African American Read In - Today

Today, Ari, Edi and I are hosting our African American Read In . We will be discussing Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves Stop by Ari's anytime today to participate. Questions are already up.

Feel free to reply to the questions, ask your own, link to your reviews, etc. I want to read a few reviews and maybe discuss points brought up in them. Around noon or so central time, I'll probably post some more questions and at 6 PM CT, it will be completely open forum. Anything mentioned in the book is fair game to be discussed. Be as silly, serious or bizarre as you would like. Make Hanna proud.

Join Us - Read In, Cybils Winners Announced, Nerds Heart YA Nominations

There's still time to read Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves and join, Ari, Edi and myself for the online Read In on Sunday Feb. 20. Bleeding Violet was one of my favorite books last year. I finally started rereading it today. The second time around I always notice new things. I still love Hanna but now I find myself paying more attention to Petra.

I don't know how this Read In is going to turn out but I am really looking forward to it. Bleeding Violet was selected out of six titles. Yummy by G. Neri was also one of the six. Earlier in the year it was named a Coretta Scott King Honor.

On Monday The Cybils Winners were announced. Yummy won in the young adult graphic novel category . I thought thia transition was going to be a little smoother but I am still going to run with it.

I had the pleasure of being on the first round non fiction picture book Cybils panel. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot.

Congraulations to Barbara Kerley author of The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) Its a wonderfully different and engaging biography about Twain. I absolutely loved that Kerley had clearly defined fiction and non fiction lines. Edwin Fotheringham's illustrations are great and fit the text perfectly.

I am all for anything that helps promote diverse YA titles that others may never hear of otherwise. Nerds Heart YA -a tournment for under repesented YA literature does just that.


Now in its third year Nerds Heart YA will continue to bring attention to books that have received less attention in the book blogging world.

Through a bracket style competition, judges who are passionate about getting more visibility for fantastic, under represented books will whittle down a shortlist of thirty two young adult novels until one ultimate winner is given the Nerds Heart YA sash and sceptre.

It’s not just about the winner though, Nerds Heart YA seeks to draw attention to all the books on the shortlist. The contest focuses specifically on books that in some way represent groups of people who are typically under represented in YA fiction. We hope that everyone who participates in this contest will find lots of new books to enjoy that will expand the diversity of their reading experience.

Last years winner was Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz. If you've never read this author, your seriously missing out. Saenz has some serious literary skills.

Book Nominations for 2011 are now open. You have until March 7th to head on over to Nerds Heart YA to nominate

Stone Soup Saturday

Over at the School Library Journal blog, they've started "Battle of the Kids Books" I've read 10 of the 16 books in contention. The brackets
I'll go ahead and give my first round picks. (in bold)
As Easy as falling off the Face of the Earth Vs. Cardturner
A Conspiracy of Kings by Turner Vs. Countdown
The Dreamer Vs. The Good the Bad and the Barbie
Hereville Vs. Keeper
The Odyessy Vs. One Crazy Summer
The Ring of Solomon Vs. How Sugar Changed the World
A Tale Dark and Grimm Vs. They Called Themselves the kkk
Trash Vs. Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Author Neesha Meminger did a guest post at YA YA YA's s that shouldn't be missed.

When I was a teen, all the books I read for fun featured white protagonists. When I think of some of my favourite books in the YA romance genre now, books like those of Sarah Dessen, Megan McCafferty, and Meg Cabot–I doubt that any of the authors were expected to create artful, powerful narratives about social issues. These books are allowed to be pure entertainment because there is a vast plethora of novels showing the full gamut of the white, heterosexual, able-bodied, middle/upper-middle class teen experience. In terms of racial representation, there are white characters in horror, fantasy, romance, historical, and whatever other genres exist on bookshelves, while teens of colour are offered a limited array of options.

Ari just announced COLOR - Coalition of Librarians and Online Readers. A project to support High School librarians

Many of us love libraries and I want to help by sending books to libraries that have been hit hard by the budget cuts. A bonus is that I would like to only send books by/about people of color for children and teenagers, both fiction and non fiction. For now I am focusing on middle schools (6th-8th) and high schools in the U.S. The ideal scenario is to send books about Asians/Black people/Latinos and Native Americans to the library, but to have the majority of the books match the ethnicity of the students.

There is still time to read Bleeding Violet by Reeves, and participate in the online

African American Read In on Feb. 2oth.

Diversity YA is a new blog started by YA author's Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo. I did a guest post for Black History Month. My favorite part - the 10 recommendations.

Currently reading The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi. Its so good. Loving It.

Online African American Read In (Updated)

On Monday, I announced an online African American Read In, I would be doing with Edi from Crazy Quilts and Ari from Reading in Color. Everyone had until Friday to head over to Ari's to vote for one of six YA novel to discussed.

We've settled on President's day weekend. The Read In will be on Sunday Feb 20th. Stay tuned for more details.

The Six
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves


Jumped by Rita Williams Garcia


Tyrell by Coe Booth


A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott


When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright


Yummy by G. Neri

61 people voted (thank you) and a book was selected by just one vote. If only 30 people participate in the Read In, I will be happy. If only 15 people seek out more then one title on this list, I will be happy. Though in an effort to increase both of those numbers, I will take a moment to do one of my favorite things, talk up great books.

Jumped by Williams Garcia - is a rhythmically beautiful story, that alternates between three high school girls; Leticia, Dominique and Trina. The author uses the less in more approach with her words. Every word and comma has a purpose. Its a well crafted and very believable story. Jumped was published in 2009 and was a National Book Award Finalist. An excerpt

Tyrell by Booth* - I read this when it first came out in 07. Its still makes me very happy when I get a chance to recommend Tyrell. I don't know what I liked more Booth's writing or Tyrell himself. Either way I am really looking forward to the sequel, Bronxwood which is scheduled to be released in September. An excerpt

A Wish After Midnight by Elliott - 15 yr old Genna loves to makes wishes in the Brooklyn Botatical Gardens, one night a midnight wish lands her back in Civil War - Brooklyn. Please don't confuse this as just another civil war story. Its the first YA novel to mention the NY Draft Riots. More importantly its about Genna, a well developed character, that I had no choice but to care about. Elliot's writing has a beautiful purpose from the very beginning. An excerpt

When the Black Girl Sings by Wright - This one I haven't read. (shocking I know) Ari gave it a 4 out 5. An excerpt

I also really liked the gospel choir aspect of the book. The imagery described. I could see (and honestly I felt like I could hear) the gospel choir, see the church, Lahni, her parents. Nicely detailed. Onyx 1 was scarily creepy (gotta read to find out who that is!) and sometimes I wanted to smack Donna or just laugh at her. This novel was sweet and just plain wonderful.

Yummy by Neri - I think its very fitting that this is one of the six. Since Ari, Edi and I did a group interview with the author about Yummy. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 All I can say about Yummy is believe the hype. Yummy is as powerful as people say it is. An excerpt

The people have voted, we will be reading Bleeding Violet by Reeves
This was one of my favorite novels last year. Its crazy and beautifully strange. This is a great excuse to read it again. I love that Bleeding Violet is so far from the pigeonholed idea of what is good YA with Black characters or in this case biracial characters by Black authors is . Reeves used her Portero key* to escape that awful box. An excerpt

We've established the What - Bleeding Violet. We hope the Who will be greater then 61. We know part of the When - Feb. We will get back to you very soon with the rest of the When and the Where. And of course the Why is we love YA literature and diversity.

According to the two books that got the must votes, Bleeding Violet and A Wish After Midnight, half the people who voted didn't get the memo; Black characters and fantasy do not mix.

I want to take a moment to thank Booth for stopping by and voting for Yummy
If your confused about this key reference, you won't be after you join us for the Read In

In Honor of Dr. King - Read In Announced

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I am announcing an African American Read In. I will be putting one together with Edi from Crazy Quilts and Ari from Reading in Color. This February will be the 22nd National African American Read In The three of us have decided to hold an online Read In discussion.

Schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens are urged to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting and coordinating Read-Ins in their communities. Hosting a Read-In can be as simple as bringing together friends to share a book, or as elaborate as arranging public readings and media presentations that feature professional African American writers.

You have until Friday Jan 21, to head on over to Ari's to vote for the book you'd like to discuss. Your choices are

Tyrell by Coe Booth
A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
Yummy by G. Neri
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
Jumped by Rita Williams Garcia
When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright

We hope you'll consider participating and spreading the word.