Adults are invited to join a monthly discussion about books based on Black historical fiction. Some titles were chosen from The Oprah’s Book Club list, and others from popular, well-known authors that explore the African American experience in America.
Book schedule:
March 8: Passing by Nella Larsen is available as a print book, an e-book, and as a downloadable audiobook in the library's collection.
April 12: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audio, a audiobook CD, and as a large print in the library's collection.
May 17: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audio, a audiobook CD, a large print, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
June 14: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
July 12: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, a audiobook CD, a large print, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
August 9: The Help by Kathryn Stockett is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, a audiobook CD, a large print, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
September 13: The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, audiobook CD, and as a large print in the library's collection.
October 11: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, a audiobook CD, a large print, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
November 8: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is available as a print book, an e-book, downloadable audiobook, a audiobook CD, large print, and as a book club kit in the library's collection.
December 13: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis is available as a print book, an e-book, a downloadable audiobook, and as a audiobook CD in the library's collection.
The first library to serve the neighborhood opened in 1957 as the Emerson Branch. This frame house near East 38th Street and North Emerson Avenue soon became too small to meet the neighborhood's needs, leading to the construction of a 7,500-square-foot branch at the same location in 1962. The Emerson Branch closed its doors in 2003 when the current 16,000-square-foot library opened as the East Thirty-Eighth Street Branch.