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Hopepunk
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” – Emily Dickinson
If you look up the term "hopepunk" online, the first definition offered up describes it as "A branch of speculative fiction featuring characters fighting for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges." But, we can't just leave it at that. We need examples! Readers Advisory Librarian Gregg Winsor drops by with Josh Neff and Jo Field who share Hopepunk titles that they hope you will enjoy.
Our Hopepunk recommendations:
Charles’ Choice: Sourdough by Robin Sloan
Dave’s Double feature: streaming video from Kanopy. Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour and Alone
Hopepunk Recommendations from our catalog
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This Week at the Library
Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like.
Outdoor Family Storytime at Lenexa Farmers Market – Tuesdays, June 20 & 27, 9:30-10 a.m.
Help your child discover the joys of reading and develop early literacy skills at Storytime. Join us for a fun outdoor Storytime at Lenexa Farmers Market! Hearing stories is a great way to spend time with your kids and help them foster a love of reading. Stories, songs, fingerplays and movement activities foster pre-reading skills. Fun for the whole family!
Make It All Together Now – Wednesday, June 21, 1-3 p.m.
Join us for a drop-in MakerSpace project at the Gardner Library. Flex those STEAM muscles, learn new maker skills, and have fun with this project presented by the Library Maker team. Come, make something with us, and take home a finished project. This walk-in program is open to all and supplies will be provided. Participants will complete the same project each week
Let’s Stick Together – A Celebration of Music & Family with Mr. Stinky Feet – Thursday, June 22, 1-2 p.m.
Join award-winning kid rocker and author, Jim “Mr. Stinky Feet” Cosgrove at the Central Resource Library, as he celebrates 25 years of uniting communities through music. It’s a rockin’ dance party for the whole family. Check out Jim’s music and books at www.jimcosgrove.com
Open Mic – Friday, June 23, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Johnson County Library is teaming up with Bear Necessities Coffee Bar (9609 W 87th St, Overland Park, KS 66212) to bring you an Open Mic from 6:30 – 7:30pm on the 4th Friday of every month. Bring poems, short stories, essays, and excerpts to share on the stage. Or come just to listen. We’ll feature readings from our contest winners and the rest of the time is for you. Sign up at the event, 3-minute limit.
All Together Now Concert with MISTER G – Saturday, June 24, 10-10:45 a.m.
Let’s celebrate World Music Day (June 21) at Central Resource Library with Latin Grammy award-winning artist MISTER G. MISTER G tours internationally, engaging audiences of all ages with his dynamic, interactive, bilingual performances aimed to dissolve borders and foster cross-cultural connections. Also an author, MISTER G has published numerous picture books based on his original songs.
Author Meet and Greet with MISTER G – Saturday, June 24, 11-11:45 a.m.
Latin Grammy Award Winning artist MISTER G will be presenting his new book We'll Make Things Better Together followed by a book signing at the Central Resource Library. The first 50 families in attendance will receive a FREE copy of the book. Additional books will be available to purchase at the event.
Why I Give: Saundra and Skip Johnson
As a young girl – and only child – growing up in Raytown, Missouri, Saundra Johnson fondly remembers going to her local library, where books were a great companion to her. Among her favorite titles were the Nancy Drew books. As a student going through school, her library was the hub of resources to create term papers and other projects. She recalls how important having that access was for her and how helpful and wonderful the librarians were as well.
Husband Skip reminisces that he had always been a fan of technical articles and materials. Laughing, he added that before the internet, libraries were the place to go for information. The card catalog was our connection to the world – just as the internet is today! He agreed with Saundra on the importance of libraries growing up.
As adults, they began to look at libraries through different lenses. “Unless people go to libraries, they may not realize all the access libraries provide now,” Skip observed. He added all the amazing resources available to library patrons from art displays, newspapers, magazines, movies, computers, access to Library programs and events, private study room spaces and more. They have a friend who created a podcast in a library. Another friend goes to the library to attend Zoom calls with friends and family.
“Libraries have grown a great deal over the years!” exclaimed Skip. “And they’ve evolved to grow with the needs of our communities along the way.”
A personal eye-opener for the Johnsons regarding the benefits of a library came when Saundra’s mother, Kay, lived with them for many years. Kay was legally blind; however, she could listen to audiobooks – so they frequented the Library often to check out materials for her. The librarians would recognize the Johnsons, knowing the audiobooks were for Kay, and would inquire as to what she was listening to each time.
Kay could use a tape recorder to listen to the audiobooks which meant she could do that independently. They both recalled many times waking up in the middle of the night hearing Kay, a night owl, laughing out loud while listening to audiobooks. As her health declined and she physically did not feel well all the time, books brought her much joy and greatly improved her mental health.
As longtime Johnson County Library donors, the Johnsons are quick to respond when asked why they give and support our Library system: they choose to give as a way to honor Kay’s memory and theirs too someday. As charter members of the Foundation’s planned giving program the “1952 Society: Writing the Library’s Next Chapter”, Saundra and Skip believe that giving is to help the Library continue far into the future. Leaving a legacy gift is one way to help make that happen.
16 Civil War veterans - 1905
Museum Memories
It’s another grand Throwback Thursday when we encourage you to time travel through Johnson County's history. JoCoHistory is a collaborative presentation of the history from the Johnson County Museum, Johnson County Library and many JoCoHistory partners. Explore historical photographs and documents about the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas, from the 19th century to the present.
Collection spotlight: Johnson County Museum
About this collection: The Johnson County Museum has a wide range of images dating from the late 19th century to the current day. A major focus of the collection centers on individuals and groups of people in domestic, recreational, scholarly and business settings.
Our Podcast Presents Stories Beyond the Stacks
Incarcerated
Individuals faced with temporary detention at the Adult Residential Center (ARC) in New Century, KS, rely on access to Johnson County Library materials on their road to recovery. Incarcerated Services Librarian Melody Kinammon introduces us to members of the ARC therapeutic community, Phil and Dia. They share how exploring books and using the on-site library has helped them.
Also, Youth Services Librarian Jayma Zook shares her experience with Read to Me—incarcerated parents are recorded reading aloud and the Library provides a copy of the recording and the book to their child.
It’s all part of what we call: “Outreach Services.” We uncover programs, stories and services you might not have known about.
Our recommendations:
Charles’ Choice: Night of the Ninth Dragon by Mary Pope Osborn (from the Magic Treehouse Series)
Dave’s Double feature: streaming video from Kanopy. Language and Literacy Development and Father and Daughter.
Melody: Literature for Justice reading list with a variety of titles—nonfiction and fiction—that address the United States criminal justice system. This is a list she’s always updating!
Jayma: The Daddy Book and The Mommy Book. She says both are very popular with the Read to Me crowd, but one that comes to mind that talks specifically about incarceration is Missing Daddy by Mariame Kaba. It has a discussion guide at the end to help facilitate a discussion with kids about this hard topic.
Books mentioned in the episode: JoCoLibrary Uncovered - Incarcerated Booklist
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Natalie C. Parker
Julie Murphy
Sarah Henning
Author Event with Sarah Henning, Julie Murphy and Natalie C. Parker
What’s better than one beloved author coming to the Library to talk about books and sign their newest book just for you?
Three beloved authors coming to the Library!
Thursday, July 13, 2023
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Monticello Library
Best-selling authors Julie Murphy, Sarah Henning and Natalie C. Parker aren’t just acclaimed writers with new books either just released or coming out soon. They’re also friends—and two of them (Sarah Henning and Natalie C. Parker) live in Lawrence. Sarah Henning’s library growing up was a Johnson County Library location (she grew up in Overland Park).
All three have new books: Camp Sylvania by Murphy, The Devouring Wolf by Parker and Monster Camp by Henning. The themes of their newest books intertwine in so many ways: there are camps and monsters and vampires and werewolves...so it follows that their event on July 13, 2023, at our Monticello branch will be wacky, campy and scary.
OK, not exactly scary (even though elements of their books are). This will be an event that showcases three remarkably talented authors who also planned this event together not only because their books have some of the same themes, but because their writing experiences have also been similar; while they have all written pretty heavily in the young adult space, they’ve also all expanded into middle grade books.
This means we don’t know what else, exactly, they’ll talk about past their current releases (there’s not a script for this—they're friends, remember?), we know that it will be fun, interesting and a perfect way to spend a likely hot July evening.
No need to register for this event. Just come with questions, as there will be time for Q&A after they chat. Copies of their new books will be available for purchase.