Janice Batzdorff, Librarian,

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Collage of books on Jewish cuisine

Bourekas and Shakshuka, Knishes and Latkes: The Intricacies of Jewish Cuisine

May 12, 2023

Bourekas (savory stuffed pastry) and shakshuka (eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce) are favorite foods for some Jewish people, while knishes (pastry filled with mashed potatoes) and potato latkes (pancakes) are preferred by others.


Collage of books about unknown genealogy, family tree and adoption

Uncovering Family Secrets: Forming a New Identity

March 07, 2022

Imagine discovering that the man who raised you is not your biological father. That your mother’s race differs from how she presented herself. That the person you are attracted to is your sibling. That you are the descendant of a renowned individual. A monstrous one.


Collage of films adapted from books

Adapted Screenplays: A Browsing Gold Mine for Reading

March 01, 2021

Screenwriters for The Dig, Nomadland, White Tiger, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Queen’s Gambit, The Father, One Night in Miami and News of the World are possible award contenders for their adaptations of books and plays.


Author's ebooks, music and tv show selections during the COVID-19 pandemic

Reading in the Time of COVID-19

June 02, 2020

When the library closed almost three months ago, I checked out eight books. I’ve finished two of them. This is unusual for someone who reads everywhere—in checkout lines, on the Metro, at Dodger Stadium, even during social gatherings to take a break from the extroverts. Maybe that’s the problem.


8 notable African Americans

African American History Makers

February 24, 2020

Before Barack Obama, Hiram Revels and Shirley Chisholm helped govern the nation. William Wells Brown wrote a novel before Toni Morrison. Phillis Wheatley published poems before Langston Hughes. And Oscar Micheaux made films before Spike Lee and Ava DuVernay.


Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners for 2018

Anisfield-Wolf Awards: Books That Address Racism and Diversity

May 23, 2018

Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward’s novel set in the fictional town of Bois Sauvage in rural Mississippi, was presented with the 2018 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Fiction in March.


Author Lisa Ko and her award winning book the Leavers

Asian Pacific American Award for Literature

May 17, 2018

Lisa Ko’s The Leavers, was selected as the Adult Fiction winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature for 2017-2018.


7 of the award winning books

The Best Cookbooks of the Year

April 12, 2018

The International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards honor authors, publishers, and other contributors behind the best cookbooks published each year. Awards were presented in a variety of categories at an annual conference on February 26, 2018.


Devil in a Blue Dress movie poster (1995)

African American Mystery Writers and Their African American Detectives

February 26, 2018

They work in Watts, Chicago, Oakland, and Harlem, go on vacation in Provincetown, MA, and return home to Otis, South Carolina (pop. 5,000). They include an Ivy League professor, an ex-CIA agent, a volatile ex-cop, a journalist, a domestic worker, an attorney, a Ph.D.


Prime Minister Golda Meir and Henry Kissinger flanked by Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah. Photograph by GPO/Moshe Milner

Jewish Book Council Awards 2017

January 27, 2018

On January 11 Francine Klagsbrun’s, Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel was named the Book of the Year by the Jewish Book Council.


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