In the 12th Month of Diversity Rocks...

It's hard to believe the year of the Diversity Rocks! challenge is coming to an end, but we'll soon be entering the final month of the challenge. It's been an amazing reading year for me, and I thank you all for being a part of it.

I realize I've been scarce on this blog these recent months, to put it mildly. My heart is still in this challenge a hundred percent--the challenge I made to myself at the end of 2008 will certainly not be coming to an end in the New Year but will be ongoing, for the rest of my life. My enthusiasm for the logistics of posting Linkies and such hasn't been quite as sustaining. I do apologize for dropping the ball.

So, here, at long last, is a place to put your links. Any reviews you haven't posted can be linked here, and I'd also love links to summary posts. I'd love to know how the challenge affected you. Did it help you grow as a person? And will you continue to aim for diversity in your reading lists when this challenge is over?

August Reviews and Giveaway

Post links to your August reviews here!

The giveaway for August will be The Lost Dog, by Michelle de Kretser, who was born in Sri Lanka and emigrated to Australia when she was fourteen. This, her third novel, is about an Indian-Australian professor who's lost his dog in the Bush. This giveaway is sponsored by Hachette Book Group and is open to U.S. and Canadian street addresses (no P.O. Boxes) only.

And now, the winners of the July giveaway! I started reading Thug Lovin' a couple of days ago and I'm impressed with Clark's mastery of dialogue and voice. She's really got these characters down. I'm not in love with the premise or the genre, but for what it is, it's definitely got merit, and so far the story is more middle-class housewife-friendly than I expected--it's really about a young couple starting a family, while the pressures of his past gang/drug world threaten to ruin their plans. (Also: nothing above a PG rating happens in the first 50 pages, nor does it look like it's heading in that direction.)

I have copies of the two Clark books for:

Susan of Color Online, for her post about 3 works of historical fiction.
Doret of The Happy Nappy Bookseller, for her review of Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez.
Jen (multigenre fan) for her review of The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
Terry for her review of Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story

That leaves one more set of books up for grabs, so if you've ever posted a review here or participated in the Diversity Roll Call and you'd like to win these, send me an email at worducopia/at/gmail/com and I'll pick a fifth winner! Also please email me your addresses, Terry, Jen, Doret, and Susan, so I can get the books out to you.

August Reviews:

July Reviews

Well, we're halfway done with the year, how's it going for everyone? If you'd like to write a post that summarizes your progress for the year so far, please post it in the Mr. Linky with the "Progress report" or something like that after your name.

I'm using the pop-up Mr. Linky because I haven't updated to the new server yet. I don't like it as well, but ah well. All you have to do is click on the box and it'll open a new window for you to add your link, and see who else has posted.

June was our first month without a sponsor, and whether there will be prizes in July remains to be seen. But don't let that stop you from posting your reviews! For the next prizes that come up, whenever that may be, you'll get an entry for every review posted from the beginning of June until the end of that month.

Happy reading!

June Reviews

For the month of June, please post links to your reviews for the challenge in the comments of this post.

May winners of the giveaway have been drawn and will be announced within a day or two, I like to link to the winners' posts and with Mr. Linky up and down, it's taken a little more time than usual to pull all the links.

May Reviews and April Winners

You're doing a great job with your reading and book reviews for the Diversity Rocks challenge! Here's the place to post May reviews. But first, our winners of the Lee & Low giveaway! I and my trusty Random.org did the drawing for each book separately, which meant that every entrant was eligible to win both books. Winners, will you please email me at Worducopia on gmail, with your mailing address so I can pass it along to Lee and Low? If you don't have a U.S. or Canadian address, you can either designate another winner or I will select one for you.

For Paul Robeson, by Eloise Greenfield, the winners are:

Mary Ann of Great Kid Books, for her review of After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson. Mary Ann says, "the author brought me into feeling like a 12 year old girl struggling to understand herself, made me remember what it felt like to try to understand myself, my friends, my Big Purpose."

Tea, of Living Life and Reading Books, for her review of My Jim, by Nancy Rawles--a novel written from the perspective of Sadie, the wife of Jim from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Black-eyed Susan, for her review of From The Notebooks of Melanin Sun, by Jacqueline Woodson. Susan says, "One of the things I love about Woodson's work is that while her main characters are usually African American, race informs but is often not the central theme of the book. In Woodson's work, we see whole and functioning families and we see diversity in families."

Jen from Multigenre fan for Mojo: Conjure Stories, "a collection of 19 stories by various authors that explore the perils of personal magic, by authors of fantasy and African Diaspora fiction."

Doret, for her preview of Our Children Can Soar, a picture book featuring illustrations by 13 respected artists and focusing on the achievements of African Americans.

The winners of Sacred Mountain: Everest by Christine Taylor-Butler are:

Jen, a lucky double-winner for her review of Mojo: Conjure Stories.

Mrs. V for her review of Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: "Pascuala (Paski) is in for a shock when her dad announces that they will be relocating to Los Angeles from their rural New Mexican home so that he can pursue his animation career." Mrs. V recommends this book for older teens.

Another double-winner! Mary Ann, of Great Kid Books won this one too.

Black-eyed Susan also won a second time, but her lucky number this time was 18, for her Sunday Salon post featuring Jacqueline Woodson's Feathers and Carleen Brice's Orange Mint and Honey.

Riot of Burning Leaves for her review of Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Riot says, "Mishima was a consummate writer, and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea is both a fine example of and introduction to his works.

Congratulations to the winners, and to all of you who have been keeping up with your diverse reading and review-posting!

Newcomers are welcome to join in at any time. Post one review, or commit to a specific number or type of books. Why not start by making your next read by an author of color?

May Reviews:

April Reviews and giveaways

Oh, is it April? Nobody told me! Here's the place to put your reviews for this month.

I'll accept entries for the Lucky Child giveaway, sponsored by Hachette Publishing Group, until Sunday, April 12th. Any links to reviews posted here or in the March Reviews will be automatically entered.

Next giveaway! Reviews posted here will also be entered to win one of two children's books generously offered by Lee and Low books. They're offering 5 copies of Eloise Greenfield's new book about Paul Robeson, and 5 copies of Sacred Mountain: Everest, by Christine Taylor-Butler. Both are new books in April, 2009.

Anyone is welcome to enter the giveaways--simply review a book by an author of color, mention the Diversity Rocks challenge in your review, and include a link to your review here (or, if you don't have a blog, email me your review and I'll post it here). If you win and don't have a U.S./Canada address or the book's not your style, you can either designate a winner of your choice or I'll redraw from the pool.

March Reviews

Please remember to include the title of the book in your entry.

February Reviews and Giveaway Rules

Here's the place to post links to your February reviews!

Every link posted to a February review of a book by an author of color will be considered an entry for a free book from Amazon or Powells (up to $30 including shipping) unless you request otherwise. Gain an extra entry by joining Glue or blogging/tweeting about it (let me know in a comment, including your Glue username if you joined).

If you haven't joined the challenge yet, it's not too late to join. There are many options and levels, the smallest being to read and review one book by an author of color during February. Anyone, challenge member or not, is invited to enter the contest by posting a link to a current review for a book by an author of color.

As promised, we have new music in the sidebar for Black History Month. Thank you for your contributions, Doret, Cassy, Terry, and Susan! I had so much fun putting this together and, forgive my brag, but I think it's an awesome playlist. I started it off with one of my favorite spirituals and tried to keep the music close to chronological order. And can I just tell you, that I had never heard Nina Simone before now? Good lord. I hadn't lived.

Please link directly to your review, and include the title of the book in your Mr. Linky.

January Reviews

This post serves as a place to post links to reviews of books read for the Diversity Rocks! challenge. This is an ongoing challenge, all are welcome to join at any time. There are many levels of participation. For more details see 2009 Diversity Rocks! Challenge post.

If you'd like to post a review directly on this blog, you may either email it to me at Worducopia-at-gmail-dot-com, or become a team member for this blog.

When posting a Mr. Linky, please include the title of the book in the "Name" field, and link directly to your review post.