Diversify Your Reading

Diversity in YA has a Diversify Your Reading Challenge going on and there’s lots of fabulous prizes to be won.

The rules for readers and book bloggers are:

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. Our favorite blog posts may be re-posted on http://www.diversityinya.com later this year.

They have suggestions, which include their own monthly lists of new books released and a link to Black Teen Read‘s book lists, and prizes like Wildefire by Karston Knight and Ash by Malinda Lo. Deadline to enter is September 1.

I just requested Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger because I saw her on the Diversity in YA panel and because of this post An Equal Place at the Table over at The YA YA YAs

I was clear at the onset that I wanted to write a light, fun, contemporary novel featuring South Asian teens. I didn’t want to focus on the identity of my characters, but I didn’t want to ignore it either. I wanted to place my story smack dab in the middle of popular culture, and I wanted to create a world that consisted of teens from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

And while I was trolling the internet I found this other challenge that has been going on for a while, with monthly prizes. Check out the FAQ for info about how it works.

Both require you to sign up and link your reviews.