2021 – 2017 Social Action

Selections can be from the 2017-2021 Reading lists if not included in previous reports, children and youth titles can be read for credit in all plans of the Reading Program

2021 Social Action Crocodile’s Crossing: A Search for Home. Yoeri Slegers. Flyaway Books 2020. Crocodile is tired, scared and hopeful as he searches for his new home. “Everything will be better where I’m going!”he thinks. Featuring bright artwork, this thoughtful tale sensitively introduces children to the complex topic of immigration and portrays the challenges faced by refugees and other newcomers. Suitable for children. Wayne County Library – 1 print copy.

2021 Social Action Ferguson and Faith: Sparkling Leadership and Awakening Community. Leah Gunning Francis. Chalice Press. 2015. The shooting death of Michael Brown reignited a long-smoldering movement for justice, with many St. Louis–area clergy stepping up to support the young leaders of today’s civil rights movement. Seminary professor Leah Gunning Francis was among the activists. Her interviews with more than two dozen faith leaders and organizers demonstrate that being called to lead a faithful life can take us to places we never expected to go.

2021 Social Action For Such a Time As This: Hope and Forgiveness After the Charleston Massacre. Rev. Sharon Risher with Sherri Wood Emmons. Chalice Press. 2019. Plunged into the depths of mourning, anger and shock, the Reverend Sharon Risher could have wallowed in the pain of losing her mother and two cousins at the hands of a white supremacist during the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church massacre. Instead, she chose the path of forgiveness and hope—eventually forgiving the convicted killer for his crime. Wayne County Library – 10 print

2021 Social Action Girl Gone Missing: A Cash Blackbear Mystery. Marci R. Rendon. Cinco Puntos Press. 2019. Nineteen-year-old Anishinabe woman Renee “Cash” Blackbear hears about a blonde girl in her English class who has gone missing. And then another. She begins to dream about blonde girls calling for help; they’re in Minneapolis. She’s never been far from the Red River and she’s never heard of white slavery. Then, suddenly, she’s locked inside a room with the lost girls. She needs to find a way out. Wayne County Library – 10 print copies.

2021 Social Action No Justice: One White Police Officer, One Black Family, and How one Bullet Ripped Us Apart. Robbie Tolan and Lawrence Ross. Center Street. 2018. A white police officer shot a young black man named Robbie Tolan in the chest, right in his own driveway. It was a mistake, and yet no one was willing to take responsibility. How do you pick up the pieces of your life when society and the legal system let you down? In a journey that took nearly a decade, Robbie was held together by the strength of his parents, his faith in God, and an impenetrable belief that he deserved justice like any other American. Wayne County Public – 10 print copies.

1 2021 Social Action : The Enduring Life of . Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. Penguin Random House. 2017. Trayvon Martin has become a symbol of social justice activism, as has his hauntingly familiar image: the photo of a child wearing a hoodie and gazing silently at the camera. But who was Trayvon before he became an icon? And how did one black child’s death in a small Florida town become the match that lit a civil rights crusade? Trayvon’s parents take readers beyond the news cycle with an account only they could give. Wayne County Library – 4 Audiobook CD. 40 print copies.

2021 Social Action Women Rise Up: Sacred Stories of Resistance For Today’s Revolution. Katey Zeh. The Far Press. 2019. Hannah struggled with depression over her infertility. Mary Magdalene witnessed the execution of her friend. Ruth was an undocumented migrant worker at risk of sexual violence. And yet, these women discovered powerful ways to resist by claiming the power of their innate sacred worth. What can we learn from these foremothers of our faith that will help guide us in our collective struggle for gender justice today?

2020 Social Action – Bonus Book [two books in Social Action] So You Want to Talk About Race. Ijeoma Oluo. Seal Press. 2018. Widespread reporting on white supremacy has made it impossible to ignore the issue of race. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and and how they infect almost every aspect of American life. Public Library – 47 print. 1 Audiobook CD. Available: Unlimited MP3 Overdrive Listen. 14 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle]

2020 Social Action A Cage Without Bars. Anne Dublin. Second Story Press. 2018 It is 1492 and Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain have signed the Edict of Expulsion, giving Jews three months to leave the country. After escaping to Portugal with their parents, 12-year-old Joseph and his sister Gracia, along with hundreds of other Jewish children, are kidnapped and enslaved on an island off the coast of West Africa, where they are forcibly baptized and made to work on a sugar plantation. Joseph holds to the hope that one day he will be free. Suitable for youth.

2020 Social Action The Fig Tree Revolution: Unleashing Local Churches Into the Mission of Justice. Bill Mefford. Cascade Books. 2017. This inspirational book has practical steps to mobilize believers in grassroots efforts and help local churches engage in the transformative work of justice. The locus of God’s change is through believers immersed in relationships with those impacted by injustice. Based on the first four chapters of Esther and drawn from real stories of people creating change. Public Library – 1 print.

2 2020 Social Action Immigration and Justice for Our Neighbors. Jennifer Clark and Miriam Downey Editors. Celery City Books. 2017. This is an anthology of poems, essays, and short stories based on the immigrant experience.

2020 Social Action Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. City Lights Books. 2019. This is a deeply researched—and deeply disturbing—history of guns and gun laws in the United States. As historian and educator Dunbar-Ortiz explains, in order to understand the current obstacles to gun control, we must understand the history of U.S. guns, from their role in the “settling of America” to the present. Public Library – 14 print copies. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle].

2020 Social Action Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race In Your Community. E. Willis Johnson. Abingdon Press. 2017. This book equips church leaders to respond to crises with confidence, lower their inhibitions about addressing race, and transform their communities by reclaiming their authority as prophetic witnesses and leaders. The practical, foundational guidance will prompt readers to observe, identify and name the complex causes of violence and hatred in their communities. Become part of God’s work in the world by learning to use: • Testimony and other narrative devices • Proclamation • Guided group conversations

2020 Social Action Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School. Janet Halfmann and London Ladd, Illustrator. Lee & Low Books. 2018. In 19th century Mississippi, it was illegal for enslaved people to learn to read and write. But this did not stop Lilly Ann Granderson, an enslaved person who started a midnight school and taught hundreds of her peers to do so. Many shared their knowledge and others forged passes to escape to freedom. Based on a true story, Midnight Teacher is an inspiring testament to a little-known pioneer in education. Suitable for children. Public Library – 23 print copies.

2020 Social Action Six By Ten: Stories From Solitary. Taylor Pendergrass and Mateo Koke, Editors. HayMarket Books. 2018. An estimated 80,000 Americans are held in solitary confinement across the country, often in cells no bigger than six by ten feet, with 24 hours per day of little or no meaningful human contact. This book shares first-person narratives of prisoners, family members, and corrections officers and explores the mental, physical and spiritual impacts of America’s widespread embrace of this punishment. Public Library – 2 print copies

3 2020 Social Action Storming the Wall Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security. Todd Miller. City Lights Books. 2017. This book connects the dots between climate-ravaged communities, the corporations cashing in on border militarization, and emerging movements for environmental justice and sustainability. Reporting from the flashpoints of climate clashes and from likely sites of futures battles, Miller chronicles a growing system of militarized divisions. Stories of crisis, greed and violence are juxtaposed with powerful examples of solidarity and hope in this urgent and timely message. Public Library – 3 print copies.

2020 Social Action They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change. John Dear. Orbis Books. 2018. At his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes the connection between our practice of nonviolence and our unity with creation. From that, this book extrapolates that our rejection of nonviolence is inevitably linked to the catastrophic effects of climate change and environmental ruin. These personal stories of John Dear’s life and work invite us to return to nonviolence as a way of life and a living solidarity with earth and its creatures.

2020 Social Action The Water Walker. Joanne Robertson. Second Story Press. 2017. An Ojibwe grandmother (nokomis) loves nibi (water). Nokomis walks to raise awareness of our need to protect nibi for future generations and for all life on the planet. She and others have walked around all the Great Lakes from the four salt waters, or oceans, to Lake Superior. The walks are full of challenges, and by her example she challenges us to take responsibility for protecting our water and to protect our planet for all generations. Suitable for children. Public Library – 8 print copies.

2020 Social Action We Kiss Them With Rain. Futhi Ntshingila. Catalyst Press. 2018. Life wasn’t always this hard for 14-year-old Mvelo. There were good times living with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Now her mother is dying of AIDS, and what happened to Mvelo is the elephant in the room. In this modern-day Shakespeare- style comedy set in a squatter camp outside Durban, South Africa, appearances are a façade and the things that are revealed provide Mvelo with a golden opportunity to change her fate. Suitable for youth. Public library – 8 print copies.

2020 Social Action What Comes With the Dust. Gharbi M Mustafa. Arcade Publishing 2018. This slim, profound novel illuminates the plight of those living under the Islamic State as well as the spirit of the Yazidi people—similar to how The Kite Runner and The Swallows of Kabuldid shed light on the Taliban regime. It tells the story of Yazidi women Nazo and Soz as they fight to survive. Public Library – 4 print copies

4 2020 Social Action Where Will I Live? Rosemary McCarney. Second Story Press. 2017. This stunning photo essay with images from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees examines the thousands of children around the world who have been forced to fl ee war, terror, hunger and natural disasters. The images will help unaffected children understand not only what this must feel like but also how very lucky they are. The fi nal message is that children, even with uncertain futures, are resilient and can face uncertainty with optimism. Suitable for children. Public Library – 9 print copies.

2020 Social Action Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confont Racism. William H. Willimon. Abingdon Press. 2017. How do white, Protestant pastors preach effectively on racial violence and disease? How do you address crucial contemporary social crises when it’s simply not possible to relate to black pain? This true story of pastor Hawley Lynn’s 1947 sermon, a response to the last lynching in Greenville, South Carolina, will help pastors preach on race and violence in America, inviting and challenging the church to respond. Public Library – 2 print.

2019 Social Action – Bonus – [two Social Action category] Nobody Cries When We Die – God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood. Patrick B. Reyes. Chalice Press. 2016. + Patrick Reyes shares his story of how the community around him - his grandmother, robed clergy, educators, friends, and neighbors - saved him from gang life, abuse, and the economic and racial oppression that threatened to kill him before he ever reached adulthood. A story balancing the tension between pain and healing,

2019 Social Action – Bonus – [two Social Action category] Walking On Lava – Selected Works for Uncivilized Times. The Dark Mountain Project. Chelsea Green. 2017. + In a world in which the climate is being altered by human activities; in which global ecosystems are being destroyed by the advance of industrial civilization; and in which the dominant economic and cultural assumptions of the West are visibly crumbling, Dark Mountain asked: where are the writers and the artists? Dark Mountain's call for writers, thinkers and artists willing to face the depth of the mess we are in has made it a gathering point for a growing international network. Public Library – 1 print copy

2019 Social Action – Bonus – [two Social Action category] “We Are All Fast Food Workers Now” – The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages. Annelise Orleck. Beacon Press. 2018. + An urgent, illuminating look at globalization as seen through the eyes of workers-activists: small farmers, fast-food servers, retail workers, hotel housekeepers, home-healthcare aides, airport workers, and adjunct professors who are fighting for respect, safety, and a living wage. Public Library – 5 print copies. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle].

5 2019 Social Action Where Do We Go From Here – Chaos or Community? Martin Luther King, Jr. Beacon Press. 2010. + Examines the Black struggle for equality and reaffirms King's belief in nonviolence. Public Library – 16 print copies, 1 Audiobook CD,

2019 Social Action - Recommended Reading Do ? – The Issues We Can No Longer Ignore and the Solutions WE all Long For. Wayne Gordon and John M. Perkins. Baker Publishing Group. 2017. + This book is an exploration of that question. It delves into history and current events, into Christian teaching and personal stories, in order to start a conversation about the way forward. Its raw but hopeful words will help move us from apathy to empathy and from empathy to action. Public Library – 1 print copy

2019 Social Action - Recommended Reading The Feathered Bone: A Novel. Julie Cantrell. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 2016. + In the pre-Katrina glow of New Orleans, Amanda Salassi is anxious about chaperoning her daughter’s sixth-grade field trip to the Big Easy during Halloween. And then her worst fears come true. Her daughter’s best friend, Sarah, disappears amid the magic and revelry—gone, without a trace. Set amidst the murky parishes of rural Louisiana and told through the eyes of two women who confront the darkest corners of humanity with quiet and unbreakable faith, Public Library – 20 print copies, 1 Overdrive Listen, 2 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle], 1 Audiobook CD,

2019 Social Action - Recommended Reading Love in a Time of Climate Change – Honoring Creation, Establishing Justice. Sharon Delgado. Fortress Press. 2017. + A call to readers to develop a loving response to climate change, which harms the poor, threatens future generations, and damages God’s creation. Exploring the theology of creation can help us understand the intrinsic value of creation and assess the physical and spiritual implications of climate change.

2018 Social Action 13 Steps to Sustainability. www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/sustainability, United Methodist Women, 2016 Download Free

2018 Social Action America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and Bridge to a New America. Jim Wallis. America's problem with race has deep roots, with the country's foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation's original sin. Wayne County Public – 21 print. 3 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle], . 1 Overdrive listen, 1 Audiobook CD.

6 2018 Social Action Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good. Chuck Collins. Collins calls for a ceasefire and invites the wealthy to come back home, investing themselves and their wealth in struggling communities. And he asks the non-wealthy to build alliances with the one percent and others at the top of the wealth ladder. Wayne County Public – 7 print. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle].

2018 Social Action – Bonus Book [counts for two Social Action titles] Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action and Climate Change. Steven A Jurovics. Borrowing an approach from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership, which brought together both secular and religious arguments for ending segregation, this book addresses physical evidence of climate change while demonstrating through biblical teachings the religious imperative for preserving our inherited world.

2018 Social Action – Bonus Book [counts for two Social Action titles] Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. Monique W. Morris. Just 16 percent of female students, Black girls make up more than one-third of all girls with a school- related arrest. The first trade book to tell these untold stories, Pushout exposes a world of confined potential and supports the growing movement to address the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures. Wayne County Public – 18 print. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML], 1 MP3 Overdrive listen.

2018 Social Action – Recommended Reading List Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity. Alison Flowers. As she tells each exoneree's powerful story, Flowers vividly shows that release from prison, though sometimes joyous and hopeful, is not a Hollywood ending—or an ending at all. Rather, an exoneree's first unshackled steps are the beginning of a new journey full of turmoil and uncertainty. Flowers also sheds new light on the collateral damage of wrongful convictions on families and communities, confronting deeper problems of mass incarceration and the criminal justice system. Wayne County Public – 4 print. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle],

2018 Social Action – Recommended Reading List Stakes is High: Race, Faith, and Hope for America. Michael W. Waters. Pastor, activist, and community leader Michael W. Waters blends hip-hop lyricism and social justice leadership, creating an urgent voice demanding that America listen to the suffering if it hopes to redeem its soul. Weaving stories from centuries of persecution against the backdrop of today's urban prophets on the radio and in the streets, Waters speaks on behalf of an awakened generation raging against racism - yet fueled by the promise of a just future. Wayne County Public – 2 print.

2018 Social Action Worker Justice Illustrated #2. Interfaith Worker Justice.

7 2017 Social Action – Bonus Book [two books in Social Action Category] America and Its Guns A Theological Exposé (BONUS BOOK) James E. Atwood Wipf and Stock Publishers (2012) 228 pages The Rev. Atwood, an avid hunter, contends that one cannot understand the 30,000 American gun deaths per year apart from our national myth and he cautions that an absolute trust in guns and violence morphs easily into idolatry. Having spent 36 years fi ghting against easy access to fi rearms, he uses his experience and theological understanding to document how Americans have been deceived into believing that the tools of violence, whether in war or in the bedside stand, will provide security.

2017 Social Action Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow An Organizing Guide. Daniel Hunter Hyrax Publishing (2014) 71 pages Expanding on the call to action in Michelle Alexander’s acclaimed best-seller, The New Jim Crow, this accessible organizing guide puts tools in your hands to help you and your group understand how to make meaningful, effective change. Learn about your role in building movements and how to pick and build campaigns that contribute towards a bigger mass movement against the largest penal system in the world. This important new resource inspires, challenges, motivates and offers time-tested organizing techniques. Wayne County Public – 1 print.

2017 Social Action Class Lives: Stories From Across Our Economic Divide. Chuck Collins, Jennifer Ladd, Maynard Seider and Felice Yeskel (editors) ILR Press (2014) 228 pages We are living in a period of extraordinary economic insecurity and inequality—an inequality that crushes the poor, drains the working class, eliminates the middle class, simultaneously glorifies and dehumanizes the rich, and guts democracy. The stories in this anthology span the class spectrum, providing insight into issues of social class and how we are all affected. Wayne County Public – 1 print.

2017 Social Action Pre-Post-Racial America Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines. Sandhya Rani Jha Chalice Press (2015) 153 pages Pre-Post-Racial America uses the powerful tool of storytelling to speak prophetic truth in a most disarming way. Rani Jha shares stories that help us look at issues of race in America through other lenses—stories of real people today and stories of scripture. These stories can help us reexamine our own narratives, taking power away from those who seek to divide us and giving that power back to God.

2017 Social Action Snake Oil How Fracking’s False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future. Richard Heinberg Post Carbon Institute (2013) 146 pages On the Sunday morning after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, black preachers across America addressed the questions his death raised for their communities: “Where is the justice of God? What are we to hope for?” The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas examines the myths and narratives underlying a “stand-your-ground” culture, taking seriously the social and theological questions raised by this and similar events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York. Wayne County Public – 1 print copy.

8 2017 Social Action Wage Theft Comics Crime and Justice #1. Jeff rey Odell Korgen Interfaith Worker Justice (2013) 18 pages Wage theft aff ects millions of workers in every industry. Employers steal billions of dollars when they pay less than minimum wage, refuse overtime pay, force workers to work off the clock, hold back final paychecks, misclassify employees as independent contractors, steal tips, and fail to pay workers at all. Wage theft cheats workers, steals from the public when companies fail to pay employment taxes, and puts ethical businesses at an unfair disadvantage.

2017 Social Action - Bonus Book [two books in Social Action Category] What We’re Fighting for Now is Each Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of Climate Justice. Wen Stephenson Beacon Press (2015) 239 pages The science is clear—catastrophic climate change, by any human definition, is upon us. This fiercely urgent and profoundly spiritual journey into the climate-justice movement searches for what climate justice, at this late hour, might mean. Stephenson tells his own story and off ers an up-close, on-the- ground look at some of the remarkable and courageous people who have laid everything on the line to build and inspire this quickly growing movement. Wayne County Public – 5 print. 1 ebook [Adobe EPub, HTML, Kindle].

2017 Social Action – Recommended Reading Understanding and Dismantling Racism The 21st Century Challenge to White America. Joseph Brandt. Fortress Press (2007) 304 pages. With great clarity Barndt traces the history of racism, especially in white America, revealing its various personal, institutional, and cultural forms. Without demonizing anyone or any race, he offers specific, positive ways in which people in all walks, including churches, can work to bring racism to an end. He includes the newest data on continuing conditions of People of Color, including their progress relative to the minimal standards of equality in housing, income and wealth, education, and health. He discusses current dimensions of race as they appear in controversies over 9/11, New Orleans, and undocumented workers. Includes analytical charts, definitions, bibliography, and exercises for readers.

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