BBAW: Treasure Catch Up (New, Unexpected, Forgotten, Future) + Giveaway

I fell woefully behind in Book Blogger Appreciation Week festivities. I truly adore this community-building lovefest between book bloggers :) The posts range from funny to inspiring and I like that mix. I didn't participate much last year either, but this year I took the time to make sure I at least commented on other blogs and tried to discover new ones.


Anyway, my form of participation will be catching up on the theme from each day this past week and sharing my thoughts on it. It won't be too long I promise. And if you read the whole thing, you'll discover a treat at the end ;)


This year's theme is BBAW 2010: A Treasure Chest of Infinite Books & Infinite Blogs

Monday: First Treasure. New to me blogs. There are SO MANY! I decided to include four.

A Few More Pages-Katy is such a dedicated and fantastic blogger. She gently reminds me when I forget to announce the monthly winner for the PoC Reading Challenge, introduces me to new blogs (I really like A Literary Odyssey, thanks Katy for shining a spotlight on Allie!), writes in depth reviews and shares awesome videos (plus we both love history).


Bookalicious-Creator of the PoC Reading Challenge and blogger extraordinaire (aka Pam). We didn't start talking until after she created the challenge because someone mentioned it and I knew nothing about it. But it's sorta up my alley ;) I offered to help in any way I can and I was put in charge of rounding up prizes (to be clear: if we couldn't have any prizes that would be OK, I thought it would be fun to have prizes). Working with Pam has been a joy and whether or not we continue the challenge, I will continue to visit her blog. She writes excellent reviews and is unafraid to speak out about issues affecting the blogging community. She rocks my socks =)


One Big Adventure-Newest-to-me blog for sure. I only recently discovered Najela and One Big Adventure and not a moment too soon! Probably one of my favorite things about Najela is her comment interaction. If she leaves a comment on one of my posts, she will come back to see if I responded. We then have a little conversation in the comments. She does the same thing at her blog, she always replies to comments and that is cool =D Sometimes we continue her conversations via email (she will help keep me sane once I have to start the dread college application process next year). Her reviews are short, sweet and quite helpful. I'm in awe of her 101 goals in 1001 days list. Najela is a writer and I enjoy reading about her writing classes and her writing process/tips. I like the fact that not only does Najela review books at her blog and post about racefails in publishing but she also talks about her goals and her life. And oh yeah, I interviewed her for All Eyes On (thanks for asking!)


Gal Novelty-I honestly can't remember if I first discovered Ah Yuan and the awesomesauce that is Gal Novelty in 2010. I think I knew about it earlier than that but we didn't become friends until 2010. We email each other a lot and I can ALWAYS count on her to understand when I need to vent about some teen/race/book issue. I don't really talk to that many teenage bloggers (I've always connected better with adults) and even though Ah Yuan is a few years older than me, it's nice to be able to talk to someone so close to my age. And as I said Gal Novelty is awesomesauce. This means it has great (and critical!) reviews, discussion posts that REALLY make me think, fun posts and tidbits of randomness. She talks about k-dramas, j-dramas and manga and I just learn SO MUCH from her and her blog. It makes my head spin and I sincerely believe I am a better person because of my interactions with her, even if they are only online. She's currently in France so she's not posting as frequently, but read up on her older posts, it will be rewarding. Why yes, I did interview her for my (recently named All Eyes On) Blogger Spotlight


Go.Visit.The.Blogs.I.Mentioned. Then check out my blogroll for other blogs that make my day including, Bookish Blather, Bibliophilia-Maggie's Bookshelf, Good Books & Good Wine and Book Gazing. <3 you all!

Tuesday-New Treasure: BBAW Interview Swaps! I got to interview Lynne from My Word Playground. She is so sweet and her first picture book comes out in May 2011 (Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten). Hooray for Lynne, hedgehogs, picture books and tea parties (read the interview to know what I mean) :)


Wednesday-Unexpected Treasure. This was tough. An unexpected treasure is a book you wouldn't have tried without the influence of another blogger. I can think of several books bloggers have influenced me to read. But ultimately, I realized that hands down I have to credit Doret, Jeanette, Lisa for influencing me the most in what I read, it's because of them that I really got in to reading adult fiction. And without them, I would not have read 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter (one of my favorite books of the year! READ IT). That would have been a tragedy. Besides 32 Candles, I've read other fabulous books in the adult fiction category and I've added many many more to my TBR list. Thank you ladies!

Also I don't remember who first recommended this book to me but Perfect Chemistry was surprise read. I don't read romance, but I very slowly attempted to wade in the waters of YA romance. Perfect Chemistry was a great way to be thrown right in, it was a very authentic and even though it's mostly about romance, it had great sub-plots.


Thursday-Forgotten Treasure. This was tough because there are many books that I review here that receive less coverage. I decided to pick two books, one YA, one MG, both published in 2010.

8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich. I wish I could give every single middle school student a copy of this book. I read the book back in January but the characters have remained with me even to this day. They are an absolute delight and the writing is just...lovely. I don't know how to describe it. Just read my review. Plus I love all the topics that are brought up in the novel and I like how it shows young people in a more positive light, helping others.

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves-Another fantastic debut. Everyone should just give this book a chance. It is so unique and the cover is gorgeous (matches the content within). I see some reviews of this book, but not many. More, more, more! It''s not creepy as in scary (i.e. monsters jumping out at you, nightmares, etc.), it's more of a bizarre world that showcases the author's creativity.

Friday-Future Treasures. I didn't really participate in BBAW this year (yet again. *heavy sigh*) but my favorite part that I did participate in was the interviews. I loved looking at the creative questions asked (I wish I could steal them! haha sort of) and seeing the fun/informative/inspiring responses.

Blogging Goals: If you look at my 2010 New Year's Resolutions you can see that I fulfilled some of my goals (well fulfilled part of them). I finally got three columns and pages so the blog looks more organized. I'm doing a slightly better job at replying to comments via the blog or through email. There are two goals on the list that I really want to focus on

1. More author interviews. Ideally one a month. Not as many authors of color have an online presence (at least not YA/MG authors of color) but there are still plenty who do and there are so many authors I want to interview!

2. Have more guest posts. This is especially vital during the school year. Feel free to email me anytime with guest post ideas.

I also want to work harder at responding to comments and fix my header!

Happy BBAW!

What was your favorite part? Share the link with me, since I don't know where to start in order to catch up on the week's festivities!



I'm late on this but giveaway time! In honor of BBAW (if it counts). International giveaway (as long as The Book Depository ships for free to your country. Or you can pay for shipping). The Prize? $20 worth of books from the Book Depository. No requirements. Just fill out THIS FORM

BBAW Interview with My Word Playground

As part of the BBAW festivities you could sign up for New Treasure-An Interview Swap. I was fortunate enough to be partnered up with Lynne from My Word Playground.

Lynne is a writer for magazines. She also writes picture books. Her first picture book, Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten will be published by Scholastic in May 2011. Her blog offers a plethora of writing tips from a variety of authors.

Welcome Lynne to Reading in Color!

Describe your blog Twitter-style. 140 words or less

Turn right @mytweetcorner and head for http://www.mywordplayground.blogspot.com/ for wonderful writing tips, prompts, inspirations and lots of great reading recommendations from talented authors and illustrators of a variety of children’s writing genres. Recent features include Lisa Wheeler, Tammi Sauer, Mark Peter Hughes, Dori Chaconas, Melanie Hope Greenberg and MORE!


How do you find the time to blog and write?


As a writing columnist for The Writer’s Journal, I love to share creative prompts, tips and inspiration. As a Book Reviewer, I love to promote books. And, as a writer, I need my own time to writer. So, being a bit on the enterprising side, I came up with the idea to have well-respected authors and illustrators share THEIR creative prompts, tips and inspirations in my blog forum in exchange for promoting their books there. It works out for me, as I can use those blog posts when I don’t have time for my own, and in addition to inspiring me and others, it increases my knowledge base of authors and their books for my own reading list.

It is important to note though, that my blog is brand new. We have just finished sending my son off to Italy to study there for a year. As soon as we catch up from getting him settled there, I have several conferences experiences I would like to catch up in sharing, like the 2010 Annual June NJ-SCBWI Conference and the 2010 LA Summer Nationals Conference, both of which were fabulous! Oh, and I’ll be going to the NJ-SCBWI Annual Retreat October 1-3, which will be just 14 attendees and two editors!

You write for magazines and now you have your first picture book coming out (Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten). Why did you decide to write a picture book?

First of all, I love picture books, as they combine two things I love – word and pictures <3

But although I had been studying the art of writing picture books for many years, both through college courses, the Institute for Children’s Literature, and even on-line courses, like those given by Barbara Seuling and Anastasia Suen, I first achieved my success in publishing poetry, crafts, puzzles, rebuses and magazine articles.

For me, it was easy to study a year’s worth of magazine back issues for content and style and make a sale. I found it more difficult, because of the size and structure of a publishing house, to do the same, but when I felt I had marketable pieces, I began to submit and was fortunate enough to get personal rejections and the contract with Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten. I did wait a long time before submitting my picture books. And that manuscript had gone through many rounds of revisions before I submitted it.


Do you still write for magazines?

Yes, I do. In fact, I have a rebus coming out in Highlights for Children this month. And a folktale forthcoming from Spider magazine. I enjoy writing for both genres and find that they supplement each other.

Your blog is dedicated to sharing writer advice from other authors and/or illustrators.

Yes, that is the main focus, as I put great value in prompting others to write and providing inspiration. Perhaps that is a small gift, like a cup of morning coffee! However, from time to time, my blog will focus on sharing conference experiences and my reading experiences and inspiring people toward that end as well.

What's some of the most helpful advice they've shared?

Because I feel what spoke to me may not speak to everyone, I am going to duck this question and ask that people go to my blog and seek out the advice that THEY find most inspiring LOL. My blog is brand new, but I’ve already featured about twelve different authors and illustrators spread across different genres and I have a lot more in store. As I select authors, I am trying to make certain they are diverse, so that there will be seeds of inspiration for everyone!


What advice would you give to aspiring published authors?


I do have one bit of advice to share that has worked for me and I do believe will work for EVERYONE. Jane Yolen once gave advice to put your Butt In a Chair (BIC)! In essence, if you’re going to make something of yourself, you need to sit down and do it!


8. Not all of my readers (including myself!) know how picture books are created. Can you take us through that process?


For the creative process of making picture books, the writer must remember that it is a marriage between pictures and text. So when the writer writes, he/she must try not to use descriptive words (especially colors and such unless it is extremely important to the story). In addition, the author must leave as much as he/she can (even 50%) to the illustrator, while still telling a satisfying story. For example, I might write Sniff searched underneath the apple tree. Bonk! “Ouch!” said Sniff. And that would allow the illustrator to draw an apple falling down toward Sniff and hitting him on the head and bouncing off, which words wouldn’t be needed in the text. That’s where the illustrator is telling his part of the story. For a complete 32-page picture book, the writer should make certain that he/she has 14 good spreads to work with. So although the writer is not the illustrator, making a story board of what would happen on each spread is an important part of the process. Once the story is all settled and works seamlessly, I fine tune things like word choices and tighten word count. I probably revise each picture book 10-20 times, many times with the help of one of my critique groups for feedback.


What is Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten about (besides the obvious of a hedgehog going to kindergarten!)


It is actually about a nervous little hedgehog on his WAY to kindergarten. But the bigger theme is to keep trying even when it seems like things aren’t working out. If you give up, you certainly won’t find a solution, but if you keep moving on, sometimes the solution will present itself. And even then, you may have to take a deep breath and come out of your shell…but that’s how the payoff comes.

What is your favorite genre to read? What is your favorite book in this genre?

As far as Picture Books…

I love reading picture books and usually read a picture book a day. I like a wide variety of picture books, probably mostly anthropomorphic characters, but usually unique and with humor or heart a WOW factor. Every week I think Kayla and I change our favorite book because we read so many, but this week our favorite re-read is DESERT ROSE AND THE HIGHFALUTIN’ HOG by Alison Jackson. It’s a Southwestern retelling of a familiar folktale and the language in this one is just fun, fun, fun!! It tickled our tailfeathers --we could read it 100 times!

As far as MG/YA…

I always love something that can make me laugh. And although I don’t like to cry, I think I have great respect for a book that can make me laugh AND cry. I absolutely love books that I wouldn’t expect to like because of the topic, and love nonetheless. Like “The Hunger Games Trilogy” for example. There’s nothing about the “topic” of those books that would ever interest me and yet, I was hooked from the first chapter of the first book and plowed through them all. However, that’s where voice, character, universal truth, theme, compelling story, tactful humor, grace, etc., all come into play.

If you could have dinner with any two characters from a book, who would it be and why? What type of food would be served?


I would love to choose someone lofty, but Alice and the Mad Hatter are STUCK in my mind and they have been since I was a child! Because there would be so much fun and frivolity and nonsense and I think there is so little of that in the world. I liked that. Of course, cupcakes and tea would be served.


And I do so LOVE looking at cupcakes and frostings and sprinkles (they are a beauty to behold) and a table with mismatched china! I even had an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party for my daughter’s fifth birthday, where I went around to antique shops and bought one place setting of each tea cup!


What are your favorite things to do besides read and write?


Take pictures, taking notes and traveling! I absolutely LOVE to travel and experience new people, places, things and events. And of course, in the cracks of that, I find so many wonderful things to write about! And it’s funny when you travel to a new place or meet a new person, or touch or experience a new thing, it’s often not the big picture, but one little detail from which the story springs forth. That’s where the taking pictures and taking notes comes in hand. So you don’t miss the little details.


I love to travel too, there is nothing like being in a new place and getting the opportunity to meet people who come from a culture different from your own (and than realizing you similarities). I need to slow down more and take in the little details because I tend to miss those (a small part of why I'm not a writer).

Lynne, you must invite me to your next Alice in Wonderland themed tea party! I agree, we need more harmless frivolity in the world. And the sight of a table set for tea presents such a lovely picture. One day I want to attend a tea party :) (NOT the political event).

Thank you so much for the interview Lynne! Everyone be sure to keep your eyes out for Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten and visit My Word Playground

New Crayons, BBAW Registration & Blogoversary Prep

New Crayons is a meme created and hosted by Color Online

In New Crayons I share what new books I got this week, crayons being a good metaphor for multicultural literature.

Quick Blogoversary Update: I want to have one guest post a week, but this could change depending on how many I get. Let me know if you're interested and try and submit before July ends. Thank you :) Also my actual blogoversary is July 4th and I want to have a giveaway a week so if anyone wants to donate prizes, leave a comment or help me. Thanks!

This week I got....

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When (The Snipesville Chronicles, Book 1) by Annette Laing

What a nightmare.
Hannah Dias, California Girl with attitude, and Alex, her laid-back brother, have moved from exciting San Francisco to boring Snipesville, Georgia. Life doesn't improve when they meet Brandon, a dorky kid who is plotting his escape from the Deep South, and the weird Professor, who has a strange secret.
Suddenly, the kids are catapulted thousands of miles and almost seventy years to England during World War Two.
They fall into a world of stinging nettles, dragon ladies, bomb blasts, ugly underwear, stinky sandwiches, painful punishments, and non-absorbing toilet paper. They learn so much more than they could ever learn in a history class. Not that they want to learn it. But they can't go home unless they find George Braithwaite, whoever he is, and whatever it is that he has to do with Snipesville.

-From the author, thank you Annette! Charlotte from Charlotte's Library really liked this book and that helped me decide to give it a try. Based on her review and a few others, it sounds like this book talks about being Black during WWII and being Portuguese (a bit random but who cares!). Plus time travel is always cool :)

Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong

When you're so skinny people call you Skeleton Boy, how do you find strength for the fight of your life?

Twelve-year-old Vonlai knows that soldiers who guard the Mekong River shoot at anything that moves, but in oppressive Communist Laos, there's nothing left for him, his spirited sister, Dalah, and his desperate parents. Their only hope is a refugee camp in Thailand—on the other side of the river.

When they reach the camp, their struggles are far from over. Na Pho is a forgotten place where life consists of squalid huts, stifling heat, and rationed food. Still, Vonlai tries to carry on as if everything is normal. He pays attention in school, a dusty barrack overcrowded with kids too hungry to learn. And, to forget his empty stomach, he plays soccer in a field full of rocks. But when someone inside the camp threatens his family, Vonlai calls on a forbidden skill to protect their future—a future he's sure is full of promise, if only they can make it out of Na Pho alive.

In her compelling debut, Laura Manivong has written an evocative story that is vividly real, strongly affecting, and, at its heart, about hope that resonates in even the darkest moments.

-My review. Thank you so much Laura!

Moonshine by Alaya Johnson

Imagining vampires at the heart of the social struggles of 1920s, Moonshine blends a tempestuous romance with dramatic historical fiction, populated by a lively mythology inhabiting the gritty New York City streets

Zephyr Hollis is an underfed, overzealous social activist who teaches night school to the underprivileged of the Lower East Side. Strapped for cash, Zephyr agrees to help a student, the mysterious Amir, who proposes she use her charity worker cover to bring down a notorious vampire mob boss. What he doesn’t tell her is why. Soon enough she’s tutoring a child criminal with an angelic voice, dodging vampires high on a new blood-based street drug, and trying to determine the real reason behind Amir’s request—not to mention attempting to resist his dark, inhuman charm.

-This will be my first reviewed vampire book. It might quite possibly have the coolest setting every: NYC in the 1920s (if the Harlem Renaissance is mentioned I may pass out, haha). So 1920s, New York City, social activism and vampires. For the win! I won a copy =) Thank you so much Terri from Brown Girl Book Speak and Ms. Johnson for hosting this giveaway!

The Agency 2: The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee

Mary Quinn is back, now a trusted member of the Agency, the all female detective unit operating out of Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. Her new assignment sends her into the grimy underbelly of Victorian London dressed as a poor boy, evoking her own childhood memories of fear, hunger, and constant want. As she insinuates herself into the confidence of several persons of interest, she encounters others in desperate situations and struggles to make a difference without exposing —or losing —her identity. Mary’s adventure, which takes place on the building site of the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, offers a fictional window into a fascinating historical time and place.

-I love this series. I love the blog tour. I love the author. 'Nuff said. I can't wait to start reading this book! Received for the blog tour. Thank you Candlewick!

Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15, 000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture by Thomas Chatteron Williams

Into Williams's childhood home-a one-story ranch house-his father crammed more books than the local library could hold. "Pappy" used some of these volumes to run an academic prep service; the rest he used in his unending pursuit of wisdom. His son's pursuits were quite different-"money, hoes, and clothes." The teenage Williams wore Medusa- faced Versace sunglasses and a hefty gold medallion, dumbed down and thugged up his speech, and did whatever else he could to fit into the intoxicating hip-hop culture that surrounded him. Like all his friends, he knew exactly where he was the day Biggie Smalls died, he could recite the lyrics to any Nas or Tupac song, and he kept his woman in line, with force if necessary.

But Pappy, who grew up in the segregated South and hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato, had a different destiny in mind for his son. For years, Williams managed to juggle two disparate lifestyles- "keeping it real" in his friends' eyes and studying for the SATs under his father's strict tutelage. As college approached and the stakes of the thug lifestyle escalated, the revolving door between Williams's street life and home life threatened to spin out of control. Ultimately, Williams would have to decide between hip-hop and his future. Would he choose "street dreams" or a radically different dream- the one Martin Luther King spoke of or the one Pappy held out to him now?

-Kathy from the Brain Lair sent this book to me when we were talking about my Apples, Bananas, Coconuts and Oreos post (aka The Food Post, lol) because it addresses similar topics that I was talking about. However I do want to make something clear: I love hip hop. I know some of the lyrics can be misogynistic, but I love the beats and the clever wordplay. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake, Eminem, T.I., B.o.B, Nas, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Travie McCoy. These are some of my favorite artists, and while they curse and aren't always positive, for the most part they aren't too misogynistic. So honestly, I'm not too sure if I'll ever stop listening to hip hop but I don't think that's what this book is calling for anyway. I do abhor the saggin' pants, dealing drugs, smoking, etc. lifestyle that some artists celebrate with their songs. All that being said, I'm really eager to read this book and it will get a full review since it's a memoir. Thank you Kathy!

What books did you get this week? Any POC ones?

Reading in Color News

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is September 13-17. I didn't get to participate as much last year but I did a meme, wrote a guest post (this was two months after I started my blog so the post may sound a little rough. I'm too scared to read it again. lol) and was nominated for a few things so I had a lot of fun :D There are guest posts, memes, giveaways and much more. I highly encourage everyone to register to participate in all the activities! Also if you register you can nominate a book for best General Fiction, Best Kids Book, Best YA Book, Best Cultural Book, etc. You don't want to miss out on making your voice heard (psst if we get some POC nominations in there that would be super awesome too. But nominate the best books you've read, don't just nominate them because they are POC). Register ends July 7th.

I finally registered although I wish that you didn't have to nominate yourself for categories, it makes me silly for even entertaining the notion. Oh well. Also, if you have to nominate yourself I wish that you could nominate yourself for multiple categories, I couldn't decide if my blog was cultural or eclectic. I ended up going with cultural.

So here are my 5 posts for Best Cultural Blog (It was quite difficult to narrow it down, it too me FOREVER to pick one review!)

There Are No POC in History

An Open Letter to Bloomsbury Kids USA. Other Publishing Companies Take Note

February=Time to Show We Love and Understand Black People

The Food Essay

Bleeding Violet Review

Then for the fun of it, I decided to go for Best Author Interviews. I had to include 4 interviews and one other post of my choice.

Interview with Lyn Miller Lachmann

Mini Interview with Jessica Leader

Interview with Dia Reeves

Interview with Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich

Eighth Grade Superzero Review

I appreciate feedback on my posts that I selected, but keep in mind that it's too late for me to change it.

Hispanic Heritage Month Starts Tomorrow! BBAW Starts Today :)

No Male Monday post today because I haven't started Marcelo in the Real World or gone to the library for more books with a male main character :(

Hispanic Heritage Month starts tomorrow Sept. 15 and goes till Oct. 15. I'm going to try and have a book review up at least once a week with a Latino/a protagonist. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to post my review of Rogelia's House of Magic. Also my my next couple of giveaways (excluding the one that will start tomorrow) will be YA books with a Latina/o main character.

Throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, Bronzeword Latino Press ( I guest-blogged for them!) will give away a book every week with a Latino/a protag. All you have to do is review a book with a Hispanic main character or you can just do a post about one (like a Waiting on Wednesday post). I love the idea and I'm definitely going to try and participate! For more details, go here

BBAW started today! I'm going to try and participate in all the memes and posts. Also be on the lookout for my guest post!

Also, I received this email and I wanted to share the information with all of you (I just copied and pasted the email).

All across the nation, many Friends of the Library organizations hold book sales that feature cheap books that were either donated or removed from circulation. Typically these sales sell books, CDs, magazines, and DvD's for rock bottom prices. A typical sale will sell most of their items for under 3 dollars.

Being charity organizations, these Friends of the Library organizations often have limited resources to advertise and promote their sales. As such, many people are never made aware of the excellent deals they are missing within their own communities. That's where booksalemanager.com comes ins. We are attempting to bridge the gap between Organizations looking to more effectively advertise their sale, and people looking to find more places to get good deals on books and media.

Friends of the Library organizations and other non-profit groups can freely advertise their sale on our site. Our site currently has 2500 active listings, and we have been adding over 100 everyday.

People looking to find sales can use our powerful search tools to find these sales. They can search by state, zip code, sale size, and date ranged. Furthermore, people can create an account and save sales to their calendar to help them better track the sales they want to go to. You can also sign up for notifications to be emailed when a new sale in your area is listed, or a reminder email a few days before the sales on your calendar so you don’t ever miss a sale you want to attend.

I believe book sales are a great way to find bargain books and media while at the same time supporting the local libraries and non profits we all know and love. It's a total win-win.

Finally, my Gringolandia contest ends tonight at 11:59 PM! What are you waiting for? Go enter!

BBAW Nominations, BBAW Meme & No New Crayons

Yet another week of no new crayons (but I did get all 3 Gallagher Girl series books that I won in a contest from Cecilia!)

I just wanted to thank everyone and anyone who nominated me for BBAW Week.
I got nominated for

1. Best YA Blog-First reaction: Mouth open in shock. Too cool. There are so many great YA blogs out there, just the fact that I got nominated is amazing. I'm honored to even be in the same category as some other really great YA blogs.

2. Best Cultural Review-First Reaction: Wow. I think I do decent cultural reviews, but not the best. I'm so pleased to be nominated and I like how BBAW has this category this year.

3. Best New Blog-First reaction: I'm really new. My blog is a baby still, about to be two months old! I can't believe people think my blog is doing such a good job to be nominated. I always thought of to be nominated in this category too.

Congrats to everyone who got nominated! Good luck :)

Now for a BBAW Meme

1) What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?
My answer is pretty similar to all other new bloggers out there. Meeting so many people via cyberspace! I've talked to authors, fellow bloggers and fellow book lovers. If you had asked me last year or even six months ago if I planned on starting a blog, I would have laughed and said no. Laughed because I didn't think I had the talent or skill to start one. Well, now I think I'm getting there, becoming a better blogger. Also I've learned so many new things about books, publishing, people and technology!

2) What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you or inspiring you?

Oh my. So many great people. Big, big hug to Susan at Color Online. She was a huge help. Answering all my annoying little questions, posting about me on her blog (I'm sure I owe at large number of my followers to you!), giving me lists of books to read when I didn't really know where to start. She never missed a post to comment on, emailing and commenting with suggestions and advice.

Doret at the HappyNappy Bookseller. She also answered all my annoying questions, gave me book titles and helped get the word out about my blog. She was one of my earliest commenters. Always there (along with Susan) with advice. I view Doret and Susan as my godmothers and they are my inspirations.

Justine Larbalestier. She gave me lots of exposure when she asked me to write a guest-post for her blog. I'm pretty sure that I got half of my followers from the two posts I did for her! Justine is also an inspiration because she really helped bring attention to the lack of faces of people of color on YA book covers. She brought much needed attention to this issue and if it weren't for her, a large number of people may have gone on thinking there was no issue, there was nothing wrong or amiss about the lack of colorful faces on YA covers.

Zetta. She sent me my first review copy and has contacted numerous authors on my behalf. Zetta you rock! I loved A Wish After Midnight, and I'm pretty sure if it weren't for my blog, I wouldn't have ever heard of AWAM which would have been a real shame.

Last, but not least all teens of color out there are my inspiration. I do what I do because I want all teens of color out there to see themselves in books. I want them to know that they aren't alone in searching for books about people who look like them, I too am searching. I want to spotlight new up and coming authors of color writing for us teens. I want to create a change, to show the publishing companies that we want to see more YA books about people of color with colorful faces on the cover! I hope other teen book bloggers join me in reading and reviewing more books about people of color, we especially need more teens of color to be blogging!

Other wonderful people who've helped me; Tashi at Taste Life Twice (it's nice to see another black teen blogger and your blog is so fun! I love your posts, they are thoughtful and funny), Cecilia at the epic rat (You were the first teen book blogger to spotlight me and I so appreciate it! Also I love your creativity), Jessica at Eat, Sleep, Dance Read (for being the first teen book blogger to add me to her blogroll! Also your book blog was the first one I ever went to because the title basically summed up my life.), Shalonda (You've been so encouraging!), Steph Su (I just love your blog. I really, really do! And you were one of the first teen book bloggers to post about my first contest.) and so many other people, Thank You!

3) What is one question you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year can answer?
I really don't know what to ask. To be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly sure as to what goes on during BBAW week. So I guess I would ask, what activities should I participate in, all of them?

Have a great back to school all fellow teens who blog and adults try not to act too eager to see us go back to school so we can get out of your hair (this mostly applies to adults with little kids, but I know my parents were excited that I was back in school so there may be other parents out there like that!)