In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we’ve created a Civil War Sesquicentennial display in the library. We’ve gathered books, movies, and audiobooks about the Civil War for children, teens, and adults. See below for a selection of adult fiction and nonfiction titles.
The Civil War Trust, an organization “devoted to the preservation of our nation’s endangered Civil War battlefields,” is a good source of Civil War information on the web. If you’d like information about the Civil War in Appalachia, try this interactive map from Visit Appalachia. Click on “Regions” to explore significant Civil War sites across Appalachia, including eastern Kentucky.
To celebrate, stop by our display at the front of the library and bring home a book of poetry. We have an especially strong collection of work by Kentucky poets, including recent books by Maurice Manning and T. Crunk.
To learn more about National Poetry Month, visit poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets. Sign up to receive a Poem-A-Day through email, or download the Poem Flow app for iPhones. (Yes, there really is an app for everything.)
JCPL kicks off this year’s college readiness series with a College Application Essay Workshop on Saturday, March 5, at 1:00 p.m. Tutors from the Asbury University Writing Center will explain how to make your application essay stand out from the crowd. Click here to register.
And don’t miss the Financial Aid Workshop on March 12th or the College Fair on March 19th. Attending all sessions of the College Readiness series will get your name entered into a prize drawing on March 19th, the day of the College Fair.
See below for books on writing college application essays, or come see our display of college readiness books in the library!
February is African American History Month, a time to honor the struggle, achievements, and contributions of African Americans. To learn more about African American history, stop by the display of books and movies at the front of the library, or visit the following websites:
http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov
This site features African American history-related exhibits and collections from the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, and other government agencies.
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History founded Black History Month.
http://edsitement.neh.gov/black-history-month#02
From the National Endowment for the Humanities, this site features the best educational websites on African American History.
Books:
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The Ghost Map is perfect for the general reader with an interest, but not a great deal of background, in science, medicine, and history. It tells the story of London’s cholera epidemic of 1864 – the conditions that created it, how it started and expanded, how it affected ordinary people, and how a few very smart people figured out what was causing it. It’s a fascinating and very moving story. For more information, including an animated introduction to the book, and interviews with the author, visit http://theghostmap.com. |
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Like The Ghost Map, this book sheds light on the lives of ordinary people facing an environmental disaster. Thousands of families fled the Dust Bowl, but this book describes the day to day lives of those who stayed. It is a gripping and heart-wrenching story. |
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“It was a fun children’s book with an interesting story and lots of little random tidbits thrown in.” |
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“Full of awkward silliness from a young girl who is trying to find her way as she grows up.” |
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“The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most popular, complicated, and long stories of all time. I liked being able to listen to it on Playaway and hear the different characters.” |
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“History, sci-fi, and mystery all in one.” |
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“It is full of geeky spying goodness!” |
