RECOMMENDED READS

Jimmy Lovett Jr.

Job: Teen Services Librarian, Central Library, San Diego Public Library

He recommends: “Big Black: Stand at Attica” by Frank “Big Black” Smith and Jared Reinmuth (Archaia, 2020; 171 pages)

Why? When authorities reclaimed Attica maximum security prison on Monday, Sept. 13, 1971, the prison would never be the same — law enforcement had shot at least 128 men and killed 10 hostages and 29 inmates. Prison officials took it upon themselves to hand out punishment to the inmates and sought out those prisoners they believed led the insurrection, including Frank “Big Black” Smith. The guards beat him, tortured him, then placed a football under his chin, against his throat, and told him if it should fall, he would be shot to death. “Big Black: Stand at Attica” is an unflinching look at the price of standing up to injustice in what remains one of the bloodiest civil rights confrontations in American history and shines a spotlight on the treatment of incarcerated citizens in American penitentiaries.

Becky Meloan

Job: Editorial aide, The Washington Post She recommends: “Pest” by Elizabeth Foscue (Keylight Books, 224 pages) Why? These days, many people are looking to escape into a lighthearted book. Foscue delivers in her laugh-outloud funny young adult novel about a girl navigating senior year in a high-achieving school where the student council room reeks of the “combined odors of Sharpies and rabid ambition.” Hallie Mayhew holds down several gigs, including spraying bugs for her dad’s pest-control company, while planning to escape from her working-class Santa Barbara upbringing by securing a highly coveted full-ride scholarship. When her plan falls into disarray, she reluctantly recruits the help of Spencer Salazar, the “Grade-a entitled trustafarian slacker” next door. Cheering for this scrappy underdog will appeal to younger and older adults alike.