Changing Battle Tactics in Dumbledore's Army

To recap:
Aentee at Read at Midnight has developed this fantastic challenge to get us all reading more diverse books, expecially #ownvoices titles.  And she's made it FUN.  Very un-"eat your broccoli it's good for you," and more "broccoli with cheese sauce!" 

There are house points and spell names and adorable graphics she'll let you borrow.  It takes place the first two weeks of January.  She spells it out really well on her blog, so head over there if you're interested!  Also, Naz at Read Diverse Books has a superb sign-up post in which he shares dozens and dozens of possible titles, so if you're feeling at a loss for any of the categories, you can count on Naz for help. 

I made myself a pretty ambitious plan for this RAT.  And I do want to read all of the books I came up with, including backup options.  HOWEVER it has come to my attention that I am doing Too Many Things right now.  Specifically, I am trying to do the read-a-thon AND read for Cybils (and nonfiction slows me way down) AND still read the stuff I just feel like reading right in that moment.  PLUS I have, like, a hundred gazillion books on hand, but only two of them are on the list I'd come up with.

THEREFORE and HENCEFORTH, I am updating my TBR for this challenge to focus on books I have on hand.  And want to read.  And that will also fulfill my Mt. TBR challenge, which I guess is kind of obvious what with the "have on hand" thing.

But I'm still doing it, because it's awesome.

So, this one will actually stay the same, because I don't think there are any depression/suicide books I have handy that I haven't read yet.

I count myself lucky to not have lost a loved one to suicide, but there have been close calls, and depression will always be a potentially fatal influence over two people I love.  So that's what I focused these choices on.

The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

OR: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides.
This book doesn't sound as directly relevant, but I really loved Middlesex. 





I still totally need to read about some bi characters, but there are plenty of other marginalized groups I'm woefully ignorant about.  

None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio is about a girl who finds out her gender was mis-assigned at birth.  (Have you seen the recent National Geographic edition that focuses on gender?  Super interesting!)




#OwnVoices is such an important movement, although not necessarily an infallible answer.  

The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw.  She based the story on her mother's actual life, so that's pretty #ownvoices.  Also, I won it in a giveaway last summer and still haven't read it.





I am SO IN LOVE with the Princeless series.  Definitely intersectional feminism!

Princeless Vol 1: Save Yourself.  I finished it already, but now I'm going to officially add it to my points and all that good stuff.  I also found Vol. 2 and a story collection at the library, and will start scouring for more.  So fun!  So angry!  So awesome!




Watch me eat crow!

Once Upon a Quiceañera by Julia Alvarez has been on my TBR since I started a Goodreads account in 2009, and I JUST tracked down a copy for my classroom.  Like, it arrived yesterday. 

No OR for this one.  I am going to read this book, dammit. 
But I just can't face MORE required NF this month.  So if I get to this one, it'll be either David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing or Walter Dean Myers' memoir, Bad Boy.

I may not get to "Stupefy," since everything I'm coming up with is a thousand pages long.  Give or take a few.  

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir is probably too long to get through in time if I'm going to read other books too, but I really want to read it. Or All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds.  

I finished this one already, because guess what?  I had it handy!  

The Wrath and the Dawn by Reneé Ahdieh

Nobody recommended it specifically to me, but I feel like the entire internet has recommended it overall.

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