The suburban community that I live in, Kirkwood, Missouri, experienced a mass shooting 5 years ago tonight. One small change in the community is the continued existence of the Community for Understanding and Hope (CFUH) Book Group which meets most months to discuss books that deal with diversity in a wide variety of ways. I’ve written about this book group several times on my blog — most in depth here: First BAND post: Favorite Nonfiction.

The fifth anniversary article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch makes a brief mention of our book group near the end: Five years after City Hall shootings, Kirkwood chooses to look forward.

February happens to be Black History Month. If you want to read a book in observance, my first suggestion is to join Vasilly at 1330v to discuss Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones Sunday Salon: Bookish Panic, Read-a-thons, and Read-Ins.

My second suggestion is to choose something from the book lists created by the CFUH Book Group:

• Diversity Book Club book lists
• Book Club Selections, the long and short of it

If you’re looking for books for kids, the Kirkwood Public Library is doing a reading program for kids this month and the website has several lists in different categories that look terrific: Kirkwood Public Library’s African American Read In.