Win a copy of Yummy! New Crayons & Giveaway Winners

New Crayons is a meme hosted by Color Online. In this meme I share what new books I got this week. Crayons is a metaphor for multicultural literature.

The winners of A Wish After Midnight are...

Isabella (who likes pie ;) and Amanda!

The winner of Gringolandia is....

Najela!

Najela, thank you for the recommendation of Highwire Moon. I've never heard of it, but I like the premise of a mother and daughter trying to find each other after the mother was deported (obviously I don't like that the mother was deported). I will email all the winners shortly.

If you didn't win, cheer up. I have another giveaway! The awesome people at Lee and Low are giving me the chance to give away 3 copies of Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by Greg Neri. I loved that book and it's a story that you will definitely want to read.

To enter: U.S. only, being a follower is not required. Fill out THIS form. Ends August 14, 2010 11: 59 CT.

My New Crayons...

From the library

The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr

As a star basketball player in her last year of high school, Nancy Takahiro's life is about to change forever. Faced with the college recruitment process and unsure of where her skill will take her, Nancy is not prepared for meeting Raina Webber, an All-State shooting guard whose passion for basketball is matched only by her talent.

When Nancy's father and Raina's mother move in together, the girls are faced with the challenge of negotiating their already intense friendship and rivalry. As Nancy's love for Raina grows and both prepare to leave inner city neighborhood that has nurtured them, they find themselves looking toward a future that is no longer easily defined.

Set against a backdrop of racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles and infused with tenderness and passion. The Necessary Hunger explores not only the intricacies of the game of basketball, but also the very nature of the relationships young women create in the face of the odds that are stacked against them.

-I finished it and now I'm ready for basketball season :) I liked this novel. I have a few issues with it, but overall it was really good.

For Review


The Trouble With Half A Moon by Danette Vigilante



Release Date: Janurary 6, 2011



Thirteen year old Dellie lives with the guilt that her little brother’s death was her fault. Her mother cries all the time and because she wants Dellie to stay safe, she keeps her inside as much as she can. It doesn’t matter that Dellie longs to go outside to be like other girls or that there’s a boy she likes and he likes her too. All that matters to her mother is that she’s safe at home. So, Dellie has no choice but to watch the world of her housing project through her second story window. Things start to change soon after new neighbors move in on the first floor. Trouble like this has never happened in Dellie’s building before. Now there are men fighting on the stoop, gunshots echoing through the night and Corey, a hungry and abused five year old boy knocking on her door looking for something to eat. Corey reminds Dellie of her brother and even though their friendship is dangerous, she wonders if this time, she’ll be able to do what needs to be done. Will she be able to save Corey?


-Summary from author's website This book is blurbed by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich. That says it all (ok ok I also want to know if she saves Corey). Thank you Danette and Stacey!

Won



32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter



32 Candles is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn’t stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams.

Davie—an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi—is positive her life couldn’t be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she’s pretty sure she’s ugly. Just when she’s resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life—Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn’t imitate art. Tormented endlessly in school with the nickname "Monkey Night," and hopelessly in unrequited love with a handsome football player, James Farrell, Davie finds that it is bittersweet to dream of Molly Ringwald endings. When a cruel school prank goes too far, Davie leaves the life she knows and reinvents herself in the glittery world of Hollywood—as a beautiful and successful lounge singer in a swanky nightclub.

Davie is finally a million miles from where she started—until she bumps into her former obsession, James Farrell. To Davie’s astonishment, James doesn’t recognize her, and she can’t bring herself to end the fantasy. She lets him fall as deeply in love with her as she once was with him. But is life ever that simple? Just as they’re about to ride off into the sunset, the past comes back with a vengeance, threatening to crush Davie’s dreams—and break her heart again.

-I'm going to write a mini review of this book but it will not do it justice. I will say this: If you read only one adult fiction book this summer, make it 32 Candles. It is that good. I am indebted to Reads4Pleasure, Doret and Jeanette Nicole for constantly talking about how amazing this book is. I read it in one sitting (thus I am behind in reading, reviews and household duties). Won from Jeanette at Today's Book On the Train, thank you x infinity!




Raven Summer by David Almond

Liam and his friend Max are playing in their neighborhood when the call of a bird leads them out into a field beyond their town. There, they find a baby lying alone atop a pile of stones—with a note pinned to her clothing. Mystified, Liam brings the baby home to his parents. They agree to take her in, but police searches turn up no sign of the baby’s parents. Finally they must surrender the baby to a foster family, who name her Allison. Visiting her in Northumberland, Liam meets Oliver, a foster son from Liberia who claims to be a refugee from the war there, and Crystal, a foster daughter. When Liam’s parents decide to adopt Allison, Crystal and Oliver are invited to her christening. There, Oliver tells Liam about how he will be slaughtered if he is sent back to Liberia. The next time Liam sees Crystal, it is when she and Oliver have run away from their foster homes, desperate to keep Oliver from being sent back to Liberia. In a cave where the two are hiding, Liam learns the truth behind Oliver’s dark past—and is forced to ponder what all children are capable of.

-Oh dear what is Oliver's dark past? Honestly when I think of Liberia, I think child soldiers (I'm really not sure why), so that's my guess. Won at GLBT Reading Challenge. Thank you Amanda!

From the UK Book Fairy! Thank you so much =D

Dead Gorgeous by Malorie Blackman

Moving to the country because her parents want to run a dilapidated old hotel is not 11-year-old Nova's idea of fun. Her olders sister hasn't got time for her and her younger twin brothers just wind her up. The hotel guests are a peculiar bunch and life is tough for the whole family. But meeting the hotel's resident ghost makes it a bit more bearable for Nova - especially as he's a gorgeous teenage boy, with problems of his own to sort out!

-I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't love Naughts & Crosses and my sister did, but she said this book was weird (oftentimes due to how many books I have to read, I give her some to read first). But we'll see. I like that the cover prominently displays a Black girl.

The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire, edited by Trisha Telep.

There’s an allure to vampire tales that have seduced readers for generations. From Bram Stoker to Stephanie Meyer and beyond, vampire stories are here to stay. For those fresh-blooded fans of paranormal romance or for those whose hunt and hunger never dies, these stories have what readers want!

This collection of original tales comes from some of the hottest, most popular, and best-selling YA writers, including:
• Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tithe)
• Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty)
• Melissa De La Cruz (Blue Blood)
• Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)
• Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires)
• Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie (Wicked)
• Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof, Queen of Cool)
• Kelley Armstrong (Women of Otherworld)
• Maria V. Snyder
• Sarah Rees Brennan
• Lili St. Crow
• Karen Mahoney
• Dina James

They will make everyone a sucker for eternal kisses.

-I'm not sure if I will review this book here. Probably not but I've been wanting to read it for awhile. It's my first anthology. I love Karen Mahoney, Sarah Rees Brennan is hilariously insightful (I follow her on Twitter and I've read some of her blog posts), I've read two of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments books (really really liked them) and I've read two of Libba Bray's Gemma trilogy. These facts alone made me want to read it but I've heard good things about all the authors included, so it should be a great book.

Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda

US Release Date: Jan. 26, 2011

Billi's back, and it seems like the Unholy just can't take a hint.

HUGE SPOILER: Highlight to read

Still reeling from the death of her best friend, Kay, Billi's thrust back into action when the Templars are called to investigate werewolf activity. And these werewolves are like nothing Bilil's seen before.

They call themselves the Polenitsy - Man Killers. The ancient warrior women of Eastern Europe, supposedly wiped out centuries ago. But now they're out of hiding and on the hunt for a Spring Child -- an Oracle powerful enough to blow the volcano at Yellowstone -- precipitating a Fimbulwinter that will wipe out humankind for good.

The Templars follow the stolen Spring Child to Russia, and the only people there who can help are the Bogatyrs, a group of knights who may have gone to the dark side. To reclaim the Spring Child and save the world, Billi needs to earn the trust of Ivan Romanov, an arrogant young Bogatyr whose suspicious of people in general, and of Billi in particular.

-I almost squealed when I saw this. We all know I LOVED Devil's Kiss and I was sure that I would have to order the sequel from the UK because I simply couldn't wait. It' set in Russia. It includes Baba Yaga. Billi is back. What's not to like? And yet I haven't opened it yet. I will soon though (I think part of it has to do with guilt over all the books I have yet to read that will be released sooner than this one).

Where I Belong by Gillian Cross

There are guns and bandits in this story. And supermodels. And there's drought and starvation too. Are you wondering how they can all come together? Well, that's how life is these days. Things don't happen neatly, in separate little places. We're all caught by the great spider's web of media that spans the world. That's where this story is set. The world. It's the story of Abdi and Khadija and Freya (that's me) and what happened to us because of Somalia . . .

-*drools over pretty cover* *stares at summary* repeat before/during/after reading.

Hello Mum by Bernardine Evaristo

It’s a hot summer afternoon. Tension is in the air. A gang of youths on bikes gathers outside a chip shop. A teenage boy is stabbed and left bleeding on the street. The boy’s mother wonders how this could have happened to her son. She is full of questions, but when the answers lie so close to home, are they really what she wants to hear?

-Ooo the drama! I wonder if perspective on gang violence is any different in England? I imagine the fights are over the same thing. You may have noticed that many of these books are ones that I featured in my PoC Across the Pond post. Hopefully I recommended good books ;)

What books did you get this week? Any books by/about PoC? Do tell!