September, October Winners

Should I just stop apologizing? I can't... I am very very sorry that it has taken me so long to post winners. Also if you won a book and haven't received an email from me, please go ahead and email me yourself! I check my email everyday so I will follow up. It's just increasingly difficult for me to remember to email the winners first.

September: BURIED IN PRINT!

Akoss @ Fantasy Pen!

October: April from Good Books & Good Wine!

Shannon from Reading Has a Purpose!

Congratulations winners! If you do not hear from me within 48 hours feel free to email me. I look forward to the holidays when I can take the time to not only read but COMMENT on many of the great reviews I've seen and read.

August 2011 Winners!

*Ducks head in shame* I can't even find the words to apologize for how long this took me to post :0 But more importantly, here are ze winners!

A.J! from Collections, the random review was Invisible Touch by Kelly Parra. I've read the book too and I agree 100% with her thoughts about the ending and the blog entries

Sidne! from Reading Rendezvous Reviews and the highlighted review from her blog is Leading Lady of Rap by Torri L. Holmes, I like the tagline of the novel "Not a video vixen" story

Winners email me with your addresses and which book you've chosen from the prize list

Keep on keeping on!

July Winners

Brandy from Books, Books 'N More Books who reviewed the second book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (which is one of my personal favorite series'), Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

and

Tea from Book Page! Tea reviewed If Sons Then Heirs by Lorene Cary

Congratulations winners (email me if you don't hear from me in 48 hours) and I'm enjoying reading through as many reviews as I can :) And past winners be sure you let me know when your books have arrived

May Winners & A Giveaway for Diversifying Your Reading

Extra late as always, I just ask for your continued patience. I'm going to try and be on top of things during the summer to regain my good habits :)

Our May winners....


Sylvia from What If Books Etc reviewed White Cat by Holly Black

Chelle from The Prairie Library who reviewed The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, related by Herself, edited by Moira Ferguson

Congratulations winners, I will email you shortly (promise :D) Happy summer reading everyone!!

Remember the Diversity in YA tours? Hopefully you were able to attend. The founders of Diversity in YA, Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon have created a challenge for the summer to encourage people to read more diverse YA/MG. You can read as many books as you want, all you have to do as a book blogger or reader is list the books you read and write a 500-word essay (at least) on your experience. But wait there's more! If you spread the word on the challenge you will be entered into the ARC giveaway. The Spread the Word giveaway ends July 31, the actual challenge ends September 1. Go here for more info

Libraries: We invite librarians to incorporate diverse middle grade and young adult novels into your summer reading programs, whether it’s as a book display, a book club event, or a book list you’ve created to share with your patrons. Please take photos or shoot video of your display or event and share them with us!

Readers and Book Bloggers: We invite readers and book bloggers to read diverse MG and YA books throughout the summer (you choose the books!) and write an essay (at least 500 words) about your experience. You can post it on your website, Blogger, LiveJournal, Tumblr, or on Facebook; we only ask that your post be publicly readable

April Winners (Lateness is the Norm)

Yeah so this winners post is also ridiculously late. But I'm trying to be proactive and mail everyone's prizes out by June 4th at the very latest (because yes I still haven't mailed the March winners books. I am really sorry!).

The winners.....

Charlotte! of Charlotte's Library fame, her chosen (by Random.org) review was Freedom Stone

Myra! well known for her being part of the group that runs the blog Gathering Books, the review chosen was for three animal themed picture-books, translated from French and written by Suzy Lee

Congratulations winners and everyone please keep those reviews coming! Winners you can mail me right away or wait until I email you (in about a day or so).

Happy reading :D

March Winners! (Super Ridiculously Late)

On a Pale Star (Jessica) For her review of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemison The Book Memoirs (Elle) ! For her review of What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez

I am so sorry that this got posted ridiculously late. Junior year, second semester is a crazy year. Anyway I also wanted to check in and make sure everyone has received their prizes so far. If not please email me and I will do my best to track it down.

Winners will be emailed within 48 hours.

Feb. winners!

Keyona from Only Sexy Books Allowed! Her chosen (by Random.org) review was of Hidden by Tomas Mourian (and wow that book sounds majorly intense)

and....

Emily from The Book Eater! Her chosen review was Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid (I read Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid and I wasn't a big fan but I think that's because I didn't savor the book as I should have. Regardless, Jamaica Kincaid does have in the truest sense of the word 'lyrical' prose).

Congratulations winners (I'll be emailing you shortly) and take heart if you didn't win, we've got 10 more months to go =D

January 2011 Winners

This year we have so many fabulous books to offer, we (Pam, Katy and I) decided to to have two winners, every month (which makes your chances for winning a prize pretty good). I am seriously jealous over all the books you guys get to chose from (but I don't envy your having to choose, I could never pick just one ;)

The winners are....

Dusky Literati for her review of Zora and Me
Shan from Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea for After Tehran: A Life Remained
Congratulations winners! I will try my hardest to email you within 48 hours, but feel free to email me first.

THE Winners!

We have four winners, each one gets a $25 book giftcard. I'm jealous :D

Christina

Muse

The Dirigible Plum

Katy

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all those who participated and wrote wrap-up posts. I had a great time reading them all (and even got a little choked up, no lie) and I highly encourage everyone to read them. It's amazing to read about people who went from only reading 1-3 books about poc to 15!

Happy, happy Martin Luther King Day!

My favorite quote of his that ends up applying quite well to this challenge: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Winners you can email me or wait till I contact you (which should be in about 36 hours). Congratulations!!

December winner + Grand Prize Giftcards

Our December and last (but surely not least) winner for December is

Tarie!!

The review chosen was Tarie's Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerjii. I detest pigeons but Tarie claims the author makes birds fascinating....

Tarie, feel free to email me or you can wait for me to email you in about 48 hours. Everyone else, thank you so much for entering the poc reading challenge! It means a lot to me personally that so many people supported this challenge and I'm honored (and ecstatic) to be a part of it.

If you didn't win in 2010, cheer up not only could you win in 2011 by signing up to do the challenge again but you could 1 of our 4 grand prizes! Thanks to the amazing Carol at RiF (Reading is Fundamental) we have four giftcards. 2 for Borders and 2 for Barnes & Noble, each one is worth $25. I don't know how we are going to top that in 2011, but ah well :)

To win all you have to do is WRITE YOUR WRAP UP POST. And don't forget to link it up here. I really want to see if people met their goal, exceeded it or maybe need to do a bit better. So help me out. I'm giving everyone about a week (because I'm nice and I have finals next week haha) so please, please have your post written and linked up by January 14th 11:59 PM CT.

Oh and I love getting emails letting me know you received your prize (if you haven't emailed me already). Just sayin ;)

November Winner! (Did YOU get your prize?)

Niranjana you won for the month of November!! Congratulations :)

If you can, please email me within the next 48 hours with your address and book of choice from the prize list

Niranjana's chosen review was of Writing the New Toronto, a collection of short, diverse stories by some great authors.

In addition, as you know, the year is almost over and so is this challenge. I will NOT be tracking down prizes from 2010 in 2011. So if you still haven't received your prize, PLEASE let me know ASAP. I want everyone who won to get a prize, but I also don't have time to keep searching for prizes well into the new year. Email me or leave a comment if you didn't receive your prize.

And if you haven't won yet, start brainstorming your wrap-up posts. Those are the posts the grand winners will be chosen from.

I will see ya'll in 2011 to announce December and grand prize winners! Have a happy holidays and fabulous new year =D

October Winnah! + Holiday Book Buying

The October winner is the Englishist!

Her chosen review was in honor of Banned Books Week. Life is Funny by E.R. Frank. Let's just say it doesn't sound funny, but Akilah assures us that it does have its funny moments. Read her review here

Congratulations Akilah, I will be emailing you shortly :)

Also, as the holidays are fast approaching, I would love to read lots of 'best of' book lists and holiday book buying guides with a poc theme. So if you create one, please leave a link here (I'm thinking I'm going to buy a book for everyone in my family even if that's not what they want, haha).

September Winner!

I hope everyone is enjoying fall (I think I'm with the majority here in saying that it's my favorite season). It's the perfect time to curl up with a new book. And who is winning a free book to curl up with this month?....

Melissa at Book Nut!

Melissa's lucky review was of Mare's War by Tanita Davis

Congratulations Melissa :) I will be emailing you shortly.

Everyone else, keep linking up those reviews! As we near the end of the year, get ready for the chance to win our 'big' prizes =D

Till next month

August Winner! (Much Belated, Sorry)

Whoa guys we need to do better with posting our reviews! There was only 18 in August :(

Now that the lecture is over, I'm pleased to announce the winner for the month of August is....

Feminist Texican! From Feminist Texican [Reads]

The review selected was Feminist Texican's review of Malinche by Laura Esquivel. Congratulations on winning and everyone else, keep posting those reviews!

My apologies x1000000 for taking so long to post the winner!

And I'm presuming everyone who has won a prize has received it by now.

July ganador (I think that means winner?)!

I know, I know this post is super-late. I apologize. Anyway the July monthly winner is...

Lawral at Lucy Was Robbed!

Congrats Lawral :) Please email me within 48 hours with your mailing address and what you want from the Prize List

Random.org picked Lawral's review of Gringolandia. That book is stunning and I highly recommend that everyone read it. Very nice review.

I'm loving all the reviews that are being linked to and I've discovered some new books to add to my TBR list. Which is both good and bad.

Have a great August!

PS Does ganador mean winner? I suppose I could just Google it...

June Winner + Prize Check In

The June monthly winner is...

Helen from Helen's Book Blog!

The review picked by Random.org was Helen's review of Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny, Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam by Zainab Salbi. It sounds like a fascinating read, be sure you check out the review.

I'll be emailing you shortly Helen (or if you see this before I email, you can email me) and you'll have 48 hours to get back to me :)


If you've won a prize in the past six months and haven't received it yet please let me know! You can leave a comment or email me. I want to be sure everyone has gotten their prize before the summer is over.

Also the Bottom of Heaven Roundtable Discussion of The Bluest Eye is almost over but you can read all the posts here

Happy reading!

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.

April Review Monthly Winner!

The April monthly reviews were excellent, a wide varity of books. I love visitng new blogs and reading their reviews, I've discovered some great new blogs :) Remember, if you visit the reviews and comment on them, you could win a prize at the end of the challenge.

Whaddya think of my new winner picture? I got bored with the last one so I decided to switch it up.

Anyhoo, the winner is....

Tea from I Love To Read

Yay! The review picked by random.org was Tea's review of Stigmata by Phyllis Perry Stop by Tea's blog and check out her other reviews.

Tea you have 48 hours to email me before I pick another winner. Please email me your mailing address and your choice of a book from the Prize List.

Also, I was thinking that it may be hard at the end of the year to pick one winner for commenting on the most reviews (thougthful comments not just 'good review'). So I'm looking for your thoughts on this, after all one of you could win the prize. The prize is a $25 bookstore of your choice giftcard. Should we have nominations, people could leave the names of people who have visited their reviews the most? Or something similar that rewards frequent commentors. OR should I (we) think of a different way to win at the end of the challenge?

Leave a comment with suggestions.

National Poetry Month Mini-Challenge Winners

So, I threw down the gauntlet in the last two weeks of April and challenged POC Reading Challenge participants to celebrate National Poetry Month by posting about poets of color. I know, it was last minute, but we got several really interesting posts out of it! Click here to check out the participating posts.

I also decided to award two participants with a book written by a poet of color. Here are my randomly-chosen winners and the posts that earned them a book of poetry:

Entry #2 - Jess at Stone-Bow wrote up a list of some of her favorite poets of color and provided links for more information on their work. Jess chose The Book of Light by Lucille Clifton as her prize.

Entry #6 - Karen at GHHS Library wrote up a post about Marilyn Nelson's verse biographies, which sound like really interesting books. Karen chose Burnt Sugar: Contemporary Cuban Poetry in English and Spanish as her prize.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated! I really enjoyed learning more about the fantastic poetry written by persons of color.

March Winner!

Some great reviews throughout March. Remember, if you visit the reviews and comment on them, you could win a prize at the end of the challenge.


The monthly March winner as chosen by random.org is....

Jessica at the Stone-Bow!

Her chosen review was of Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

Do check out her blog, the Stone-Bow. She reviews a lot of books, and she's very thorough. She's added many books to my tbr pile.

I will be emailing you shortly. Jessica, you have 48 hours to reply back to my email. Choose what book you want from the Prize List

Congrats Jessica and to all past winners! Keep reading and reviewing (and link them up for a chance to win!)