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So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed

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So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
Format: Book, eBook, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

We’ve all fallen victim to it. That satisfying feeling when someone is wrong on the internet. You instigate or participate in a “pile on,” posting your criticism on your choice of platform. And you totally forget: There’s a person on the other end. A human being, like you, who makes mistakes, like you.

Jon Ronson investigates this phenomenon in his book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. He speaks to people whose reputations have been ruined by public shaming. People who innocently tweeted a joke, or had a secret uncovered, or posted a photo meant for just their friends to see, that spiraled completely out of control, turning their lives upside down. Even if they sincerely apologize, even if they genuinely change their minds/ways, they become known for that one mistake, and not for the multi-faceted individual they are.

Of course public shaming is not a new concept, but it’s gotten significantly easier, and potentially more dangerous, in our current era of social media and the 24-hour news cycle. Anyone can be held accountable for satire they published years ago. Anyone can have a quote taken out of context that disrupts their career and endangers their livelihood. Anyone can devote their life to doing good works and be “cancelled” in the blink of an eye. The court of public opinion never seems to close, or overturn their rulings.

We generally extol virtues like “love your neighbor” and even “love your enemy” but when we engage in public shaming we ignore and even betray these ideals. Why are so quick to hold a grudge, and so slow to hold a conversation with people we presume to disagree with? If you take the opportunity to get to know that person, you are likely to find common ground. If you allow that person to learn from their transgressions and move on, instead of constantly reminding them of what they did wrong, they may grow and find redemption.

In this book, Ronson charges us to examine our impulse to “call out” people, and to think about the harm it causes by inhibiting civility and advancing cruelty. Find it in our catalog

Roll With It

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Roll With It by Jamie Sumner
Format: Book, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Kids

Ellie has big dreams—she doesn’t just want to be a good baker for a twelve-year-old, she wants to be a great baker, period. Sure, she’s got her challenges—like the aide who has to follow her around the whole school day—but with good news from her doctor, things are looking up.

Then Ellie and her mom have to move so they can help take care of her grandpa, whose dementia is getting worse. Now she’s the new kid at a tiny school, and the only one who uses a wheelchair. Ellie thinks she just might reach her breaking point—until the oddball neighbor kids become, unexpectedly, her friends. Find it in the catalog.

Dark and Deepest Red

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Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
Book
Who It’s For: Teens, Adults

This is a beautiful and haunting story told in a dual timeline, linking people across five centuries. The story will hearken the tale of The Red Shoes, by Hans Christian Andersen, but it is so much more.

In 1518 France, Lavinia is swept into the chaos of a dancing plague, but her role is not that of victim, but as suspect. Her strange family and strange ways must mean only one thing: she is a witch. Five centuries later, Emil is linked to the past by blood, and Rosella by a beautiful pair of red shoes. Separated by 500 years, what must Lavinia and Emil do to save the people they love?

In this dark fairy tale, the author blends history, family, love, betrayal, women’s and girls’ roles in society, and the treatment of marginalized peoples in the past and present into a magical story.

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Being Frog

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Book Cover of "Being Frog" by April Pulley SayreBeing Frog by April Pulley Sayre
Publication/Release Date:
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Frogs are fascinating, and Being Frog by April Pulley Sayre is a beautiful look at these amphibians for young naturalists. Stunning photos and simple rhyming text show a tiny frog egg growing into a tadpole, then a tiny froglet able to leave the water. Readers then follow one day in the life of a green frog in a North American woodland pond: we see the frog swimming, climbing, hunting, missing its prey, and trying again. The author Sayre uses simple language to show that frogs are living creatures with their own needs, habitats, and behaviors- not playthings, but wild animals. An author’s note gives more information about how she observed and photographed the frogs over many months to create this lovely book, which is perfect for the youngest nature-lovers.

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Six of Crows

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Format: Book, eBook, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults

In Ketterdam, a center of international trade, Kaz Brekker and his crew fight to survive in the underworld of the city. At its core, Six of Crows is a heist story. A wealthy merchant offers an obscene amount of money if Kaz and the others can travel to a nearby nation, break into the Ice Court, and free a scientist being held prisoner. Complicating matters is disagreement among the crew about what should be done with the prisoner when (if) they get him out.

The crew is Jesper, Matthias, Wylan, Nina, Inej, and Kaz: “a gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.” The story is told in alternating viewpoints and you really get to know these characters and their backgrounds. Six of Crows takes place in the Grishaverse, the same fantasy world featured in Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy, and some of the characters will be familiar to those who’ve read her other works.

Six of Crows is the first book in a duology. It ends in a cliffhanger – be ready to immediately dig in to Crooked Kingdom! Netflix is creating a series based on Bardugo’s Grishaverse, so these characters will soon be making their way to our television screens as well.

Find Six of Crows in the catalog.

Pink is for Boys

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Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

This delightful picture book has one simple but important message: “all the colors are for everyone.” It opens with the title “pink is for boys” but is quickly followed by “and for girls” and the accompanying illustrations tenderly depict all genders of children enjoying pink bow ties and party dressed. Each color of the rainbow is then presented in turn and coupled with bright illustrations showing that yes indeed, anyone can enjoy any color that their heart desires, making it a perfect read for anyone who wants to challenge gender stereotypes.

Find it in the catalog