March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility. #tdov

Trans Day of Visibility is set aside to celebrate the accomplishments of trans and non-binary people and raise awareness of the discrimination that people face.

Trans and non-binary people are a part of our local community. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 42% of adults in the United States personally know someone who is transgender or goes by gender-neutral pronouns.

Libraries serve every member of the community. The American Library Association (ALA) encourages libraries to create safe environments for gender diverse, transgender, and intersex library users, stating that, “Discrimination based on gender identity or expression is damaging to the health of children, families, and society. Libraries must actively affirm and support the safety and rights of transgender people.”

If you’d like to learn more, consider one of these books at the library or on Libby.

Memoirs

The natural mother of the child : a memoir of nonbinary parenthood by Krys Malcolm Belc

All boys aren’t blue : a memoir-manifesto by George M. Johnson.

Sorted : Growing up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place (a Transgender Memoir) by Jackson Bird (eBook)

Fiction by Trans and Non-binary Authors

The Thirty Names of Night : a novel by Zeyn Joukhadar

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender

Confessions of the Fox : a novel by Jordy Rosenberg. (also available as eBook)

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White. (eBook)

Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve. (eBook)

In Deeper Waters by F.T Lukens. (eBook)

Titles of Interest

Diary of a misfit : a memoir and a mystery by Casey Parks (New)

Unbound : Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity by Arlene Stein (eBook)

The Pride Guide: A Guide to Sexual and Social Health for LGBTQ Youth by Jo Langford (eBook)

March is National Nutrition Month. It’s a great time to try a new healthy recipe! The library has a large selection of cookbooks for a variety of dietary needs and food preferences. Here are a few of our newest and most popular.

Not every recipes is healthy, though. You can learn more about National Nutrition Month and browse a selection of healthy, balanced recipes at eatright.org. For additional information, check out the National Institutes of Health’s Physical Wellness Toolkit at nih.gov

Newest Cookbooks at the library

What would Jesus eat cookbook by Don Colbert, MD.

The brain health kitchen : preventing Alzheimer’s through food with 100 recipes by Annie Fenn, MD.

The vegan week : meal prep recipes to feed your future self by Gena Hamshaw

Downshiftology healthy meal prep : 100+ make-ahead recipes and quick-assembly meals by Lisa Bryan

Our Most Popular Cookbooks of the past 5 Years

Magnolia table : a collection of recipes for gathering by Joanna Gaines with Marah Stets

The whole30 fast & easy : 150 simply delicious everyday recipes for your whole30 / Melissa Hartwig

The Whole Smiths good food cookbook : delicious real food recipes to cook all year long by Michelle Smith

The pioneer woman cooks : the new frontier : 112 fantastic favorites for everyday eating by Ree Drummond

Our Most Popular Cookbooks of All Time

The Tasha Tudor cookbook : recipes and reminiscences from Corgi Cottage written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor with Carol Johnston Lueck

Barefoot Contessa at home : everyday recipes you’ll make over and over again by Ina Garten

Betty Groff’s Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook with illustrations by Heather Saunders.

The pioneer woman cooks : food from my frontier / Ree Drummond

Whether you love to read romance or you’re just dipping your toes into the genre, consider one of these award-winning romance novels or one of our newest titles for Valentine’s Day.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske — Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards: The Fantasy Romantic Novel Award Winner. (Listen to the audiobook on Libby)

So many awards! If you’re looking for an award-winning book to enjoy during Winter reading, here’s a partial list of books that won awards this year. Each of the following books was written for adults and won an award in 2022.

Many of these titles can be used to check other boxes on your card too! There are science fiction award-winners, westerns, books written by women and BIPOC authors, and even some non-fiction for your winter reading bingo. All are available at Adamstown Area Library.

The rabbit hutch / Tess Gunty — National Book Award 2022

Trust / Hernan Diaz — Kirkus Prize 2022

The book of form and emptiness / Ruth Ozeki — Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022

The other black girl : a novel / Zakiya Dalila Harris — American Book Award 2022

Covered with night : a story of murder and Indigenous justice in early America / Nicole Eustace — Pulitzer Prize 2022: History

Invisible child : poverty, survival & hope in an American city / Andrea Elliott — Pulitzer Prize 2022: General Nonfiction

A desolation called peace / Arkady Martine — Hugo Award for Best Novel 2022. Locus Award: SF Novel 2022

A master of djinn / P. Djèlí Clark — Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2021. Locus Award: Best First Novel 2022. Compton Crook Award 2022.

Bonus Title: My heart is a chainsaw/ Stephen Graham Jones — Shirley Jackson Winner 2022. Bram Stoker Award 2022. Locus Award: Horror Novel 2022

Razorblade tears / S.A. Cosby — Macavity Awards: Best Mystery Novel 2022. Barry Awards: Best Mystery/Crime Novel 2022. Hammett Award 2021.

Arsenic and adobo / Mia P. Manansala — Macavity Awards: Best First Mystery Novel 2022

The removed : a novel / Brandon Hobson — Western Heritage Awards (Wrangler Award): Novel 2022

Dark sky : a Joe Pickett novel / C.J. Box — Spur Awards: Best Western Novel 2022

The Orchard House / Heidi Chiavaroli — Carol Award Winner 2022 (historical)

A piece of the moon / Chris Fabry — Carol Award Winner 2022 (contemporary)

The prince of spies / Elizabeth Camden — Carol Award Winner 2022 (historical romance)

All that really matters / Nicole Deese — Carol Award Winner 2022 (romance)

How to Play Winter Reading Bingo

Print a BINGO Card

Looking for something to read? We can help!

Here are some short novels for a quick weekend read – to help you fill those squares in Winter Reading Bingo!

Short Classics:

Of mice and men by John Steinbeck – 186 pages, award-winner, banned or challenged

The great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – 172 pages, banned or challenged

The great divorce by C.S. Lewis – 125 pages

Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – 219 pages, banned or challenged, written by a woman, BIPOC author

Even Shorter: Classic Novellas

A Christmas carol : in prose being a ghost story of Christmas by Charles Dickens – 85 pages

The little prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry – 96 pages

The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – 97 pages

Animal farm by George Orwell – 113 pages, banned or challenged

Recent short fiction:

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy – 189 pages, 2022

Of women and salt by Gabriela Garcia – 207 pages, 2021, written by a woman, BIPOC author, award-winner

The cat who saved books by Sosuke Natsukawa – 198 pages, 2021, set in another country

The silence by Don DeLillo – 117 pages, 2021

How to Play Winter Reading Bingo

Print a BINGO Card

Looking for something to read? We can help!

If you’re participating in Winter Reading Bingo, here are some titles to help you fill those squares. The library also offers a resource called Books and Authors that can help you find your next book.

“Read a book that takes place in Pennsylvania”

Here are a few of the top picks from Goodreads:

The lovely bones by Alice Sebold

The Dutch house by Ann Patchett

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Long bright river by Liz Moore

“Read a book set in another country”

Here are four that you find at the top of many lists:

One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The book thief by Markus Zusak

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

And here are some recent titles for armchair travel and dreams of warmer days:

One Italian summer by Rebecca Serle

Wish you were here by Jodi Picoult

The Paris apartment by Lucy Foley

Reckless girls by Rachel Hawkins

How to Play Winter Reading Bingo

Print a BINGO Card

If you’re looking for the best children’s or young adult books, the American Library Association announced the winners of the 2022 Youth Media Awards this week! Here are some of this year’s award-winning books, including those that won the prestigious Newbery and Caldecott Medals. See the full list including all of the Honor Books and finalists at American Libraries Magazine.

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

The Last Cuentista written by Donna Barba Higuera

A girl named Petra Pena, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet – and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth.

Awards: Newbery Medal Award, 2022; Pura Belpre Award, Children’s Author Award Winner, 2022.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

Watercress illustrated by Jason Chin and written by Andrea Wang

Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.

Awards: Newbery Honor Book, 2022; Caldecott Medal Award, 2022; Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winner, Picture Book, 2022.

Coretta Scott King Book Awards recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

A powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation’s history.

Awards: Caldecott Honor Book, 2022; Coretta Scott King Award, Author Award Winner, 2022; Coretta Scott King Award, Illustrator Award Winner, 2022; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor Book, 2022.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

Firekeeper’s Daughter written by Angeline Boulley

Treated like an outsider in both her hometown and on the Ojibwe reservation, a half-Native American science geek and star hockey player places her dreams on hold in the wake of a family tragedy.

Awards: Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, 2022; William C. Morris Young Adult Debut Award Winner, 2022; American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Young Adult, 2022.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children:

The People’s Painter: How Ben Schan Fought for Justice With Art written by Cynthia Levinson ; pictures by Evan Turk

“The first thing I can remember,” Ben said, “I drew.” As an observant young child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees-and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too. So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings with him both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what’s right.

Awards: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Winner, 2022

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book:

Fox at Night written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor

Fox is up late in the night. There are shadows and noises everywhere. Fox is sure the night is full of monsters! Then he meets the real creatures of the night and realizes they are not so scary after all.

Awards: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner, 2022

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

Young Children’s Awards: My City Speaks written by Darren Lebeuf and illustrated by Ashley Barron

Middle Grades Awards: A Bird Will Soar by Alison Green Myers

Teens Award: Words in My Hands written and illustrated by Asphyxia

See the Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences, the Pura Belpré Awards honoring Latinx writers and illustrators, winners of the American Indian Youth Literature Awards, and more at American Libraries Magazine.