Lunchtime Live - Diversify Your Home Library | Holly Furtick

Welcome to Lunchtime Live with Holly Furtick on the Holly Furtick YouTube channel. I'm Holly Furtick. It's Thursday, and I'm in a good mood because tonight I am going on my Valentine's date with my valentine, Steven Furtick, who has been my Valentine for, we counted this morning, 20 years. This is our 20th Valentine's Day together. And so I'm in a good mood because tonight we're going to one of my favorite restaurants and marriage tip. Go celebrate Valentine's day around the 14th, not exactly on the 14th because the restaurants get so crowded and they put in extra tables and you can't really talk. And anyway, we always go around Valentine's Day, and since Thursday is our typical date night and Valentine's Day is on Sunday, we're going out tonight. And I'm really excited. So that's not what I got on here to talk about today. I got on here to talk about, well, to chat with you because I had such a great time last time. So we started the Holly Furtick YouTube channel in January, and here we are in February. And one of our ideas was to do a Lunchtime Live, which thank you, guys, for those of you who were waiting, because I said I was going to get on at noon, and by noon, I meant noonish because noonish is lunchtime and I'm not always that punctually accurate. So we had such a great time last time. Just I took a bunch of questions from people who follow me on Instagram and answered them and people commenting on YouTube. So if you have a question that you'd like for me to answer before we get started, I will try to do that. And I have some here, too. And then I'm going to bring on one of our staff members at our church. She's actually over our family ministries as well as a lot of other things. And we're going to talk about how to diversify your. Your home library because it is Black History Month. And I'm going to give you some book recommendations that you can be reading for Black History Month. So let's do a couple questions just for fun. Does that sound like fun? Okay. It's raining here in Charlotte today, hence my a little bit frizzy hair. I was outside this morning doing some work and not work, but like outside of my house. And so my hair is a little bit frizzy. So thanks for being patient with that. And also have my glasses on because it is supposed to rain basically for the next several days in Charlotte because everybody else is getting snow and ice. And in Charlotte, North Carolina, all we have gotten all winter long is just cold rain, which is okay because I don't really like snow and ice anyway. And so we. It's a gray day today. And and so I have my glasses on because I'm not going to need sunglasses. And anyway, you didn't ask me all that, so here's something you did ask me. Oh, my friend April Carter, she said, what is your favorite go to meal for your family when you're in a rush? Okay. So I think when it comes to cooking, that and I should actually do like a Instagram or Maybe even a YouTube cooking thing with this. But when it comes to cooking, I think that it's really important to always have certain staples in your pantry and your freezer so that you can throw a meal together in a pinch on a day where you weren't prepared and you didn't think ahead and you get home and you don't want to order out, order in or go out, and everybody's looking at you like, what are we having for dinner? And maybe you had cereal last night and eggs for dinner the night before. And so anyway, I love, I always try to keep the staples to make a couple of different meals. And one of them is chili. Now, funny thing is, if you ask my kids, do you like chili? Graham and Abby, okay, Abby just plain old doesn't eat chili. But we don't plan meals around Abby because you never know what Abby's gonna like or not like or eat or not eat. And so Abby doesn't count. Now, everybody else in my family is really good eaters. Graham does not like chili. He says it's basic and he always complains whenever we have chili. Elijah and Steven, they eat chili. And so I have this really easy chili recipe. I just dump my own seasonings in and it's tomato sauce and lots of ground beef and sausage. I've been putting smoked beef sausage in my chili. And so you put less beans and more sausage, like the little smoked ones, and you cut them up and you sort of pan fry them and get them crispy before you put them in the chili. And so it gives it a lot of texture. But my husband doesn't love tomatoes or onions or peppers or anything chunky, unless it's chunky meat. And he likes junky meat but not junky vegetables. So my chili is a meat based chili. And then I will add my tomatoes and green onions and sour cream and all that stuff on the top. So April Carter, that is my go to meal and also cornbread. I always keep jiffy in my pantry. Is it called jiffy or jif? Jif's the peanut butter. Jiffy's the cornbread, and I always keep that in my pantry. And then I also have a really easy, low carb cornbread. Cornbread, because it's not made with cornmeal, it's made with almond meal. And that's actually really good. So I will do that soon. We'll do that. Maybe we'll do that Next here on YouTube. We'll do a cooking video of chili. I have to wait until I haven't had it for a while in my house. I think we just had it last week or about 10 days ago. And so I have to give it a little bit longer before I cook it again. But somebody said something that I wanted to to comment on. Oh, Kristen Stem says she's making my carbonara recipe for dinner tonight. I hope you like it, Kristen. In the video that I made, I used the whole egg by accident, and it is much better if you just use the egg yolks. So tip on that for Kristen and I hope you enjoy it. And that recipe is pretty easy. But you do have to plan ahead because spaghetti squash takes a long time to cook. Somebody Elizabeth Wood said, favorite is deer meat chili. When people give me venison, which we're not really like a hunting and gathering kind of family, but if somebody else has gone out and hunted the venison and gives us some ground venison, I do like to throw that in the chili. Like one thing of venison, one thing of ground beef. And the sausage, not ground sausage, smoked sausage. What is the red book? Oh, guys, we're going to talk about books.

So.

So just wait. We're going to talk all about books and Black History Month. And Heather Smith says she's. Oh, you're making the carbonara tonight, too. How fun. Alexis says, where do we get your recipes? Well, we've got a couple here on my YouTube channel. If you click the videos, I think we only have. Do we only have 2?

2.

So we have spaghetti squash carbonara and bagel balls. You can also go to my Instagram where there's a lot more recipes and hollyfurtic.com all my recipes are there. April, Angel Carpenter says throw the spaghetti squash in the instant pot. You know what, angel? Funny that you should say that because that is still not quick. I mean, you can cook spaghetti squash in the microwave and it still takes about 25 minutes if you put it in the instant pot. I'M guessing it's going to be at least 20 minutes, because you have to. Even if you cook it under pressure for 15, you have to build the pressure and then you have to release the pressure. I'm not a huge instapot pot fan. I mostly use it to cook rice and occasionally a few other things if I am in a bind. But it is very deceiving because it is not actually instant. Let's see. Florine says, I cannot wait to make the bagel balls. The bagel balls are so easy, and there's only four ingredients, so you do need to try those. But anyway, go to Holly Furtick. Com if you need an idea for dinner tonight. Chili is not on there. Vegetable soup is that one. Super easy. And I can't remember what else. Okay, Colleen Tunis, this is kind of a dirty question, and I don't even know why I'm, like, acting like I have to answer your question. But Colleen wants to know what is the worst fashion trend you ever participated in? Hmm. I don't know. I mean, I participate in most fashion trends. I'm trying to think of one that, you know, you look back and it's just so funny, fashion because you look at the time, you know, you look in the mirror and you're like, I look good today. This sweater, this turtleneck, these jeans, skinny wide, whatever. These shoes. And then 10 years later, you look at the picture and you're like, what? What was I wearing? And I. I really don't. I used to have this little. There's a picture of me. Hammer pants. I did have hammer pants. I did have spiked bangs, which, incidentally, I don't think was a trend. It was like when everybody was doing the big bangs. Somebody convinced me we to stick them straight up. I was probably about Abby's age. That didn't last for very long. Pants that go to the floor. Riley says I am short and have short, so all my pants are too long. Do you? Let's see, what else? Tube tops. I never wore a tube top. I want to hear what other people are saying. Nikki Shearer says I used to perm my hair 25 years ago. Definitely had a perm, but I have kind of curly hair, so I don't need it. Gaucho pants. Hands down, I definitely did those Levi's. Okay. Tiffany says Levi's has announced they are no longer going to make skinny jeans. Let's just talk about the whole jeans thing really quick. I do have other important things for us to discuss today, but the jeans idea, like, what is it that when we used to wear before skinny jeans, it was more of like, a boot cut. Does anybody remember boot cut jeans? And so when we first started wearing skinny jeans, they looked so strange. I even remember the first time I wore black leggings. And I tried them on. I had bought a pair of leggings at the Gap. I love the Gap, by the way. I bought a pair. I think this sweater is from Gap. Bought a pair of leggings at the Gap. And I kept trying them on with a different. Because at the time, it was yoga pants, not leggings that you would wear. And I kept trying them on with different things. And I could not figure out how to make leggings look cute, which is so funny because now leggings are a complete staple. And I have to tell myself, don't wear black leggings today almost every day. So what is it that makes you stand in front of the mirror and be like, ah, these black leggings, they're too tight. I don't know what to wear with them. Be long. Should it be shorter? Is this, you know, you, like, stress over, Then all of a sudden that just becomes a normal thing. Same with skinny jeans. And then now you look at. Well, I just think you have to retrain your brain to tell yourself, because people say, oh, remember when skinny jeans came out and everybody was like, skinny jeans do not look good on me. Skinny jeans are not flattering. I'm not skinny enough to wear skinny jeans. Well, now every body shape, every size, every woman has at least one pair or multiple pairs of skinny jeans. And we're going back to, like, mom jeans. And people are like, oh, mom jeans don't look good on me. And I just don't understand the whole thing. You just kind of have to tell your brain, retrain your brain to know what is gonna look good and what's not. I don't know. Does that make sense? Does anybody agree with me out there? Monica says, took me a while to wear skinny pants and leggings. We're about the same age. I'm 42. Jennifer Price says, boot cut are my favorite. Briella says leggings are so comfortable and usually go with everything. Sweater dresses with leggings. Melanie says, it just took me so long to get used to a style, and it's so hard to change. Exactly. Ivy Moon says she loves boyfriend jeans. Roll up the bottom. So cute. Remember, ultra. Okay, Renee, Ultra low rise. That is a trend I'm never going back to. I'm just gonna say I'm Just not. I won't. Okay, let me do. I don't know. Let's see what other good questions that we have. How do you set aside time to read books? I find myself so distracted by other stuff. Well, I like audiobooks, and I get so addicted to having a story in my AirPod when I'm driving or when I'm cooking. And I just love audiobooks. I do like to read real books, too, but I don't like feeling like, where's my book? I need my.

I'm getting in the car.

I need my book. I love having it with me on my phone all the time. That's just me. Hmm. I like this. This question is kind of funny. Do you and Pastor Steven take time out for yourselves or are you busy every day? Yes, we do take time out for ourselves, and we are busy every day, but we try to set aside days of the week, like I said, to go on a date or. I think there are ways to prioritize. You don't have to set aside a whole day, but it is important to prioritize taking care of yourself and exercising and getting good sleep and all of that. Taking care of yourself doesn't necessarily mean that you're taking. That you. Whatever, take all day Saturday off and you don't do any work. But that's just me. What advice would you give to a girl who wants to preach? Well, I would say read your Bible. I think that the hardest thing about preaching is, well, the whole thing. It's really hard. But you've got to read your Bible. You've got to read your Bible for yourself. Not read your Bible for what are you going to preach? But read your Bible for yourself and let God speak to you. Because I think what connects with people when you're preaching is the fact that it feels like you're preaching from something that God's been teaching you and something that feels real and authentic to you. Not something that you feel like people need to hear or something that, you know, people need to learn about, but really just reading your own Bible and letting God speak to you and letting it sit with you. Like, for instance, I preached on Gideon this past weekend in our church, and I started reading the story of Gideon back in December. And so it was. And now I have that luxury because I don't have to preach every six days like my husband does. But I think it's really important that the sermon that you preach comes from an overflow of your own relationship with God, not just what should I preach about. Let me come up with something or a topic or whatever. How old were you when you met Pastor Steven? I was 18 years old when I met Pastor Steven. And no, wait, that's not true. I was actually 16 years old when we met. Like, shook hands for the first time. But then we became friends when we ended up at the same college. And incidentally, you should know that he had. When we. When we met at college, he had on a Superman T shirt that he had bought from Goodwill. And he had on. He had a shaved head, black hair, shaved head. And he had on these black, Thick, black rimmed glasses. And this was not when those kind of glasses were cool and they had yellow lenses. He doesn't wear glasses. They were just for fun. They had yellow lenses, and he wore them all the time. And he was like, hey, you should come to one of my punk rock shows. And I said, yeah, that'd be awesome. And that was what I remember as the first time that we met at college. I don't know if he would say the same thing. Also, Pastor Steven stole my sofa. I'm here in the green room at our green room at our Ballantine location. This sofa is leather, and it's very slippery. And he was using this space to do some songwriting.

And.

And so he switched the sofa that's supposed to be in this room, which is this beautiful cream sofa with those little brass tacks that go all along the back. And it's so beautiful. But he said this couch wasn't. It was too slippery. And so he put it in here and he stole my sofa. So. Okay, I think that's enough chit chat for now. Let's talk about what we're going to talk about, which is Black History Month and your home library all the way from your little kids all the way up to yourself. Okay. And I have a friend, a staff member who's going to be joining us. Her name is Brittany. I've never done this before. I think Brittany is good on her end. She's not here with me, obviously. Thank you, Covid. And Brittany is going to call in. Are we ready? All right.

Hey, Hollywood. Doing great.

Are you at your house?

I'm at home, yep. You talked about rainy. It's raining here, too.

Yes. And we. You are working from home for what day is this that you have been working from home?

This is going on two weeks. Working from home.

Okay, so is it over on Monday?

Yes, it is done on Monday. I'll be back in the office on Monday. Ez, my son will be back in class. And we'll be good to go.

Okay, so how old is ez?

Ez? He'll be two next week.

And so for those of you who don't know, we had a little Covid exposure in our daycare at our office. And so all the moms from like two and under, the moms that need the daycare at the absolute most, have been at home for the last almost two weeks. And so Brittany is being a real trooper. And Brittany, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at Elevation.

Yep. So, Brittany Akinsola. I'm on staff at Elevation. I've been at the church since 2012. Fun fact. I googled churches near me, and I lived in uptown Charlotte at the time, and Uptown came on and so I was like, you know what, I'll check this out. And I walked over and I just remember walking in and it was like all these different people that like, looked so different. Old, young, black, white, you name it. And I come from an interracial family. And so I just remember feeling so comfortable and welcome. And then I just remember my first day there. The campus pastor was African American, and he threw up a picture of his wife who was white. And I was like, this is. I've never seen anything like this in church. So this is my home and I've been here ever since. So I volunteered for years at the church.

And then so awesome how God works like that because he was our only. He was our only African American campus pastor at the time and also our only, I think probably biracial couple on staff at the time. And that was. Happened to be the campus that was closest to your house.

Yes.

God is amazing.

I lived back in 2012 and then got me right then and there. I've been here ever since, volunteered for years, and then felt God calling me to come on staff and serve under you guys leadership. Holly 2016. So I've been around for about four years now on staff serving.

And what is your official title?

My official title is I am our ministry support pastor on staff. And I just work to support all the different ministry areas that we have to help us reach people as effectively as possible.

That's amazing. And you're doing such a great job. And do you have a picture of ez? I know that wasn't actually, I do, actually.

I have one actually right behind me. Let me see here.

Well, and jt, we'd like to see JT as well. Okay.

Okay. This is easy. He's so cute.

Oh, my gosh.

That's my little cute butt right There.

Abby loves him so much.

He loves Abby.

And incidentally, Abby, I think Abby has had. This is a little bit TMI maybe, but I think Abby for the last week has had hand, foot, mouth, which is like a common kid virus for those of you who don't know that. But in babies, they get a high fever and they get the blisters on their hands and their feet and in their mouth. But when you get older, you just get sores in your mouth. And so Abby has had, like, mouth ulcers all on the inside of her mouth. She's had, like. Bless her heart, she's had probably like, six that we've been doctoring and all week and everything. And so the reason I'm telling you this is when we went to the office on Mondays, she comes with me to the office after school and does her homework there. And I was like, abby, don't go around any little kids. And she was like, well, why? And I said, just. Just don't. And she was like, well, who's going to be there? Are Ms. Ashley's kids going to be there? And is Glennie going to be there? That's what she said. And I was like, well, probably, but I'm mostly talking about easy. Do not go around easy. And she was like, no. But then you guys were quarantined at home anyway, so it was all good.

Yeah, it worked out. It's so funny, too, because Eazy's, like, learning to talk. And so he will say her name, but he says it almost, like, with the. He'll be like, Abby, like, insinuates the letters. And it's so cute every time he sees her. He loves Abby, so it's so cute.

Okay, show us jt.

Okay, this is a family picture, but this tall, handsome man right here, guys, that's J.T. so that's my husband.

I love it so much. So, okay, it's Black History month. It is February 11th today. And so I wanted you to come on because me and you were having this conversation the other day about diversity and having a diverse home library. And it actually started off by talking about one of our partners, which is called Promising Pages. And Promising Pages is one of our Elevation Outreach partners. And their goal is to just get books in the hands of kids. New books, used books. They take it all, and then they take it into schools. And I don't know if they. If there's a way for you to pick them up or whatever, but it's a really cool organization, and we recently have given them. This is really exciting. $50,000 from Elevation Church to help them get. And their goal is they want to get 25,000 diverse books into the community. And so we've given them $50,000 to really help launch this initiative and get this goal accomplished. And so you and I were talking about having a diverse home library, and so I just wanted you to share a little bit with everybody what. What you were sharing with me.

Yeah, I get super passionate about this because I think it's so important. And I know you know this, Holly, but I just remember I was pregnant. This was obviously a little over two years ago, and I was building out my baby registry, and I was talking with one of my girlfriends because we were going into Black History Month, and we were just talking about how we always want to make it so fun for our kids to learn about black history and just to hear more about where they come from and culture and all of that. And one of the ways that we said we want to do it is through books. And so I started, like, researching it, and I just remember being like, I can't find that many. So I go back to her.

I was like, hey, what is your book list at?

What do you have? And she didn't have that many either. And so we just both, like, two moms on a mission to just figure out how to do this well. And I care about it a lot because I remember when I was, like, on this path to figuring out what this would look like for my son. I read this article, and it's always stuck with me, the analogy that this woman gave, and she was like, it's so important when we build libraries to have both windows and mirrors in our child's library. And the windows being, hey, you need a lens to see into the lives of people. Children that are not like you, that weren't raised like you, that are nothing like you. Because what that does is it builds empathy and an understanding that our children can have for other children. But then you also need mirrors. So you need to be able to see yourself in the story and not just, like, as, you know, a side character or someone that the story doesn't revolve around, but see, like, the main character. Like, you can see yourself in that to help give you courage and to help you see, like, all that you can be in life, especially as a child. And so with that, that's how I began to build his library. I'm constantly searching for windows because I want him to know and understand and empath with other children, then also mirror so he can see himself in the stories of the books that he's reading.

I think that's so great because a lot of this, I've had a lot of conversations with people of all different cultures and you hear people saying, I want my kids to see themselves in books. And so I can just think as a white woman, yeah, we need more culturally diverse books, but I need to have those books in my home as well so that my children get a diverse picture of the world and what the world is really like. So show us a couple of your favorites. We're going to start from, like, the youngest. We're going to work our way up and we're going to talk about books. My kids are older, so I'm not really as into little kid books, but I've got a bunch of the ones that you're going to talk about here with me, too.

So a few of them. But I mean, okay, so even when I'm building that Holly, I always look at, like, multiple categories. So I do like for them to be history related sometimes. So it's like, oh, he can learn and actually, like, have a tangible feel of what it's like. But then I also. I think I told you this. I was like, sometimes though, like, it can be heavy. And I want him to also just be able to see himself in, like, a normal story. So there's like a whole array. And so for some of them, for the younger kids, like, for easy. I mean, who doesn't know, like a Jack and the Beanstalk, right? Like just a normal story where, like, the young character.

Yes, I have the same one, wizard of Oz in that one.

I love these stories because they're just normal stories that we've all heard. All of our kids are going to hear these, but they can also see themselves in it as well. And I love that. So that's like, one aspect and one of the things that I look for. And so I would suggest just normal stories, just where the representation can be diverse and so. And putting those types of books in your home, too.

Yeah.

One of my favorite. This is actually something that I gave to Ashley Hollingsworth and it's these books like this. So this is an actual, like, historical book. And so, yes, the MIN one. So you have both of them. And the reason I love these, well, Vashti Harrison, I love her. I follow her on IG and everything. But she's a black author. She's also a black illustrator. And so she writes from that perspective. And she started this book in Black History Month.

And her pictures are really great.

They're so good. And then the fun thing to do through Black History Month is you just read on one person a day, because it's a book full of black people that went first. So you can have the guy version or the female version, and then you just read through a story a day with your child. They can just learn. And any child, no matter what race they are, should be inspired by the things that these people accomplished.

Right?

And so I just love it that she birthed that out of, like, researching awesome people in Black history in preparation for Black History Month and then made a book about it. And now I try to use it as a tool, and I try to gift it to people, too, because it's just a great book. It's so well done. It's beautiful. But then it also tells the stories so well, and everyone can be inspired by it.

Love it.

Also, Christian books are important, too. Really great Christian books that have really good representation in them. So this is one of my favorite. He's got the whole world in his hands we all have heard this. We sing it.

Right?

But it's just such a great one to add to your library. Right? It's so good. It's super sweet. You can sing along with it. You can make it fun if you have younger children, because this is going to be more for, like, not quite, like, older preschool, but, like, early grades in elementary school. The one that we just talked about is gonna be good for, like, older kids. And I even read through that book, and I'm inspired.

But again, like, really beautiful illustrations. And I love when my kids were little, like, like, ez's age, I loved books that were songs that you could sing and look at the pictures at the same time. And so, so awesome. We're gonna do a book list for everybody. I don't know where we're gonna put it. Can we. In the copy of YouTube. It'll be down in the description. So if you want, we'll just. We'll put all the titles in. The authors that we talk about today. Talk about a little bit more. Brittany, how you were saying that. I think you. You sort of mentioned this a little bit, but how you want, like, you want Eazy to know about what the struggles that the African American community has been through, but you also want him to just share a little bit more about what you were telling me about that.

I'm glad you said that because it can be super interesting, and I always want it to be a balance for him. He needs to know the reality of what it has been for the African American community. And also there's so much inspiration in it. I would hate to deprive him.

Right.

Of knowing that story in itself. And then I also want him to see a side of it where he can see that he can be anything that he wants to be. And being black is normal. There's nothing wrong with being black. It's a beautiful thing. And so that's where the normal stories, the everyday life, like Easy rides his bike, right? Eazy is on a scooter. Eazy gets tucked into bed. And I also want him to see stories where normal life. He can see himself as normal in those stories, too. And so there's a good mix of both that I have in his library because I think it's important that he not be naive to not understand nor be inspired. Because he needs to be inspired by the people that have gone before him. Right. What they've been able to accomplish. But then also, it's not so just. He doesn't see everything that he has to accomplish as just like, being so difficult because a lot of people in black history have accomplished things in spite of their circumstances. So I want him to see both in.

And I think for me, too, and for my kids, I want them to see the same thing. So I think when I think about diversifying my home library, I also want my kids to know about the hardships that lots of people have, all different kinds of cultures. I want them to read about the Civil War era. And I'm trying to think. All I can think of is the word train, the Underground Railroad. I want them to learn about the Underground Railroad. I want them to learn about Harriet Tubman, and I want them to learn about Jackie Robinson and all of the Civil Rights movement and people that have come along and really made headway in history. But I also want the characters in the books that they read to be diverse, so that they just. So that multicultural becomes a part of their everyday life. From the very inception of them being children and even to when they get older and they start reading books like this Is the American Girl does such a great job with multiculturalism.

They.

You know, they have a girl every year. And so Melody was one of their characters a couple years ago. I actually think she's. She wasn't a yearly character. I think she's like one of their permanent ones. If you. If you have a girl, you're gonna learn all about American Girl in the future. But her. Her character is in 1964, and she loves to sing. And so. But American Girl does such a great job with diversity. And they have a character that's a Native American, and they have Melanie, and then they have a character that's an astronaut and somebody from Hawaii. And it's just so beautiful the way that they. That they do that and as they get older. So if anybody has followed me for any time, everybody knows this is my favorite kids book. And it's actually probably in my top three favorite books of all time. And this is. Is actually my teaching copy. So. Okay, look, I got it from another teacher. I scratched out her name and wrote my name, because when you're a teacher, you have to write your name in the book because the kids don't return them. And this is so cool. I found this on the bookshelves. I actually have my. I don't know if you can see this, but I have my teacher notes I wrote in pencil. My teaching notes are in this book. I've taught this story. I've read this story to all my kids. And this is a great example of a just normal story that has diversity within it. And the main character is a white child, but then the second and Abby's favorite character, because a lot of times the second main character, however, you say that the second most important character in the book is your favorite. And his name in this book, his name is Hector. And it's just such a great story. It's a great story of friendship. It's a great story of overcoming, and it's a beautiful piece to have in your home library that your kids can see diversity just normal in a normal setting.

I have the new version, not the OG throwback version that you.

I forgot what I was going to say. I don't know. This book is so great. Okay, here's a couple other ones that I love. Christopher Paul Curtis. A lot of people know him. Mostly for this book, the Watsons go to Birmingham. I was actually listening to a podcast the other day of an author talking about this book. And if you have never read this book to your kids, it is. You've got to purchase this. I know Eazy is like, way years from this.

So good.

It's funny. It's about a normal family living in Detroit in the 1960s, and they go south to visit family in Birmingham, and they end up being at the bombing of the church. The characters end up in that historical event, but that's just one piece of the story. And so it's great because you're reading about this family and it's so funny, and you're on this Road trip with them. And you laugh and you cry, and it's great. So this is a great one for Black History Month to read about the Civil Rights movement. But then he also wrote, okay, you have Watson's Go to Birmingham. I guess I have old covers. And this book is also by Christopher Paul Curtis. He actually won the Newbery Medal for this one. He was a runner up for this one. And this one's called Bud, not Buddy, and it is about a boy living in Flint, Michigan. I'm guessing Christopher Paul Curtis is from Flint, Michigan, or he is, and he is. It's 1936, and so it's in the middle of the Great Depression, and he comes in on the jazz scene and. And so this book is just a really great story and one that I just think everybody needs.

These are a great blend of what we were talking about, though, Holly, because they are hilarious. Like, when you read them, you literally are laughing out loud because the kid is just so funny in the story. And it's just. It normalizes so much, and it just makes you feel like you just want to be their friend. But then it also does a really good job of helping set the context of where they're at historically, what it was truly like. And so you get both. You know, you get to enjoy these characters, get to know them, get to love them, but also learn so much about history at the same time. But it's such a. They're such fun reads.

I'm a huge historical fiction fan, and I just remembered what I was about to say. Another thing that's really great about diversifying your own home library is. Is one of the issues that we were talking about with promising pages. The organization that we support here in Charlotte, and then also another organization that we support that really has a goal to have to put out multicultural literature is what's the library called? Imagination Library, Dolly Parton Foundation. And they give free books to every child under the age of five. They partner with your local library. So if you have really young children and you're not a part of that program, everybody qualifies. No matter what your income is or any of that, every child qualifies. And they get a book every month. And it's such an amazing program, but Promising Pages mostly works with donated books. And one of the problems that they have is catching up to. You know, right now, we're all of the moms now in 2020, 2021.

We're.

We're diversifying our libraries, but it's taking time for the donated books to catch up. So there's none. There's no books like this being donated because these are brand new, These are hard. These you have to go to Target to get. And so I think also just understanding that as you diversify your own home library and your children grow out of those books and. And you donate those books to Goodwill or to organization like Promising Pages or your local library or whatever, that's making a difference even in beyond just your family. And I think that's really cool.

So good, Holly, because it's so true. It's more recent that the diversity is starting to catch up to what the world looks like. But then when you go to donate something, you're donating something old, and you're not going to necessarily have that, and you're old that you're donating. And so being conscious to. If you're blessed enough to be able to go purchase the right type of book to help in the trend too, with like diversifying libraries, especially EC's actually signed up for the Imagination Library and like the Dolly Parton Foundation. And he gets his book every month. And I did notice that they do a pretty good job even, like sending out good books that have. They're super fun, educational, but then also they do a pretty decent job with diversity, too. And so he loves that. He gets his book every month, it's completely free, we pay nothing, and they send it right to him every month in the mail.

They work really hard on that. Okay, so now we're going to get into a little bit older. My sister Emily is on, and she says it's hard for me to donate books. That is so true. If you're a real book lover. What's the word that they call it? A really trendy word. Bibliophile. If you really love books, it is so hard to donate them. I just clean off my bookshelves, my personal bookshelf at home. And I tried the Marie Kondo method, which is you hold it with two hands and you're like, how does this book make me feel? And if I don't feel anything, then I can give it away. But if I feel. If I feel something, it just finds a place on a bookshelf in my house. So this particular book, this is a popular story. Also they made a movie, the Hate U Give. This is a YA book which is young adult. And I read this. I think I actually, I can't remember if I read it or if I listened to it. But this is a great modern story about a girl who is in the very beginning of the book. So I'm not giving anything away, but in the very beginning of the book, she is a part of a shooting or not a part of it, but she's there and how it sort of traumatizes her, a police brutality shooting. And you kind of walk with her through that whole situation. And so this is a great. Have you read this one?

It's really good.

Yeah, the movie was pretty good too, as far as books made, movies made into books. I thought they did a good job with this one.

And it's helpful on a different perspective that most people probably wouldn't have on a situation like that. And with it being so common and it being a hot topic even over the last year especially, it's just helpful, so helpful with perspective, you know, it's really good. It's well done.

And this author, Angie Thomas, she's had, she's. She has at least one other book, maybe two. Oh yeah, this one's coming out in 2021. It says I haven't read any of her other ones, but I know they're all really great and they address more like current topics. Okay, so a few grown up reads. If you are here and you're watching, you're like, I just want a good book to read for Black History Month. I'm going to give you three that I have read that I love. And, and I'm going to start with the one that I recommended to you about a month ago. And it is this book, the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. And I. Before we start, okay, before we start talking about this, I do want to say I know people are going to be on here and they're going to be like, what about nonfiction? And there is so much important nonfiction out there to read on this topic, from books about racism and books about. I just, I know that there are so many great books out there and I have read a few of them. There's one that's out right now that everybody really loves. It was Oprah's Book Club. I haven't read it, but it's called Cast. And so I know that there's great nonfiction. I know it's really important to read nonfiction. I love fiction. And I think that fiction brings about a story, invokes empathy in a way that that information cannot. And so I do think it's important to read nonfiction. It's important to learn, But I think my favorite way to learn is through fiction. And so that's why we're talking about this. That's why we're talking about fiction, because that's what I know. And so this book is not actually fiction. It reads like fiction. It's more of, like. I don't know what you would call this. It's not a memoir. I don't know what the genre of.

This book is, way that they write it, but I. Holly, this might be one of, like, my favorite books. I love this book. I was like, how have I. You told me about it? And I was like, you know what? Okay, I'll read it. And I was like, how have I never read this book? It's so good. It's so well done, too.

It's so good. So this is a true story, and it's called the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Because this woman, she had a type of cancer. And through her cancer, they discovered the. They're called HeLa cells. And it's like, it's the space. It's the standard cell that they use in labs even today. And it's been a while since I've read this book, but it is such an incredible story. And this was. I think this was an Oprah Book Club book. But she also did a movie.

Did you see that movie? There's a movie about it, and Oprah's in it. I watched the movie afterwards. The book is just. And I know the book is just so much better. And I was legitimately lost in it. And it is like, there's a. A woman is, like, trying to discover because she hears about these HELA cells, and it's her journey as she goes to actually find out the story behind them. And it's. Yeah, it's exactly what you said. It's an African American woman, and it talks about the story of how, like, her cells were used. And I mean, anything that we use today, major breakthrough in science down to, like, blood pressure medicine and chemotherapy. This woman. This African American woman herself contributed to it.

Right?

It's fascinating. I don't know if it was also the nurse in me. Holly used to be a nurse before I worked at the church. But I was like, I could not stop reading it because it's also helpful. It is written fiction, but it's not. And it just gives you a background, but then also an understanding, too, of just other things in society as well, not just, you know, being black at that time and what that was like. But it's just so much for you.

It's such a great story. I love it. So here's another one. And this is a fiction book. It's by James McBride. And this is called the Good Lord Bird. They just made a series about this on Showtime. And I. I had actually never read any James McBride books. I don't know why. I just. Hatton stumbled upon him. And this is a fictional. It's another one of those books that's like a fiction. It's like half fiction, half true. He takes a real event and a real historical character, and then he builds story around it. And so this is the story of John Brown. And John Brown was a white man who was an abolitionist. And even more than an abolitionist, he was. He was killing people for Jesus.

He was his character.

He started the first insurrection, I think that's what they call it, against slavery right before the Civil War started. And it's called the Good Lord Bird, because they think in the book, they always think that if you see the pileated woodpecker, which is that really big, beautiful woodpecker, and they're usually by themselves. And so if you see one, you say, good Lord, look at that bird. And their feathers were good luck if you could get a feather from it. And so that's just a little thing that's woven throughout. But he's the. He also wrote the Color of Water. Have you ever read Anything by James McBride?

I haven't, but I have it right here because, you know, Holly, I actually just. Not even kidding. I'm on, like, episode three. I just started watching the show. It's so good.

Is it? I haven't seen the show yet.

It's very, like, unique. And even in, like, the title, it's like, this is mostly true. And they do it in a really funny way. But it's also, like, the historical context, because John Brown was a real person from history, and all of these things really happened, but they tell it really good in the story. So now I'm like, well, I have to read the book now because I'm so drawn into this show. I don't know.

Once you've watched the show, it's really hard to go back and read the book. And I think the show would probably. Especially if it's like. Like several episodes. I think it's like 10 episodes. I think it's great. I also think that you need to read James McBride's book now. Okay. I'm about to recommend a book that I haven't read, which is something I try really hard not to do. But my friend Lisa Harper, who has spoken at our church before, her absolute. When I love to ask people, what is your, like, number one book, book you wish you could read again for the first time? Hers is a James McBride book. And they actually say it on the COVID of this. The Color of Water. And the reason I think you will like it is because James McBride, his father was. I might be getting this backwards. His father was African American and his mother was Jewish. And so that is what the Color of Water is all about, is his relationship with his mother.

Yes, I've heard of this book. Now that you say that, I'm gonna. You know what? Someone. It's next. It's next on my list.

So. James McBride is awesome. And this is not like. And I think the show's probably the same. It's not an easy read necessarily. There's no love story in it, but I think it's important. I was really glad when I. It took me a while, and I was listening to it. It took me a while to finish it, but I was so glad when I did because I learned so much about just the events that led up to the Civil War and what the state of our nation was in at the time. And so, anyway, highly recommend this one. And then last one, we're wrapping up, guys. Thanks for sticking on with us. But last one. I read this book this month. It's called the Personal History of Rachel Dupree. And again, this is a book that is sort of like what we were talking about when you said windows and mirrors. And so this one is a little bit. It's mostly just the story of an African American woman and her husband who were pioneers. They were ranchers in north or South Dakota, the Black Hills. I can't remember if it was north or South Dakota, but they moved from Chicago in the early 1900s. And they go back when the government was still giving away land. All you had to do was go and claim it, and they started a ranch. And so this book, I do have to say, it's a very heavy story. So you're not, like, if you're looking for something light and funny and uplifting, this is not it. But I love stories. I think my favorite thing is to read about resilience, People who have just grit and resilience, and especially women. And that's what this book is about. And this woman, Rachel, man, she. She is so resilient and she goes through so much, and you just are cheering for her the whole time, and your heart breaks for her. And they lit. It's so cold and dusty and she's raising kids and she's pregnant in the story. And so anyway, I really. To say I enjoyed this book is kind of. Is kind of dark. Because it's not. It's not really enjoyable, but I just loved it.

I loved her grit on your taste, right? Because I feel like everything you're saying, I'm like, there's no way I'm not reading that book.

Yeah.

I'm more like you. I'm like, I want that. I'm here for it. Bring it on.

It sort of makes me. When I read books like that, it makes me. Emily says, I love a sad book. There's something about reading something that somebody has overcome that makes you kind of go, oh, my gosh, I'm such a baby. I mean, why am I complaining about XYZ when. When. When Rachel could, you know, give birth to her baby? And I'm not going to give it away, but you just. It just makes you kind of buck up. And I love stories like that. And then also there's some. There's an element of. She got. She sort of goes through, like, her daughter goes to school and all of her friends are white, and she likes this boy who's white, and the mom is, you know, it's like 19, 18. And so she doesn't know how to tell her daughter this is gonna be problematic. And she wants to take her children back to Chicago because she feels like they need to be around more people. So you still feel a lot of the same things that I think are still felt today. So it's not like. It's not so out there of this, like, fairytale story of this black couple that everybody, you know, all the farmers accepted. It's not like that. It just. But it's cool. And it's actually based on a true story. There were African American people who claimed land just like anyone else in Ranchers, and it was really great. So you'll like this.

Book list for the rest of the month. And this is awesome because I love to like what you're sharing about how the stories are. Because that's where even, like, the diversity comes in with also who's writing it too. You know what I mean? Because it's like, you know, like, they're gonna write a black woman's gonna write about a little black girl differently than maybe a white woman would because of an experience that they've had.

Right.

And so even, like, down to, like, it doesn't always have to look like. Just surface level, like, what someone looks like. I think that's important, too. But a lot of it is also the perspective behind the words on the pages as well. And so that's where I also love so many of the books that you shared, because there's a good perspective of them. And I think that that's what helps us the most, too, whenever we're diversifying our libraries.

Yeah, I think it's really important just in sort of bringing this all to a summary. I wish you could see the big pile of books.

That one right here, too, it's like.

But just realizing, I think with everything that's going on in the world today and all of the controversy and all of the pain and people just feeling, I think like one of the overarching themes that I hear when I talk to people is just, I don't know where to start. I don't know what I can do. I don't know what difference I can make. I know that racism is an issue. I'm not denying that. But what am I supposed to do to do about it? And I think that we really have to understand that change begins inside of our own hearts and inside of our own homes. And it takes time, and it's small steps that lead to major changes. And I think by just being aware of what is in your home library and what you're reading to your children, even from the very beginnings, Even from age 1, 2, 3, what are you reading to them when you go to the library? What books are you picking out for them? And then in your own personal reading, and the things that we are spending our time entertaining ourselves with, that it makes a difference. And that these small changes over time will help us to change a whole generation and we can make a difference. And yes, there are big things that we can do, and there are times where we need to speak out. And there is. Yes, there are all kinds of things. This is just one. But I think it is one thing that people overlook and they don't realize that they can start in their own heart and with their own kids and making a change in their own homes. Absolutely.

Do you know how hard it was for me to sit here and let you talk and not shout you down? That entire time you were talking, you said it so well. I could. Like, there's nothing I could say to say it better. But just like the small things that we do in our homes, just take a step. Start with one book, start with one conversation. And those are the things that impact generations to come. You know what I mean? And so you said it beautifully. I don't feel like I have to add anything onto what you just said, but I just really want to affirm it. And I'm grateful for you taking the time to help us all gain perspective in this arena. So thank you.

Thanks, Brittany. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for everybody who stuck with us the whole time and love you guys. Don't forget to like this video. Share it with a friend. If it was important to you, if it was eye opening to you in any way, don't forget to share. Subscribe so that you can find out immediately when we're going live again for Lunchtime Live. The next person that I have for Lunchtime Live, Brittany, she is awesome. And I can't say who it is because I don't think it's 100% confirmed. It is 100% confirmed. I'm still not going to say who it is. It's going to be awesome.