Emily’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2019)

Emily’s comments from the BYL Reading Challenge group.

This one is pretty self-explanatory - any book that is set in a world not our own.

Recommendations:

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison
A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Read a magical story! It can be about witches and wizards, a magic school, or just a story that happens to include elements of magic.

Recommendations:

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Kelly wrote: "Would this be considered STEM? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."

Yes, absolutely!

The Only Good Indian by Stephen Graham Jones is on sale right now - you can get the e-book for just $3.99!

https://amzn.to/3hw2eo1

What is your all-time favorite book? The one you recommend to people the most? The book that changed your life? Read that book this year!

For me it's going to be one of these options:

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Stand - Stephen King
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Watership Down - Richard Adams

What elements say "cozy" to you? Is it an outdoor setting? A fire? A cozy cottage? Pets? Find a cover that feels cozy to you and read that book!

Look for books that have animals on the cover - it can be any animal, including fantastical ones like griffins or unicorns.

Sweet Home Alaska - Carol Estby Dagg (middle grade)
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things - Jenny Lawson
The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones

What is your ideal vacation? Do you like the ocean or the mountains? Camping or a trip to the amusement park? Read a book set where you love to vacation!

Jaws - Peter Benchley
Beach Read - Emily Henry
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bill Bryson
Jurassic Park - Micheal Chrichton

Read some books about girl scientists!

Annihilation - Jeff Vandemeer
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly (middle grade)
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race - Margot Lee Shetterly
the Zoe and Sassafrass series - Asia Citro (early middle grade)
The Atomic Weight of Love - Elizabeth J. Church
Lab Girl - Hope Jahren

Is there a topic you want to learn more about? Read a work of non-fiction this year!

Sapiens: A Graphic History - Yuval Noah Harari
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide - Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary - Simon Winchester
We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler - Russell Freedman (middle grade)

You might need to do some research here, but find out what authors are from your state, town, or region of the country and then pick one to read from!

I live in New Hampshire, so I might read a book by Christopher Golden (MA), Joe Hill (NH), Hilary Monahan (MA), or Jennifer McMahon (VT)

Plays are meant to be watched, but you can absolutely read them too! If you can pair it up with a stage production or adaptation, even better!

A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
Our Town - Thorton Wilder
The Crucible - Arthur Miller

Read something gay in 2021!

Real Queer America - Samantha Allen
Red, White, and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
George - Alex Gino (middle grade)
Gracefully Grayson - Ami Polonsky (middle grade)
Surrender Your Sons - Adam Sass

Kelly wrote: "I'm curious as to how you do your challenge. Do you work your way down the list choosing books as you go? Do you choose books for the whole list first? Do you do each prompt individually or do you ..."

For me, I like to have a few options for each prompt so I can still give into my inner-mood reader. But also, if I realize that a book I read could fit a prompt, I'll count it, even if I'd had something else in mind.

You can combine as much as you want - there are several overlapping prompts. I try to limit myself to 3 combinations. But combine away!

I find music very comforting, so it seems fitting to read a book that has something to do with music!

Grown - Tiffany D. Jackson
Wintersong - S. Jae-Jones
Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly
Marsh Music - Marianna Berkes (picture book)
The First Rule of Punk- Celia C. Pérez (middle grade)

There are so many great adaptations!

Shadow and Bone trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The Duke and I (Bridgerton series) - Julia Quinn
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

I love short stories and always say I'm going to read more of them. So here's a challenge to make to pick up at least one collection!

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America - Ibi Zoboi
Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens - Marieke Nijkamp
Fresh Ink: An Anthology - Lamar Giles
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages - Saundra Mitchell
That Way Madness Lies: 15 of Shakespeare's Most Notable Works Reimagined - Dahlia Adler
Flying Lessons & Other Stories - Ellen Oh

I love to read books written by people of color because it always expands my worldview.

Here are some great options:

The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Opposite of Always - Justin A. Reynolds
The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
Not So Pure and Simple - Lamar Giles
Ghost Squad - Claribel Ortega (middle grade)

Maybe it is the environment, or maybe a human rights issue - there is a book for that!

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History - Elizabeth Kolbert
Girls on the Verge - Sharon Biggs Waller
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix... - Jason Reynolds (upper-middle grade)
Real Queer America - Samantha Allen
From the Desk of Zoe Washington - Janae Marks (middle grade)

There are so many different awards given for books. Here are just a few book award lists to look for:

Newbury Medal (middle grade)
Cybils Awards (picture books, middle grade, and YA)
National book awards
Man Booker Prize
Bram Stoker Award (horror)
Hugo Award (sci-fi/fantasy)