Join the African-American Read-In at Shreve Memorial Library
This month, Shreve Memorial Library is celebrating African Americans and the Arts in honor of Black History Month. The 2024 Black History Month theme highlights the many influences of African Americans in the fields of visual and performing arts, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary arts, cultural expression, and the literary arts. You and your family can participate in the month-long celebration by joining the African American Read-In, the nation’s first and oldest event dedicated to diversity in literature.
The National African American Read-In was created by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month. Since its creation, the African American Read-In has reached more than 6 million participants worldwide, engaging communities to read together and celebrate African American books and authors. Each February, schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens host events such as book discussions, book club meetings, public readings, and media presentations as part of the event.
At Shreve Memorial Library, you are invited to visit their favorite branch for special African American Read-In storytime programs, highlighting books written by African American authors and celebrating African American culture and history. These highly entertaining programs for children and families feature engaging stories, melodic songs, interactive games, and hands-on crafts. While the programs are designed for younger children, children of all ages are more than welcome to join in the fun.
You can also participate in the African American Read-In by checking out awesome new books written by Black authors and about African American characters, stories, culture, and history. Shreve Memorial Library has a great assortment and diverse collection of books in every genre. There is sure to be a book that sparks your interest.
The African American Read-In is just one of many programs the library is hosting in celebration of Black History Month. You can check out the full calendar events as well as access the library’s catalog online at www.shreve-lib.org, where it is easy to dream, discover, do.
What’s New at the Library
The Night House by Jo Nesbo (fiction)
In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank-called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Mirror Forest. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear… She’s going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There’s nothing you can do about it. When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence – and preserve his sanity – as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction. Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story…
The Reformatory: A Novel by Tananarive Due (fiction)
Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory. Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late. The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award-winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.
The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (fiction)
A gripping literary mystery in the vein of Bola?o’s Savage Detectives, this coming-of-age novel unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author, based on Yambo Ouologuem. In 2018, Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris, discovers a legendary book from the 1930s, The Labyrinth of Inhumanity. No one knows what became of its author, once hailed as the “Black Rimbaud,” after the book caused a scandal. Enthralled by this mystery, Diégane decides to search for T.C. Elimane, going down a path that will force him to confront the great tragedies of history, from colonialism to the Holocaust. Alongside his investigation, Diégane becomes part of a group of young African writers in Paris. Together they talk, drink, make love, philosophize about the role of exile in artistic creation. Diégane grows particularly close to two women: the seductive Siga, who holds so many secrets, and the photojournalist A?da, impossible to pin down. The Most Secret Memory of Men is an astonishing novel about the choice between living and writing, and the desire to transcend the divide between Africa and the West. Above all, it is an ode to literature and its timelessness.
About Shreve Memorial Library
Shreve Memorial Library transforms Caddo Parish lives with resources, services and support to create a better world by focusing on developing young readers, sparking imaginations, encouraging curiosity, fostering connection, and providing comfortable places. Shreve Memorial Library’s 21-branch system is maintained by a parish-wide property tax millage to support the informational, educational and recreational needs of its constituents. For more information, visit www.shreve-lib.org, and like, follow and subscribe on social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube. Dream, discover, do – Shreve Memorial Library and you! #
This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Join the African-American Read-In at Shreve Memorial Library