New Crayons + A Question on Review Contact (Editors vs. Authors)

New Crayons is a meme started by Color Online.

Reading in Color in Review

Male Monday: Borderline by Allan Stratton (release date Mar. 9)
Tuesday: Movie Casting of Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
Waiting on Wednesday: Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong (release date Mar. 9th)
Thursday: Nada
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Review of The Agency: a Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee, Book 1 (release date Mar. 9), Y.S. Lee Guest Post on Victorian England not being lily-white

I was feeling sad over getting no books last week so I bought this one :)


Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Sephy is a Cross - a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a nought - a -colourless- member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood. But that-s as far as it can go. Until the first steps are taken towards more social equality and a limited number of Noughts are allowed into Cross schools- Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity by Noughts, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum - a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger.

-Reverse racial prejudice. Sounds really interesting and my sister already read it and loved it!

Question For Authors & Editors

This is something that I've been wondering about. After I write a review and I want to share it with the author but I've been asked to review it for a publishing house, does it reach both parties? Does the editor pass a review onto the author? Or if you email an author do they pass it onto their editor? In short, should a review be emailed to author and editor or only one? Which do authors and editors prefer? Fellow bloggers what do you do?

Waiting on Wednesday: Toads and Diamonds + Need Some Diverse Publishing Company YA/MG Books!

Waiting on Wednesday is the wonderful idea of Jill at Breaking the Spine. In Waiting on Wednesday we book bloggers share what books we can't wait for :)

This week I'm waiting on


Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
Macmillan

Release Date: March 30, 2010

Diribani never expected to meet a goddess at the village well, much less one who grants her a remarkable gift: flowers and precious jewels drop from her lips whenever she talks. Tana is happy for her beloved stepsister, yet when she encounters the goddess, she finds herself speaking snakes and toads. While Diribani’s newfound wealth brings her a prince, Tana is chased out of the village because the province’s governor fears snakes, though thousands are dying of a plague spread by rats. As their fates hang in the balance, each sister struggles to understand her gift. Will it bring her wisdom, good fortune, love . . . or death?

-It sounds like it may be a fairy tale retelling and I want to read more of those. And I LOVE the cover! I think it's really pretty.

You all know about my project to find the most diverse YA/MG publishing company. I will be working with Doret and Laura to find this out but it's a lot of work so I need your help. Please leave a comment telling me the name of a book with a diverse cast published between 2007-2010. Also it would be helpful if you could leave the name of the company (it could be the YA/MG division or the overall company name). Thanks! Oh and vote in my poll, it will be interesting to see if people have a good idea of what the most diverse YA/MG publishing company is.

New Crayons + Negative Review Advice

New Crayons is a meme hosted by susan at Color Online. It's when I discuss what new books I got this weeks, crayons is a good way to describe multicultural lit!

Before we get to book business, I have a question. I recently did a negative review and the author is unhappy with it. I don't personally attack the author in the review, I just give my honest opinion of the book. The author wants me to take down the review, while I realize you want positive publicity for a book, you should also want a honest review of a book. I thought it would be obvious that I review books honest and I blog with integrity, since it's apparently not clear, I changed my review policy to reflect the fact that I will give my honest opinion of a book and I don't write only positive reviews or only negative reviews. I'm curious how do my fellow bloggers handle writing negative reviews? Authors, do you prefer negative reviews to no reviews?

Back to cooler things like books!

From the library (so much for not going in January, in my defense I needed a book for school and the GLBT challenge!)

Orphea Proud by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

HOT ICE

Taboo to the touch

A fire in the cold

That was us

Welcome to a stage, where a soaring painting takes shape before your eyes, a big-booty poet stands at the mike, and there’s a seat right in front, just for you.

This is a place where wise old ladies live and boys act like horses.

This is a vision of love that was crushed and brought back to life.

And this is my story. I’m Orphea Proud. Welcome to the show.

As Orphea, who discovers her sexuality as a lesbian, shares her story, powerful questions of family, prejudice, and identity are explored.

-I'm so eager to read this book thanks Sarah for the recommendation. (ETA: Not Lizzy, sorry for the mix up. Still luv you Lixxy!) I really like the cover too and it sounds awesome so yay!

Received

Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but she can still put in a good stitch. Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things go wrong.

But when Mama goes into labor early and gets deathly ill, it seems like even quilting won’t help. That’s when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic—leave Gee’s Bend for the very first time. Mama needs medicine that can only be found miles away in Camden. But that doesn’t stop Ludelphia. She just puts one foot in front of the other.

What ensues is a wonderful, riveting and sometimes dangerous adventure. Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mother proud, and ends up saving the day for her entire town.

Set in 1932 and inspired by the rich quilting history of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, Leaving Gee’s Bend is a delightful, satisfying story of a young girl facing a brave new world.

-I don't know anything about the quilting history of Gee's Bend and it counts for the 2010 YA/MG Debut Author challenge. Also, I've read mixed reviews of the novel so I'm eager to form my own opinion on it :) Thank you Putnam and Sons

Won

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee

Meet Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, named for two Miss Americas and her mother Chessy's favorite brand of mascara. Chessy teaches the students in her charm school her Seven Select Rules for Young Ladies, but she won't tell Maybe who her real father is -- or protect her from her latest scuzzball boyfriend. So Maybe hitches a ride to California with her friends Hollywood and Thammasat Tantipinichwong Schneider (aka Ted) -- and what she finds there is funny, sad, true, and inspiring . . . vintage Lisa Yee.
-It sounds like a secondary character is a POC. Does anyone know if the main character is a POC (I know the author is)? Anyway, this book sounds good. Thanks Lizzy!

Cool New Link: Diversify Your Reading

ETA 1/25/10: Thank you everyone for the honest and helpful advice! I think I will do negative reviews but I work on not being so harsh and remembering that author's have feelings too (I think I do a good job of that but I can always do better) and their books are very personal. I'd rather do a negative reivew than no review.

Teaser Tuesday & Why The Lack of POC Contests?

As always thanks to MizB for this meme!

"Now my clunky clogs come in handy-because I kick Zeus on his left Adidas under the dining room table. After a few seconds of silence, Caterina realizes that we aren't going to break away from twenty years of covert tradition, not even for our five minutes of fashion footage, so she continues probing with supa-catty questions."
-Catwalk by Deborah Gregory pg. 155

Now for my question. It's the same as a question I posted on my No New Crayons post but there was so much information in that post and I was being random so I decided to ask it again because I really do want to know people's thoughts about this and I'm basically just thinking out loud (or typing out loud!)

Question: Why are there very few (I can think of one right now and it's a challenge!) contests for YA books about people of color? In my case it's due to a sad lack of funds and I don't receive ARCs or anything like that (although from what I've read/seen there don't seem to be a whole lot of ARCS being sent to teens about people of color) so I'm way limited (my contest ends at midnight!). Am I missing something or has anyone else noticed this?

So I got to thinking, what can I do? And I realized I have no idea. I'm very shy about contacting authors/publishing companies because I don't want to seem too rude or forward. I'm certainly not blogging for the free books and I'd be giving them away so it's not so bad, but I just don't know. So authors or my more experienced fellow bloggers is that the way to go? Should I email the authors or the publishing companies or both?

Here's what I was thinking. My birthday is in September and I would love to throw a huge contest with YA books that are ONLY about poc. Ideally I would have at least one book or two books from each culture (Asian, Native American, Latina, African American). It'd be great if I could do multiple packs (like a historical fiction pack, realistic fiction, sci-fi, etc.) or a different culture a week kind of thing. So either I can try to contact authors or publishing companies and if that fails (or even if it succeeds) I can reach out to my fellow bloggers and see if they'd be willing to add a book to the giveaway or offer another idea or something.

Blog Name Change, Voting and a Question

Hey everyone!
So I'm changing my blog name to.............. *drumroll*
Reading in Color
It changes tomorrow. So edit your blogrolls please! Url will be the same.
I hope you like the name, I really do! But if you don't, I hope you continue to visit my blog anyway :D

Also that little Black Blog web awards image I have next to this post, in the right corner? Click on it and vote for me! Thanks!! I am annoyed with the awards though, because they don't have a Book Blog category. There may not be a lot of book blogs for AAs in YA, but there are a pretty good amount of blogs that review books with AAs for adults. So they need a category!

Now for my question: do people prefer Black or African American? I use the two interchangeably, but I know some people find black offensive, or vice versa. Thoughts?