Welcome to Litsy!

This is a collection of middle grade short stories dealing with diversity from a group of well known YA authors. I read it for my book club where I teach--I especially liked the stories by Jacqueline Woodson, Tim Federle, Soman Chainani and Kwame Alexander. Easily readable in one sitting.⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

October Wrap-Up

I read some great books in October! My favorites were

*The Belles
*Three Sides of a Heart
*Anne of Green Gables Graphic Novel
*Illegal
*The Haunting of Hill House
*An Easy Death
*The Hollow of Fear
*Here We Are
*Flying Lessons

What were your favorites reads in October?

#wrapup #october #octoberwrapup #octoberreads

A great story collection with some of my favorite writers: Walter Dean Myers, Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson.

I loved this collection of short stories about diverse characters. I would highly recommend it for every middle grade reader. I‘m not exactly the target audience, but I still found something to love in every story.

Matt de la Peña‘s story of a kid spending a summer playing basketball and navigating a community‘s social structure was great. This quote stuck out to me.

Currently reading!

Cute short stories. I love the We Need Diverse Books campaign and this book is a great outcome of it. Kids from different backgrounds and their stories!

Fantastic anthology! Such a wide range of representation but the stories all fit together through a depth of voice, strength of character, and claim of agency. Secret Samantha was my favorite story...and Flying Lessons...and, well they really are all wonderful. I love solid middle grade and this really is excellent MG writing throughout...the kind of stories that push kids outward and upward.

I'm not good at reading short story collections. I take long breaks because of the lack of story continuity. Nevertheless, I liked all of these stories! They had lots of heart and bonus that they were diverse stories. I listened to the audio version, which had different narrators for each story. I can see myself teaching some of these at some point. #teachersoflitsy

Amazing. I fell in love with all the characters and stories that represented so many cultures and types of people. I even wish some of them were books! Loved it.

What, don't you match your bookmark to your reading material? 🙃 #WNDB

#greatdedication
#riotgrams

Ellen Oh is the co-founder of We Need Diverse Books and editor of this short story collection.

All the stories were great!

Almost done with this collection of short stories by an amazing line-up of authors. I can't wait to recommend this to my students! Yay for We Need Diverse Books!!!

#waitingroom at the tire place. There's a nail in my tire! 😖

Sean and I have moved on to this. By the end of the first story by Matt de la Pena, I was crying. Sean was confused. Oh well. It was a beautiful story. I'm thankful it was staring at me at the library this weekend.

Outstanding collection with so many amazing stories! Matt de la Pena and Walter Dean Myers bookend it with two of the best shorts I've read for ages, but there's not a weak link in this wonderful anthology - and such variety in characters and stories! Special mention to contest winner Kelly J Baptist, whose story absolutely holds up against the more experienced and better known authors here. A definite must read!

At home this is everyone's favorite reading place.

I also read at the Fire station when I work out. Since I work for the city (at the library) I can also use the firefighter's/paramedic's gym. I'm sure they do work out, but I almost always have the gym to myself!

#whereiread
#riotgrams

My TBR shelf for Day 1 of #feistyfeb. I guess this works for the shelfie for #riotgram too.

Great book mail today! A collection of middle grade stories written by diverse #ownvoices authors. My department is discussing #ownvoices titles next week at our Reader's Advisory meeting so this fits perfectly! #weneeddiversebooks

Current view as I curl up against @BookishMarginalia

from Matt de la Peña's "How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium."

These are the people who just reminded me that short stories can be incredibly satisfying.

Happy Friday everyone!
Speaking of happy, look what's available for pre-order! Yay!
Look at those names! All amazing writers in one book. I can't wait! #WeNeedDiverseBooks