Libraries Are for Everyone: Diversity and Inclusion Book Reviews

This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets; edited by Kwame Alexander In 2020, poet Kevin Young, current director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and ...

The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin “Maybe this isn’t a story about ghosts, but a story about telling a story about ghosts.” This genre-defying memoir uses ...

Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqʷšǝblu LaPointe Sasha taqʷšǝblu LaPointe has been on many local reading lists as her debut book, "Red Paint: the Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish ...

The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling Schoolchildren across the country have heard the story of Sacajawea, and can readily recall her association with the Lewis and Clark ...

Hula by Jasmin 'Iolani Hakes Now that winter has finally arrived in Whatcom County, readers might enjoy a literary escape to warmer climes, and “Hula: a Novel” by Jasmin ‘Iolani ...

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki High school best friends Zee and Dani have always dreamed of visiting New York City together. In Roaming, they reunite in Manhattan for ...

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater It began with a meme. A single image that an ...

Congratulations, the Best Is Over!: Essays by R. Eric Thomas In this new collection of laugh-out-loud funny essays, R. Eric Thomas picks up where his last memoir (Here For It, ...

Where the Language Lives by Janet Yoder Vi taqʷšɘblu Hilbert was 49 years old when she got a phone call that changed the course of her life.  Thom Hess, a ...

Former Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest will host a night of diverse poetry as part of an inaugural festival. “Launched: Whatcom County Poets with New Titles in 2023” will ...

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang “Bad Art Friend” meets psychological thriller in this pacy, satirical page-turner. June Hayward is a struggling author whose debut novel flopped. Her college friend, Athena Liu, ...

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein This splashy debut novel is part Hollywood satire, part girl-power eco-thriller. High school English teacher Penny moves to LA for the summer to adapt her ...

Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalalludin Canadian author Uzma Jalaluddin is known for contemporary romances that recast classic stories with fresh, modern settings and people. Her latest novel, Much ...

Confidence by Rafael Frumkin Ezra Green is a smart, bored high schooler who winds up in juvie for selling fake drugs to his classmates. It’s there he meets Orson: charming, ...

Our Best Intentions by Vibhuti Jain Vibhuti Jain’s compelling, character-driven novel introduces readers to a fresh new voice in fiction. In the affluent suburb of Kitchewan, Babur Singh believes he ...

Rose Quartz: Poems by Sasha taqʷšblu LaPointe and I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State edited by Rena Priest Just in time for National Poetry Month, there are ...

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen The Bachelor meets Bigfoot in this wacky page-turner. The cast and crew of reality dating show The Catch travel to a remote island ...

Small Game by Blair Braverman Writer and dogsledder Blair Braverman has faced down nature on dozens of real-life adventures. After she became violently ill on an episode Naked and Afraid ...

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is the Whatcom READS 2024 book selection. Jess Walter, author of the 2023 featured title, The ...

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu This year's Washington State Book Award winner for fiction is E. Lily Yu's astonishing novel "On Fragile Waves," about two Afghan children whose ...

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Drop what you’re doing and prepare yourself to fall hard for this absorbing story of loss, love and video games. Sam and ...

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien It’s 1996, and Ky Tran has left her tiny hometown of Cabramatta and her Vietnamese immigrant community to scratch out a future as ...

Think Black: A Memoir by Clyde W. Ford Few people have lives as varied and interesting as Bellingham's own Clyde Ford. In his professional life, he's been a chiropractor, a ...

The Family Chao by Lan Samatha Chang Lan Samantha Chang’s latest novel, “The Family Chao,” centers around a murder, but it’s less of a whodunit than a psychological study of ...

The Salt Fields by Stacy D. Flood In spare prose with haunting images, Stacy D. Flood’s novella, “The Salt Fields,” tells of a Black man’s train journey north, leaving South ...

Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford Over his distinguished writing career, Bellingham author Clyde Ford has entertained and ...

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of A Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe An Indigenous artist from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, shares her ...

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner Michelle Zauner, the indie rock sensation who records as Japanese Breakfast, was only 25 years old when she lost her mother ...

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge Tiffany Midge may be the snarkiest, funniest writer to pass through Whatcom County in recent memory. Bury My Heart at ...

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee As the former president of the progressive think tank, Demos, Heather McGhee spent ...

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu Charles Yu’s book Interior Chinatown is a swift kick to the gut—an unexpected, powerful jab at stereotypes and anti-Asian racism that manages to be hilarious ...

As the shock wave created by the video of George Floyd’s murder continues to reverberate, people—especially white people—are asking “What can I do? How can I be an ally?” and ...

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid Ramona Wilson, a bright, bubbly ...

Paddling With Spirits: A Solo Kayak Journey by Irene Skyriver Some people throw themselves a dance party for their 40th birthday. Irene Skyriver chose to celebrate hers with a solo ...

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett The Super Bowl may be over and the New England Patriots’ sixth championship win noted in the record books, but there’s ...

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater At Whatcom County Library System (WCLS), we believe that the act of reading offers readers a window into other people’s lives, and that reading ...

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers is a spot-on portrayal of the devastation and heartbreak of the AIDS crisis and the lasting legacy of those ...

There There by Tommy Orange Tommy Orange did not grow up around books or aspire to be a writer. A recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of ...

Crazy, Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan In library school (yes, there’s such a thing, it’s a master’s program in Library and Information Science that trains professional librarians) students learn Rosenberg’s ...

The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah: Fear and Love in the Modern Middle East by Adam Valen Levinson With the recent news that Saudi Arabia will soon be offering tourist visas, ...

The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom by Helen Thorpe The refugees arrive with nothing, not even the language, having escaped violence, poverty, unspeakable loss. Their ...