Y’all know that I cannot read horror books; my imagination is just too good and needs no super-terrifying prompts.
I can take on scary tales in measured doses and do love mysteries, of course..
So as we count down the days till Hallowe’en, check out BooksYALove favorites to get you ghoul and ready for some frights! Today’ pair, future based on past inequities and past predicting the future: Click for today’s titles
Aspens at Grand Mesa, Colorado, Sept. 2014
Sometimes you just need to get away from it all, right?
But for this avid reader and intrepid book reviewer, the “stepping away for a little while” got a bit lengthier than planned.
A combination of factors is usually the culprit – simple burnout, outside distractions, and so forth.
But this time around, it’s been harder than normal to get back in the book recommending groove despite my best intentions.
Y’all know that I try hard to choose books outside the big bestsellers and copycat stuff for BooksYALove. But sometimes, things just don’t go the way I expect.
Like when… a book gets noticed by the big wide world before I can craft just the right no-spoilers booktalk to post = Revolution by Deborah Wiles, a compelling novel about young people in Jim Crow days during the summer of Voting Rights activists coming to Mississippi.
Darned if those National Book Award folks wouldn’t wait till I’d finished writing my recommendation before they announced it as a 2014 finalist! So I won’t write here about Revolution, but will urge you to read it along with Deborah’s post on NerdyBookClub talking about how some vital things have hardly changed in Greenwood since that pivotal summer of 1964. (Luckily, I already raved here about John Corey Whaley’s Noggin which is also a finalist)
Like when… books that sounded so good, so interesting, and so worth reading turn out to be flops. I have very wide-ranging reading tastes and am very selective about requesting review copies, so I can almost always think of someone I know who would love such-and-such book (not every book is for every reader, of course).
But a few titles in a row lately have just been flat-out duds, due to writing that needed stronger editing (no, that girl isn’t poignantly introspective; she’s a whiner) or pop references which are already dated. If I knew who’d written the jacket-flap copy on some others, I’d give them a piece of my mind as the book in my hands bore no resemblance to their description of plot, motivation, etc. Yep, I finally have some DidNotFinish titles, despite my best efforts to choose ones worth our time to read.
Like when… I just can’t turn the page because I know that a character I’ve become emotionally invested in is about to do something incredibly stupid – it’s like watching a train wreck about to happen. A couple of books are waiting on me to be ready for the inevitable outcome – great books, but I’m not yet ready to uncover my eyes and let those characters go and live with their bad decisions. I will, and y’all will get the recommendations of these books, but not right this minute.
Like when… I couldn’t get to KidLitCon blogger conference this year, so I missed my current and new Kidlitosphere friends, all the great discussions about Diversity in YAlit and Kidlit, and the refreshed attitude toward blogging that this gathering always gives me.
Like when… we really are on vacation – watching the aspens turn golden or discovering an orchard stand with heirloom apple varieties is more important than jumping into someone’s fictional world.
So… a little breather, some homemade apple pie, some visits with family and I’ll be back. My To-Be-Reviewed pile has some dandy books which will be published in winter and spring, and you won’t want to miss them!
**kmm
Gotta love Word Cloud Day for Blogathon!
This year I tried a new word cloud maker from Smashing Apps’ list of “Nine Excellent (Yet Free) Online Word Cloud Generators“: WordItOut (try it here).
Just one week of Blogathon 2014 to go!
**kmm
bookflow by ee – (c) openclipart.org
Flames, raised swords, a kiss,
Snow, spaceships, secrets, revolt –
pass me that book, please!
So many different elements and themes in upcoming BooksYALove recommendations, but I could only fit this many into a single poem.
Happy haiku day for Blogathon 2014!
**kmm
bookcase by Machovka @ Openclipart.org
Imagine going to the grocery store and finding absolutely nothing that fits your nutritional needs or suits your tastebuds…
That’s what faces kids and young people who aren’t white, straight, and middle class when they search the shelves of their library, classroom, and bookstore.
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center studied diversity in US children’s books recently, noting that fewer than 225 books of the 3,200 children’s books received by the CCBC in 2013 were written or illustrated by persons who were African/African-American, American Indian, Asian Pacific/Asian Pacific American, or Latino; just over 200 of these 3,200 books contained important characters from any of these four heritage groups. (Note: the US population is not 93% white).
And while stories based on non-traditional families and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transexual/questioning teens are becoming more common, just try finding the titles on The Rainbow Project Book List in a conservative community. (Note: people of all orientations and families of all types live everywhere)
When I was growing up, I never found books reflecting our Air Force family’s many moves; most military brats and other third culture kids will tell you the same. And how could “lived here my whole life” folks understand what our “make friends quick and be ready to leave any moment” lifestyle was like in those days before cheap long-distance calls and email?
Even if you are white or straight or middle class, ask yourself – does anyone want to read the same story in a different binding, over and over again? Isn’t exploring “being someone else” a big reason that we read anyway? Would people travel across the nation or around the world if they just wanted to see themselves duplicated in those surrounding them?
Diverse books open all of the world to us – other neighborhoods, other traditions, other worries and joys and everyday everything. I hope you’ve seen #weneeddiversebooks trending on Twitter lately and can tweet more reasons, adding to this important conversation.
This weekend, I’m doing the 48 Hour Book Challenge, reading diverse books and writing about them for 48 hours – you’ll see many of these books in future BooksYALove recommendations.
What books featuring diverse characters, families, and cultures have you enjoyed lately? Share in the comments, please!
**kmm
Blogathon HQ banner courtesy of
Michelle Rafter of Wordcount
Howdy, book fans and Blogathonners!
If you’re new to the BooksYALove party, please note that I love young adult books, love connecting the right book to the its perfect reader, and never (ever) give away the ending!
On June 6-8, I’ll be participating in Mother Reader’s 9th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge, this year celebrating Diversity in Kids’ Books by reading and writing about young adult and middle grade books with characters of diverse race, cultural heritage, and family. My 48 hours will include writing about some of the books I’m reading that weekend for future BooksYALove posts – so many good books with diverse casts, but so many more needed. #weneeddiversebooks for all ages
I’m also doing a year-long challenge hosted by Bookish blog, trying to get my TBR shelf under control.
For most folks, TBR signifies “to-be-read” books, but for me and other bloggers, it means “to be reviewed” – in other words, all those great books from last year (or earlier) that we still haven’t talked about, even though we liked them a lot. The siren song of the newest book is so compelling, you know.
I’ve recommended 30 books with pre-2014 publication dates so far (like these), but added none to that list in May (I was resting between April AtoZ Blog Challenge and June Blogathon) – I will introduce a few more in June, for sure.
Of course, I’m looking forward to our traditional Blogathon features like Haiku Day and Word Cloud Day, as well as alerting y’all to each summer week’s free complete audiobooks available for download through the SYNC Audiobook program (Thursday-Wednesday).
Please subscribe to email updates or follow BooksYALove using the links in the right sidebar.
Happy June! Happy reading!
**kmm
Blogathon banner (c) Michelle Rafter/Wordcount
It’s nearly time for my favorite blogging event of the year – Blogathon!
This free exercise to build up our blogging muscles – one post a day, every day in June – was founded by Michelle Rafter of WordCount and is being hosted this year jointly by Michelle and Freelance Success.
Sign up here by the end of May to join the blog roll = lots of new blogs for you to read and follow! lots of new readers for your blog!
Then Like the 2014 Freelance Success/WordCount Blogathon page on Facebook where we’ll share links to our daily posts, find inspiration and guest bloggers, and get tips for theme day posts (like these “25 Ideas for Daily Blog Posts” by Michelle). We’ll also tweet links to our daily posts on Twitter with the hashtag #blog2014.
And there are prizes! To qualify for the prize drawing, you must be registered for Blogathon2014 and must post on your blog every day in June. Since there are bloggers covering many subjects, the prizes are varied as well; I donated a couple of boxes of YA and middle-grade books.
So c’mon and join the fun! You don’t have to write a huge article every day – Haiku Day and Word Cloud Day are two much-loved Blogathon staples which help us get to our 30-in-3o goal.
See you at #blog2014! Lots of great books ahead on BooksYALove in June, too.
**kmm
Hooray and three cheers!
Celebrate! (c)OCAL
1. It’s BooksYALove’s fourth birthday!
2. I successfully completed all 26 days of the AtoZ April Blog Challenge (as entry #785). I didn’t have time to visit many AtoZ bloggers, didn’t get many comments or new followers (all the reasons we usually do blog challenges), but I did post on-time every day according to the alphabet and recommended 25 books, which is why I forced myself to do AtoZ during such a busy time for me.
3. For the TBR2014 Challenge (I’m #30 on list), I’m now up to 30 titles toward my goal of recommending 50+ books with 2013 (or older) copyright dates during this year!
Here are April’s 20 additions to my TBR2013 list – just click on the title to get my no-spoiler review in a new window:
All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens – India’s independence fight and a young British lady’s heart
Americus – graphic novel about freedom to read, book-banning, and bullies
The Apprentices (Apothecary, book 2) – friends battle Cold War peril to save the world
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – beautiful boy, terrible talent, death by the shore
Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself
The Butterfly Sister – literary mystery as college tragedy repeats itself?
Control – in 2051 un-United States, genetic diversity is illegal and profitable
Dead Ends – missing dads, finding friends as unlikely allies
Forget Me Not – dead to classmates through social media; paranormal limbo
Hypnotize Me (book 1 of The Hypnotists) – a powerful gift, wrong hands grasping for him
Little Fish: a Memoir From a Different Kind of Year – graphic novel of small town graduate moving to big city college
Mountain Dog – novel-in-verse of lonely boy, rescue dog in training, hope for safety
Riese: Kingdom Falling – princess faces war and treachery
Screwed – pregnant, disowned, rescued, redeemed
When You Were Here – searching in Tokyo to answer California questions
Where Stars Still Shine – kidnapped by mom as tot, returned to family as teen
The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots
Will in Scarlet – young Robin Hood legend begins
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope – first of trilogy, forsooth!
A Wounded Name: A Tragedy – Hamlet at boarding school, from Ophelia’s perspective
If a blog challenge sounds like fun to you, join me in the WordCount Blogathon in June – a very supportive community of bloggers, lots of suggestions for posts, connections to find/become a guest blogger, and a chance to “build up your blogging muscles” by posting all 30 days of June. Registration opens in mid-May.
Taking a breather from daily postings in May, but still planning to recommend a few books every week,
**kmm
(clipart of birthday cake with 4 candles courtesy of OCAL on clker.com: http://www.clker.com/clipart-birthday-cake-four-candles.html)
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Always know where you’re going.”
“Dress appropriately.”
No!
Here are 35 “life rules” to question, with the help of great YA authors from Lisa Schroeder (The Day Before – my review here) to Francisco X. Stork (The Last Summer of the Death Warriors – my review here) sharing their personal stories in essays calling us to Break These Rules.
If your favorite local library or independent bookstore doesn’t have Break These Rules on the shelf, ask them to get it – advice from these 35 noted YA authors is priceless!
**kmm
Book info: Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself / edited by Luke Reynolds. Chicago Review Press, 2013. [editor’s blog] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Shelf Awareness.
My book talk: Trying to follow the many “life rules” stated by parents and society can get in the way of living, so 35 young adult authors share ways to Break These Rules to let yourself speak up, stand out, and be yourself.
Sara Zarr says that “Never talk about religion” can keep us out of “the full range of cultural conversation about faith, which has shaped world history for millenia” (pg. 57), while Lisa Schroeder notes that family advice to “Follow the money, not your heart” for your profession reflects their worries about you taking chances.
Society may say “Pretend the dark stuff isn’t true” (Carol Lynch Williams), “Be normal” (Jen Neilsen), and “Always know where you’re going” (Brian Yansky), but bowing to the demands “Go to college after high school” (Chris Barton), “Don’t daydream” (Wendy Mass) or “Always sit in your assigned seat” (Lyn Miller-Lachman) can stifle your authentic self.
Thinking about which life rules to keep or to break is why this book was created. As editor Luke Reynolds puts it: “Here are 35 rules that you can start breaking right now in order to discover how different from everyone else you can be. And, you might just discover how good it feels to be exactly like you.” (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
What happens when 7,200 librarians, authors, publishers, and library supporters get together?
It’s book heaven!
This year’s Texas Library Association conference in San Antonio has been filled with discussions about books, authors, reading, writing, and information in our lives.
I listened to Rae Carson and Melissa de la Cruz share what they must have in order to write their bestsellers and Deb Caletti and Elizabeth Eulberg talk about writing strong characters.
Tom Angleberger taught 200+ Nerdy Book Club members how to fold an emergency Origami Yoda and dramatically read aloud the instant haikus written by folks in this huge Twitter community which celebrates reading and books (@NerdyBookClub).
We celebrated 5 years of the TLA Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List, which includes several BooksYALove faves on the 2014 list (click link for my no-spoiler review of the title) like Will & Whit,
Peanut,
Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant,
Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry,
Boxers and Saints,
Little Fish, and
Relish.
And I visited publishers large and small, seeking out the underappreciated gems in their recent and upcoming books. Lugging bags of advance reader copies back to your hotel is great exercise, you know!
The book world is just amazing! Get ready for some phenomenal reads in the months ahead!
**kmm