Hi friends!! It’s sure been awhile since I posted anything. Sorry about that. Today, I am here to talk about the Our Lost Library Diverse LostAThon happening July 1-31st. I want to review the challenges and make sure everyone understands them. So, let’s begin!!!!
For this readathon, I gained helped from the fabulous Jody over @onegirlreads and also from Ashley @BookishRealm (find her on twitter, IG, or her Booktube Channel! She even has an amazing blog!!) Last, but never least, Di @Disis19 is back to help with the challenges!!! So, I had some incredible help and feel really blessed this round!!
Let’s Discuss The Board!! First of all, rules are the same as previous rounds. The only change is that all books need to be Diverse reads. That can be characters, the author themselves (obviously ownvoices), etc.
All challenges are STACKABLE. That means that ONE book could meet 5 challenges! You need 5 challenges to “complete a bookshelf” and WIN! So, maybe you read only one book and declare yourself a WINNER!!! It’s that easy, folks!!
You can choose ANY challenges you want. Our Bingo Board does not move in a certain direction. If you want to aim for actual Bingo, go for it! If you want to choose 5 challenges at random, do it!! We thrive on flexibiliy!
Our Lost Library was created so that older books can get some love too. Often, we find ourselves reading the same new releases. We are trying to keep up with everyone else or read a book before everyone else gets their hands on it. So, I created OLL in order to take a pause. Maybe you can search your local library or a local sale and find a fantastic “older” treasure that booktube hasn’t heard of. That’s the origin of OLL. If you can find books that meet that “requirement,” that’d be amazing! Open our eyes to books that we don’t yet know about. If you can’t and you are excited for a new release, I don’t mind at all. I fall down that rabbit hole myself time to time. hehe
Post your TBR!!! PLEASE post your TBR on twitter, IG or if you have a Booktube Channel/Blog post it there! This makes others aware of our little readathon and maybe they will want to join in too! Also, posting your tbr will allow people to see the incredible books you will be reading. They can check back later for the reviews!
POST A REVIEW for each book completed! This can be on Twitter, IG, Booktube or your blog!! Let everyone know about this hidden gem and what your thoughts were. Maybe we will find it appealing and want to pick it up ourselves! Word of mouth in this community, can really open our eyes to new treasures! ALWAYS use the hashtag #OurLostLibrary so that reviews will be at our fingertips!
Ashley @BookishRealm will be hosting daily #OLLBOOKCHAT questions. Each day, please look up that hashtag, check our OLL feed or you can follow Ashley herself. Look out for the question of the day, and respond whenever you can! If you miss a day, that’s fine! Respond to all questions missed when you have time! Don’t forget to use #OLLBOOKCHAT in your response so others can find your answers and we can all chat!
On to the board!!!
Non-Traditional Non-Fiction: So this means, read a Non-Fiction book that you may not normally pick up. Read a book about a topic that interests you, but you have never learned anything about. Maybe you know a little about a topic, but not enough. That applies here! 🙂
Black Speculative Fiction: The textbook definition- Black science fiction or black speculative fiction is an umbrella term that covers a variety of activities within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres where people of the African diaspora (the dispersion of any people from their original homeland) take part or are depicted. So, Akata Witch, Children of Vice and Virtue, An Unkindness of Ghosts would apply here!
Buddy Read: I think by now we know what this means lol I am buddy reading SLAY with Jody and I’m beyond excited!
Book Recommended To You: A friend or booktuber/blogger said this book was great and you wanna see if you agree!
Beautiful Cover Art: If you think it’s beautiful and it’s a diverse cover…go for it!
Characters of Every Color: This challenge is a little flexible and includes books that show people from all walks of life. I will be reading The Black Veins. It has rep from different races as well as different sexual preferences. Variety is beautiful!
A Book With A Message: You know going into this book that you are going to be moved. Moved into action, moved to tears, this book is going to teach you/expose you to something powerful.
Middle Grade Melting Pot: I love me some Middle Grade during a readathon. You want my example, Rick Riordan wink wink! I have Aru Shah by Roshani Chokshi on my tbr.
Diverse Graphics: These can be comics, manga, graphic novels…we are SUPER flexible. Everyone knows that a short book during a readathon is a blessing! Lol! Right???
Mirrors & Windows-Picture Book: I was informed by Ashley (a librarian) that this is a very cool Library term! So, MIRRORS are books that reflect a reader’s own life. WINDOWS are books that help us see into someone else’s reality. These would be picture books that you might read to the little ones in your life to help educate them about race, or sexual preferences, etc. Examples I would include, Prince & Knight or Black, White Just Right!
Love is Love: This is a romance novel. If two people are falling in love, outta love, the title has LOVE in it lol…it fits! I am reading Let’s Talk About Love. It’s also a buddy read with Veronique @booksunhealthy!! I’m very excited!
Diverse Author: I think we all know what this means by now!
Diverse Retelling: A retelling of an old classic but made fresh! I don’t know if it counts as a “retelling” because those are usual fairytales buuuut lol I am reading Ayesha At Last. It’s a Pride and Prejudice Retelling with a Muslim spin. I’m very excited!
Empowerment: I originally wanted a challenge for Female Empowerment. I think that we sadly still need to consider “Women” as a group that doesn’t get taken seriously. That’s ten fold when you add in a Woman of Color. So, I wanted to leave many challenges for female love. If the main character is strong and fighting for a cause…that’s the book for this challenge. You can also make this a book about Empowerment of a race or sexual preference or religion. I am very flexible!
Walk A Mile: So this is an adult/YA book similar to the children’s mirror & windows challenge. You are reading a book that helps you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I think it’s always good to take a step outside ourselves and see things from a different perspective. So that’s what this challenge is about.
It’s All About Pride: LGBTQIA+ love. We are coming off of Pride month and there are plenty of books to be read! Let’s do this!
Woman of Color: I just think this is an important challenge to have and embrace 🙂 I do wish that I created the title as BIWOC, but I will next time.
Historical Fiction: We know what that means, right?
International Sleuths: These are Diverse Mysteries and Thrillers! You are welcome to include horror books in here too! There is a new book out called A Deadly Inside Scoop it’s a cozy mystery. That would apply here!
Protagonist with a Disability: A Middle Grade example would be The Storm Runner. This is a Rick Riordan Presents book by JC Cervantes.
Set in Asia, Africa, or South America: This challenge leaves you open to choose books from any of these regions.
Mythology: I love mythology and I love learning about other cultures and their beliefs. So, I added this one 🙂
Translated Work: Maybe you can read Spanish and want to read a book written in Spanish? Maybe you want to read a book published in another country and can’t read their language (Luckily it was translated!) Now you can count it as a completed challenge!
BIPOC Book: Let’s discuss this. We cannot paint all POCs with the same brush. BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. This term acknowledges that not all People of Color experience the same level of injustice. The term Black, Indigenous and People Of Color helps to recognize those whom have suffered different levels of white supremacy, colonialism, racial injustices, and systematic oppression. So, this is the term I will be using from now on instead of just POC. You can read a Black, Indigenous and/or Person of Color book in this challenge.
Indie Book: These are books published “outside mainstream publishing”. As mentioned, I will be reading The Black Veins by Ashia Monet.
Well, everyone those are the rules and descriptions for each challenge!!! I really hope you can join us!! You DON’T have to be a member of OurLostLibrary to join us. All are welcome! You can pop in anytime during the month of July. Maybe you are only available the second half of the month? That’s fine!! Pop in!! Maybe you want to combine our readathon with another, that’s fantastic! We welcome everyone! Please spread the word! We have less than a week left!!
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