STACKED

books

Integrity, Climate Change, Social Justice, and Other Necessary Facts: A Reading List

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Something I’ve been wanting to do more of is round-up links of interest for older posts we’ve written here at Stacked, as well as older posts you might be interested that Kimberly and I have written elsewhere. Being that we’re on year eight at STACKED, there are so many things we’ve touched upon and dug into, and much of it is perennially interesting.

In the spirit of a US administration bent on the idea of “alternative facts,” denial of climate change, the closing of the investigation into the Flint Water Crisis, and bills meant to restrict access to affordable health care, reproductive choice, and more, it’s hard to want to keep on fighting. It feels like every day is a set of new laws, new proposals, and new stories.

The one place that has been a light — teenagers.

 

A Resource Guide To

 

We’re all aware that Teen Vogue is one of the best journalism sources out there right now, and that’s because they know their audience is smart, savvy, social justice minded teenagers. Teens have been at the forefront of leading marches and protests, and it’s teens who we keep seeing show up again and again to do the work.

I keep trying to find a way to build a booklist that adequately captures what it is teens are thinking and doing, and I realized that we’ve covered so many of these topics here on STACKED That it made a lot more sense to do a big round-up. So here, find yourself big book lists of YA reads covering topics of reproductive rights, social justice, climate change, doing what’s right, truth telling, journalism, and more.

Because the kids? They’re all right. Even in fiction.

And it might be that fiction is where we find the answers that allow us to fight on another day.

Please note: when we changed blog hosting services last summer, some of our older posts got a little weird in their formatting. We’re working on updating those where possible. They’re entirely readable and usable; just sometimes, the images look funny or uneven. Also note that this isn’t comprehensive.

 

 

On Science and Climate Change 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Women’s Rights and Feminism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Journalism, Censorship, and Integrity

 

 

 

  • A guide to talking about tough books with teens. While this focuses on books relating to sexuality, violence, drugs, and more, the same principles are applicable to talking about the current media and political climate (and women’s/queer rights). This might be a post we revisit, with a focus specifically on those arenas.

 

 

 

On Inclusivity/Race & Diversity 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Inclusivity/Queer & LGBTQ Rights and Issues

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • On micraggressions and queer phobia in the public library.

 

 

Disability

 

 

 

Socioeconomic Class 

 

 

Find YA Books On Any Topic: A Resource Guide

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a-guide-to-finding

 

Some of the best questions that land in my inbox or show up in my social media feed relate to finding YA books. Where can someone find books are X or Y or Z, or books that are about X or Y or Z written by people of color, queer writers, disabled writers, and so on. Often, those questions come with the (sometimes unspoken) caveat that the recommendations be vetted by those marginalized groups to ensure that good, solid representation shows up in the books that will ultimately end up in a young reader’s hands.

Many times, I can give the answer to these questions. Other times, I peruse some of the excellent resources out there in order to check and double check my recommendations. I realized rounding up the resources I use would be invaluable to fellow readers, both those who ware looking for book lists and those who may be looking for a good book.

This isn’t a comprehensive resource, and certainly, I’ll be missing some great stuff. I’d love more recommended resources in the comments if there are sites you use to look for YA books and book recommendations. I’ve broken this down by category, though please note there are plenty of crossover lists and intersectional explorations among these resources. Some of these are long-running resources and some are newer but look extremely promising. It’s also worth noting many of these sites don’t stick to YA alone, so there might be further resources available for those interested in books for older or younger readers.

A huge, huge thank you to those who work tirelessly to keep these resources excellent tools in furthering discussion and knowledge of young adult literature.

 

General Resources

 

  • The Ultimate List of YA Book Lists: I keep this guide on my Tumblr that rounds up the booklists many might find interesting or useful that I’ve written or that Kimberly has written.

 

  • YA Lit: This is an excellent tool for keeping on top of releases as they hit shelves, as well as those which will be publishing in the future.

 

 

Diversity: Race & Ethnicity

 

  • Diversity in YA: Book lists on about any topic that are completely stacked with diverse/inclusive titles.

 

  • We Need Diverse Books: WNDB’s summer reading series is an excellent place to go for read alike suggestions of inclusive titles from popular titles you may already know.

 

  • Edi Campbell: Edi keeps track of the inclusive titles published in any given year. She’s got the book lists on the side bar of her website, including a list of POC authors of YA and New Adult fiction.

 

  • Debbie Reese: Her American Indians in Children’s Literature site has a host of excellent resources and book recommendations by and about Natives.

 

  • Cynthia Leitich-Smith: She has been keeping incredible bibliographies for children’s list for ages and these resources are a treasure trove.

 

  • Rich in Color: They track the weekly new releases by authors of color and/or featuring inclusivity.

 

  • The Brown Bookshelf: I’ve been reading this site for a long, long time, and it continues to be a great resource for books by and about black writers and characters. They have a nice round-up of authors of color, and their 28 Days series, which happens every February, is a must-read.

 

  • Asian YA Lit: This one is not only new to me, but it’s pretty new all together.  This Tumblr has round-ups and other posts of interest relating to Asian YA lit. Their intro post makes me so excited to see what all they highlight.

 

  • Latinxs in Kid Lit: If you’re looking for YA, middle grade, or other resources relating to Latinx books, writers, or readers, you can do no better than here.

 

Diversity: LGBTQIA+

 

 

  • LGBTQ Reads: Book lists galore. This is a fabulous and ever-growing resource for queer YA (and sometimes “New Adult”) lit.

 

  • Lee Wind: Lee has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ children’s lit for a long, long time and the resources and booklists on his website are so useful.

 

Diversity: Disability

 

  • Disability in Kid Lit: Any and everything you ever wanted to know or learn about disability and disability representation in kid lit. Book reviews, book lists, and fabulous discussion posts.

Kid Lit Con: Cool Resources

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I couldn’t possibly hit on everything I wanted to in my recap on Kid Lit Con, and I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about some of the really cool things I learned about at the conference that others might be interested in checking out. These range from books about critical reviewing to collaborative blogs to a site working to raise awareness of issues of diversity in our daily lives.


Microaggressions — This website, built upon a Tumblr set up, examines the small instances of everyday discrimination. It’s a fascinating website of experiences, and it highlights a lot of what the conference’s diversity panel aimed to talk about.

Stages on Pages — This is not only a website devoted to young adult books that feature performing arts, but it’s also an actual author tour. Unfortunately for those of us who don’t reside on a coast, the tour won’t be visiting us, but the resources on the website will be invaluable for many. There will also soon be a teacher’s guide available.

Transmedia Experiences — I’m sad I didn’t get the chance to attend this session which explored the idea of transmedia. For those who aren’t familiar, transmedia, in its most basic form, takes something that’s static (like a book) and opens up possibilities for further world exploration and involvement via digital means. Easy examples are projects like Pottermore. At KidLitCon, one of the presentations on transmedia was Angelpunk, which is worth exploring to get an idea of what this melding of technology into literacy can look like.

Authors are Rockstars — Like podcasts? Like author interviews? Check out this fabulous podcast by two librarians in southern California. I’m not a podcast listener, but these ladies have certainly piqued my interest in listening.

Streamlining Your Presence — I’m obsessed with streamlining and with knowledge management (which is a fancy term for keeping your non-tangible things in order). During one of the sessions, NetVibes was mentioned as a tool for bringing together all your social networking interests together in one dashboard. I haven’t tried it, but it looks like it’d be worth exploring.


Altruism and Literacy — I think what this year’s KidLitCon organizers did to team up with Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is perhaps one of the smartest moves they could make. Through donations and a small percentage of book sales at the convention, RIF earned $1,700. That, I believe they said, would go toward purchasing nearly 800 books for needy kids. During the conference, I learned about a list of causes devoted to literacy and putting books into the hands of children, including Books for Kids, First Book, and more. As advocates for reading as bloggers and librarians are, these are resources worth knowing and worth supporting.

Critical Reviews — Admittedly, I haven’t had the chance to delve into some of the post-panel feedback I got through the #KidLitCon tag on Twitter, but I did find a couple of comments about places where one can learn more about the art of the critical review. There’s an essay here about the value of the critical exploration of text, and someone dropped a comment about K. T. Horning’s From Cover to Cover. These look like fantastic resources and I’m eager to dive into them both.

Guys Read: Resources 101

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Last month, STACKED brought you a week of guys read related posts, and one of the things I didn’t get a chance to do then was offer a list of resources for those interested in a go-to list of current guy friendly books. Lucky for you, I didn’t forget about it, and I’m sharing my resources with you today.

First up, I offer you a link to my tri-fold brochure of guy friendly titles. Although it’s catered to my library’s needs (since it does live there), you are welcome to use the titles, descriptions, and designs to fit your needs or interests. This link will take you to the file, which you can view on screen or download. Please note: I do not include non-fiction or graphic novels on my publication, but they certainly have huge appeal. I keep it at fiction because there is so much I could add and need to give some sort of limitation.

Guy Reads: Books with Killer Guy Voices

If you’re looking for additional resources or want to know where I keep myself up-to-date on guy-friendly books, check out these sites:

Guys Lit Wire: Bloggers share their reviews and insights into books guys will love.

Tales Told Tall: This is Michael Sullivan’s web page. If you aren’t familiar with Sullivan, he’s a leader in discussing issues related to getting guys to read, and I’ve blogged about hearing him speak here, here, and here. I love that his website offers us both his blog, but more importantly, his tried-and-true book recommendations by genre. Book mark this site, as he updates it frequently.

Guys Read: Like Sullivan’s site, this one will offer loads of book titles and descriptions by genre. It’s geared a little younger than Sullivan’s site, but it is extremely helpful for your tweens.

Where the Boys Are: Jennifer Hubbard is the author of the male-voiced love story The Secret Year (January 2010) and shared a huge list of books with males as main characters. Although that doesn’t necessarily guarantee guy appeal, it’s an excellent and valuable list to have access to.

Remember: guys are reading. They have always been reading. But their acts of reading aren’t as public or as open as girls. But what we can do is continue to highlight those books that will appeal to guys and promote them. Their readers will find them.

* A big thanks to Michelle for creating the perfect Guys Read graphic for us.