Featured Ebooks
Welcome
This month's eBook display celebrates this year's summer reading theme, "All Together Now: Kindness, Friendship, and Unity." The books featured below are just a few examples of those humanitarians, activists, and naturalists who displayed the above attributes in a way only these remarkable people could have done.
Contemporary Poetry Books
The Good Neighbor
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was an enormously influential figure in the history of television and in the lives of tens of millions of children. As the creator and star of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, he championed compassion, equality, and kindness. Rogers was fiercely devoted to children and took their fears, concerns, and questions about the world seriously. The Good Neighbor, the first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, tells the story of this utterly unique and enduring American icon. Drawing on original interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, Maxwell King traces Rogers's personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work, including a surprising decision to walk away from the show to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood with increasingly sophisticated episodes, written in collaboration with experts on childhood development. An engaging story, rich in detail, The Good Neighbor is the definitive portrait of a beloved figure, cherished by multiple generations.
Malala Yousafzai
Courageous Malala Yousafzai survived an assassination attempt for advocating for the education of girls in her home country of Pakistan. This book describes her incredible story, including her advocacy work on behalf of women and girls on an international scale following her attack, and how she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize--all while she was still in her teens. Young readers will discover how important her parents' support has been to the young activist and gain an understanding of the culture in which Yousafzai was raised. The world can always use more positive female role models, and Yousafzai's youth and forthrightness make it easy for readers to relate to her.
Happy Clouds, Happy Trees
Readers will know Bob Ross (1942-1995) as the gentle, afroed painter of happy trees on PBS. And while the Florida-born artist is reviled or ignored by the elite art world and scholarly art educators, he continues to be embraced around the globe as a healer and painter, even decades after his death. In Happy Clouds, Happy Trees, the authors thoughtfully explore how the Bob Ross phenomenon grew into a juggernaut. Although his sincerity in embracing democracy, gift economies, conservation, and self-help may have left him previously denigrated as a subject of rigorous scholarship, this book uses contemporary art theory to explore the sophistication of Bob Ross's vision as an artist. In the end, Happy Clouds, Happy Trees presents Ross as a gift giver, someone who freely teaches the act of painting to anyone who believes in Ross's vision that "this is your world."
Making the World Safe
In Making the World Safe, historian Julia Irwin offers an insightful account of the American Red Cross, from its founding in 1881 by Clara Barton to its rise as the government's official voluntary aid agency. The story of the Red Cross is simultaneously a story of how Americans first began to see foreign aid as a key element in their relations with the world. As the American Century dawned, more and more Americans saw the need to engage in world affairs and to make the world a safer place - not by military action but through humanitarian aid. It was a time perfectly suited for the rise of the ARC. Making the World Safe reveals how this belief took hold in America and the role of the American Red Cross in its promotion.
Harriet Tubman
This concise biography of Harriet Tubman, the African American abolitionist, explores her various roles as an Underground Railroad conductor, Civil War scout and nurse, and women's rights advocate. The legendary Moses of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was a fiery and tenacious abolitionist who organized and led African American military operations deep in the Confederacy. Harriet Tubman: A Biography relates the life story of this extraordinary woman, standing as a testament to her tenacity, drive, intelligence, and courage. In telling the remarkable story of Tubman's life, the biography examines her early years as Araminta Ross (her birth name), her escape from slavery, her activities as an Underground Railroad conductor, her involvement in the Civil War, and her role as a champion of women's rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr
An inspiring portrait of the incredible life and lasting influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Marshall Frady, the reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights movement, here re-creates the life and turbulent times of its inspirational leader. Deftly interweaving the story of King's quest with a history of the African American struggle for equality, Frady offers fascinating insights into his subject's magnetic character, with its mixture of piety and ambition. He explores the complexities of King's relationships with other civil rights leaders, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, who conducted a relentless vendetta against him. The result is a biography that conveys not just the facts of King's life but the power of his legacy.
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks's crucial decision proved more than one to remain seated. This book uses historical analysis and Parks's own words to paint a complete picture of her life as a courageous and defiant civil rights activist. Rosa Parks: A Life in American History explores the life of this important civil rights activist in the context of the cultural and social history of her time. The book focuses heavily on the influence of her mother and grandparents in her civil rights activism and emphasizes the fact that Rosa Parks was always active and engaged in the struggle for civil rights. Analyses of the speeches she delivered provide a picture that broadens her influence and importance far beyond the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Chapters are organized chronologically, beginning with Rosa Parks' family history and ending with her death and legacy, and a culminating chapter explores her extensive impact on American history. The work also includes a timeline of key events in her life and a bibliography to aid additional research. This book connects Parks' lifelong activism to the spirit of justice and resistance she learned at a young age. Offers a clear and concise biography of Rosa Parks Examines the entirety of her life and activism beyond the Montgomery Bus Boycott Highlights how Parks's own words best tell her story Shows the complexity of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the resilience of Montgomery's Black population
Mandela
Nelson Mandela, the first African politician to acquire a world following, remains in the 21st century an iconic figure. Drawing on a range of sources, it presents a host of fresh insights about the shaping of Mandela's personality and public persona, from his childhood days and early activism, through his long years of imprisonment, to his presidency of the new South Africa. Throughout, Lodge emphasizes the crucial interplay between Mandela's public career and his personal or private world, showing how his heroic status was a product of his leading position within the anti-apartheid movement and his deliberate efforts to supply a form of quasi-messianic leadership for that movement. As Lodge shows, Mandela's huge international appeal is a compelling and unusual cocktail. Of the sacred and the secular. Of traditional African values and global media savvy. And of human vulnerability interwoven with the grand narrative of liberation throughout the story of this exceptional life.
Learning about Compassion from the Life of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale's heroic example of compassion and innovation in health care will be an inspiration to young people who live in a world where compassion is so sorely lacking.
Learning about Charity from the Life of Princess Diana
A simple biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, emphasizing her charitable work for such causes as sick children, people with AIDS, and the elimination of land mines
Learning about Integrity from the Life of Eleanor Roosevelt
A brief biography examining the value of integrity in the life of the First Lady who devoted herself to helping others and working for peace.
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall's groundbreaking work in living with and studying chimps in their natural African habitat made her one of the world's leading authorities on their behavior. Through her work, she also became a leading animal rights activist and environmentalist. Her determination, achievements, and exciting life will inspire all budding naturalists.
Audrey Hepburn
Through discussions of her films, charity work, reminiscences from friends, and photographs of her looks over the years Audrey Hepburn reveals the woman and the icon. Nearly two decades after her final film appearance, film star, style icon, and humanitarian, Audrey Hepburn; continues to captivate the world with her beauty, grace, image, and activism. One of the most successful and popular actresses in the world, some of the greatest leading men in Hollywood shared the screen with Audrey. She was also one of the first activist stars as the public face of UNICEF for over twenty years. Yet her life was not a complete fairy tale. She endured early life in Nazi-occupied Netherlands and saw many children her own age shipped off to concentration camps. She suffered miscarriages and failed marriages, yet maintained her grace and dignity as a public figure. Audrey Hepburn explores her amazing life, with a special focus on her iconic films and fashion styles.
The Best Weapon for Peace
The Italian educator and physician Maria Montessori (1870-1952) is best known for the teaching method that bears her name. She was also a lifelong pacifist, although historians tend to consider her writings on this topic as secondary to her pedagogy. In The Best Weapon for Peace, Erica Moretti reframes Montessori's pacifism as the foundation for her educational activism, emphasizing her vision of the classroom as a gateway to reshaping society. Montessori education offers a child-centered learning environment that cultivates students' development as peaceful, curious, and resilient adults opposed to war and invested in societal reform. Using newly discovered primary sources, Moretti examines Montessori's lifelong pacifist work, including her ultimately unsuccessful push for the creation of the White Cross, a humanitarian organization for war-affected children. Moretti shows that Montessori's educational theories and practices would come to define children's rights once adopted by influential international organizations, including the United Nations. She uncovers the significance of Montessori's evolving philosophy of peace and early childhood education within broader conversations about internationalism and humanitarianism.
Dr. Charles David Spivak
Part biography, part medical history, and part study of Jewish life in turn-of-the-century America, Jeanne Abrams's book tells the story of Dr. Charles David Spivak - a Jewish immigrant from Russia who became one of the leaders of the American Tuberculosis Movement. Determined to find a cure, Spivak became one of the most charismatic and well-known leaders in the American Tuberculosis Movement. Not only a national leader in the crusade against tuberculosis but also a luminary in the American Jewish community, Dr. Charles Spivak was a physician, humanitarian, writer, linguist, journalist, administrator, social worker, ethnic broker, and medical, public health, and social crusader. Abrams's biography will be a welcome addition to anyone interested in the history of medicine, Jewish life in America, or Colorado history.
Cesar Chavez
"[An] exceptionally interesting and intimate oral history . . . Against a background of motels and all-night cafés and strikes, the high relief in which the characters stand out is truly fascinating. Jacques Levy's biography of Chavez has unforgettable descriptive passages and fine photographs." The Nation Mexican-American civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), comes to life in this vivid portrait of the charismatic and influential fighter who boycotted supermarkets and took on corporations, the government, and the powerful Teamsters Union. Jacques E. Levy gained unprecedented access to Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union in writing this account of one of the most successful labor movements in history which can also serve as a guidebook for social and political change. The book's major contribution lies in its portrait of the man himself--deeply religious in an almost mystical fashion; a dedicated battler, but not a dedicated hater; a leader who not only will not ask, but will not allow his followers to make the sacrifices he has made." --Publishers Weekly "One of the heroic figures of our time." Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jacques E. Levy (1927-2004), a prize-winning journalist, spent six years with Cesar Chavez researching and writing this book. Fred Ross Jr. is a spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union and the son of Fred Ross, Chavez's mentor. Jacqueline Levy is the daughter of Jacques E. Levy and a high school science teacher in Sonoma County, California.