Black History Is Every Day... and Also February.
Any halfway good books on Black history sell fast. Any display for February never lasts long, but I make the effort every year--start saving books early.
An old Black woman who is a regular customer and who
might be mistaken for a sweet old church lady asked for books by or
about Angela Davis, saying she used to wear her hair in an afro like AD's.
Books of uplift are especially welcome--some people have told me they're tired of always reading about themselves as victims, slaves, etc.––(ditto the tragic "noble Indian" trope).
Dry your white librarian tears, and give us more Black Panthers! (political party and comic book hero, both)
This round-up is what I have, for now:
TOYS, tra-la, tra-la
Inspired by toys & mashups I saw in NM [more photos further down], I brought home some dolls and dinos from the thrift store, and a doll that became a dino.
"We are in the same grade!"
BELOW: Pensive Bear looks a little worried, but she always looks like that--she is happy with the new dino friend, and expressed relief that Dino has a hat to keep its bare head warm.
BELOW: Four creations from the fantastic Girard Collection [write up on Atlas Obscura] of toys, miniatures, and suchlike at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, NM. (I love that they chose to display the art without signs, except for place names--I didn't note those. I did order the out-of-print book of the collection on eBay, The Spirit of Folk Art: Girard Collection at the Museum of International Folk Art)
I want to put toys on wheels!!! These ducks pedal.
Some sort of rabbit court going on?
BELOW: These adorable bugs are my favorite! So simple, so weird.
Too beautiful llama (llama?) deserves to be haughty.
2 comments:
I plucked a book from my library's Black History Month display which looks very interesting to me. "California Soul: An American Epic of Cooking and Survival" by Keith Corbin. I think the man starts out cooking for gangs. I mean- hey! I want to know about this for sure.
I love all of your toy pictures! They are all wonderful and whimsical and that is what we need.
Yesterday my grandson Levon asked me why I like dolls so much. Because I am not even sure myself I said, "Well, I guess because I like babies so much."
This is possibly true. I mean, it is true that I like babies.
MS MOON: that book sounds great! Report back?
Lots of elements to liking dolls! For me, real babies don’t come into it—I’m not much interested, personally, in real human children. I mean, we’re fascinating creatures when we’re little, but we don’t much attract me at that stage. (I like teenagers better.)
I think it’s dolls similarly to fairytale and myth, even religious figurines, that draws me to them—that and the power of PLAY. So, maybe it’s more about ME being an adult child! 😀
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