OverDrive Book Review: In the Country of the Kaw

 

By Dwight Hunter

James Locklear manages to combine history, geology, biology, and sociology topics all in one well-written book. In the Country of the Kaw: A Personal Natural History of the American Plains.

There are so many reasons I enjoyed reading this book. I am a huge fan of history and telling the history of the Kaw and its tributaries was a continual learning lesson while reading the book. I am an enthusiastic fan of sociology and telling the human lessons wrought from living in the Plains were lifelong learning lessons. Learning about the biology and the flowers of the Plains and the Kaw brought me new learning. And there's geology. Erosion, wind-carried dirt and rocks, and limestone. I learned so many different layers of limestone. A lot of reasons to like this book.

So, what is the Kaw? Most people know it as the Kansas River, about 170 miles long. But people who live there know better than to call it the Kansas River. It is the Kaw.

Locklear not only covers the Kaw but all the tributaries that feed into the Kaw. The Kaw is truly a prairie river - the only Plains river whose headwaters do not begin in the Rockies. Instead, the Kaw headwaters rise up from the eastern Colorado plains.

The tributaries of the Kaw once teemed with bison, fish, and unique plants. A narrative of how people affected those things. Bison hunted to near extinction. The Ogallala Aquifer is becoming depleted to the point causing some of the western ends of the Kaw tributaries to be decoupled from ground source water. 

But Locklear brings about hope and continued resilience of the land and of the Kaw.

Take a dive into an eBook that weaves history, biology, geology, and sociology into learning lessons about life. In the Country of the Kaw.

Changes: Kolwyck Library joins Tenn-Share Consortium for Overdrive/Libby

 

The Kolwyck Library joined a Tenn-Share Overdrive consortium. The consortium allows Chattanooga State faculty, staff, and students access to a shared collection with other colleges in Tennessee. This access increases the number of titles available for checkout! 

For example, in our June blog post about audio books, it was stated that the library had over 230 audio book titles. After joining the Overdrive consortium of libraries, there are now over 1,500 audio book titles to access!

There are now over 5,900 magazine titles available to access through the Overdrive consortium!

And of course, more digital books to be read! 

ChattState Libby users will see a change in signing in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have not already signed in, a box will display titled sign in with my card. Then you find your library, Chattanooga State Community College. Validate your ChattState credentials. After validating your sign-in, you will be able to access Tenn-Share Academic!

This change did not happen overnight. Library staff worked on this over many months including arranging, drafting the contract, logistics, and attending meetings. But now, through the cooperation of other libraries in Tennessee through the Tenn-Share Overdrive Consortium, we have access to many more titles and resources in Libby!

 

June 2025 – Audiobook Appreciation Month

By April Shaw

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month! 

Audiobooks can be enjoyed on the go, while cooking, working out, taking a bath, etc. As an audiobook listener myself, I encourage readers who struggle with print to try a different medium. If you love podcasts, give audiobooks a try! 

KLIC has a curated collection of over 231 audiobook titles available online to check out via a database called Libby (also known as Overdrive Books). When searching the catalog for your title, select books with “Full Text Available” or “Online Access” from Overdrive Books (Libby). You can check out up to 10 at a time, so browse and enjoy!

Accessing Libby

There are multiple ways to access Libby! There is the app available for download from Google Play and the Apple Store (i-Pad and i-Phone only)! To find Libby online from our homepage, go to Database List, then search for Libby from the search bar.

Adding Our Library

Adding our library on Libby is simple! On the Libby homepage, click “Sign In With My Card.” On the next screen, select “Chattanooga State Login.” 

Complete the Microsoft Login process (same as logging into your email or eLearn). Once your sign-in is complete, Chatt State will show up as your library with a linked card.

Available Titles 

Need recommendations? Come check out our June display where we have curated a shortlist of titles from our audiobook collection!

For your self-improvement journey!

·         Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward

·         Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

·         Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend
 

For lovers of hidden history!

·         Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Loren Katz

·         By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
 

Your next multicultural fiction read!

·         Aura by Carlos Fuentes

·         Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson
 

For the romantic reader!

·         It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
 

If you love the classics

·         Beowulf Read by Seamus Heaney

·         Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

These titles and more are waiting for you on Libby! 

Happy Reading!

- AS 

OverDrive Book Review of Wholehearted Faith

 

Review by Dwight Hunter

Rachel Held Evans died on May 4, 2019.

Local writer from Rhea County, Tennessee, former newspaper reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, author of many books. The last book, Wholehearted Faith, combines her last unfinished manuscript with the help of Jeff Chu. A review from Booklist states that Held Evans was widely known for her openness to question the Bible, God, and the practice of white evangelical Christianity.

Wholehearted Faith, released on November 2, 2021, is available on the ChattState Library's OverDrive collection at https://chattanoogastate.overdrive.com/media/5962325?cid=266370

"This manuscript isn't what Rachel originally envisioned. Our life today isn't what she envisioned. Being dead at thirty-seven isn't what she envisioned. But that's one thing about having vision. It's not about always being right about the future. It's constantly learning what's right and striving for it." Daniel J Evans, Foreward, Wholehearted Faith

"It’s a pastoral letter to someone Rachel loved. It says you’re not alone because you’re questioning." Jeff Chu, co-author, Wholehearted Faith.

The first paragraph of this book describes the East Tennessee hills in the splendor of the sun and the green landscape. Held Evans was from East Tennessee. Her upbringing in conservative evangelical Christianity led her to question the tight grip of having no other dialogue about beliefs. I can relate to that thought process. I've attended churches that were in that way of rigid thinking -- questioning the Bible and fundamentalist beliefs were not acceptable practices.

In the essay, My Wicked Heart, Held Evans talks about changing from a proselytizing high school student to a person who learned about privileged, who learned about critical thinking skills. The chapter talks about how religion has torn people apart. Religious quests and crusades asked so many to ignore their conscience and to conform to expected cultural norms, faking happiness, and looking the other way from things that bother one's conscience. This is, Held Evans writes, an unhealthy way to live.

In this book, the exploration of our relationship with religious beliefs begins with who we are and where we are in the universe. Held Evans through this book has articulated thoughtfully of how to bring that awareness into our spiritual lives. The touch of poetic phrasing often gives a lift of rhythm when reading this book.

About OverDrive
The ChattState OverDrive collections brings electronic books onto a readable format of flipping a page of a book, or a page on one of the 3000+ magazines, or even to listen to an audio-book. Find the ChattState Library OverDrive collection at library.chattanoogastate.edu/overdrive and browse the collections, search for a book, and checkout an item via your ChattState email login. If you have purchase requests, you can use this form to make a request.

Book Review for Poetry Month: Obit

Obit by Victoria Chang
Available in Chatt State Library OverDrive

Accolades: The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2020, Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020, NPR's Best Books of 2020, National Book Award in Poetry--Longlist, and the Frank Sanchez Book Award.

Book Review written by Dwight Hunter

A poetry book that makes one read poetry differently. High-strung with lines that emote grief and future ambition intertwined into one. At first glance, the contents of the book may seem a little weird even, but the depth of emotions and the hop and skipping between objects and content gives a free flow in an otherwise constrained environment. This is Obit by Victoria Chang.

Chang wrote this book in the refusal to write elegies after her mother died. When you lose someone, the world doesn't stop to let you mourn, Chang writes. The poet explores the lack of time to see the world through the gaping hole left behind and to see what the future is like without someone to share it with. Many of the poems do not have titles.

The one exception is in section two of the book, taking a line from a Sylvia Plath writing, "I am a Miner. The Light Turns Blue." Happiness and rain and death and grief pack this 12-paged high-paced poem making it the masterful poetic stroke in the book. The free-verse poem here is a hodgepodge, a run and stop read, that makes a reader hue to the sense of uphill, downhill of life journeys through the darkness and into happiness. I love this poetic line: "How the snow falls to its death, how snow is just dressed-up rain". A powerful link that we dress up for death but in the end we are what we are born with.

Obit is available in the library's OverDrive platform at https://chattanoogastate.overdrive.com/media/5378934

Celebrate National Poetry Month!

Book Review: Barack Before Obama: Life before the Presidency

 

Review by Dwight Hunter

David Katz found himself in a car with Illinois state legislator Barack Obama. This starts the journey pictured in the book Barack Before Obama.

This online book from the KLIC Library Overdrive collection presents a stunning visual display of Barack Obama before he was president, before he was even US Senator. A volunteer campaign staffer in the early days of a primary election run for US Senate, David Katz was able to befriend the candidate, his advisers, and his family. The comfort level of all who were pictured is very telling. From the comfort of Sasha and Malia to Katz's camera, to capturing Obama in his favorite barbershop, and the capturing the rapt attention of VFW veterans gathering around then US Senate candidate Obama.

President Obama stated in his foreword for the book that he was grateful Katz was there to document his primary run for US Senate and beyond.

When Katz joined the Obama US Senate campaign, Obama was in third place for the Democratic primary election. This was in 2004. And 4 years later, Obama was elected president of the United States. Katz was there to document this appealing pictorial biography of the pre-presidential Barack Obama.

The quality of the pictures, the detailed captions for the pictures, and the story of the 2004 to 2008 time-frame for Barack Obama and his family makes this pictorial biography a book that can't be put down until the end.

This book is available online through the KLIC Library Overdrive collection.