My 1 Year Blogoversary!

Today is my one year blogaversary! I didn't think I would make it (or ever reach more than 20 followers!) but I'm glad I proved myself wrong :) Also throughout this post I will alternate with blogoversary (which reminds me of Blago. If you live in Illinois you know what I'm talking about. *shudder*) and blogaversary.

I don't want to get ridiculously sappy but just know that your support and encouragement means the world to me. It really does. When I get the emails with comments on my posts or just an email saying that what I posted left an impact on someone or that I am 'awesome' (which I completely disagree with), tears have been known to well up in my eyes. It's just so mind boggling to me that people are actually reading what I have to say and they think it's GOOD. I always do my best, but I always worry that my best isn't good enough. You can read a thank you post I did that gives a shout out to those who have been with me from the beginning along with new friends I've met along the way. I wish I could meet all my readers/bloggers/followers, etc. in the real world.

If you want to learn more about me, read this interview I did with Edi at Crazy Quilts. Thank you for the interview Edi!

Some firsts

My first blog post/review of My Life As A Rhombus by Varian Johnson (I'm cringing as I link to this but it's only fair, feel free to laugh at the post but then you need to reassure me that I've gotten better, ok? haha)

My first blog name: young, black, a reader? Yup it was. I decided to change the name to be more inclusive. However I never changed the URL because I didn't want to be too much of a pain to the few followers I had at the time.

My first book sent to me for review: A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliot, this book forever opened up the door to wonderful historical fiction. It also set the bar for self published book because it's fantastic. No self published book that I have read since has lived up to it, but I accept them because of AWAM. When I started my blog, I didn't know that many bloggers didn't accept self published books. I now understand why they wouldn't but since I want to promote books by/about POC, I do accept them (although I need to be more selective).

My first interview: Zetta Elliott (surprise, surprise. She's such a lovely person)

My first autographed book (it's a tie because I can't remember for sure): Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon and Gringolandia by Lyn Miller Lachmann

My first discussion post: The Lack of People of Color in Historical Fiction (catchy title eh?)

My first guest post: At Justine Larbalestier's blog. That guest post was the result in my gaining many many followers.

My first ARC: I don't remember. *sigh* I think it was 8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich because she sent me two copies for a contest about six months before the book came out.

My first Male Monday post: Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (I think I actually started that feature just to review the book, lol. But I'm so glad I've kept up with it).

My first review that I sent to the author: Mare's War by Tanita Davis. There is a funny story behind this. I really loved Mare's War and I wanted to share my review so I visited Tanita's blog after I emailed her my review. Her blog has changed now but at the time she had a blogroll of children's literature blogs. One that caught my eye was Color Online and theHappyNappyBookseller. I checked them both out, commented and the rest is history. Seriously. Tanita, susan and Doret replied to my comments and immediately visited my blog and gave me much needed advice. They spread the word which is how I met Edi and Colleen. They were my earliest supporters (along with Zetta, Jill and Shveta) and Reading in Color would not be what it is today were it not for them.

When I look back at my earliest reviews, I cringe. Therefore I've decided to re-review some of them. I'm not going to give them new ratings, but I do want to write more articulate reviews. Also for some of my earliest reviewed books, I didn't feature an Incredible Quote (IQ) and I want to fix that. They will be published throughout July. I will be re-reviewing My Life As A Rhombus, Whale Talk, A Wish After Midnight, Mare's War, Silver Phoenix and Gringolandia (not in that particular order). I'm partially doing this as an excuse to re-read them =) Through blogging I've learned a little more about racism, how the publishing industry works, how to write reviews (positive and negative) and the joy that comes from connecting with fellow book lovers. The world of book blogging is an amazing community and I'm so pleased to be a part of it.

I appreciate all the well wishes on behalf of my blogaversary. The very best thing you could do for me (not that you have to) that means more than simply 'happy blogoversary' would be for you to write a letter/email to Borders and/or Barnes and Noble and to buy a book about a POC. Let me know if you do.

I will also have a giveaway each week (unfortunately not all of them will be international). This week's giveaway is what I've dubbed the Whitewashing Pack. Heehee. I'm giving away a copy of Liar, Magic Under Glass and Silver Phoenix to three winners. One winner wins one book. Cindy Pon has graciously donated a Silver Phoenix bookmark and one of her own brush art cards (they are so gorgeous) of the winners choice to go with a copy of Silver Phoenix.

To Enter: FILL OUT THIS FORM

Open internationally, you MUST be a follower.

Ends: July 10, 2010

To all those in America, have a great Independence Day!

To all of you who read my blog, leave comments, email me and spread the word about my projects/posts,THANK YOU

To all of you who have donated books for me to give away in order to get more books by/about POC into the hands of more readers, THANK YOU.

To all of you who have sent me books either by emailing/commenting with recommendations or actually sending me books. THANK YOU.

To all of you who added me to your blogroll, THANK YOU.

Most importatnly, to all who Read in Color, THANK YOU so so much. As cliche as it sounds, you guys are making a difference.

PS Check out this site Bimbambim (awesome name!) which is for swapping books. It looks very easy to use and I'm thinking of trying it because I need more room so some books are going to have to go =/

PPSS For New Crayons this week I got The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (thank you Christina and Dominique!), Between Sisters by Adwoa Badoe, Payback by Rosemary Hayes (both from Lyn, thank you!) and Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy Duburke (ARC, thank you Lee & Low Books!). I will share more about these books next week since this post is already really long.

PPPSSS (last one, promise!) I did a guest post at Genre Reviews on LiveJournal. It's rather lengthy but I'd love to hear what you think. It's about what consumers, agents and writers can do to promote diversity in literature.

Los Tres Cochinitos (Happy Father's Day)

*Due to the fact that I'm out of town, I have no idea what new books I got this week. Plus, I'm my father's daughter and I wanted to write something about him and where I got my love of reading from :)

I have many beloved books from my childhood but the book that will forever be near and dear to my heart is Los Tres Cochinitos. When I was little, we owned a few books that were bilingual or completely in Spanish. Los Tres Cochinitos (written by Sally Bell, illustrated by Ellen Dolce and translated by Ivan Vazquez Rodriguez) is the Spanish translation of the Three Little Pigs.

It's often said that if parents read to their children, it helps instill a love of reading in them. I am proof that this statement is true, both my parents read to me and I am a bona fide bookworm. They read me everything from Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now, to The Napping House to fairytales.

My most vivid childhood reading memories center around my father reading to me in his dramatic voices; he would really get into reading the story. With Los Tres Cochinitos he would growl and deepen his voice to be El Lobo (the wolf) and when El Lobo came to knock hard on the door ("cochinito, cochinito, dejame entrar"), my father would bang on the back of the book (startling me every time). He would make his voice high-pitched for the pigs and he would blow air on us to demonstrate El Lobo huffing and puffing. I can still hear him shouting "And then he BLEW the house down" (he usually had to translate the book for us; to this day I don't remember much of the Spanish used in the book).

It's funny, I can't remember learning to read and I vaguely remember books I read in grade school, but I always remember Los Tres Cochinitos. I firmly believe that if it was not for my father's dramatic flair, I wouldn't have started reading as early as I did (I was an early and voracious reader, starting in the first grade with Beverly Cleary). My father's storytelling skills made the books even more interesting. As a result, I wanted to be able to read them myself and impress him with my own reading skills.

To me, Los Tres Cochinitos symbolizes more than just the story of the Three Little Pigs; it represents my father, my love of reading and my love for him. I can look at that book or just hear those words and fondly remember my father acting out the story through his voices and movements. However looking at the book also makes me sad. I don't have many memories of either of my parents reading on their own. My mother squeezes in reading time, but my father rarely reads books. This saddens me because they both love to read and they instilled this love in us, but it's a love that they can't act on because they are too busy. One of the sacrifices of having kids resulted in them buying and reading fewer books. I've also taken over many of the bookshelves in the house, regelating my parents' books to a few shelves. I am going to work on cleaning out our bookshelves to give them more space and read aloud to my younger brother. My hope is that this will repay them, in some small way.

Papi (if you're reading this), thank you not only for giving me more bookshelf space but also for buying me books when I was little. Thank you for reading to me and for entertaining me. Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made without complaint. You mean the world to me and this blog would not be here without you; your influence can be seen in many of my more serious posts. You have always urged me to not only speak my mind, but be able to back up my ideas. You always talked candidly to me about issues of race, literature and the world, and the result is (hopefully) a girl well on her way to being a well-rounded young woman.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers! Feliz Dia de los Padres, Papi!

YA Community Thanksgiving

Adele over at the Persnickety Snark has proclaimed April 20 YA Community Thanksgiving Day. So I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never! This is a day in which we readers share what we are thankful for in the YA community.

I love the YA community. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, why I love the YA community so much and there are so many reasons. In no particular order I love and am immensely grateful for;

1. Being able to be myself. I don't get to discuss books with my friends. They don't like to read, or if they do, they hide it. Which is ok most of the time, because we always have a ton of other stuff to talk about. But I love to read and sometimes I want to be able to chat with my friends about the latest YA book, or even an old classic. Getting a Google Account that allows me to comment on blogs (and eventually starting a blog), gives me the opportunity to leave comments on posts about my favorite books, my least favorite books, books I want to add to my tbr pile, etc. I love seeing how into books people can get; choosing teams, casting characters from the book into a movie and so much more. I've always felt that I'm not being completely true to myself or my friends by not telling them that I love to read (I just don't want to be called oreo anymore. But that's another post for another day) and the YA blogging community allows me to freely express myself. There's nothing better than passionately defending a book you love, recommending a book that is relatively unknown but you think it's amazing (and then someone picks it up based on your recommendation and they love it too) and discussing books you've read with other people.

2. (As an extension of #1), I especially enjoy being able to discuss books and book-related issues and events with people my own age or a little older. Maggie, Ah Yuan, Angel/ninefly, Steph and Kristi make up the core of this group. I know that I can email them to discuss a book, to vent (as a teenager I feel slightly immature when I vent to my older blogging buddies, haha) and if necessary, ask for some advice about issues that we teenagers go through. Also, while some of my older blogging friends may not have liked a certain book, they may have liked it and can provide me with a different perspective on it.

3. I have mentors (who I think of as blogging/reading godmothers and Book Fairies). Colleen, Doret, Lyn, Heather, Jill, Justine, Kaz, Neesha, Nathalie, Olugbemisola, susan, Vasilly and Zetta are the people I constantly turn to for advice and wisdom. They counsel, console and give me great ideas. They are also extremely well-read and if I ever have a question about a book (is it good? Does it have any POC in it?), chances are they will know the answer. They also help me out technologically. When I can't figure out how to fix something on my blog, they usually know the answer. Besides technology and books, they also offer me life advice. I am so grateful to them, especially as I prepare for my junior year and beginning the college process *gulp*, I know their insights are (and will be) invaluable.

(#s 2 & 3 are usually the people you will see the most emails from in my inbox or I talk to them on Twitter a lot. lol).

4. It's international, baby! I get recommendations about books published not only in the U.S., but in Canada, Australia, Japan and the UK. I also love seeing what's being read in other countries. Lauren (England), Kaz (England), Ah Yuan (Canada), and Justine (Australia) always have recommendations of books that I would not have heard of in the U.S.

5. The Authors. I love that I'm able to 'talk' to an author in the comments on their blog or on Twitter. I enjoy reading their blog posts about their WiPs, books they've recently read and loved and whatever else pops into their heads. I think YA authors are the sweetest and friendliest (and a little odd. Kidding!) of authors. I'm so grateful for the Internet giving us the opportunity to directly communicate with each other. Also, I'm thrilled to be able to read the works of all the aspiring writers. You guys are really talented and I can't wait to read all your books! Especially the people who leave me comments telling me that while they may not be a POC, they are writing a character who is a POC and they have done their homework. This means so much to me.

6. My Followers, because you Read in Color and want to expand your reading horizons and that's awesome! You guys are enthusiastic about the books I get each week, always eager to try the ones that I love, patient when I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth and always ready with recommendations.

7. Free Books. I love giving books away, especially if I loved them. Being able to pass on a book you love, to another book-lover is a wonderful feeling. And hey, I love seeing if I won a book or two :) Or when a blogger sees that I REALLY want a book and they kindly send me their own copy (which makes me feels super guilty, so don't do that!)

8. I'm a better person. The advice I get, learning how to really utilize technology, improving my writing skills (being able to better express myself through writing), reading people's various opinions on different topics which provides food for thought and reading a book that leaves an impact on me, these things are helping to make me a better person.

I have a lot more reasons, but I have homework and exams to focus on so I'll stop now.

THANK YOU READERS!

New Crayons is hosted by susan at Color Online. In this meme, I share what new book(s) I got this week. Crayons is a good metaphor for multicultural lit :)

Also, I'm currently looking for some recommendations of YA books by UK authors that have POC. I don't care if the author's not a POC, but the main character or important secondary character should be. I know of Love, Shelley, Noughts & Crosses (trilogy), Growing Yams in London (series) and the Bindi Babes (series). Suggestions?


Stringz by Michael Wenberg

Life hasn t been easy for Jace Adams, a mixed-race teen whose mom moves them from one place to another so often that sometimes he's been in four schools in a single year. To cope with all that instability, Jace has vowed to never let himself get attached to anyone or anything--other than his beloved cello. But when his mom takes them to Seattle, where they're living with tough, sassy Aunt Bernice, Jace wonders if this time things might really change. Because money is tight, Jace plays his cello on the street in downtown Seattle, and one evening, someone throws a folded $100 bill with a business card attached into Jace s open cello case while he's serenading. That card changes everything; it's from a famous cello instructor who offers to take him on, giving Jace a shot at winning a large cash prize. Will he make the grade?

-Sent to me from WestSide books. It's good so far. I like how it's about a black guy who plays cello and surfs. It's different.

As always, summary from Amazon.com

BBAW Nominations, BBAW Meme & No New Crayons

Yet another week of no new crayons (but I did get all 3 Gallagher Girl series books that I won in a contest from Cecilia!)

I just wanted to thank everyone and anyone who nominated me for BBAW Week.
I got nominated for

1. Best YA Blog-First reaction: Mouth open in shock. Too cool. There are so many great YA blogs out there, just the fact that I got nominated is amazing. I'm honored to even be in the same category as some other really great YA blogs.

2. Best Cultural Review-First Reaction: Wow. I think I do decent cultural reviews, but not the best. I'm so pleased to be nominated and I like how BBAW has this category this year.

3. Best New Blog-First reaction: I'm really new. My blog is a baby still, about to be two months old! I can't believe people think my blog is doing such a good job to be nominated. I always thought of to be nominated in this category too.

Congrats to everyone who got nominated! Good luck :)

Now for a BBAW Meme

1) What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?
My answer is pretty similar to all other new bloggers out there. Meeting so many people via cyberspace! I've talked to authors, fellow bloggers and fellow book lovers. If you had asked me last year or even six months ago if I planned on starting a blog, I would have laughed and said no. Laughed because I didn't think I had the talent or skill to start one. Well, now I think I'm getting there, becoming a better blogger. Also I've learned so many new things about books, publishing, people and technology!

2) What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you or inspiring you?

Oh my. So many great people. Big, big hug to Susan at Color Online. She was a huge help. Answering all my annoying little questions, posting about me on her blog (I'm sure I owe at large number of my followers to you!), giving me lists of books to read when I didn't really know where to start. She never missed a post to comment on, emailing and commenting with suggestions and advice.

Doret at the HappyNappy Bookseller. She also answered all my annoying questions, gave me book titles and helped get the word out about my blog. She was one of my earliest commenters. Always there (along with Susan) with advice. I view Doret and Susan as my godmothers and they are my inspirations.

Justine Larbalestier. She gave me lots of exposure when she asked me to write a guest-post for her blog. I'm pretty sure that I got half of my followers from the two posts I did for her! Justine is also an inspiration because she really helped bring attention to the lack of faces of people of color on YA book covers. She brought much needed attention to this issue and if it weren't for her, a large number of people may have gone on thinking there was no issue, there was nothing wrong or amiss about the lack of colorful faces on YA covers.

Zetta. She sent me my first review copy and has contacted numerous authors on my behalf. Zetta you rock! I loved A Wish After Midnight, and I'm pretty sure if it weren't for my blog, I wouldn't have ever heard of AWAM which would have been a real shame.

Last, but not least all teens of color out there are my inspiration. I do what I do because I want all teens of color out there to see themselves in books. I want them to know that they aren't alone in searching for books about people who look like them, I too am searching. I want to spotlight new up and coming authors of color writing for us teens. I want to create a change, to show the publishing companies that we want to see more YA books about people of color with colorful faces on the cover! I hope other teen book bloggers join me in reading and reviewing more books about people of color, we especially need more teens of color to be blogging!

Other wonderful people who've helped me; Tashi at Taste Life Twice (it's nice to see another black teen blogger and your blog is so fun! I love your posts, they are thoughtful and funny), Cecilia at the epic rat (You were the first teen book blogger to spotlight me and I so appreciate it! Also I love your creativity), Jessica at Eat, Sleep, Dance Read (for being the first teen book blogger to add me to her blogroll! Also your book blog was the first one I ever went to because the title basically summed up my life.), Shalonda (You've been so encouraging!), Steph Su (I just love your blog. I really, really do! And you were one of the first teen book bloggers to post about my first contest.) and so many other people, Thank You!

3) What is one question you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year can answer?
I really don't know what to ask. To be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly sure as to what goes on during BBAW week. So I guess I would ask, what activities should I participate in, all of them?

Have a great back to school all fellow teens who blog and adults try not to act too eager to see us go back to school so we can get out of your hair (this mostly applies to adults with little kids, but I know my parents were excited that I was back in school so there may be other parents out there like that!)