Downtown Branch is CLOSED today
Leave a CommentUpdate #5 (Jan 4)
The downtown branch is now open for business with running water!
The pump has been successfully installed this past week. Although there will still be general construction and clean up, nothing should get in the way of general library operations. The lower level bathrooms will be closed until floor repairs are complete.
Thank you to everyone for their patience and understanding. We are thrilled to welcome you all back!
Update #4 (Dec 26)
The Morgantown downtown branch will remain closed through this coming week. After days of extensive investigations and resourceful engineering, we have discovered an aging infrastructure with loose pipes and drainage issues.
The good news is a solution is currently underway: The underground pipes have been sealed and in the next week, we will install a pump lift station in the library basement to aid in proper water drainage. We will update you with a definitive opening date as soon as we learn more.
This is also a reminder that all other Morgantown Public Library branches are still open during regular business hours and our digital library is accessible 24/7 to any cardholder (https://www.mympls.org/download-it/). Access ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, comics, music, tutorials, research tools, and much more with a click of a button.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Feel free to message us here or email us at askmympls@gmail.com should you require further assistance.
Update #3 (Dec 23)
The Morgantown downtown branch remains closed for the remainder of the week. Currently, the water has been turned off in the building and the Morgantown Utility Board has been hard at work finding a solution. Engineers and workers have dug large hole in front of the library to gain access to the city’s underground pipes but the source of the problem is still yet to be determined. Be sure to check here for updates as well as a potential reopening date.
This is also a reminder that all other Morgantown Public Library locations will be closed for the holiday on the 24th and the 25th. However, our digital library is accessible 24/7 to any cardholder (https://www.mympls.org/download-it/). Access ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, comics, music, tutorials, research tools, and much more with a click of a button.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Feel free to message us here or email us at askmympls@gmail.com should you require further assistance.
Update #2 (Dec 22)
The Morgantown downtown branch will be closed for the remainder of the week. Currently, the water has been turned off in the building and the Morgantown Utility Board has been hard at work finding a solution. There is not an abundance of information at this time. However, we are working to resume our curbside pickup service so you don’t have to miss a beat. Be sure to check here for updates as well as a potential reopening date.
This is also a reminder that all other Morgantown Public Library branches are still open during regular business hours and our digital library is accessible 24/7 to any cardholder (https://www.mympls.org/download-it/). Access ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, comics, music, tutorials, research tools, and much more with a click of a button.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Feel free to message us here or email us at askmympls@gmail.com should you require further assistance.
Original Announcement (Dec 21)
Out of an abundance of caution, the Morgantown Public Library, downtown branch, will be CLOSED today due to water damage. Our books and materials have not been affected. We are still assessing the situation and will notify you as soon as we learn more about the source of the problem as well as a potential reopening date. Should this issue continue in the following days, we will look into offering curbside pickup so you can keep reading.
This is also a reminder that our digital library is accessible 24/7 to any of our cardholders (https://www.mympls.org/download-it/). Access ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, comics, music, tutorials, research tools, and much more with a click of a button.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Feel free to message us here or email us at askmympls@gmail.com should you require further assistance.
We’re Hiring!
Leave a CommentA New Book Trail!
Leave a CommentAnother book trail is up for you! Join us at Mulkeen Landscaping located off of Gladesville Road. Read through an entire story as you shop for the perfect tree. This month’s book is “The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever” by Steven Kroll. Conditions permitting, the book trail should be up until December 25th!
Send us photos of your family at the book trail!
Mulkeen Tree Farm: 743 Sleepy Hollow Road, Independence, WV 26374
Directions:
–Follow Rt. 119 south out of Morgantown to Gladesville Rd.
–Turn LEFT on the Gladesville Rd. and go 2 miles.
–Turn RIGHT at the sign for Mulkeen Landscaping and Tree Service on Arden Peters Road.
–Go one mile on this gravel road and turn RIGHT at the MULKEEN sign.
Thank you to Mulkeen Landscaping for having us and Direct Results – Morgantown for supporting this project!
*Pictured here is a family from our October WVU Museum Book Trail*
December Dial-a-Story
Leave a CommentDecember Dial-a-Stories are up! Call 304-826-BOOK (2665)!
If you haven’t heard, we now have an always available phone number where you can listen to stories, jokes, and poems. No internet required — just a phone! What you’ll hear is recorded by our librarians.
Our menu of choices is varied so we’ve written them out below. At the end of each selection, you will automatically be redirected to the main menu, but if you don’t want to wait until the end, you can hit # to go to the main menu. Your December Story Selection (available till December 31st):
Dial 1: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Children’s story read by Sarah Palfrey)
Dial 2: The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup (Children’s story read by Colleen Caldwell)
Dial 3: Moose’s Loose Tooth by Jacqueline A. Clarke (Children’s story read by Michelle Vorndran)
Dial 4: Happy Llamakkah! by Laura Gehl (Children’s story read by Lynda Lukenbaugh)
Dial 5: Mr. Willoby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry (Story for all ages read by Sarah Palfrey)
Dial 6: Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray (Children’s story read by Charlotte Hoelke)
Dial 7: Winter Solstice/Yule Poem: The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper (Poem for all ages read by Lynda Lukenbaugh)
Dial 8: Joke Line (All Ages | Read by Sarah Palfrey)
Dial 9: Language Line: La Ratita Presumida by Fernan Caballero (Children’s story read in Spanish by guest, Maria Paulina Medina)
Dial 10: Chapter of the Month: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet (Children/Young Adult story read by Collen Caldwell)
Fact Checking Fiction: Military-Themed Recommendations by Nathan
Leave a CommentAgain and again throughout history, veterans have turned to art as a means of coming to terms with their military experiences. Some have painted, others have written songs, and still more have made movies. Perhaps more than any other medium, however, literature has allowed veterans to grapple with their time in service and communicate to a civilian public. Many veterans in particular have written books describing their experience of war. The books in this list are not that sort of books. In fact, many readers aren’t aware of a military connection to them at all. Nonetheless, these six classic novels would not be what they are without their authors’ experiences while in the military.
- Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
Twain’s classic 1889 novel has inspired dozens of parodies and homages over the century plus that it has been in publication from a Whoopi Goldberg film to a two-part episode of MacGyver. What many may not know, however, is that the work is in large part a satire of what Twain believed to be an important motivating factor behind the outbreak of the American Civil War. Twain served for a grand total of two weeks at the beginning of that war. His Missouri state guard unit was resoundingly defeated by Union General Nathaniel Lyon at the end of that period and offered Twain and his compatriots clemency if they agreed to fight no longer. Twain accepted the offer and later came to despise what he perceived as an inflated sense of chivalry that pushed him to serve in the first place. He lampoons that chivalry brilliantly in Connecticut Yankee.
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
J.R.R. Tolkien was twenty-two when war broke out between Britain and Germany in 1914. Despite considerable social pressure Tolkien chose not to enlist along with many young Britons of the time, seeking instead to complete his university education before any potential military service. After his graduation in 1915 Tolkien was commissioned a lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, where he found himself charged with leading former miners, millers, and weavers into the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The titular hobbit of his classic novel, Bilbo Baggins, experiences a character arc that largely matches Tolkien’s own as he struggled to become the leader his men needed to survive. Like Bilbo, Tolkien was an unassuming homebody whom fate pushed into a position of leadership against his will. Like Tolkien, Bilbo eventually meets the challenge head on and becomes someone his compatriots can rely on when battle is joined.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
Scott Fitzgerald didn’t see much of World War I, but what he saw was enough. Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton to join the US Army in 1917, serving the entirety of his time at Fort Leavenworth under the command of future President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He later penned a piece titled “I Didn’t Get Over” expressing his regret for not serving in combat, but while he may never have seen combat he did observe the experiences of combat veterans after their return to the United States. Those observations later made their way into Gatsby, where the titular character and the narrator originally bond over having served in the same unit in France. Just last year, literary scholar T.S. Licari argued that Gatsby and Nick’s shared service is part of a larger subplot exploring the suppression of wartime experiences in a 1920s American society that preferred to bury unpleasant memories under the gilded glamour of alcohol and wealth.
- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
J.D. Salinger began his career as an author in the midst of the Second World War. In 1942, Salinger had a short story titled “Slight Rebellion Off Madison” accepted by The New Yorker. Though it never made it to publication, the story followed a character named Holden Caulfield as he struggled with pre-war jitters prior to his military service. That character would later evolve into the one we know today from Catcher in the Rye as a result of Salinger’s service in the European theater from D-Day to Germany’s surrender. In fact, according to biographers David Shields and Shane Salerno, Salinger was carrying early drafts of the first six chapters of Catcher in his jacket when he landed on Utah Beach. By the time his service ended Salinger’s tale had become much darker, devoid of the heroic, noble ideals that characterized his first literary ventures in 1942. As Shields and Salerno put it, Catcher in the Rye is best read as a “disguised war novel” masquerading as a coming-of-age story.
- Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
Kurt Vonnegust’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran who is abducted by aliens and spends much of his life traveling through space and time. The story is equal parts science fiction, surrealism, and comedy, and its roots in Vonnegut’s real-life experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden during the Allied bombing of the city in February 1945 are easy to overlook. The reality, however, is that the flashier plot points of Pilgrim living in an alien zoo for humans revolve around a core of his memories from his military service. The disjointed narrative of Pilgrim’s escapades mirrors the very real impact of trauma on the human brain. The same trauma that left those who lived through the bombings struggling to put their lives into some semblance of sense and order literally left Pilgrim unstuck from time, bouncing from era to era and place to place the same way that a traumatized mind runs from one thought to the next.
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
During World War II, author William Golding served in the British Royal Navy in command of a destroyer and later of a landing craft during the landing at Normandy. His experiences in the war had a profound impact on his perception of what human beings were capable, particularly in reference to what he believed was their natural impulse toward violence and savagery. Lord of the Flies is an expression of Golding’s conclusions regarding human nature, with the efforts of his characters to maintain a semblance of social order on their desert isle quickly falling apart and turning to violence. Some have even suggested that the primary leaders on the island, Ralph and Jack, represent the opposing sides of the Second World War, with the order-minded Ralph standing in for the Allies and the charismatic Jack for the Axis Powers.
Nathan Wuertenberg is a staff researcher at the Aull Center for Local History, a division of the Morgantown Public Library System. He received his doctorate in history from The George Washington University and is a co-host with Mike McClung of Aull About History, a local history podcast produced in partnership with The Dominion Post.
Young Adult Civic Engagement Recommendations by Library Director, Sarah Palfrey
1 CommentI was an avid YA reader for decades after being an actual YA, but over the last few years it hasn’t really held my interest. Enter 2020 and the new trend of Young Adult fiction centered around civic engagement and voting, and I am back! I loved all of these books for their heart, their passion, and a new version of a coming of age story. YA trends can get pretty repetitive, pretty quickly and I felt each of these offered enough of a different twist to not burn out so quickly.
The thing that threads through all of these novels regardless of the outcome of their election, and most importantly in a YA novel, without being cheesy, is the importance of hope. That there is room for idealism, and mistakes, and first-loves in a messy and complicated world. I am always a fan of ‘coming of age’ stories in all shapes and sizes, and now in a very specific sub-genre of Election Lit.
All three titles are available at the Morgantown Public Library.
Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
There’s a lot going on in this book, political campaigns, teenage family drama, multiple religious and cultural perspectives, but it all works together. The reviews on this one are fairly hot or cold, I think there is room to criticize, but it also leaves a lot of room for hope, which is something I appreciate in a 2020 title.
Hoopla (audio) WVDeli (audio and ebook)
The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
This circadian novel is a frustrating look at the logistical challenges some first time voters could face heading to the ballot box combine with the ‘meet cute’ story of Marva and Duke. I am not a huge fan of alternating narrators (somehow I picked two for this list), but Colbert does it really well. She uses it effectively to change up the pace of the story, an interesting touch to a book that takes place over the course of just a few hours. Colbert makes what could have been a very formulaic tale feel very personal.
Hoopla (audio and ebook) WVDeli
http://nlnapp.clark.lib.wv.us/search/?searchtype=t&SORT=D&searcharg=voting+booth&searchscope=58
Running by Natalia Sylvester
Mari’s father is a Senator who is running for President which puts her at the center of attention she never asked for. Exactly where most teens would love to find themselves, right? Social media in high school can be difficult enough, being thrown on a national stage ups the consequences for Mari. Sylvester focuses her story along themes of friendship, family, and community, and leaves the romance out of the picture. Unless you count a deep love of the everglades and environmental activism, in which case love wins.
Intro to Civic Engagement Starter Set for Tweens, Teens, and Young Adults by Amanda Young, Library Teens Specialist
Leave a CommentAmanda Young, library teens specialist, has put together an intro to civic engagement starter set for tweens, teens, and young adults!
Voting Rights
One Person, No Vote: How Not All Voters are Treated Equally by Carol Anderson, with Tonya Bolden
YA 324.6 AND
Ages 12 – 14
In her New York Times bestseller White Rage, Carol Anderson laid bare an insidious history of policies that have systematically impeded black progress in America, from 1865 to our combustible present. With One Person, No Vote, she chronicles a related history- the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision effectively allowed districts with a demonstrated history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements without approval from the Department of Justice. Focusing on the aftermath of Shelby, Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. In gripping, enlightening detail she explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. And with vivid characters, she explores the resistance- the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans as the nation gears up for the 2018 midterm elections.
The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
YA COL
Also available as an ebook on Libby! And as an audiobook and ebook on Hoopla!
Grades 7+
Marva was born ready for this day. She’s always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election? Duke is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over so he can prepare for his band’s first paying gig tonight. Only problem? Duke can’t vote. When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can’t sit around waiting for the world to change… but some things are just meant to be.
Environmentalism
Earth Day and the Environmental Movement: Standing Up for Earth by Christy Peterson.
YA 333.72 PET
Also available as an ebook on Hoopla!
Ages 11-18 Grades 6+
On April 22, 1970, an estimated twenty million people held a teach-in to show their support for environmental protections. This new celebration, Earth Day, brought together previously fragmented issues under the same banner. It was the largest nationwide event ever, and lawmakers took notice. But one day didn’t change everything. Fifty years after the first Earth Day, climate change remains a dire concern. The divide between political parties continues to widen, and environmental policy has become an increasingly partisan issue. The spread of disinformation has also made climate change a debatable idea, rather than scientific fact. A new generation of advocates continue the fight to make environmental policy a top priority for the United States and for nations around the globe.
We are All Greta: Be Inspired to Save the World by Valentina Giannella
YA 363.738
We Are All Greta sets out the basic ideas required to understand climate change, explained in a scientific and accessible way and drawn from the most authoritative sources. With a chapter on key words and sites to help you understand the climate challenge and a list of websites to visit for further information, this is a book for young people, for parents, for grandparents and anyone having to answer direct and urgent questions about what must be done to protect our world.
Social Justice and Race Relations
This is My America by Kim Johnson
YA JOH
Also available as an ebook on Libby!
Ages 12+ Grades 7+
Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time–her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis
YA 920 DAV
Also available as an audiobook on Libby!
Ages 10-14
Did you know that many of America’s Founding Fathers–who fought for liberty and justice for all–were slave owners? Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were “owned” by four of our greatest presidents, this book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America. From Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narratives explore our country’s great tragedy–that a nation “conceived in liberty” was also born in shackles. These stories help us know the real people who were essential to the birth of this nation but traditionally have been left out of the history books. Their stories are true–and they should be heard.
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
YA STO
Also available as an ebook on Libby!
Ages 14+ Grades 9+
In the highly anticipated sequel to her New York Times bestseller, Nic Stone delivers an unflinching look into the flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce–the protagonist of Dear Martin–Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
Political Participation, Activism and Persistence
How to Start a Revolution: Young People and the Future of American Politics by Lauren Duca
YA 320.0835 DUC
Duca investigates and explains the issues at the root of our ailing political system and reimagines what an equitable democracy would look like. It begins with young people getting involved. People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress; David and Lauren Hogg, two survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting who went on to become advocates for gun control; Amanda Litman, who founded the nonprofit organization Run For Something, to assist progressive young people in down ballot elections; and many more.
Enough is Enough: How Students Can Join the Fight for Gun Safety by Michelle Roehm McCann
YA 363.33 MCC
Ages 12+ Grades 7+
Young people are suffering the most from the epidemic of gun violence–as early as kindergarten students are crouching behind locked doors during active shooter drills. Teens are galvanizing to speak up and fight for their right to be safe. They don’t just want to get involved, they want to change the world. Enough Is Enough is a call to action for teens ready to lend their voices to the gun violence prevention movement. This handbook deftly explains America’s gun violence issues–myths and facts, causes and perpetrators, solutions and change-makers–and provides a road map for effective activism. Told in three parts, Enough Is Enough also explores how America got to this point and the obstacles we must overcome, including historical information about the Second Amendment, the history of guns in America, and an overview of the NRA. Informative chapters include interviews with teens who have survived gun violence and student activists who are launching their own movements across the country. Additionally, the book includes a Q&A with gun owners who support increased gun safety laws.
Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage foreword by Senator Amy Klobuchar
YA 170.44 NEV
Also available as an ebook on Libby! And as an audiobook on Hoopla!
Ages 12+ Grades 7+
A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity– but persisted. Among others: actress Alia Shawkat was told she was too “ethnic” for parts. Former NFL player Wade Davis bullied other gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Auschwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. They tell how they rose through the hate, overcoming the obstacles of their childhood to the hard-won lives they live today.
LGBTQIA+
The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson
YA HUT
Also available as an ebook on Libby!
Ages 13+ Grades 8+
When Dean Arnault’s mother decided to run for president, it wasn’t a surprise to anyone, least of all her son. But still that doesn’t mean Dean wants to be part of the public spectacle that is the race for the White House–at least not until he meets Dre. The only problem is that Dre Rosario’s on the opposition; he’s the son of the Democratic nominee. But as Dean and Dre’s meet-ups on the campaign trail become less left to chance, their friendship quickly becomes a romantic connection unlike any either of the boys have ever known. If it wasn’t hard enough falling in love across the aisle, the political scheming of a shady third-party candidate could cause Dean and Dre’s world to explode around them.
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World by Sarah Prager
YA 920 PRA
Also available as an ebook on Libby! And as an ebook on Hoopla!
Ages 13+ Grades 8+
World history has been made by countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals–and you’ve never heard of many of them. Queer author and activist Sarah Prager delves deep into the lives of 23 people who fought, created, and loved on their own terms. From high-profile figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt to the trailblazing gender-ambiguous Queen of Sweden and a bisexual blues singer who didn’t make it into your history books, these astonishing true stories uncover a rich queer heritage that encompasses every culture, in every era.
Feminism
The Book of Gutsy Women by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
YA 920.72.CLI
Also available as an audiobook and ebook on Libby!
Ensuring the rights and opportunities of women and girls remains a big piece of the unfinished business of the twenty-first century. While there’s a lot of work to do, we know that throughout history and around the globe women have overcome the toughest resistance imaginable to win victories that have made progress possible for all of us. That is the achievement of each of the women in this book. So how did they do it? The answers are as unique as the women themselves. Civil rights activist Dorothy Height, LGBTQ trailblazer Edie Windsor, and swimmer Diana Nyad kept pushing forward, no matter what. Writers like Rachel Carson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie named something no one had dared talk about before. Historian Mary Beard used wit to open doors that were once closed, and Wangari Maathai, who sparked a movement to plant trees, understood the power of role modeling. Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai looked fear in the face and persevered. Nearly every single one of these women was fiercely optimistic–they had faith that their actions could make a difference. And they were right. To us, they are all gutsy women–leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. So in the moments when the long haul seems awfully long, we hope you will draw strength from these stories. We do. Because if history shows one thing, it’s that the world needs gutsy women.
Immigration
This Land is Our Land: A History of American Immigration by Linda Barrett Osborne
YA 304.873
Also available as an ebook on Libby! And as an ebook on Hoopla!
Ages 13+ Grades 8+
American attitudes toward immigrants are paradoxical. On the one hand, we see our country as a haven for the poor and oppressed; anyone, no matter his or her background, can find freedom here and achieve the “American Dream.” On the other hand, depending on prevailing economic conditions, fluctuating feelings about race and ethnicity, and fear of foreign political and labor agitation, we set boundaries and restrictions on who may come to this country and whether they may stay as citizens. This book explores the way government policy and popular responses to immigrant groups evolved throughout U.S. history, particularly between 1800 and 1965. The book concludes with a summary of events up to contemporary times, as immigration again becomes a hot-button issue.
Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt
YA MAR
Also available as an audiobook on Hoopla!
Ages 13+
Evan, the nephew of a conservative southern senator, and Alma, who lives with her large, warm Mexican family, fall in love, but when Immigration and Customs Enforcement begins raids on their town, Alma knows she needs to tell Evan her secrets, but how can she tell her country-club boyfriend that she is an undocumented immigrant?
Running by Natalia Sylvester
YA SYL
Ages 12+ Grades 7+
When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Mariana Ruiz’s father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. A novel about waking up and standing up, and what happens when you stop seeing your dad as your hero-while the whole country is watching.
Pop-Up Book Trail
Leave a CommentNeed a family activity this Sunday? In a special one-day pop-up book trail, take the whole family to the outdoor Nath Sculpture Garden at the Art Museum of WVU anytime between 12:30pm and 6:00pm this Sunday!
Read through an entire story as you take in the art and outdoors. This month’s book is “The Word Collector” by Peter H. Reynolds. Send us photos of your family at the book trail!
There are giveaways for kids that book their free tickets to see the exhibitions before or after their book trail visit! Spots are limited due to social distancing measures: https://artmuseum.wvu.edu/visit/hours-directions-and-parking
Thank you Direct Results – Morgantown for supporting this project!
Fact Checking Fiction: Haunted History Recommendations by Nathan
Leave a CommentI’m not a huge fan of nonfiction, but I love learning about history. So, when I want to learn more about a historical topic, I try to find historical fiction books related to it that I can fact check with nonfiction sources as I go along. I generally try to find books that provide new, unique, or overlooked perspectives on the topic.
In honor of the Halloween season and the Aull Center’s “Haunted History Month” series, here’s a list of historical fiction with horror themes along with some nonfiction recommendations so you can learn more about the topics and eras to which the novels add a spooky twist. Here are my top picks, along with some nonfiction sources to fact check them, some bonus reads, and where you can find them all.
- Black Fire by Hernán Rodríguez (Hoopla)
Black Fire is a graphic novel that opens on two soldiers from Napoleon Bonaparte’s army fleeing from Cossacks during the French emperor’s retreat from Russia in the winter of 1812. Napoleon’s men take refuge in an abandoned mining town, a place where the Cossacks refuse to follow, and find several other members from the French invasion force hiding there as well. Faced with the twin perils of starvation and hypothermia, the group’s plight becomes increasingly desperate as their time in the village continues. Their fear reaches a new pitch, however, when they begin to uncover just why it is the Cossacks refuse to come into the town.
Nonfiction Fact Check: Russia against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace by Dominic Lieven (Consortium)
Bonus Read: 1812: Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia by Paul Britten Austin (Consortium)
- The Terror by Dan Simmons (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, and WV Deli)
Adapted for the first season of AMC’s anthology show The Terror in 2018, Dan Simmons’ novel follows the experiences of Sir John Franklin’s expedition in search of the Northwest Passage after its ships become trapped in the ice near the North Pole in 1846. As if a slow death by starvation or frostbite isn’t enough Simmons adds an extra bit of fear by imagining that a mysterious and powerful monster stalks the expedition, picking off its members one by one. The attention to detail is superb. Readers will get a real sense of what it meant to be a member of the British Navy in the nineteenth century and survive in the frozen wastelands of the north.
Nonfiction Fact Check: The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909 by Pierre Berton (Consortium)
Bonus Read: The Voyage of the ‘Fox’ in the Arctic Seas: In Search of Franklin and His Companions by Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (Internet Archive)
- The Hunger by Alma Katsu (Consortium and WV Deli)
In The Hunger, Alma Katsu offers readers a glimpse into the lives of the famous Donner party as it makes its way west toward the Rocky Mountains in the summer and fall of 1846. Bit by bit it becomes more apparent that something waits for them just beyond their view, stalking their wagon train as it treks across the Great Plains and approaches its ultimate doom in the snowbound mountains around Truckee Lake. As winter falls and the members of the Donner party realize the magnitude of their isolation from the outside world, something hungry closes in for the kill.
Nonfiction Fact Check: The Best Land under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifesty Destiny by Michael Wallis (Morgantown Public Library and Consortium)
Bonus Read: Unfortunate Emigrants: Narratives of the Donner Party by Kristin Johnson (Internet Archive)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli)
Inspired by the story of Margaret Garner, a woman who killed her own child rather than allow her to be taken back into slavery, Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved follows the tale of Sethe as she copes with life in a house haunted by the spirit of a daughter dead by her own hand. In real life Margaret Garner’s act captured national attention and ultimately resulted in her return to slavery. In Beloved, Sethe remains free in Cincinnati, Ohio but hemmed in by memories of the institution that provoked her daughter’s death and the recriminatory torments of that child’s specter.
Nonfiction Fact Check: Modern Medea: A Family Story of Slavery and Child Murder in the Old South by Steven Weisenburger (Internet Archive)
Bonus Read: Reminiscences of Levi Coffin: The Reputed President of the Underground Railroad (Internet Archive)
- Roosevelt’s Beast by Louis Bayard (Hoopla)
The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition to map the Rio da Dúvida (now known as the Rio Roosevelt or Rio Teodoro) in the Amazon Rainforest in 1913-1914 nearly killed Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, the famously hardy former president’s health never fully recovered in the five years he lived afterwards. After joining the expedition with his son Kermit on a whim during a speaking tour of South America in 1913, Teddy Roosevelt suffered a leg injury during the expedition that was so painful he at one point considered ending his own life. To add insult to injury, Louis Bayard invents several days as a captive of the Cinta Larga tribe to Roosevelt’s experience. Together, the former president and his son bargain for their freedom by agreeing to hunt down a vicious beast that has been terrorizing the Cinta Largas. What they quickly realize, however, is that the monster that lurks in the rainforest is unlike anything they have faced before.
Nonfiction Fact Check: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, and WV Deli)
Bonus Read: Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt (Hoopla)
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, and WV Deli)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s novel Mexican Gothic follows wealthy socialite Noemí Taboada from the glittering heights of 1950s Mexico City to a crumbling Victorian mansion in the Hidalgan countryside as she unravels the nightmares that plague her newly married elder cousin Catalina. As she continues to uncover more and more about the dark past of her cousin’s new in-laws, Noemí begins to realize that not everything is what it seems. Something lurks beneath the floors, and the walls can speak.
Nonfiction Fact Check: Mexico: Biography of Power by Enrique Krauze (Internet Archive)
Bonus Read: Broken Bars: New Perspectives from Mexican Women Writers by Kay S. Garcia (Internet Archive)
Nathan Wuertenberg is a staff researcher at the Aull Center for Local History, a division of the Morgantown Public Library System. He received his doctorate in history from The George Washington University and is a co-host with Mike McClung of Aull About History, a local history podcast produced in partnership with The Dominion Post.
Fact Checking Fiction: Presidential History Recommendations by Nathan
Leave a CommentI’m not a huge fan of nonfiction, but I love learning about history. So, when I want to learn more about a historical topic, I try to find historical fiction books related to it that I can fact check with nonfiction sources as I go along. I generally try to find books that provide new, unique, or overlooked perspectives on the topic. With the election coming up, I thought it might be worthwhile to read some historical fiction about the United States’ presidents. Here are my top picks, along with some nonfiction sources to fact check them, some bonus reads, and where you can find them all.
- The General’s Cook by Ramin Ganeshram (Hoopla)
Summary: Cookbook author Ramin Ganeshram explores the experiences of President George Washington’s enslaved chef Hercules Posey in the years immediately prior to his escape to freedom in 1797. In doing so, Ganeshram offers a view of Washington’s life and term in office that is typically overlooked and yet invaluable to understanding the history of the United States and its first president. The research is exceptional. Ganeshram was even able to shed new light on the topic by locating Posey’s final resting place in New York, thus establishing definitively that he settled there after his escape.
Nonfiction Fact Check: In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation by François Furstenberg (Morgantown Public Library, WV Deli, and Hoopla)
Bonus Read: Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery by Karen Hess (Consortium)
- Buchanan Dying by John Updike (WVNorLN Consortium)
Summary: Described by its Pulitzer-Prize winning author as a “play meant to be read,” Buchanan Dying serves as a window into the final thoughts of President James Buchanan as he lay on his deathbed in 1868. The play is meant to replicate the processes of a dying mind, with the central set piece of Buchanan’s bed providing a focal point for the constantly changing array of acquaintances and memories that approach the fifteenth president to plague him with regrets and recriminations in his last moments. It’s a technique that offers many poignant scenes, among them one in which Buchanan’s memory of the announcement of South Carolina’s secession from the Union in 1860 melds with that of the end of his engagement to Anne Coleman in 1819.
Nonfiction Fact Check: The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them by Chris DeRose (WV Deli)
Bonus Read: Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion by James Buchanan (Internet Archive)
- Savage Conversations by LeAnne Howe (Hoopla)
Summary: A book of slam poetry connecting First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s late-life hallucinations of being scalped by a Native man to President Abraham Lincoln’s decision to order the execution thirty-eight Dakota men in retaliation for the Dakota War of 1862. Howe’s poems delve not only into the Dakota War itself but the life of Mary Todd Lincoln and her relationship with the sixteenth president as well. More than anything, Savage Conversations is an exploration of the consequences that presidential politics have on a personal and familial level even decades after a president’s term has ended.
Nonfiction Fact Check: 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End by Scott W. Berg (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, WV Deli, Hoopla)
Bonus Read: The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely, Jr. and R. Gerald McMurtry (Consortium)
- Empire by Gore Vidal (Consortium and WV Deli)
Summary: The fourth installment of Gore Vidal’s seven-book Narratives of Empire series, Empire can be read as a standalone novel of the United States’ first forays into becoming a global empire after the Spanish-American War in 1898. Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt figure heavily in the narrative, as do well-known characters from the period like William Randolph Hearst, John Hay, and Henry Adams. Vidal is well-known for his ability to explore the highs and lows of human character and motivation in his writing and this is no less true of Empire, which offers readers an unforgettable glimpse into the idiosyncrasies of our turn-of-the-century leaders.
Nonfiction Fact Check: The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire by Stephen Kinzer (Hoopla)
Bonus Read: Poems by John Hay (Consortium)
- White Houses by Amy Bloom (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, and WV Deli)
Summary: A depiction of the undeniably romantic relationship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok, first uncovered by historians in the late 1970s. Bloom explores the nature of that relationship as well as its interaction with the life and administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The story has particular relevance for readers in Monongalia County, since it was Lorena Hickok who initially drew Eleanor Roosevelt’s attention to the plight of coal miners in the Scotts Run area and set in motion the events leading to the creation of the community of Arthurdale.
Nonfiction Fact Check: Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley (Consortium and Hoopla)
Bonus Read: Empty without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok by Rodger Streitmatter (WV Deli)
- Watergate by Thomas Mallon (Morgantown Public Library, Consortium, and WV Deli)
Summary: Thomas Mallon is known for his high level of attention to historical detail and context as well as his fondness for including the perspectives of “bystanders” to history. This novel is no exception, detailing the experiences not only of figures like President Richard Nixon and Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt during the Watergate scandal but those of Nixon-familiars like Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Joseph Alsop as well. It’s a more sympathetic portrayal of the scandal than would have been written forty years ago, but nonetheless seeks to plumb the depths of presidential corruption and fallibility with an unwavering regard for the truth.
Nonfiction Fact Check: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein (Consortium)
Bonus Read: The Presidential Transcripts by the staff of the Washington Post (Aull Center)
Nathan Wuertenberg is a staff researcher at the Aull Center for Local History, a division of the Morgantown Public Library System. He received his doctorate in history from The George Washington University and is a co-host with Mike McClung of Aull About History, a local history podcast produced in partnership with The Dominion Post.