Posts

The Percentage of Characters of Color in UK Kids Books Has Quadrupled in Last 4 Years Reflecting Realities Survey from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education monitors the state of diversity in UK children’s publishing. When it launched in 2018, it found only 1% of the kids’ books published in the UK feature a minority ethnic main character, and only 4% has minority ethnic characters at all. In 2020, that numbers has risen to 8% of books featuring a minority ethnic main character and 15% including minority ethnic characters....

Avatar: The Last Airbender has so many engaging components. The elemental magic system and well-developed history of past Avatars immediately hooked me in. I think the magic of the characters charms me the most though. The characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender are really memorable. Rewatching the show now has made me realize they’re even funnier than I remembered. Made up entirely of people of color, the main cast of characters engage in some great banter together and character growth....

I think the villains deserve a chance to shine. After all, they’re the ones who keep things interesting, aren’t they? What fun would the heroes be if they didn’t have anyone to challenge them? X: Xue Yang Y: Yu Hojo Z: Zouchouten And so we reach the end once more. Where to next? I’ll have to consider carefully. Something wonderful? Something strange? Something unexpected? If you have suggestions, hit us up on Twitter @BookRiot!...

First Year Composition Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud is the single best primer for comics. It is an invaluable resource on the history, vocabulary, theory, and analysis of sequential art. Essentially, if you want to be able to talk about comics or do even the most cursory of close readings, you need this book. You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld serves up small bites of awesomeness....

“Just when Ms. O’Brien began to fear that “The Dressmaker” would be relegated to a bottom desk drawer like so many rejected novels, Ms. Newberg came up with a different proposal: Try to sell it under a pen name. Written by Kate Alcott, the pseudonym Ms. O’Brien dreamed up, it sold in three days.” Not sure if this is cool, frustrating, insulting, or just ridiculous. But it is something....

But dark humor books are something else entirely. Not necessarily limited to horror alone, the word “dark” instead refers to the subject matter of the book, which in this particular genre is often considered taboo, serious, or far too painful to discuss. War is one example of a common theme in the genre. Poverty. Death. Disease. The themes are horrific but, in employing humor, authors of these works can explore these topics while provoking serious thought, deep introspection and, yes, uneasy, uncomfortable laughter....

Here is a recommended reading order of some of Levithan’s best books. For more queer books for YA readers, check out this article from Book Riot’s Sarah Nicholas. Start with Boy Meets Boy Why not? It’s his debut. On paper, Boy Meets Boy sounds as conventional as its title suggests: high school sophomore Paul meets Noah, and a standard romantic plot line ensues. What isn’t typical is the book’s unrelenting parade of memorable characters and details....

I’ve had a lot of time to think about a lot of things the past few months and I’d like something that echoes that experience, but also something that is an escape from this daily thinking routine. Do you have something in that vein? No I don’t like puzzles actually, I find them too taxing and tedious. I guess I want something that is both engaging and challenging, but also something that takes my mind off of everything going on in the world....

“At a Dignidad Literaria forum, Roxane Gay explained a problem that Stephen King fails to understand: being a writer in the United States, in particular one who is situated on the margins, makes one extremely vulnerable to threats of violence and death. Gay shared her experiences, stressing that she pays for a security service to monitor and protect her. This is the kind of thing that Americans often associate with “other” countries, countries like Mexico, but it is RIGHT HERE....

Now that we’re entering into year three of the pandemic, it seems only right to revisit this idea and to highlight even more DIY kits for book lovers. I’ve rounded up a new selection, not included in the first, in order to offer an array of options. Too often, we get caught up in the idea that if we want to do something crafty or artsy, we have to be good at it....

“So, is it dishonest to leave a book by the wayside after whacking a photo of it on my Insta Story alongside the caption “next up” or “now reading”? What about the books that have so much social media hype, you feel left out if you haven’t nabbed a copy so you can #galleybrag? In short: If you post books on Instagram, are you sentenced to read them?” Enjoy your reading....

Outlander was first published in 1991, which is incidentally the year the George R.R. Martin started writing A Game of Thrones (published 1996). Since then, Diana Gabaldon’s series has grown to eight core novels of a planned ten. The side series of historical mysteries about everyone’s favorite secondary character, Lord John Grey, includes three novels and six novellas. Other short stories and novellas have been published in various collections over the years, including one about Roger’s parents during WWII, and another about how Ian Murray Sr....

Even then, I knew there was social clout in possessing certain books, whether it was the latest Hunger Games to look like I was part of the zeitgeist or a classic that made me seem unbearably clever, and writing my name in those books seemed to solidify my pedantic ways. I didn’t know then, but there was a bookish accessory that would have been perfect for the burgeoning book collector I was becoming: ex libris, which translates to “from the library of....

Lane Garrow has a secret—one that could get her killed. A life at sea hiding as a captain’s boy is all she knows, but things start to fall apart when an old pirate enemy comes after her father. And there are rumors that her father was once a pirate as well. Enter a mysterious prince! Can Lane protect herself and find a way to live her dream? Or will she risk everything for a world where her very existence is a death sentence....

Although we obviously love books here at Book Riot, there’s something about fan fiction that scratches an itch that mainstream publishing can’t always reach. For one thing, you can find exactly the tropes and vibes you’re looking for from a story with a simple search. Often while picking up a book, it’s hard to tell if you’re going to end up with an uplifting read or a tearjerker, but fanfic is usually more upfront about those expectations....

In Looking For Garbo, tabloid NYC reporter Seth Moseley gets a hot tip that movie goddess Greta Garbo is stowed aboard an ocean liner bound for Europe on September 1, 1939. He boards the vessel, desperate to get a candid photo and pay off some hefty gambling debts. But he gets more than he bargained for when Seth realizes the reclusive Garbo is actually sailing on to Nazi Germany, on a secret mission to stop WWII before it can start by assassinating her biggest fan – Adolf Hitler....

Krees? Skrulls? Freaking awesome powers? CHECK! Not to mention Nick Fury baby talks to a cat. — Dolby Cinema (@DolbyCinema) December 4, 2018 But really, the full-length trailer shows us a bit more of Captain Marvel’s (aka Carol Danvers) time away from Earth. It also lets us see her return and build a relationship with Fury as she searches for her past. Based on this clip, the entire venture into finding out how she came to be this immensely badass hero is going to be quite the ride....

Enter: Friday Fund Days. Book Riot readers have helped fund hundreds of classrooms over the last few years, and we’ll help bring funds to hundreds more. Each Friday, we’ll highlight two classrooms or other literacy-focused, important projects in hopes you’ll help them reach their goals to bring literature, advocacy, and education to others. Even if you can’t spare money, any social sharing you can offer to the projects each week absolutely helps: you never know who’ll find it and have the means by which to make the project’s fundraising goals reached....