2024 Selection for Adults

“Know My Name: A Memoir*,” Chanel Miller

“Know My Name: A Memoir*,” Chanel Miller

Content warning: This book explores mature themes including sexual assault, subsequent trauma, and other challenging subject matter. Reader discretion is advised. A link to resources is included below.

New York Times Readers’ Choice Best Book of the Century

Universally acclaimed, rapturously reviewed, and an instant New York Times bestseller, Chanel Miller’s breathtaking memoir “gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter.” (The Wrap).

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral—viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time.

Now she reclaims her identity to tell her powerful story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways--there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.

"Know My Name" will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.

*Also available in Spanish/también disponible en español: Tengo un nombre

Resources

Readers Guide

“I Am With You,” Chanel Miller’s short film

2024 Selection for Teens

“Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice,” Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)

“Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice,” Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)

Finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Winner of the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award

A Coretta Scott King Award Author and Illustrator Honor Book

On Oct. 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Co-written with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.

Dr. Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes discuss VICTORY. STAND!

2024 Selection for Kids

“Barrio Rising: The Protest that Built Chicano Park,” María Dolores Águila and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)

“Barrio Rising: The Protest that Built Chicano Park,” María Dolores Águila and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)

A vivid historical fiction account of the community activism behind San Diego’s Chicano Park—home to the largest outdoor mural collection in the U.S.—and just one example of the Mexican American community’s rich history of resistance and resilience.

Barrio Logan, one of San Diego’s oldest Chicane neighborhoods, once brimmed with families and stretched all the way to the glorious San Diego Bay. But in the decades after WWII, the community lost their beach and bayfront to factories, junkyards, and an interstate that divided the neighborhood and forced around 5,000 people out of their homes. Then on April 22, 1970, residents discovered that the construction crew they believed was building a park—one the city had promised them years ago—was actually breaking ground for a police station. That’s when they knew it was time to make their voices heard.

"Barrio Rising" invites readers to join a courageous young activist and her neighbors in their successful twelve-day land occupation and beyond, when Barrio Logan banned together and built the colorful park that would become the corazón of San Diego’s Chicane community.

*Also available in Spanish/también disponible en español: El barrio se levanta: La protesta que construyó el Parque Chicano

Resources for Readers

KPBS - 50 years after first Chicano Park murals, a younger generation picks up the fight

SDSU Special Collections - Chicano Park Takeover, 1970