Just For Fun: An Eclipse Reading List

Solar corona of 1893 eclipse from Popular Science Vol. 60

Honestly, there really is no running theme to these books other than they feature astronomical bodies in the titles, but is there ever a bad time for a book list? I don't think so. They also happen to be books Tanita and/or I enjoyed and reviewed here on the blog. If you're looking for some eclipse-worthy reading, put on your special dork, I mean dark, glasses and check these out! Meanwhile, I'll be in a car, probably stuck in traffic, driving up through Oregon hoping to witness the real deal...

In no particular order:

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass (MG fiction; this one is actually about a solar eclipse!)
Black Hole Sun, Invisible Sun, and Shadow on the Sun by David Macinnis Gill (action-packed sci-fi)
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (nothing whatsoever to do with eclipses that I remember)
The Midnighters trilogy by Scott Westerfeld (a good, scary read)
Horizon by Patti Larsen (more sci-fi)
Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani (wonderful indie fantasy)
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells (cool YA shapeshifting fantasy)
Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold (wicked cool overlooked sci-fi)
Under the Dusty Moon by Suzanne Sutherland (girl's mom in a band)
The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer (4th book of Life As We Knew It)
Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott (Asian-American themed fantasy)
Under a Blood Red Moon by Lu Sylvan (pirate apprentices novella)
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (MG historical fiction)
The White Road of the Moon by Rachel Neumeier (fantasy and friendship)
Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis (South Asian fairytale themes)
The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White (modern-day Egyptian gods)
Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana (a message from space!)
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (airships)

The TBR List in the New Year: Books Worth Reading

Wonderland Knows Stories Worth Reading!

These are a few of the stories we're looking forward to reading and reviewing in the months ahead. Not all of these are published in the calendar year - no one's TBR list is that caught up - but these are all books we've heard a bit of a buzz about -- or have been intrigued by, despite their noticeable lack of buzz, and we want to raise their profile here.

Out February 14th, 2017: AMERICAN STREET by Ibi Zoboi, Balzer + Bray - As a Haitian-born émigré to America, author Ibi Zoboi has had a front-row seat to the striking disparity between America as a concept to America as a real place. Why we think it's worth reading: Right now, a lot of people are waking up to the realization that America - its politics, policies and people - are unfamiliar. They're waking up to a reality which a lot of people of color and immigrants have already known - the American Dream, as a concept, is tarnished and false. Something new must take its place. In the novel, Fabiola Toussaint immigrating from Port-au-Prince loses her mother to the red tape of the process, and must stand alone, deciding her identity, and the price she's willing to pay for it. This is something we all need to consider.

Out January 30th: FRED KORAMATSU SPEAKS UP, by Laura Atkins & Stan Yogi, Heyday Books - This MG social studies book is well out of our usual review scope, but we're big Laura fans at the blog - full disclosure, there - and we were intrigued that after her first picture book success she sneaked in the kick-off story in the series titled Fighting For Justice. Why we think it's worth reading: How do you grow activists? By teaching them their history. This is an informative book which will be useful in a classroom, but it's also a story about a boy named Fred who was just... normal. He listened to the Top 40, he played tennis, he hung out with his friends and he had secret crushes. And suddenly, he was considered an enemy of the State. We must remember our history, or repeat it, folks, and the danger is already on the horizon. Looking forward to reading this book, and talking with the authors and the publisher about what comes next in the series.

Out March 28th, 2017: THE GAUNTLET, by Karuna Riazi, Salaaam Reads - Another MG chapter book, this has THE BEST cover, which is one of the reasons it's on our list. Why we think it's worth reading: The jacket copy says this book is like Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair. We love game books, and getting locked/lost in a game universe is a deliciously creepy idea. That a.) Middle Eastern people play games and b.) Middle Eastern people could be part of an adventure is something which seems to occur to far too few speculative fiction writers, so we're REALLY looking forward to tearing into the magic here.

Out September 12th, 2017: YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR, by Mitali Perkins, Farrar, Straus and Giroux - WHAT?? Mitali sneaked a YA novel out and nobody told us?? Well, we're telling you now: surprise! Mitali has produced a novel with a really lovely cover. Why we think it's worth reading: A novel about generations of women in a family, identity and its contemporary iterations - American identity, gender identity, ethnic identity, our identity as women of worth - these are the types of things that we think about a great deal. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be, according to you? Mitali historically has had a lot of quiet and wisdom her MG fiction, and we're looking forward to seeing how she works with a contemporary novel for young adults.

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These are the stories we want to read - they're stories of people of color, living lives of richness and depty and complexity. They're stories of real people who aren't stereotypes, who live and love and hurt and struggle in ways familiar to us. These are the stories we want to tell - stories of honesty and integrity. By reading, we become better writers. So, until next time - keep reading, keep writing, keep thinking. This is the way we change the world.

Celebrating Banned Books Week!

How fantastic is it that the theme for this year's Banned Books Week (Sept. 25 - Oct. 1) is Frequently Challenged Books with Diverse Content? We are all about books with diverse content here (well, not ALL, but it's one of the themes we feature frequently), and books with difficult, important themes are often found among the banned and/or challenged book lists.

This year's list of Frequently Challenged Books with Diverse Content and more info can be found at this link, but I've also reprinted it below. How many have you read? I've only read 13! And parts of a couple others (y'know, lit class excerpts and such). It is an interesting list. Take a look, and let loose in the comments.

1. A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines
2. A Hero Ain't Nothin But a Sandwich by Alice Childress
3. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
4. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by  Sherman Alexie
5. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
6. Always Running by Luis J Rodriguez
7. Am I Blue?:  Coming Out from the Silence by Marion Dane Baue
8. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
9. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Girl
10. Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
11. Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X; Alex Haley
12. Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block
13. Beloved by Toni Morrison
14. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out  by Susan Kuklin
15. Black Boy by Richard Wright
16. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A Anaya
17. Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
18. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
19. Drama by Raina Telgemeier
20. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
21. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
22. Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
23. George by Alex Gino
24. Habibi by Craig Thompson
25. Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman
26. Hoops by Walter Dean Myers
27. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
28. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
29. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
30. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
31. King & King by Linda de Haan
32. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
33. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
34. Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino
35. My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
36. Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron
37. Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
38. Palestine: A Nation Occupied by Joe Sacco
39. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
40. Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
41. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor
42. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
43. So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
44. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
45. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
46. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
47. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
48. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
49. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
50. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
51. The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
52. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
53. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
54. The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
55. This Book is Gay by James Dawson
56. This Day in June by Gayle Pitman
57. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
58. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

TBR Monday! More Books On My List

Greetings, Book People of Earth! I kind of enjoyed doing that previous post on my TBR pile, so here's another one with a few more recent acquisitions. Comments, opinions, and ancillary recommendations are welcome!

Clockwise from Upper Left: Out on the Wire is a graphic novel recommended by friend, fellow author, and writing group colleague Sara Lewis Holmes. She mentioned it during our writing group meeting and it sounds right up my alley, since it's about various awesome public radio personalities AND it's a GN by an artist I really like.

The Vanishing Throne is the sequel to The Falconer, a faerie/steampunk/action fantasy which I reviewed here and which ended up being quite enjoyable. Stay tuned for an upcoming review soonish, and a guest post from author Elizabeth May on Tuesday next, thanks to Chronicle Books! I'm hoping she'll talk a bit about world-building, a topic that is much on my mind currently...

My mom lent me the first two books in a series called The Neapolitan Novels by Italian author Elena Ferrante, the first being My Brilliant Friend. Evidently it starts with the character's childhood and follows her as she grows up, which is always an interesting strategy. I liked it in the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books, and the Betsy-Tacy books, so I am certainly intrigued. Evidently these books are quite popular in Europe but not so well known here.

I got a copy of Once Was a Time for review some time ago and it languished on the pile, even though I very much like the sound of it. It's a middle grade read set in wartime 1940s England, so that is an immediate draw for me. Also, it involves time travel and a main character named Charlotte--possibly a nod to the cult classic Charlotte Sometimes? Anyway, I look forward to it.

Happy Reading!

Randomly, on a Thursday, She Caught Up. Sort of.

I am about a week and a half overdue in posting this, but better late than never: DID YOU KNOW TANITA'S NEW BOOK IS OUT? WOO HOO! Released on Feb. 9, it's about being a foster sister and finding a family in today's complex social and racial environment, which means families come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and combinations--and the one thing you can count on is that nobody will do exactly what you expect.

Find out whether Dess and Hope can learn to cross socioeconomic, racial, and plain old personality divides to become friends as well as foster sisters--You can buy Tanita's latest novel PEAS AND CARROTS at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

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Go check out this wonderful post by Sharon Levin entitled Children's Books Make Me Smarter. I kind of thought I might be the only one who feels this way, but I'm glad I'm not! I am ALWAYS (and PROUDLY) learning from what I read, fiction and nonfiction alike; written for children, teens, or adults. This is yet another reason why we need lots and lots of stories, why diversity in children's literature is so incredibly important. As a child I learned about animals and people, about illness (You Can't Catch Diabetes from a Friend) and about Waltzing Matilda. As an adult I am still learning: pox parties, the Women's Army Corps, female aviators, neuromorphic circuitry, what it's like to live life as someone with a very different background. Let's not stop reading; let's not stop getting smarter.

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Next Wednesday, February 24th, is World Read Aloud Day! Thanks to author and agent-sister Kate Messner, I was able to sign up to participate in Skype classroom visits in honor of World Read Aloud Day, and now I'm booked for four virtual middle school visits, two on Wednesday and two on Thursday. I am very excited and a bit daunted, but I think this is a wonderful opportunity to talk to students about writing and read a little of my work. Plus I get to talk to kids in Minnesota, Florida, and Maryland without leaving my office....now I just have to clean my desk so it doesn't look like I am a total slob....

January 27th is Multicultural Children's Book Day!

At Finding Wonderland, we have always been committed to reviewing a wide range of diverse and multicultural books, which is why we're very excited to see that this year the folks at Multicultural Children's Book Day are making a supreme effort to get the word out and provide all kinds of opportunities for bloggers, authors, teachers, and parents to do so as well.

Bloggers can sign up to review a book, donated by publishers eager to support this effort--go read more about it here.

Authors, and other interested individuals, can donate to the cause via sponsorship and get a little love in return--here's that info.

Lastly, don't miss the TRULY MASSIVE amount of information and links to diversity book lists for kids and other resources.

And, of course, stay tuned for the upcoming celebration! In the meantime, did you know you can check out all of our multicultural and diverse book reviews in one place (well, two places)? Thanks to the magic of tagging, you can read all of our reviews tagged with Multicultural Fiction or with Diversity just by clicking those links right there.

Themed Cybils Reading Lists!

If you haven't been over to the Cybils blog in a while, you're missing out--there's been regularly posted content, including book reviews, featured bloggers, and interviews with this year's award winners. AND, there is a new, fun recurring feature: themed book lists by this year's volunteers of Cybils-nominated titles (including finalists and winners). I'll be contributing my own list soon, but in the meantime, here's what they've posted so far:

Read-Aloud Non-Fiction
Robot Stories for Elementary Readers
Read Aloud Fiction Picture Books
Kid-Friendly Biographies
Fun and Funny Fantasy Read Alouds for the Whole Family
Ten Cybils Poetry Books
Young Adult High Fantasy
Readable Nonfiction

This is the Cybils Awards crew's latest addition to their wonderful and growing collection of children's and young adult book resources. The books aren't limited to this year's contest, so you'll find a wide range of titles from the contest's inception in 2006 through the 2014 awards. I was happy to see that I'd read ALL the YA High Fantasy books on the list, EXCEPT ONE! :) One book that will now immediately go on my Want-To-Read list...