning the Books: a History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge by Richard Ovenden. In this book, destruction can go from warfare and pillage (which can include what the author might charitably call "displaced or migrated" archives, but you want to read on for details) to neglect and defunding. The book also presents stories of librarians, archivists, and other ordinary people working to save knowledge, often at great risk to their lives. The book covers from ancient times to the modern era. The author's discussion of modern archives, digital data, and preservation are a great reason to read this book. See below for the library catalog link and entry to find the book in Hutchins Library.

Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden

Call Number: Stacks 363.3109 O961b 2020

ISBN: 9780674241206

Publication Date: 2020-11-17

The director of the famed Bodleian Libraries at Oxford narrates the global history of the willful destruction--and surprising survival--of recorded knowledge over the past three millennia. Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. Burning the Books recounts the history that brought us to this point. Richard Ovenden describes the deliberate destruction of knowledge held in libraries and archives from ancient Alexandria to contemporary Sarajevo, from smashed Assyrian tablets in Iraq to the destroyed immigration documents of the UK Windrush generation. He examines both the motivations for these acts--political, religious, and cultural--and the broader themes that shape this history. He also looks at attempts to prevent and mitigate attacks on knowledge, exploring the efforts of librarians and archivists to preserve information, often risking their own lives in the process. More than simply repositories for knowledge, libraries and archives inspire and inform citizens. In preserving notions of statehood recorded in such historical documents as the Declaration of Independence, libraries support the state itself. By preserving records of citizenship and records of the rights of citizens as enshrined in legal documents such as the Magna Carta and the decisions of the US Supreme Court, they support the rule of law. In Burning the Books, Ovenden takes a polemical stance on the social and political importance of the conservation and protection of knowledge, challenging governments in particular, but also society as a whole, to improve public policy and funding for these essential institutions.

Just in time for National Library Week, the American Library Association has announced the list of 10 most challenged books in 2023 (story via The Advocate). I went ahead and checked our library catalog, and Hutchins Library has 9 of the 10 books in our collections. So if you are curious or want some good reading, here is the catalog information for the books so you can find them on our shelves. Help celebrate the freedom to read.

Gender Queer: a Memoir by Maia Kobabe

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours 306.7608 K754g

ISBN: 9781549304002

Publication Date: 2019-05-28

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns,thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fan fiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates,friends, and humans everywhere.  

 

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours 306.766 J671a 2020

ISBN: 9780374312718

Publication Date: 2020-04-28

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.  From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

 

This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson; David Levithan (Introduction by)

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours 306.76 D272b 2021

ISBN: 9781728254326

Publication Date: 2021-09-07

The bestselling young adult non-fiction book on sexuality and gender! Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Intersex. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU. This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it's like to grow up LGBTQ also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations. Inside this revised and updated edition, you'll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask, with topics like: Stereotypes--the facts and fiction, Coming out as LGBT, Where to meet people like you, The ins and outs of gay sex, How to flirt, and so much more! You will be entertained. You will be informed. But most importantly, you will know that however you identify (or don't) and whomever you love, you are exceptional. You matter. And so does this book. This book is for: LGBTQIA+ teens, tweens, and adults, readers looking to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community, parents of gay kids and other LGBT youth, educators looking for advice about the LGBTQIA+ community.

 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours C513p 1999

ISBN: 9780671027346

Publication Date: 1999-02-01

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. A #1 New York Times bestseller for more than a year, adapted into a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson (and written and directed by the author), and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), this novel for teen readers (or wallflowers of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.

 

Flamer by Mike Curato (Illustrator)

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours 741.597 C975f

ISBN: 9781627796415

Publication Date: 2020-09-01

Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They're mean, and scary, and they're always destroying something or saying something dumb or both. I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe. It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes--but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.

 

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours M8822bL 1993

ISBN: 9780679433736

Publication Date: 1993-12-28

The Bluest Eye,published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

 

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Call Number: Hutchins Library Young Adult H793tr bk. 1

ISBN: 9781416950073

Publication Date: 2009-08-25

Five troubled teenagers fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family, and love in this #1 New York Times bestselling novel from Ellen Hopkins. Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons. Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition) by Jesse Andrews

Call Number: Hutchins Library Reserve - 2 Hours A566me 2015

ISBN: 9781419719608

Publication Date: 2015-04-21

The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the hit film! This is the funniest book you'll ever read about death. It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he's figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl. This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg's mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg's entire life. Fiercely funny, honest, heart-breaking--this is an unforgettable novel from a bright talent, now also a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."

 

Sold (National Book Award Finalist) by Patricia McCormick

Call Number: Hutchins Library Fiction M12953s 2008

ISBN: 9780786851720

Publication Date: 2008-04-01

The powerful, poignant, bestselling National Book Award finalist gives voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the strength to triumph. Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words-Simply to endure is to triumph-and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life? Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition), this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda Peach, associate library director, and the library staff would like to invite the campus community to join us in celebrating National Library Week. The celebration runs from April 7 to April 13, 2024 with the theme of "Ready Set Library." Hutchins Library is hosting the following events during the week. All events are free and open to the public during library regular hours.

ALL WEEK LONG: Our Favorite Things // Drop by the Hutchins Library Lobby to enjoy the “Our Favorite Things” exhibit, honoring 2024 Berea College graduates working in Hutchins Library and the Writing Center. Graduating seniors were asked to identify their favorite things in or about Hutchins Library and the Writing Center. Curated by Lori Myers-Steele.

Appreciating Our Library Workers// Visit our interactive installation in support of National Library Workers Day where folks can give a shout-out to their favorite library workers.

Monday, 4/8: Banned Books Zine Making Event (6 - 8 pm)// In support of National Right to Read Day - Attendees can drop in and make a page in support of one of their favorite banned books, to be compiled in a final group zine about banned books. There will be light snacks and zine-making supplies, as well as a raffle for a free zine kit. With Amanda Peach in the Flex Space.

Tuesday, 4/9: "The Toilet Justice Squad Presents Berea College's Single Occupancy Bathroom Map"/ Lunch and Learn (11:30 am - 1 pm)// Presentation by Abby Houston in Flex Space. Lunch will be provided.

Society’s CENSORED Child - Janis Ian Zine Workshop (5:30 pm - 7 pm)// How can a song be so dangerous to an establishment that it’s preferred to be willfully ignored, buried, or outright censored? Join us in learning about the true story of one such censored song preserved within the Janis Ian collection while creating a community zine. Led by Mandy Martinez and Peter Morphew.

Wednesday, 4/10: A Death So Long: The Extraordinary Final Days of Floyd Collins// Lunch and Learn // (11:30 am - 1 pm) presentation by Caitlyn Rahschulte in Flex Space. Lunch will be provided.

Let's Talk Potty: A Collaborative Zine Making Event (6 - 8 pm)// There will be light snacks and zine-making supplies, as well as a raffle for a free zine kit. With Abby Houston in the Flex Space.

Thursday, 4/11: DIY Pollinator Bookmarks:(drop in any time between 3 pm and 8 pm). Let’s BEE Creative! Make a bookmark celebrating pollinators. // In the cafe area near Circulation. In collaboration with the Office of Sustainability.

You can learn more about National Library Week through the American Library Association (news release and free resources; press kit)

“Awareness is knowing that somebody has Autism,” said Christopher Banks, CEO of The Autism Society of America. “Acceptance is when you include a person with autism in your activities.”

April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time to celebrate neurodiversity, promote awareness and acceptance, and embrace the unique strengths of all individuals. During the month of April, we make time to highlight and celebrate the diverse experiences and perspectives in the Autism and neurodiverse communities as well as promote inclusion in all activities. April 2 is a United Nations observance for Autism Awareness Day. Note that autism rights advocates prefer the term "acceptance" over "awareness". Advocates often view "awareness" as ableist and thus favor "acceptance" as an alternative to help overcome prejudices. That is why I have used the word "acceptance" in the title of the post, and for the rest of this post.

To help our community learn more, here are some resources that may be of interest.

Some books, that you can find through the library website using the library catalog:

Autism Spectrum Disorders by Jennifer Gerdts

Call Number: Reference - Stacks 618.928 B528a 2010

ISBN: 9781598843347

Publication Date: 2010-07-20

This handbook provides an overview of the current scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorders, as well as a cultural and historical perspective on the controversies that plague the field. "Autism" describes a complex developmental disability that interferes with social interaction and communication. Symptoms of autism are generally recognizable when children are under the age of three. Until the 1990s, rates for autism were generally estimated at 1 in 2500. In 2010, however, the estimate is now 1 in 110 children. Is the incidence of autism increasing, or has there simply been a shift in how often this disability is diagnosed as the problem? This text provides a comprehensive explanation of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Reference Handbook educates readers about ASD without relying on confusing medical jargon, highlighting current understanding of etiology, neuroscience, and intervention. It also discusses the historical and cultural influences of ASD and explores the controversial aspects of autism.

 

 

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida; K. A. Yoshida (Translator); David Mitchell (Translator)

Call Number: Stacks 616.858 H634rxm 2013

ISBN: 9780812994865

Publication Date: 2013-08-27

Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within.   Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: "Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?" "Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?" "Why don't you make eye contact when you're talking?" and "What's the reason you jump?" (Naoki's answer: "When I'm jumping, it's as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.") With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights--into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory--are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.   In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki's words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. "It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship." This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they'd be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Naoki's book, in its beauty, truthfulness, and simplicity, is a gift to be shared.

 

 

Autism in Heels by Jennifer Cook O'Toole

Call Number: Stacks 616.858 C771a 2018

ISBN: 9781510732841

Publication Date: 2018-12-04

The face of autism is changing. And more often than we realize, that face is wearing lipstick. Autism in Heels, an intimate memoir, reveals the woman inside one of autism's most prominent figures, Jennifer O'Toole. At the age of thirty-five, Jennifer was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and for the first time in her life, things made sense. Now, Jennifer exposes the constant struggle between carefully crafted persona and authentic existence, editing the autism script with wit, candor, passion, and power. Her journey is one of reverse-self-discovery not only as an Aspie but--more importantly--as a thoroughly modern woman. Beyond being a memoir, Autism in Heels is a love letter to all women. It's a conversation starter. A game changer. And a firsthand account of what it is to walk in Jennifer's shoes (especially those iconic red stilettos). Whether it's bad perms or body image, sexuality or self-esteem, Jennifer's is as much a human journey as one on the spectrum. Because autism "looks a bit different in pink," most girls and women who fit the profile are not identified, facing years of avoidable anxiety, eating disorders, volatile relationships, self-harm, and stunted independence. Jennifer has been there, too. Autism in Heels takes that message to the mainstream. From her own struggles and self-discovery, she has built an empire of empowerment, inspiring women the world over to realize they aren't mistakes. They are misunderstood miracles.

 

 

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin

Call Number: Stacks 616.858 G753w 2020

ISBN: 9781949177312

Publication Date: 2020-04-30

In the beloved classic book The Way I See It, Dr. Temple Grandin gets to the REAL issues of autism―the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day. In this updated fifth edition, Temple offers helpful dos and don'ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips all based on her insider perspective and a great deal of research. Revised and updated chapters include: Alternative Vs. Conventional Medicine Do Not Get Trapped By Labels The Importance of Early Educational Intervention Too Much Video Gaming and Screen Time Try On Careers and many more! Temple has packed a wealth of knowledge into this book, which serves as an excellent reference resource for a multitude of topics related to ASD. Whether you're searching for something specific or reading cover-to-cover, The Way I See It is required reading for everyone whose life has been touched by autism.

 

 

Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism by Peter J. Hotez; Arthur L. Caplan (Foreword by)

Call Number: Stacks 614.4708 H832v 2018

ISBN: 9781421426600

Publication Date: 2018-10-30

Internationally renowned medical scientist, frequent media contributor, and autism dad Dr. Peter J. Hotez explains why vaccines do not cause autism. In 1994, Peter J. Hotez's nineteen-month-old daughter, Rachel, was diagnosed with autism. Dr. Hotez, a pediatrician-scientist who develops vaccines for neglected tropical diseases affecting the world's poorest people, became troubled by the decades-long rise of the influential anti-vaccine community and its inescapable narrative around childhood vaccines and autism. In Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism, Hotez draws on his experiences as a pediatrician, vaccine scientist, and father of an autistic child. Outlining the arguments on both sides of the debate, he examines the science that refutes the concerns of the anti-vaccine movement, debunks current conspiracy theories alleging a cover-up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and critiques the scientific community's failure to effectively communicate the facts about vaccines and autism to the general public, all while sharing his very personal story of raising a now-adult daughter with autism. A uniquely authoritative account, this important book persuasively provides evidence for the genetic basis of autism and illustrates how the neurodevelopmental pathways of autism are under way before birth. Dr. Hotez reminds readers of the many victories of vaccines over disease while warning about the growing dangers of the anti-vaccine movement, especially in the United States and Europe. Now, with the anti-vaccine movement reenergized in our COVID-19 era, this book is especially timely. Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism is a must-read for parent groups, child advocates, teachers, health-care providers, government policymakers, health and science policy experts, and anyone caring for a family member or friend with autism.

 

 

Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin

Call Number: Stacks 152.14 G753v 2022

ISBN: 9780593418369

Publication Date: 2022-10-11

Do you have a keen sense of direction, a love of puzzles, the ability to assemble furniture without crying? You are likely a visual thinker. With her genius for demystifying science, Grandin draws on cutting-edge research to take us inside visual thinking. Visual thinkers constitute a far greater proportion of the population than previously believed, she reveals, and a more varied one, from the photo-realistic "object visualizers" like Grandin herself, with their intuitive knack for design and problem solving, to the abstract, mathematically inclined "visual spatial" thinkers who excel in pattern recognition and systemic thinking. She also makes us understand how a world increasingly geared to the verbal tends to sideline visual thinkers, screening them out at school and passing over them in the workplace. Rather than continuing to waste their singular gifts, driving a collective loss in productivity and innovation, Grandin proposes new approaches to educating, parenting, employing, and collaborating with visual thinkers. In a highly competitive world, this important book helps us see, we need every mind on board.

If you are interested in articles, popular and academic, you can try one of our subscription periodical databases. You can find them under "Electronic Resources" from the library website. If you are outside the Berea College domain, you will be prompted to log in using your Berea College credentials.Some database suggestions include, but are not limited to:

• Gale Virtual Reference
• Academic Search Complete.
• CINAHL
• Medline
• Alt Press Watch
• Science Direct

Some resources from the web. These are freely available online:

• Wikipedia offers an entry on World Autism Awareness Day, which led me to the United Nations link and some other additional references. The entry includes a list of the annual UN themes for the day since 2012.
• Information on Autism Spectrum Disorder via the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Here you can find definitions, symptoms, statistics, and their latest edition of their community report on Autism. The page also includes a link to a Spanish version of the resources page.
• You can also find health information and more on Autism at the National Institute of Mental Health. If you want to share information and help promote awareness and acceptance, the NIMH also offers a digital toolkit.
• The Autism Society, advocacy organization.

Image courtesy of the National Institute of Mental Health. Alternative text: Autism occurs in all ethnic, racial, sex and gender, and economic groups. This April, learn more about supporting people on the autism spectrum. https://go.nih.gov/nLv8oCK