Completely Full Bookshelf

For #IMWAYR, I am recommending The Perks of Being a Wallflower  by Stephen Chbosky. A word of caution to any young readers: this book is a YA (young adult) novel, not an MG (middle grade) novel and contains quite a bit of mature content. Cover of the movie tie-in edition           Published in 1999, The Perks of Being a Wallflower  was the debut novel by Stephen Chbosky and remains one of just two books he has written in his career, which has largely been dedicated to movies and television (he actually wrote and directed the movie adaptation of this very book). Written in epistolary form,  The Perks of Being a Wallflower  is a series of letters written in 1991 and 1992 to an anonymous recipient by a high school freshman named Charlie. Charlie's stay-in-the-background nature and unidentified mental health issues are not exactly the keys to high school success, but he is fortunate enough to befriend two seniors who are step-brother a...

Before we get started, the winners of the 2020 Books by Black Voices Giveaway have been selected! First of all, I am so excited to announce that 17 people entered in the giveaway! That is about twice as many as normally enter, and I'm so glad that so many people are looking to broaden their horizons and perspectives with these books! The books with the most entrants were Genesis Begins Again  and New Kid , so I gave away two copies of those, but I also decided to give away two copies of The Hate U Give , as that had many entrants as well. I gave away one copy of Brown Girl Dreaming . The winners of the two copies of Genesis Begins Again  are... Danielle     and     Kellee! The winners of the two copies of New Kid  are... Beth     and     Elisabeth! The winners of the two copies of The Hate U Give  are... Faith     and     Rio! Finally, the winner of the copy of Brown Girl Dreaming  is... Linda! Cong...

Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that (if you're reading this on Monday) today is the last day to enter the 2020 Books by Black Voices Giveaway! Click here to see the giveaway details and enter the giveaway. A few days ago, I saw that Joanne R. Fritz at My Brain on Books had just read and enjoyed Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. This book has been sitting on my shelves for a while now, and since I'm trying to spotlight more books by Black authors on this blog, I decided to read it (which did not take long) and review it!           Long Way Down is extremely different from most novels, because it is written in verse that barely covers 25% of each page, making it an extremely short and to-the-point read. Long Way Down is narrated by Will, a teenager whose older brother Shawn has been murdered in the street. Will knows that there are three rules everyone in his neighborhood follows: don't cry, don't snitch, and kill whoever kills the people...

In light of the death of George Floyd and the protests against police brutality toward Black people, I have a few things to mention. First, there is no question that people are woefully uninformed about the ways that racism affects Black people (and about the experiences of Black people in general). In order to help spread some knowledge in a way appropriate for this blog, I am holding the 2020 Books by Black Voices Giveaway , in which I will be giving away copies of Brown Girl Dreaming , New Kid , Genesis Begins Again , and The Hate U Give . Details and the entry form are at the bottom of this post. Second, I am recommending one of the books that I am giving away: Genesis Begins Again  by Alicia D. Williams. The review is below. (This is my second MG book review in a row; I will have a YA review next week, followed by an MG review the next week to resume my alternating schedule.) Finally, I highly encourage you to donate to Black Lives Matter , Color of Change , Campaign Zero ...