Every month on Lake Effect, we partner with the Milwaukee Public Library for our Book of the Month series to bring you new reading recommendations. For March, we'll hear from Kelly Bolter, a library services manager at the central branch, on her book recommendation for Women's History Month. Bolter also helps lead the monthly Climate Action Book Club for MPL.
She recommends All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine Keeble Wilkinson. It also the March read for MPL's Climate Action Book club. The book is a collection of essays, poetry and art written by women in various fields about climate change.
"We've got journalists, scientists, artists, lawyers, teachers, activists and even farmers who are coming together in this collection to essentially create a really nuanced conversation around the climate crisis, from the perspective of women," says Bolter.
One of the essays in the collection that Bolter enjoyed is called "Mothering in the Age of Extinction" by Amy Westervelt. Bolter was moved by Westervelt's reflections on becoming a supportive parent and balancing the collective dread of climate change.
Bolter reflects on the piece and says, "[As a parent and] having to hide that dread at times, and thinking about how do we build healthy communities, while understanding that humans have such a disproportionate impact on the climate and wanting to decrease that?"
Bolter also recommends checking out the other book clubs and events being held throughout March at MPL in celebration of Women's History Month.
