Tag Archives: adult non-fiction

Celebrate Freedom to Read Week 2025

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This year, from February 23 to March 1, Canada will once again celebrate Freedom to Read Week in libraries across the nation.  Led by a few library steering organizations, this annual event encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to all expressions of intellectual freedom. Or in other words, the ability to access information and material without restrictions, something that libraries have always prided themselves on being able to provide to our communities.

While celebrating Freedom to Read Week has always been important, even before it’s official inception in 1984, it certainly has hit differently as we’ve come into the 2020s.  Reports of an exponential rise in book challenges and bans have been flooding in from the United States over the last few years, and Canada has not been immune.   According to this article on the FtRW site, in the 2022-2023 period book challenges in Canada went up from 46 and 55 the previous years to 118.  More than double the previous year, and that was only what was reported. These targeted books are labeled as ‘dangerous’, ‘obscene’, ‘harmful’, and other choice words. Certain people and groups have taken it upon themselves to keep books out of reach, driven by that person or group’s own sense of what is right, what is wrong and what is factual.

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A Miscellany of Black History in Canada

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Cover-image-for-Children's-book-Amazing-Women-in-Canada-Jean-Augustine

Black History Month is upon us once more. I thought it would be fitting to explore the origins of the annual celebration of Black achievement, as well as the original reason for its creation. It started as Negro History Week in 1926 with Carter G. Woodson — an American historian and creator of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History — at the helm. Woodson saw how important it was to promote all the amazing things Black folks have accomplished throughout history, becoming an early leader for the celebratory cause. What started as a week grew into a month, but of course a month isn’t really enough time to devote to the topic. Woodson’s decision to choose February for the original week-long affair is an interesting one. There are two monumental birthdays he wanted to encompass with the choice — Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. While the latter is a name most people recognize instantly, the former’s contribution to the abolishment of slavery was significant. These birthdays (although Douglass was born into slavery so the day of his birth isn’t certain) were already occasions for many communities of Black people in the US, which increased the odds that his idea would catch on. Once it did, he imagined that the festivities devoted to these two men could be extended to the race as a whole, and thus, the concept of Black History Month (BHM) was born. Of course, the fight for equality and equity was the context for Woodson’s endeavour. Myself, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to create reader’s advisory content for BHM. Discovering figures and historical snippets from Canada’s past is incredibly valuable. I think it’s important to spread awareness of Canada’s dark past, including slavery and other civil rights violations that have been obscured by its associations with ‘The Promised Land’ and freedom. However, it’s also important to celebrate the contributions and successes Black people have had throughout our history. What follows is a hodgepodge of writings on various figures who have had a real impact on our world, from the days of the Underground Railroad up to contemporary times.

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Slithering into the Year of the Snake

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The Cover of It's Your Year, Baby Snake by Ariel Hsu

It’s still a week away when this post goes live, but Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Dragon returns to the rivers as the Year of the Snake slithers from the woodwork1. In the spirit of Sumayyah’s post last year, I thought I’d highlight some snake-themed items in our catalogue.

I’ll get to that in a bit, though, as I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole with my research for this one. You see, growing up in York Region, this celebration was called Chinese New Year, which is hyperspecific but also an accepted2 name. In China, this is 春节3 (Chūnjié) or Spring Festival, and it kicks off the largest human migration on the planet as people travel to celebrate with family and friends and use the extended vacation for sightseeing in other parts of the country. I’ve been in China during a similar holiday period, and while it’s bonkers how many people are travelling, we got where we were going at the times we were supposed to get there. The issue is less about the efficiency of transit and more about getting a ticket in the first place.

The cover of Feasts of Good Fortune by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle

China isn’t the only country that celebrates this new year. As a couple of examples, it’s 節 Tết in Vietnam and 설날 (Seollal) in Korea. Hence, ‘Lunar New Year.’ But even this is a misnomer since it’s not a purely lunar calendar that determines when the celebration is, but rather a lunisolar calendar, aka the Chinese Calendar, which is why some prefer ‘Chinese New Year.’ Whatever it’s called and wherever it’s celebrated, it’s a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate and feast. I don’t know our menu for that day yet, but I’ve gotten pretty adept at crispy skin pork belly, so that’s an option.

But you’re not here to read about me getting side-tracked. Or maybe you are? And it’s not precisely a side track, more of an overview of why I’m doing this. Snake books, though. That’s what I’m supposed to be talking about, sssssso it’sssss time to sssssstart.

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