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Celebrate Disability Pride Month: The Space You Left Behind and Stronger

16 Jul

The Space You Left Behind
by Ona Gritz
Some of our Hoboken residents may remember Ona Gritz, who, back in the early 2000’s, was the YA Librarian here at the Hoboken Public Library and helped me run the library’s first Writers Group. Now Gritz is writing full time; The Space You Left Behind was one of two Young Adult novels she had published in 2024 along with Take a Sad Song. In The Space You Left Behind, Cara a sixteen year old who has cerebral palsy works to overcome her self-consciousness about her disability. She and her crush bond over a mystery podcast and then decide to to look into Cara’s own mystery about who her biological father is. Though the novel is fiction, Gritz is able to use her own experience with having cerebral palsy to give authenticity to Cara’s depiction and her outlook of the world. You can also checkout Gritz’s short autobiographical work, On the Whole which details her experience as a new mother with a physical disability, which I had previously blogged about.

Stronger
We screened Stronger as our Monthly Library Movie for Adults back in April , which is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jeff Bauman who lost both his legs during the Boston Marathon bombing and was instrumental in helping get a description of the bomber so he could be found. At first Bauman struggles to adjust to his loss of limbs but with the support of his girlfriend, family, and friends, he learns to use prosthetics and works through his PTSD. The movie came out in 2017 and despite not having huge success on the big screen, I think it is one that should not be overlooked if you enjoy biographical films about real life perseverance. The film was directed by David Gordon Green and written by John Pollono, based on the memoir by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter. Gyllenhaal, gives a stunning performance as the lead and Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Carlos Sanz, and Clancy Brown also are excellent in the supporting cast. Having lived in Boston for two years, I felt they gave an authentic look at the resilient blue collar community that resides there.

For our July Movie Screening we will be showing Les Miserables in honor of Bastille Day (French Independence Day) at 10:30am on July 11.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Baking Fun: Sweet Farm! and Baking Yesteryear

19 Feb

Sweet Farm!
by Molly Yeh
I’ve been following Molly Yeh since back in her blogger days when she published her memoir Molly on the Range about her move from NYC to her husband’s family beet farm so I jumped at a chance when I could get a copy of her latest cookbook from Netgalley and the publisher. Yeh has become a star on Food Network with her show Girl Meets Farm and judging appearances on a variety of competitions and now owns her own restaurant. I loved the marzipan chocolate chip cookies from her second book Home is Where the Eggs Are so I looked forward to her latest cookbook Sweet Farm! Her recipes often feel both homey and exotic with their mix of cultures from her Jewish and Chinese heritage as well as time living in the Chicago area, NYC, and her in-laws Scandinavian/Midwestern roots. We tried baking up the raspberry coconut cinnamon version of her jam bars which were very tasty. There are also two other versions one with plum hazelnut five-spice, and another with apple cardamom marzipan that also sound delicious. I appreciate the fact that Yeh isn’t afraid to use floral fragrances in some of her bakes like rose essence and lavender. My Parisian grandmother always used to make financiers for Christmas; I’m looking forward to Yeh’s version which adds rainbow chocolate chips for a kid friendly spin and I’m also plan trying the Nutella version of her nutbar recipe. If you are looking for fun twists on some classics sweets than this cookbook should delight. Yeh fans will also enjoy some insights into life on the farm including what it is like farming sugar beets and what sugar beet farmers do during the winter months. Checkout Sweet Farm! when it comes out on March 4!

Baking Yesteryear
by B Dylan Hollis
Baking Yesteryear features recipes from B Dylan Hollis whose Youtube/Tiktok shorts are always a fun mix of goofy humor and retro baking. Hollis was born in Bermuda before coming to the United States for school. Viewers are never sure whether a quirky old timey recipe will turn out yummy or yucky. Most of the recipes in the cookbook are from the yummy category, although there are a few worst of recipes for those wanting to try something truly awful like a Jell-O molded spaghetti-Os salad. The recipes are primarily broken up by decade and span from the 1900’s to the 1980’s. There is also a specific chapter though for dates (the fruit). A brief background of the origin of the recipe and historic context is given. My family tried baking five of the cookie recipes in the book for Christmas this year including Peanut Butter Styrofoams (my son’s favorites), ANZAC Biscuits (my favorites), Potato Chip Cookies (my husband’s favorites), Starchies, and Sour Cream Cookies. The first three we would definitely bake again. The Starchies were a little on the dry side though there may have been a slight baking error in that the recipe states they should not brown and ours definitely had a brownish color on the edges. Another recipe I look forward to trying is the Kiskadee Fantasy which comes from Hollis’s Bermudian father and is named after a common bird on the island. I also can’t wait for May when his next cookbook Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip will be published.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: , ,

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