Reading Without Walls Challenge

Friends, hello! So I recently came across National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Luen Yang's nifty new project and reading challenge. It's called Reading Without Walls, and it aims to dismantle walls of ignorance, as well as to prevent future walls from being built, through the extraordinary power of diverse literature. I mean... WOOHOO! I'm in!

So. What are the rules? Click the following link to hear Gene Luen Yang's own explanation of the challenge and to access/download the official activity sheets.

Reading Without Walls

Did you click it? Sounds fun, right?

In order to satisfy the three parts to Yang's challenge, I'll be reading the following books. (Reviews to come, so keep an eye out!)

Part 1: Read a book about a character who doesn't look like you or live like you.

Karuna Riazi's The Gauntlet sounds like an epic Jumanji-ish tale, featuring a fierce and fabulous hijaabi heroine. I chose it because, as a white Christian from a very non-diverse and conservative community in the American Midwest, I know very little about what it means to be a person of Bangladeshi and Islamic heritage. I do not look like main character Farah, and I'm sure our everyday differs in significant ways. I'm very excited to find in her narrative a window to a world other than the one I'm most familiar with.

Part 2: Read a book about a topic you don't know much about.

So you all know that I'm a YA gal till the very end. The very end. But I decided to step outside of my comfort zone with this one. After all, that's the goal of the challenge, right? And let's be real, folks: This is probably definitely an essential read -- especially at this current moment in our political climate. Luís Alberto Urrea's 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist The Devil's Highway tells the story of a group of twenty-six men's attempt to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona. The book was recommended to me by a professor, and I'm eager to read it. I've heard it's gut-wrenching and thought-provoking and potentially transformative. Woot! Let's GO!

Part 3: Read a book in a format that you don't normally read for fun (a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, or an audio book).

Books written in verse? Not my thing. Romeo and Juliet retellings? Not my thing. So the way I see it, guys, I'm one step ahead of the game with this one. Pamela L. Laskin's Ronit & Jamil tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers, each on different sides of the barrier-fence between Israel and Gaza. Despite my disdain for verse and "violent delights" that meet "violent ends," I'm kind of looking forward to this one. Admittedly, I don't know as much as I should about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and I'm excited to have my interest sparked.

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I'll be sure to post reviews for each of these books, friends. In the meantime, I hope you'll consider participating in the Reading Without Walls challenge. If you do decide to participate, let me know which books you're reading in the comments below. And let me know what you think of my selections! I'd love to hear from you. And, of course, feel free to share this post with reader friends/fam who might be interested.