By Sheri Reda, Youth Services librarian

Juneteenth is the annual commemoration of the official end to slavery in the United States. In honor of the celebration this year, you may be interested in learning about locations throughout the North Shore that have had significance to the Civil Rights movement. 

Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka: In 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, a group of residents organized an interfaith, interracial group called the North Shore Citizens’ Committee, which met at the Winnetka Community House and actively promoted integration.

Beth Emet Free Synagogue, 1224 West Dempster Street, Evanston: On January 13, 1958, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a speech at Beth Emet about the difficulties and promise of the civil rights movement. It was entitled, “It’s a Great Time to Be Alive.”

The Wilmette Human Relations Committee (WHRC):  Formed in 1963, the WHRC aimed “to promote social harmony and thereby end prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance in whatever form these shall appear.” WHRC members worked to help secure passage of the civil rights Act also traveled to Alabama to participate in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March led by Dr. Martin Luther King. The WHRC was housed at 1200 Wilmette Avenue.

First Methodist Church, 526 Church Street, Evanston: In May of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Spoke at the First Methodist Church on the parable of the Good Samaritan and challenged his interracial audience to consider whether they are good neighbors.

Sacred Heart School on the North Shore, 1095 Gage street, Winnetka: In April 1964, a busload of sixth- and seventh-grade Black kids from Raymond School, on the South Side, spent a week living with Winnetka families and attending Sacred Heart School and living with Winnetka families.

610 Melrose Avenue, Kenilworth: In 1964, Lilian Calhoun and her husband were the first Black couple to purchase a home in Kenilworth, on Melrose Ave. 

New Trier High School, 385 Winnetka Avenue, Winnetka: In 1964, New Trier Graduate Linda Davis volunteered for the "Mississippi Summer Project of 1964." 

Village Green, 525 Maple Street, Winnetka: In July 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at the Village Green to encourage the 1965 North Shore Summer Project. The project was intended to end discriminatory housing practices in Wilmette and Winnetka.

Evanston: On April 7, 1968, an estimated 3,000 Evanston residents took part in a march that combined a tribute to King with a stand for fair housing. The march began at Emerson Street and McCormick Boulevard, proceeded through the downtown area, and ended in Raymond Park at Chicago Avenue and Grove Street, where a memorial was held.

photo via Winnetka Historical Society

by Krista Hutley, teen librarian

Gone are the days when books with LGBTQ+ characters were few and far between. They're no longer hard to find; in fact, we're in somewhat of a renaissance these days, with books featuring queer characters in every genre. Here are a few favorites for young adults in a few favorite genres: contemporary reads, science fiction and fantasy, and suspense and mystery.

Contemporary

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callendar
Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.
Call Number: High School Callendar, K.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/4884301

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
The queer prom romance you didn't know you needed -Kirkus reviews
Call Number: High School Johnson, L.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/5280164

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
A studious girl and a quiet, straight-A boy start a controversial podcast together that challenges their courage and forces them to confront issues in the form of backlash and censorship.
Call Number: High School Oseman, A.
Digital Library audiobook: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/2841858 

Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen
At Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens, sixteen-year-old Randall "Del" Kapplehoff's plan to have Hudson Aaronson-Lim fall in love with him succeeds, but both are hiding their true selves.
Call Number: High School Rosen, L.

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
When his volatile father is picked to become an astronaut for NASA's mission to Mars, seventeen-year-old Cal, an aspiring journalist, reluctantly moves from Brooklyn to Houston, Texas, and looks for a story to report, finding an ally (and crush) in Jeremy, the son of another astronaut.
Call Number: High School Stamper, P.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/5066275 

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta
A young shapeshifter has to learn to control her powers, while simultaneously using them to disguise herself as a boy and confront the people who murdered her father.
Call Number: High School Capetta, A.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.
Call Number: High School Emezi, A.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/4617793 

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
When Alexis accidentally kills a classmate on prom night using magic, her best friends Roya, Iris, Paulie, Marcelina, and Maryam join in using their powers to try to set things right.
Call Number: High School Gailey, S.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/4815623 

Reverie by Ryan La Sala
While recovering from an attack that leaves him without his memory, gay teenager Kane Montgomery stumbles into a world where dreams known as reveries take on a life of their own, and it is up to Kane and a few unlikely allies to stop them before they spillover into the waking world.
Call Number: High School La Sala, R.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/5008330 

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski
Nirrim endures a grim and punishing life as a Half Caste until she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away who whispers rumors that the High Caste possess magic and tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself.
Call Number: High School Rutkoski, M.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/4229567 

Suspense and Mystery

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick
In alternate chapters, Amanda faces family pressure to marry Carter, knowing he cheats, and Paulina pretends to date Carter to alleviate family and church pressure about being a lesbian.
Call Number: High School Frick, K.

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo
When Chinese American teenager Jess Wong's best friend Angie falls in love with a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess expects heartbreak. But when everybody's secrets start to be revealed, the stakes quickly elevate from love or loneliness to life or death.
Call Number: High School Lo, M.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/3136271 

Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman
Finding himself alone in a posh New York City hotel room for the night, Aidan does what any red-blooded seventeen-year-old would do--he tries to hook up with someone new. But that lapse in judgment leads to him waking up next to a dead guy, which sparks an epic case of mistaken identity. Now he's on the run from federal agents--and a cyber-terrorist group who will stop at nothing to find him.
Call Number: High School Milman, D.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/4455353

White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig
Rufus Holt gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. He and ex-boyfriend Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife beside the dead body of her boyfriend. April swears she didn't kill Fox. Rufus knows her too well to believe she's telling him the whole truth, but April has something he needs. Her price is his help. Now, with no one to trust but the boy he wants to hate yet can't stop loving, Rufus has one night to clear his sister's name...or die trying.
Call Number: High School Roehrig, C.
Digital Library: https://dlil.overdrive.com/nsls-wilmettepublic/content/media/3590179 

Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan
After high school graduation, Mac focuses on finding the serial killer who murdered his best friend the previous summer, while working through his own feelings for the deceased.
Call Number: High School Ryan, T.

by Amy Barrow, Adult Services librarian

Looking for fun summer reading? Here are 3 titles that fit the bill.

Beach Read by Emily Henry 

Two writers summering in neighboring beach homes challenge each other to write in different genres.

Ebook | Downloadable Audiobook

Summer Longing by Jamie Brenner 

A baby is left on the doorstep of a Cape Cod Home, and alliances develop to protect her.

Ebook | Audio cd 

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

A chance meeting with a handsome stranger turns into a whirlwind affair that gets everyone talking.

Ebook | Downloadable Audiobook

Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin 

A dark, humorous page turner about an unemployed singer who is hired as a playgroup musician.

Book | Ebook

By Susan Kaplan-Toch, Youth and Adult Services Librarian

Although this museum is closed, you can virtually explore a very fascinating exhibit about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

This Skokie museum contains Holocaust exhibits, the world's first interactive survivors experience , exhibits on tolerance, a library, and an interactive virtual Holocaust exhibition field trip. Enjoy this world class Holocaust museum virtually with its powerful messages about the need for tolerance and taking a stand against injustice.  

by Ted Remus, Adult Services Librarian

If you love history like I do, you will find the Ken Burns series on the Roosevelts fascinating - "The Roosevelts - an Intimate History". Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor - all related, well known, effective leaders and role models, and all different in their own way.  You will see how they shaped and were shaped by personal, national, and international crises.  This series is available from the library through the Kanopy streaming service or on DVD.