Hello and Welcome to Cover2CoverBlog!
It is another year and that means another round of Armchair Book Expo.
While some lucky bloggers and bookish people are playing in NYC at the Book Expo IRL - we are here, at home/work/etc, but still what to play -- so we do it online with Armchair Book Expo!
Here is the Agenda for the week. Feel free to join in if you are not in NYC at the Expo [or if you are, that is fine too :)], there are lots of fun prompts, twitter parties and giveaways!
Day 3
Diversity
"Book Expo sparked quite the controversy a couple years ago regarding
diversity in books and authors. Where are we now? OR, let's take a
different direction and explore the diversity of the format of a book.
Do we judge a book by its cover and/or content (e.g.,, audio, digital,
graphic, etc.)? Or, combine the two topics and discuss diversity found
in alternative content (e.g., representation in graphic novels). Get
creative and maybe even controversial! "
Our twitter party yesterday was about diversity and I think that we had a wonderful discussion, which I think really helped me think more about it and this post [the Armchair Team is so clever :)]
I think the authors and publishers are trying really hard to get diverse books out there, when I was a teen there were no LGTBQ+ reads and now they are coming out at a regular pace. I think that I am seeing more main characters of different cultures and races - but maybe that is also because we are SO focused on them?
So putting this out there - I am a white female from the US, so I can relate to A LOT of characters. I know that it is harder for others. I think that we automatically gravitate toward what we are/know and for me that is not hard. I think we do need more options though.
I also think that though publishers try the best they can to put out more diverse books there is backlash at times... it is a slow process but we are getting there.
Here are a few diverse book recommendations, but I am also not from these representations so I recommend them as I am:
From Goodreads: "Pashmina tells
the story of an Indian-American girl who struggles to fit in at high
school, then discovers more about her family's history with the help of
her mother's magical pashmina."
From Goodreads: "New York Times
bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story
of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a
32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of
which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to
AIDS.
While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived
boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other
teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out,
navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit
hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to
figure out their own feelings for each other.
"
From Goodreads: "Lupe Impala, El Chavo
Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they
can fix it. But the team's favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that
hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The
stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a
trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay
chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in
the universe?
Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator
Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles,
while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and
colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide
definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will
educate and entertain in equal measure."
From Goodreads: "A story about falling in love, literally.
Seventeen-year-old
Delilah Green wouldn’t have chosen to do her last year of school this
way, but she figures it’s working fine. Her dad is on a trip to fix his
broken heart after her mom left him for another man, so Del’s managing
the family café in his absence. Easy, she thinks. But what about:
- homework and the nasty posse of mean girls making her life hell
- or how one of Del’s best friends won’t stop guilt-tripping her
- and her other best friend is so in love with his tutor he might go to jail for her if Del doesn’t do something
But
who cares about any of that really, because above all else, she can’t
stop thinking about beautiful Rosa who dances every night across the
street until one day Rosa comes in the café door . . .
And if Rosa starts thinking about Del, too, then how in the name of caramel milkshakes will Del get the rest of it together?"
From Goodreads: "Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis
is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic
Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi
tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years
that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic
Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The
intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the
great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears
witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her
country.
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of
daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home
life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors,
state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to
learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own
extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and
wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a
reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows
how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And,
finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we
cannot help but fall in love."
Dining with Authors
"Every year at Book Expo, children and adult authors are featured during
breakfast. Who would you dream of enjoying a meal with? Would it be
breakfast, lunch, dinner, or simply coffee? What would your meal be?
What would you discuss? "
Hm... this is a hard one. I think I would like to have coffee with Jay Kristoff - he seems like a crazy cool dude....
Happy Day 3 of Armchair Book Expo!
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