Looking for more challenge books?

There is a new book tour site starting up that I thought I'd mention because I noticed they have several books available that you could use for this reading challenge.

Crazy Book Tours is a one-book tour site, in which one book is mailed around through the reviewer list, with each recipient reading the book within a given number of days and then mailing it to the next reviewer on the list. Here are several books currently available that would apply to this reading challenge:

• Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukada
• The Eyes of Willie McGee by Alex Heard
• Goodbye to All That by Margo Candela
• Patches of Grey by Roy L. Pickering Jr.
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

If you want to participate in a tour there, you have to fill out a participating blogger sign-up form first. The POC Reading Challenge blog isn't associated with this book tour site (and neither are Pam, Ari, or myself), but I just wanted to provide the information in case anyone is interested or looking for some new books to read. :-)

The Bluest Eye Roundtable at The Bottom of Heaven

The Bottom of Heaven is hosting a Roundtable event in honor of the 40th anniversary of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye from June 28 through July 9. There will be discussion and posts from some wonderful bloggers and commentators. Here's a quote from the announcement post:

Is The Bluest Eye still relevant after four decades, does it still have something left to teach us in the Obama era? What moments in the story continue to touch and trouble you as you read? What scenes, characters, and passages have the most lasting impact? How would a little girl like Pecola fare in today’s society? We’d love to heard your thoughts on our posts and if you haven’t read the novel, perhaps now is a good time to start.

If you've read the book or are interested in learning more about it, go on over to The Bottom of Heaven to learn about who will be posting, and subscribe there so you can keep updated on each day's posts.

May Monthly Review Winner!

The winner is...

Libby from After Library School!

Congrats Libby :) I can't find your email address so if you could email me (willbprez at aol dot com) with your mailing address and what book you would like from our prize list that would be great. You have 48 hours to get back to me.

The review picked by Random.org was Libby's review of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.

So what we've decided to do about the Grand prize of a $25 giftcard for four winners is give them out based on your wrap-up post. We would count up each review and that would be one entry and then use Random.org to pick a winner. How does that sound? Obviously we would do this based on what category you are in. The only problem is we have four giftcards but there's five categories. So we will have to combine the Level 1 and Level 2 entries. I hope that's ok with everyone, let me know if you have issues with this idea or suggestions to improve it.

Multicultural Book Awards

I've been meaning to put this post together for a few months (and now that so much time has passed, I can't remember who gave me the idea), but I thought I'd list some of the multicultural book awards out there as a resource for finding some more great POC books for children and adults.

• Coretta Scott King Awards - Given to African American children's book authors and illustrators for "outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream of a pluralistic society" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• Children's Africana Book Awards - Presented to the authors and illustrators of the best children's books on Africa published or republished in the U.S. Created by the African Studies Association (ASA) to "encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children's materials about Africa" (from the website). Click here for past winners for older readers. Click here for past winners for young children. 

• Carter G. Woodson Book Awards -  Awards the "most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States. The purpose of this award is to encourage the writing, publishing, and dissemination of outstanding social science books for young readers that treat topics related to ethnic minorities and relations sensitively and accurately" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• Pura Belpre Award - "Presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA), an ALA affiliate" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• American Indian Youth Services Literature Award - Created by the American Indian Library Association, the award seeks to "identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians." Click here for past winners.

• New Voices Award - Sponsored by Lee and Low Books, the award is open to writers of color whose manuscript addresses "the needs of children of color by providing stories with which they can identify and relate, and which promote a greater understanding of one another." Winners win a cash award and a publication contract with Lee and Low. Click here for past winners.

• Américas Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature - "Given in recognition of U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award - Honors authors and illustrators who create literature that depicts the Mexican American experience. Click here for past winners.

• Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature - "The awards promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage, based on literary and artistic merit. The books were chosen from titles by or about Asian Pacific Americans" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• Arab American Book Award - "Encourages the publication and excellence of books that preserve and advance the understanding, knowledge, and resources of the Arab American community by celebrating the thoughts and lives of Arab Americans. The purpose of the Award is to inspire authors, educate readers and foster a respect and understanding of the Arab American culture" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

• BCALA Literary Awards - "First presented at the Second National Conference of African American Librarians in 1994, the BCALA Literary Awards acknowledge outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction for adult audiences by African American authors. Recipients of this award offer outstanding depictions of the cultural, historical or sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora and embody the highest quality of writing style and research methodology, if applicable" (from the website). Click here for past winners.

I tried to bring together as comprehensive a list as I could, but if you know of any that I missed, please feel free to let me know in the comments and I'll add them to this list.

POC Reading Challenge Wrap-up Posts

Although the goal of this challenge is to get people reading more books by and about persons of color for life, it's nice to be able to post a summary of your reading to celebrate that you met your challenge goal. And since we've already had at least one person meet their reading goal, I thought I'd put up a Linky for your challenge wrap-up posts (if you feel like writing a wrap-up post). You're also welcome to continue reading and posting your reviews of POC books here, even after you meet your goal (or even extend your participation by taking on a higher participation level).

Your wrap-up post serves as a way to link your completed list of books read for this reading challenge. When you have completed your reading list, create a blog post and link that post below. Here are some suggestions of things we'd love to see you consider in your post (you don't have to answer these, they are just suggestions):

• What were your favorite (and least favorite) books read for the challenge?
• Favorite author(s) from the challenge?
• Has the challenge helped to change your reading habits? Will you continue to read books by and about persons of color? 
• Are there genres, authors, or specific books that you still want to read or that you plan to read in the future?
• What did you learn through this challenge?

Your wrap-up post also counts as your entry for the 2010 grand prize gift card! What we've decided to do about the Grand prize of a $25 giftcard for four winners is give them out based on your wrap-up post. We are going to count up each review and that would be one entry and then use Random.org to pick a winner. So be sure to leave a wrap-up post! You have until January 14th 11:59 PM CT to link-up your wrap-up post and be eligible for the grand prize!

Wrap-Up/Completed List Post

1.	Tia's Book Musings	6.	Muse
2.	The Dirigible Plum	7.	Melissa@Book Nut
3.	lawral (lucy was robbed)	8.	The Englishist
4.	The Feminist Texican [Reads]	9.	Christina (Reading Extensively)
5.	Katy @ A Few More Pages	10.	Kelly (The Cazzy Files)

(Collection closed)

Link tool by inlinkz.com

June Book Review Links

We're doing great on the challenge so far! Keep reading and posting those reviews!

We would love to spotlight some of your reviews! Please email Pam if you'd be willing to have one of your POC Challenge reviews highlighted here. Her email is pam@eurobands.us and if you include a picture of yourself (if you have one) and a short bio it will make the spotlight that much better!

Link up your June POC Reading Challenge book reviews here:



Click on the blue "Add Your Link" button and put the name and author of the book you have reviewed in the "Name" box. You can include your name or blog name in parenthesis if you wish. Please be sure that you link to the specific URL address of your review, not the URL address of your main/home blog page. Then follow the directions to add a thumbnail image.