Hello everyone my name is Yara and today
I'm going to talk
about the books that i want to read soon,
soon being
pretty much my August TBR but it's
probably going to spill
into after August so I'm just saying
soon. So I'm talking about my Middle
Grade Magic TBR which is a readathon I'm
co-hosting
from August 1st to August 16th and then
also some other books that I just want
to sprinkle in there.
So if you missed my last video where i
announced the Middle Grade Magic
readathon
all the prompts for this readathon are
inspired by quotes by people who talked
about or written about children's
literature and middle grade literature
with the overall intent of boosting
middle grade stories and specifically
marginalized stories.
So the way i've chosen this TBR is that
I have a book that uniquely fits each
prompt
but a lot of these books also fit
multiple prompts and I did that because
in the likely event that I don't get to
all these books
I'll still be able to finish all the
prompts and finish the readathon
so the first prompt involves reading a
book with the character who has a
different experience from you
and for that I chose Race to the Sun by
Rebecca Roanhorse.
This is also a part of the Rick Riordan
Presents read-along that I keep pluggling.
In August we'll be reading Race to the Sun
by Rebecca Roanhorse, Paola Santiago
and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
and the Storm Runner by J. C. Cervantes.
Again I'll leave the description for
that readathon down below.
But Race to the Sun follows a seventh
grader named Nizhoni who has Navajo
heritage
and all her life she's kind of been able
to see monsters but no one really
believes her
until the day that her dad goes missing
leaving a note that just says "run."
And then her, her brother, and her friend
Davery have to go through trials
in order to get to the House of the Sun
to stop these monsters from coming
as well as save their dad. I'm so excited
to learn more about the Dine people and
their culture
because native stories are so undertold
in mainstream media.
And the second part of the first prompt
is to read a book with a similar
experience to you,
one where you share part of your
identity and for that I chose
More to the Story by Hena Khan. This is
a Little Woman retelling starring a
Pakistani American Muslim family. I have
not read Little Women but I have seen
the movie, the one that came out last
year by Greta Gerwig
and I thought it was excellent. I
absolutely loved it. And the identity
that I share with the story is being
Muslim.
And I'm really hoping to see a lot of
the great family and sister dynamics as
well as the feminist themes that were in
the original story which I'm sure will
be in this one as well.
The second prompt is to read a book that
gives you hope and for this one I chose
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. I
believe this follows three characters
so our main character named Virgil who
is Filipino-American
and who is quite introverted and doesn't
really have many friends.
A girl named Valencia who is deaf and
also has trouble making friends.
A girl named Kaori who is Japanese-
American and a self-proclaimed psychic
and a boy named Chet who is a bully. I
believe the story takes place over one
day
and it follows the events that occur
after Chet pulls a prank on Virgil that
has him stuck at the bottom of a well.
And the reason I chose this as a book
about hope is because
I read that a lot of themes that this
book covers is about
friendship and about people who wouldn't
necessarily be together
coming together and I just think it'll be
a very hopeful story about people who
didn't think they had others to lean on
finding those people.
So the next prompt is to read a book
that deals with a serious topic and for
this I chose Inside Out and Back Again
by Thanhha Lai.
This is a novel written in verse that
follows a young girl
who finds herself in the midst of the
Vietnam War and has to flee Saigon
and come to America. I recently read
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
which is the similar topic
of a refugee and I think those stories
are really important to read about
because they
really cover the collateral damage that
comes with
these really big events in history. The
fourth prompt
is to read a story time book. That's like
a fairy tale, folk tale or picture book
and for this one I chose Sulwe by
Lupita Nyong'o. So Lupita Nyong'o said
that she wrote this book in
inspiration from letters she received by
young girls who talked about how happy
they were to see a dark-skinned black
woman
in these future films and be presented
as beautiful and so this picture book
follows those themes of colorism and
self-esteem that I think is so important
for young girls to read.
The fifth prompt is to read an
imaginative or fantastical book
and any of the Rick Riordan Presents books
could apply to this because they're all
middle grade fantasy.
So for example Paola Santiago and the
River of Tears comes out on August 4th
so I really want to get to that
and that's inspired by Hispanic-American
folklore specifically the story of La
Llorona which is a whaling ghost
that haunts this river that the main
character lives near. But I also really
want to read the Mystwick School of Musicraft
by Jessica Khoury.
So this book was actually brought on my
radar from Cara who's the creator of
this readathon.
So this takes place in a world where
music is the source of magic
and the main character really wants to
attend the School for Musicraft
but she ends up botching her audition.
She ends up being able to attend the
school on a trial period where she
really is trying to prove herself
but also discovers some mysteries going
on.
Just the idea of music being the source
of magic appeals to me so much and i
really want to get to it and it sounds
adorable.
And the last prompt for the Middle Grade
Magic readathon is to read a book by a
marginalized author that you think will
bring you joy.
And for this one I'm going to be reading
Once Upon an Eid which is edited by
S. K. Ali and Aisha Saeed.
This is an anthology of stories from a
bunch of Muslim authors from different
backgrounds
that all correspond around the holiday
of Eid. I meant to read this back during
the Ramadan Readathon
but my copy didn't come until after it
so I just waited until now and
Eid is actually only in a few days so
this is perfect timing.
The cover even says stories of hope and
joy so I think
that fits this prompt perfectly. This
singular book can probably fit
almost all of the prompts so I'm
definitely going to prioritize it
especially because I already own it.
So now i'm going to talk about some
books that I'm just going to sprinkle in
becauseIi have a feeling that if I read
too much of the same thing
as in Middle Grade I might get tired of
it so
just in case I have these options so one
that I want to read is the Water Dancer
by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
I've heard fantastic things about this
author's work and so me and my friend
are gonna buddy read this this month.
It takes place in the antebellum south
with a boy named Hiram Walker
who was born into bondage. When he's very
young his mother ends up getting sold
away
and despite having a miraculously good
memory he is left with
no memory of her. And years later he
almost drowns
and the same miraculous power he was
given saves him
and that kind of is the instigator for
him deciding to run away.
So as you can tell from the description
it's a historical novel kind of infused
with fantasy
which I'm tending to love so far. I feel
like a lot of the books that i'm
in the mood for kind of have that vibe.
So speaking of that I also want to read
the Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu.
This is about the Mozart siblings
Specifically Mozart's sister Nannerl
who is often overlooked in music history
because she was a woman in her time.
And growing up the Mozart siblings had
this kind of
imaginative world that they used to go
to called the Kingdom of Back
and in this story Marie Lu kind of
capitalizes on that fantastical element.
And then the last book I want to get to
is Clap When You Land by Elizabeth
Acevedo.
I talked about these last two in my
Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag
but I've purchased them now so I'm
holding myself extra accountable to read
them.
This is a novel written in verse talking
about two sisters,
one living in the Dominican Republic and
one living in New York who
don't know that they share the same
father until their father dies in a
plane accident.
So that event triggers them meeting as
well as finding out secrets about their
father's past and that he never really
expressed. I was already super excited to
read this because it's Elizabeth Acevedo
but I recently watched Marines review of
this book from the channel mynameismarines which I'll link down below
and she said how she really liked the
way that this explored grief
as well as familial trauma in a very
honest but delicate and beautiful way.
So yeah that's all the books I want to
talk about. Honestly the
July Rick Riordan Presents Readalong
books are probably going to spill into
August because I
haven't finished any of them. There's
still a few days left of July but i
don't see that happening.
Please let me know if you've read any of
these books and your thoughts about them
because I would love to know
and also if you're participating in
either the Rick Riordan Presents
readalong or the Middle Grade Magic
readathon.
I feel like I'm not shutting up about
those but I will keep doing that so that people
appreciate middle grade.
Anyway thank you so much for watching
i'll see you later bye!
[Music]
