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.

Stone Soup Saturday

Artist Rafeal Lopez created U.S. postal stamps celebrating Latin American Music Legends
I am passionate about Latin music as it has fueled my work for decades. As a child growing up in Mexico City I was lucky to study guitar and South American instruments like the quena and cuatro with Folklorista Gerardo Tamez. My uncle had a musical radio program at UNAM that introduced folk and protest music from Latin America. I grew up in a household where my architect parents constantly played instruments and sang music. We were always dancing and I can't bring myself to paint without music.

What an honor it is for me to tell you more about these extraordinary legends and the process of creating stamps to celebrate their contributions. I'm proud of Latin music because it is essential in communicating the spirit of our culture. I have to agree that Latinos are born with rhythm. These five dynamic individuals continue to inspire future generations of musicians. I hoped to paint portraits that would resonate for their families and fans. I felt compelled to give it all I had as an artist to communicate the essence of these legends, their spirit, style and sound.

The stamps will be available in February. Also coming out next month is Samantha R. Vamos newest picture book The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illus. by Rafael Lopez

In Celebration of African American History Month, RIF is having a live broadcast of Moon Over Star by Diana Hutts Aston illus. by Jerry Pinkney on February 8th

Join RIF for the next RIF LIVE broadcast at 1:30 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, February 8, in celebration of African American History Month. Leland Melvin, NASA’s Associate Administrator of Education and a former astronaut, will share his experiences traveling in space and read aloud The Moon Over Star.

The online broadcast will happen in real time on the RIF LIVE page so you will be able to ask questions via a chat feature or by email.

Over at The Brown Bookshelf they have announced the authors and illustrators to be featured for the 4th annual 28days later campaign

YA author Debbie Riguad shares an aunt's joke as she remembers the one year anniversary of the major earthquake that hit Haiti.

This new year marks the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that rattled our family hometown of Port-au-Prince to its core. So on January 1st as I was issued Evelyne’s customary “A pye nou ye” greeting, I heard the echo of something entirely different. To me, the phrase echoed of Haiti’s slow recovery process. Oftentimes, it seems that Recovery is traveling “on foot” up a steep and slippery hill. The people in the affected areas in and around the captiol seem like weary travelers stripped down to their slowest mode of transportation—walking.

Stone Soup Saturday

I had no idea what to title this post since its a little of everything. I thought Stone Soup Saturday had a nice ring to it.

All the children's and young adult awards were given out on Monday. Two of the winners Jordan Sonnenblick and Eric Velasquez were at author James Preller's recently launched site Fathersread.com

If you have a moment stop by the Purple Ladybugs Reading Club and say hello to Ms. S and the Ladybugs

Also checkout the newly launched Diversity in YA blog. It was started by YA author Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon.

Primary Source, will have an online live chat about Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins on January 19th.

Primary Source is proud to announce a unique global reading opportunity. Responding to requests from educators, Primary Source will facilitate a FREE worldwide book discussion, or "Global Read," featuring an online discussion forum followed by a "live" web-based session. You are invited to join us for a discussion of the young adult novel, Bamboo People, by Mitali Perkins — a compelling coming-of-age story about child soldiers in modern Burma. The online discussion forum will begin on Wednesday, January 12th. Then join the author for a live chat on January 19th


Even if you can't do the online chat, I still highly recommend Bamboo People. It was named one of the top ten fiction titles for Young Adults. I am loving the overall diversity within the top ten. Five of the ten feature a diverse cast of characters.

This week, I skipped my on sale now, new releases on Tuesday, since I posted my list 2011 titles I am looking forward to on Sunday. The list was long and a lot to take in, so I decided to forgo the on sale now feature for one week.

I recently finished I Beat the Odds by Micheal Oher. Oher is the football player featured in Micheal Lewis, The Blindside. The book will be released Feb. 8 and I plan on reviewing it closer to the release date. For now I'll say I really liked it. I thought, I Beat the Odds would have teen crossover appeak, and it does. I am glad that Oher got a chance to tell his story.

Oher plays for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens have a playoff game against the Steelers today. I really hope the Ravens win because Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers QB makes me want to spit. Roethlisberger has never been charged with anything, but he was suspended for six games without pay. For a big name QB to get suspended that long without pay says a lot. So Go Ravens.

The adult book, I am reading right now is Snowman by Jo Nesbo. I've been meaning to read Nesbo, since I like Swedish mystery authors. Not Larsson. I am not a fan of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I like Mankell and Wahloo and Sjowell . So far Snowman is very good.