If you haven't read much modern Latinx literature, National Hispanic Heritage Month is a good reminder that it is time to start. These books by Latina authors tell emotional stories that are unique in perspective and circumstance but that also connect to the general human experience. Check them out today!

Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Also available in: e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook

Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn't matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year's Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan's free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.

Her body and other parties : stories by Carmen Maria Machado
Also available in: e-audiobook

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.

Starting a small business? Need information to help you with your current business? Want some inspiration? Here are some print and online resources with the information you need to fuel your entrepreneurial spirit and grow your business from the ground up. 

Helpful Books

Also available in: e-book

Want to start a business? Don't know where to begin? Start here. The Small Business Start-Up Kit shows you how to set up a small business in your state, quickly and efficiently clearing state and local bureaucratic hurdles along the way.

It'll show you how to choose between an LLC and other business structures, write an effective business plan, pick a winning business name and protect it, get the proper licenses and permits, price, bid, and bill your projects, manage finances and taxes, hire and manage staff, get your website up and running, and market your business effectively, online and off.

The 10th edition is completely updated, with the latest legal and tax rules affecting small businesses, plus social media and e-commerce trends and platforms.

Who knew there were so many types of felines out there? From snow leopards and tigers to our own household cats, felines can be found in many corners of the world. Enjoy these stories and songs from storytime highlighting fantastic felines!

Yawning Cat

Stories and Songs from Storytime

Every year, former President Barack Obama releases a list of recommended reading. You can find his 2019 picks on his TwitterInstagram, and Facebook accounts. If you would like an extensive list of his past recommendations, check out this BookRiot article. Below is our list of all of his recommendations that we have in our print and electronic collections. If you see any recommendations that are not part of our collection, you may be able to request them through MelCat. Ask a Librarian if you need assistance.

This is the continuation of the third part of our list.

Click these links for Part I, Part II, and Part III

 

2019 : Year-End Recommendations

Also available in: e-audiobook

Pulitzer-Prize winner Samantha Power is widely known as the moral voice of her generation. A relentless advocate for promoting human rights, she has been heralded by President Barack Obama as one of America's "foremost thinkers on foreign policy." The Education of an Idealist traces Power's distinctly American journey, from Irish immigrant to human rights activist to United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

What if you made your New Year's resolution not about changing yourself but about loving yourself as you are instead? Check out these books that can help you do just that:

A prescriptive, empowering, and psychology-driven guide to building confidence in your body, clothes, beauty, and life in the era of toxic social media-driven beauty standards. Between picture-perfect Instagram celebrities, ultra-lean fitness gurus, and effortlessly chic fashion influencers, it's getting harder and harder to feel good about the way we look. Despite the growing movement toward female empowerment and body positivity, the pressure for women to conform to beauty standards is higher than ever, and the culture of social media has raised the bar. But it's not too late to break the looks-obsessed cycle and live a happy, confident, authentic life. Beyond Beautiful is a no-fuss, psychology-backed guide to help women develop a healthy attitude toward their bodies, looks, clothing, health, and aging. Filled with proven strategies for proactive self-care, this stylish and essential guide provides sage answers to tricky questions like: * Why do I hate the way I look in pictures? * How can I stop comparing myself to all those beautiful people on social media? * Would I be happier if I lost weight? * Why is everyone else so stylish? Illustrated with full-color spot art, Beyond Beautiful is a much-needed breath of fresh air that will enhance your confidence and joy, and help you live your best life.

Also available in: e-book | e-audiobook

Systems of oppression thrive off of our inability to make peace with bodies and difference. When we develop the ability to honor difference and radically accept ourselves, we have the capacity and desire to apply those skills to the larger world. Radical self love not only dismantles shame and self loathing in us, but has the power to dismantle global systems of injustice, because when we make true peace with our bodies, only then do we have the capacity to truly make peace with the bodies of the others. The purpose of this book is to get us to stop treating our bodies like cars, to stop acting as if our minds are not part of our bodies. Reading this book will move us beyond these fraught and compartmentalized lives, where we easily forget that we are whole humans having whole human experiences in our bodies.

Every year, former President Barack Obama releases a list of recommended reading. You can find an extensive list of all his recommendations in this BookRiot article, and you can find a list of all of his recommendations that CPL has in our print and electronic collections below. If you see any that are not part of our collection, you may be able to request them through MelCat. Ask a Librarian if you need assistance.

Here is the continuation of the second part of our list:

2019: Early Recommendations

The Nickel boys : a novel by 1969- Colson Whitehead
Also available in: e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook | large print

As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men."

Every year, former President Barack Obama releases a list of recommended reading. You can find an extensive list of all his recommendations in this BookRiot article, and you can find a list of all of his recommendations that CPL has in our print and electronic collections below. If you see any that are not part of our collection, you may be able to request them through MelCat. Ask a Librarian if you need assistance.

Here is the continuation of the first part of our list:

2016

Also available in: e-book

Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships annealed in challenging waves.

Every year, former President Barack Obama releases a list of recommended reading. You can find an extensive list of all his recommendations in this BookRiot article, and you can find a list of all of his recommendations that CPL has in our print and electronic collections below. If you see any that are not part of our collection, you may be able to request them through MelCat. Ask a Librarian if you need assistance.

2008

FDR by Jean Edward Smith

One of today’s premier biographers has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America’s greatest presidents. 

Although it is important to recognize indigenous people every month, November is Native American Heritage Month! You can begin your month by looking at this map of Native Land that allows you to see what peoples once lived on the land that you now do. Next, you can participate by checking out these books that highlight Native American voices:

Children

The word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. Beginning in the fall with the new year and ending in summer, follow a full Cherokee year of celebrations and experiences. Written by a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this look at one group of Native Americans is appended with a glossary and the complete Cherokee syllabary, originally created by Sequoyah. 

Today is the perfect day for some chocolate. Canton Public Library has you covered with books on many aspects of the cacao bean from its history to recipes. We even have fiction in which chocolate plays an important role. Check out these offerings: 

Beans to chocolate by 1963- Sarah Ridley

Everyone loves chocolate, but do you know where it comes from and how it ends up on supermarket shelves? Follow the story of chocolate through the farming process to manufacturing. 

Chocolate hits all the right sweet--and bitter--notes: cutting-edge genetic science whisked in with a strong social conscience, history, and culture yield one thought-provoking look into one of the world's most popular foods. Readers who savored Chew on This and Food, Inc. and lovers of chocolate will relish this fascinating read.

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