Here are the newest non-fiction we have added to our collection. Place a hold online, or email Ms. McNerney, smcnerneyoe@olatheschools.org, if you would like to borrow these (or any other) books!
Apple: Skin to the Core
The term “Apple” is a slur in Native communities across the country. It’s for someone supposedly “red on the outside, white on the inside.” Eric Gansworth tells the story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds.
Be Gay, Do Comics!
Be Gay, Do Comics is filled with dozens of comics about LGBTQIA experiences, ranging from personal stories to queer history to cutting satire about pronoun panic and brands desperate to co-opt pride. Brimming with resilience, inspiration, and humor, an incredible lineup of top indie cartoonists takes you from the American Revolution through Stonewall to today’s fights for equality and representation.
The Big One
No one ever thought the Pacific Northwest was due for an earthquake, let alone a catastrophic one. But geologists are transforming our understanding of the grave dangers the population in the region of Cascadia face—will there be a big one? And what can be done to save lives?
The Big Questions Book of Sex & Consent
What this book is NOT: The fear-based How-To on sex and consent, oversimplified and focused on technicalities, that represents so much of our sexual education today. What this book IS: A journey into the Big Questions that will turn you into a thinking person about sex and consent, with the ability to wrestle towards the answers that work for YOU and continue to wrestle towards them for the rest of your life. What is the meaning and purpose of sex? How does it intersect with who I am? Why are people so afraid of it? What does a healthy and joyful approach to sex look like for me? Why is consent so much more than a yes or no question? Who this book is FOR: Everybody!! No matter your sexuality, gender, religion, or race. What could be more essential?
Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy
Thirty-seven contributors-including model Tyra Banks, gymnast Aly Raisman, and bestselling YA authors-explore the world in their unique bodies through essays, lists, comics, and art.
Call Me American: The Extraordinary True Story of a Young Somali Immigrant
This gripping story follows one boy’s journey into young adulthood and offers an intimate account of modern immigraiton.
Courageous Creativity: Advice and Encouragement for the Creative Life
Expert advice and encouragement are paired with exercises to help you face down your fears, let go of expectations, stop comparing yourself to others, and make your art with courage.
Dancing at the Pity Party- graphic biography
Tyler Feder shares her story of her mother’s first oncology appointment to facing reality as a motherless daughter in this frank and refreshingly funny graphic memoir.
Dear Ally, How Do You Write A Book?
From bestselling author Ally Carter (who wrote the Heist Society series and the Gallagher Girls spy series), the definitive guide to writing a novel for the NaNoWriMo generation, including helpful tips from other YA stars.
Don’t Read Poetry: A book About How to Read Poems
Award-winning poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduction to the seemingly daunting task of reading, understanding, and appreciating poetry. Burt dispels preconceptions about poetry and explains how poems speak to one another–and how they can speak to our lives. She shows readers how to find more poems once they have some poems they like, and how to connect the poetry of the past to the poetry of the present. Burt moves seamlessly from Shakespeare and other classics to the contemporary poetry circulated on Tumblr and Twitter. She challenges the assumptions that many of us make about “poetry,” whether we think we like it or think we don’t, in order to help us cherish–and distinguish among–individual poems.
Dragon Hoops – biography and basketball team profile
Famed graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang found himself increasingly interested in his high school basketball team’s attempts to win championships. This is their story– of both the game and the players. A little bit like Last Chance U in graphic format!
Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic
Explores the roots of the current opiate crisis, explaining how the rise of the prescription drug OxyContin paralleled the influx of heroin into the United States.
Genomics
Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, genetic studies have transitioned into an era of discovery. This book explores the breakthroughs in research that inform our understanding of ancestry, inheritance, epigenetics, health, and medicine.
Hope Nation, YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration
A collection of essays and original stories by some of today’s most influential young adult authors that speaks directly to teens on how to find hope and comfort in today’s turbulent society.
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Going beyond the story of America as a country “discovered” by a few brave men in the “New World,” Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.
Into The Clouds: The Race to Climb the World’s most Dangerous Mountain
This fast-paced, three-part narrative takes readers on three expeditions over 15 years to K2, one of the deadliest mountains on Earth. Roped together, these teams of men face perilously high altitudes and battering storms in hopes of reaching the summit. As each expedition sets out, they carve new paths along icy slopes and unforgiving rock, creating camps on ledges so narrow they fear turning over in their sleep.
Into the Deep: Science, Technology, and the Quest to Protect the Ocean
Containing 97 percent of Earth’s water supply, the ocean plays a huge role in regulating global temperatures, supporting plant and animal life, and contributing to the livelihoods of millions of people. But in spite of all this, the ocean remains drastically unexplored, and the details of its impact on human lives aren’t fully understood.
Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States
Prominently featured photos, artwork, and other visual elements will guide readers through this lively, informative exploration of significant protests, sit-ins, and collective acts of resistance throughout US history.
Invisible Differences– graphic biography
Marguerite feels awkward, struggling every day to stay productive at work and keep up appearances with friends. She’s sensitive, irritable at times. She makes her environment a fluffy, comforting cocoon, alienating her boyfriend. The everyday noise and stimuli assaults her senses, the constant chatter of her coworkers working her last nerve. Then, when one big fight with her boyfriend finds her frustrated and dejected, Marguerite finally investigates the root of her discomfort: after a journey of tough conversations with her loved ones, doctors, and the internet, she discovers that she has Aspergers. Her life is profoundly changed…for the better.
Let’s Make Ramen!
A comic book cookbook with accessible ramen recipes for the home cook, including simple weeknight bowls, weekend project stocks, homemade noodles, and an array of delicious accompaniments, with insights and tips from notable ramen luminaries. Yum!
Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box
Describes a history of the role of African American women as a significant force in the suffrage movement and their efforts to be accepted as equal partners by their fellow activists.
Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life
A timely portrait of the political activist and feminist icon describes the unconventional childhood that challenged Steinem’s acceptance of society’s views about gender roles, her boundary-breaking journalistic career, the foundation of Ms. magazine and her 2013 receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
No More Excuses: Dismantling Rape Culture
Learn about the patriarchal constructs that support rape culture and how to dismantle them: redefining healthy manhood and sexuality, believing victims, improving social and legal systems and workplace environments, evaluating media with a critical eye, and standing up to speak out.
Now is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom
A history of the African-American struggle for freedom and equality, beginning with the capture of Africans in 1619, continuing through the American Revolution, the Civil War, and into the Sixties. Includes material on Abd al-Rahmen Ibrahima, James Forten, George Latimer, Dred Scott, John Brown, Ida B. Wells, Meta Vaux Warrick, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.
Obviously: Stories from my Timeline
Comedian and activist Akilah Hughes shares everything about her journey from a childhood in the south to the big screen while dispensing invaluable big-sister-style advice to a generation of future YouTubers.
One Person, No Vote: How Not All Voters are Treated Equally
Carol Anderson chronicles the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
OUT!: How to be Your Authentic Self
Activist Miles McKenna came out on his YouTube channel in 2017, documenting his transition to help other teens navigate their identities and take charge of their own coming-out stories. From that wisdom comes Out!, the ultimate coming-out survival guide. Find validation, inspiration, and support for your questions big and small—whether you’re exploring your identity or seeking to understand the experience of an awesome queer person in your life.
The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life
Sports poet Kwame Alexander shares poetry and inspiring lessons about the rules of life, as well as uplifting quotes from athletes such as Stephen Curry and Venus Williams and other exemplars like Sonia Sotomayor and Michelle Obama in this motivational and inspirational book just right for graduates of any age and anyone needing a little encouragement.
Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation
Flint, Michigan had been built up, then abandoned, by General Motors. In 2014, as part of a plan to save money, government officials decided that Flint would temporarily switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Within months, many residents broke out in rashes. Children stopped growing. Some people were hospitalized with mysterious illnesses; others died. Despite the murky, foul-smelling liquid pouring from the city’s faucets, officials refused to listen. Through interviews with residents and intensive research into legal records and news accounts, Cooper and Aronson show not just how the crisis unfolded, but also the history of racism and segregation that led up to it, and how the people of Flint fought– and are still fighting– for clean water and healthy lives.
Pride: The Celebration and the Struggle
For LGBTQ people and their supporters, Pride events are an opportunity to honor the past, protest injustice, and celebrate a diverse and vibrant community. The high point of Pride, the Pride Parade, is spectacular and colorful. But there is a whole lot more to Pride than rainbow flags and amazing outfits. How did Pride come to be? And what does Pride mean to the people who celebrate it?
Say Her Name: Poems to Empower
Inspired by the African American Policy Forum’s #SayHerName campaign and the work of such notables as Lucille Clifton and Nikki Giovanni, a collection of poems stands as a tribute to Black Lives Matter activists and victims of police brutality.
The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color
Every day we see movies, magazines, and social media that make us feel like we need to change how we look. This takes a toll on how we think about ourselves—and how we allow others to treat us. And while many teens feel shame about their body, being a teen girl of color can be hard in unique ways. Maybe you feel alienated by the mainstream image of beauty, which is still thin, white and able-bodied. In addition to that, you may also feel pressure from within your community to measure up to a different—but equally unfair—beauty standard. So, how can you start feeling good about yourself when you’re surrounded by these unrealistic—and problematic—ideas about your body?
She Represents: 44 Women who are Changing Politics…and the World
Each of the forty women profiled in this illustrated YA book demonstrates how women are capable of political and community leadership and activism. Readers will be inspired to pursue their own goals of social change.
Somebody Give This Heart a Pen
In her publishing debut, internationally acclaimed performance poet Sophia Thakur takes you on an intimate journey through love, loss, sacrifice, and self-discovery. In four parts — titled Grow, Wait, Break, and Grow Again — she shares her raw self and gives voice to experiences that connect people, inspiring readers to explore the tendencies of the heart.
Stamped From the Beginning; The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists.
They Called Us Enemy – graphic biography
The iconic actor and activist, George Takei, presents a graphic memoir detailing his experiences as a child prisoner in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, reflecting on the hard choices his family made in the face of legalized racism.
Thick: And Other Essays
In these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom–award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed–embraces her venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society.
This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work
Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it exist? What can you do to disrupt it? Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation.
We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World
An inspiring introduction to nonviolent activism and how it works traces the examples of history-shaping international movements as well as such practitioners as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez to reveal how nonviolent demonstrations have repeatedly succeeded.
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death
The creator of the “Ask a Mortician” web series and best-selling author provides comprehensive, science based answers to common questions about death, dead bodies and decomposition.
Write Yourself a Lantern: A Journal Inspired by the novel The Poet X
Featuring lines from Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X among its lined pages, this full-color, beautifully designed journal is perfect for readers, long-time writers, those trying their hand at poetry, or anyone with a voice all their own.
You Too?
Shares the personal essays of authors who have had #MeToo experiences, including Eva Darrows, Ali Novak, and Amy Zhang.
Olathe East Library 