What I've Been Reading Lately: February, March and April

Very delayed on this post, I know! But here's what I've read for the last three months + how I'm doing on the MMD Reading Challenge!

Books Read February 2018:

Because February is Black History Month, my goal was to read only black authors. This was a really enjoyable month, and I finally got to read books that have been on my TBR list for years (like Alice Walker's The Color Purple).

1. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
2. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
3. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
4. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
5. How to Fix a Broken Record by Amena Brown
6. P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
7. American Street by Ibi Zoboi
8. Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
9. Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia

If I had to pick a favorite... do I have to? They were all so good! For so many different reasons!

If I had to pick a least favorite... maybe American Street, but mostly because I'm not a huge fan of magical realism/I could have done without some of the language used, I guess. 

Books I'd want to read to my children... The Gaither Sister trilogy (One Crazy Summer, P.S. and Gone Crazy). They were so much fun--good, engaging middle grade historical fiction.

Books that pleasantly surprised me... Not Without Laughter (I only knew Hughes as a poet, and this was such a beautiful work. It was like the Black A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with a male protagonist) and The Color Purple (I grew up watching the movie, recently saw the Broadway musical, and there are just so many details and plot lines and beautiful language that was not captured in either live action representations. It was a tough book, but oh so beautiful). 

Books Read March 2018:

This month was Women's History Month, and so the goal was initially to read female authors and/or feminist work. I strayed from that quite a bit, and ended up reading a lot of graphic novels (our English team was in the process of thinking about replacing some of the books currently in our curriculum, so I got sucked into doing "research," hehe). 

1. Rad American Women from A-Z by Kate Schatz
2. She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed The World by Chelsea Clinton
3. March Forward, Girl by Melba Pattillo Beals (random connection to this book: the first friends I made my freshman year of college all went to Central High School in Little Rock and so I developed a slight fascination with the Little Rock Nine, but this was my first time ever exploring that story in depth.)
4. Geekerella by Ashley Poston (side fact about me: I am a sucker for fairytale re-tellings, and actually have a large collection of multicultural Cinderellas + some creative variations like The Aggie Cinderella, and one told from the perspective of flowers). 
5. American Born Chinese (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang
6. Around the World (graphic novel) by Matt Phelan (I have an obsession with the idea of traveling around the world, and my dream honeymoon would be to go around the world in 80 days... just like the book [but maybe update some of the travel styles]). 
7. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye (I heard this one on the Smartest Person in the Room podcast, and was intrigued. It was enjoyable, and I would read it to my children). 
8. Pride of Baghdad (graphic novel) by Brain K. Vaughan
9. Lights, Camera, Disaster by Erin Dionne
10. From You to Me by K.A. Holt
11. Boxers (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang
12. Saints (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang
13. How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis
14. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
15. LatinoUSA: A Cartoon History by Ilan Stavans
16. Serafina's Promise by Ann E. Burg
17. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella
18. Hallelujah Anyway by Ann Lamott
19. Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter
20. Two Naomis by Olughemisola Rhuday-Dekovich and Audrey Vernick
21. Ghost by Jason Reynolds (TRACK series #1)
22. Patina by Jason Reynolds (TRACK series #2)
23. The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano (AKA Maria from Sesame Street!)

If I had to pick favorites, I'd go with... Children of Blood and Bone, Two Naomis, Ghost and Patina

If I had to pick my least favorites... Hallelujah Anyway and How to Be a Heroine

Books that made me feel weepy... Serafina's Promise, Two Naomis, From You to Me and Lights, Camera, Disaster

Books I learned something new and deep from... LatinoUSA, The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, Boxers and Saints 

Books Read April 2018:

This month was BUSY. I had to prep students from our state exam, I had to prep two weeks of substitute plans because I then traveled to Nigeria for two weeks, and then came back and I'm still playing catch up with grading and our last book of the year, Romeo and Juliet. But even with all the craziness, I wouldn't be me if I didn't knock out some solid reading... 

1. Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster
2. Nightingale by Susan May Warren
3. Sunny by Jason Reynolds (TRACK series #3)
4. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavali 
5. Honeybee (poems and short prose) by Naomi Shihab Nye

No favorites or least favorites. I was just so happy to get in any reading. I will say that Nightingale touched on the little known history (or at least to me and everyone I've shared this with) of the Nazi POW camps that existed all around the US during World War II and after. And that was fascinating to read. Especially seeing how well our enemies were being treated at the same time that Asian Americans were being persecuted and placed in internment camps, and African Americans who fought in the war were oppressed (and sometimes lynched) after their valiant service for their country. 

MMD Reading Challenge Update

If you have suggestions for a good book in translation, a book nominated for an award in 2018, let me know! One of my closest friends is a librarian, and I am bookseller at my side gig, so I'll soon be done with the whole challenge! Yay! (Although, I'll keep checking things off over and over again until the year is over!)