Diversity in YA Book Tour - Last Stop

The Diversity in YA book tour's last stop is today, Saturday May 14th in NYC. Author's Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo will be joined by

Matt de la Peña my review

Kekla Magoon my review


Neesha Meminger my review


Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich my review

Rita Williams-Garcia - an excerpt

Jacqueline Woodson my review

Give Autographed Books (Support the Economy & Authors of Color)

It's no surprise that many books by children's authors of color have to be ordered. So why not order an autographed copy for the holidays

Tuesday December 7, this Tuesday, YA author Caridad Ferrer will be signing her newest book When the Stars go Blue @ Third Place Books - (206) - 366-3333

When the Stars go Blue is so very good and visually beautiful. I loved the main character Soledad Reyes. This contemporary YA retelling of the Carmen is a great gift for any one who loves the arts.

A personalized copy of When the Stars go Blue would make a wonderful gift for a music or dance instructor.

On Monday December 13th,

Authors - Zetta Elliott, Christopher Grant, Kekla Magoon and Rita Williams -Garcia will be signing @ Daddy's Basement Bookstore - (347) 770-8114
This line up is some serious WOW.

If you've been visiting my blog for awhile now, you know I love Zetta Elliott's A Wish After Midnight - my review when it was re released by Amazon Encore this year, I talked about A Wish After Midnight again will pretty much mention AWAM whenever I can. Its that good.

Teenie is Christopher Grant's YA debut. Its very good. It was such a pleasure to read a hard to put down, contemporary YA novel featuring a Black female character with Caribbean roots.

The Rock and the River is Kekla Magoon's wonderful, award winning middle grade debut. It's historical fiction novel set in 1968 Chicago. 13 yr old Sam must decide which path for change will work better from him. I believe this is the first MG novel that deals with the Black Panthers. (about time). The Rock and the River is very good and shouldn't be missed.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia was a 2010 National Book Award finalist. It's 1968, three sisters will be spending the summer with their mother in Oakland. The sisters spend most of their time at a local committee center run by The Black Panthers. This is one of my favorite middle grade novels of the year.

Every once in awhile, someone on the news will talk about ways to help improve the economy. I have yet to hear anyone give the most obvious answer. Don't Do All Of Your Holiday Shopping Online.

Sure Amazon can give you free shipping, but can Amazon give you a personalized gift? NO!

So order some autographed books for the Holidays. If you do, you'll be supporting the economy, authors of color and giving some great gifts. Everyone wins.

First Weekly Feature, Hanukkah, Interviews

In September I finally started a weekly feature. Listing new releases with kids of color on Tuesday. Normally, I would be doing this now but since its getting close to the end of the year, there just aren't as many. I am too tired to look for more titles. It is the holiday season after all. Speaking of holidays.

Hanukkah begins December 1st* (Wednesday) this year.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch would make a great Hanukkah gift. I loved this graphic novel. I still think. " Just another troll fighting 11 yr old Orthodox Jewish Girl" is one of the best book tag lines of the year. An excerpt via the author's site



If you visit here on a regular or semi regular basis you might notice that I like interviews. Since its the holiday season, I've decided to mention some of my favorites of the year.

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey - my interview . I loved Guardian of the Dead. Its one of my favorite YA reads of 2010. I loved how the interview turned out. I remembered to ask everything I wanted to ask. Kirkus selected Guardian of the Dead as a best of YA sci/fi fantasy book of 2010


I loved One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia. Its one of my favorite middle grade reads of 2010. Back in June, author Zetta Elliott did a three part interview with Williams-Garcia and it was simply WOW. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, One Crazy Summer is a 2010 National Book Award Finalist


The final one is a little more recent. Charlotte interviewed author Robin Mckinley in November about her lastest YA release Pegasus. I love this interview because Mckinley is a well established author who could've easily phoned in, blah answer but didn't. Kirkus selected Pegasus as a best of YA sci/fi fantasy book of 2010


From Zetta and Charlotte's I learned that sometimes its okay to shut up and simply let an author answer. No extra comments necessary.

If you have any favorite 2010 interviews leave the link in the comment box. I'll probably be doing this again next Tuesday.

*December 1st is also the last day to enter author Cindy Pon's Fury of the Phoenix arc contest