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I’m getting behind! My pile of BFYA books is growing! Still, it’s a pleasure to look at that pile because they all stand a chance of being a really good read. The books in that pile have been nominated by BFYA committee members or by the general public as titles that should be on the annual list. The titles nominated are announced each month and the committee members get busy locating copies of the books so that they can be read before each of the ALA conventions.

What don’t I like about the process? The very few titles by authors of color – or featuring characters of color – that we receive. The number is even smaller than the number of the books that are published.

What do I like? I like broadening my reading selections. I avoid monsters, paranormals, werewolves… at all costs, but I cannot avoid them this year! I don’t like reading about murder as entertainment and hate to see that trickle into YA but, I’m reading these books and developing new perspectives. Closing one’s self off from situations isn’t a way to grow.

I also like being able to help get teens reading with the books. I’m getting LOTS of them and am looking for good ways to get them where they’re needed. Please email me if you have suggestions. I’ve been thinking about shipping them down to Henryville, getting them to some of the high schools around here or even taking them to ALA to give them to high schools there. One thing I’ve learned is that schools in small communities are quite conservative, so not all will appreciate some of these books.

I put off posting the new  April releases, thinking I might still find a few more titles and maybe I still will. Looking for new books is really getting interesting. I usually go to Amazon to look and every month, struggle with search terms to find new books that have been released by authors of color for teens. I had seen Walter Dean Myer’s latest book, but in searching for it using his name, the title did not come up for me. I had to use the title of the book to find it. I’ve had this happen with other authors as well. Have you?

Last month, I found the following after posting March releases.

Fat Angie e.E. Charlton-Trujillo; Candlewick, March: Angie is broken — by her can’t-be-bothered mother, by her high-school tormenters, and by being the only one who thinks her varsity-athlete-turned-war-hero sister is still alive. Hiding under a mountain of junk food hasn’t kept the pain (or the shouts of “crazy mad cow!”) away. Having failed to kill herself — in front of a gym full of kids — she’s back at high school just trying to make it through each day. That is, until the arrival of KC Romance, the kind of girl who doesn’t exist in Dryfalls, Ohio. A girl who is one hundred and ninety-nine percent wow! A girl who never sees her as Fat Angie, and who knows too well that the package doesn’t always match what’s inside. With an offbeat sensibility, mean girls to rival a horror classic, and characters both outrageous and touching, this darkly comic anti-romantic romance will appeal to anyone who likes entertaining and meaningful fiction.

Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle; Harcourt, March: “I find it so easy to forget / that I’m just a girl who is expected / to live / without thoughts.” Opposing slavery in Cuba in the nineteenth century was dangerous. The most daring abolitionists were poets who veiled their work in metaphor. Of these, the boldest was Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, nicknamed Tula. In passionate, accessible verses of her own, Engle evokes the voice of this book-loving feminist and abolitionist who bravely resisted an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen, and was ultimately courageous enough to fight against injustice. Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes round out this exceptional tribute.

April Releases

1. Darius and Twig by Walter Dean Myer; Harper 23 Apr

Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that Harlem life throws at them.

The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they’ll be stuck in the same place forever in this touching and raw new teen novel from Walter Dean Myers, award-winning author of Monster, Kick, We Are America, Bad Boy, and many other celebrated literary works for children and teens.

1. The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa Harlequin; 30 Apr

click this link to watch the trailer

1. The witches of Ruidoso by John Sandoval; Arte Publica April

Young Elijah was sitting on the porch of the Ruidoso Store when fourteen-year-old Beth Delilah and her father climbed down from the stage coach. Blond with lovely pale skin, big blue eyes and “dressed from boot to bonnet in black” in mourning for her mother, she was the prettiest, most exotic thing he had ever seen. And when she bent over to pick up a horned toad, which she then held right up to her face in complete fascination, Elijah learned that it’s possible to feel jealous of an amphibian.
In the last years of the nineteenth century, in the western territory that would become New Mexico, the two young people become constant companions. They roam the ancient country of mysterious terrain, where the mountain looms and reminds them of their insignificance, and observe the eccentric characters in the village: Mr. Blackwater, known as “No Leg Dancer” by the Apaches because of the leg he lost in the War Between the States and his penchant for blowing reveille on his bugle each morning; their friend, Two Feather, the Mescalero Apache boy who takes Beth Delilah to meet his wise old grandfather who sees mysterious things; and Senora Roja, who everyone believes is a bruja, or witch, and who they know to be vile and evil.
Elijah has horrible nightmares involving Senora Roja, death and torture. And when the witch enslaves a girl named Rosa, the pair must try to rescue her from her grim fate. Together, Elijah and Beth Delilah come of age in a land of mountains and ravens, where good and evil vie for the souls of white men and Indians alike.

All book descriptions were shamelessly lifted from Amazon who probably would appreciate your consideration when purchasing your books. I do not work for Amazon. I don’t always shop at Amazon!