In the YA Diversity Book Club, we chat about the latest YA books that celebrate diversity. Our book club includes Sandie @ Teen Lit Rocks, Kristan @ We Heart YA and Kristina @ Gone Pecan. Each month we’ll focus on one book with a book review (our discussion chat) and bonus features.
Our September book club pick is Anna-Marie McLemores’s debut THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS. It’s an enchanting book about feuding families and forbidden romance. The two families are rivals and traveling performers- the Mexican-American Palomas are mermaid performers, and the French Romani Corbeaus are winged tightrope performers. This character-driven light fantasy has magical realism and a compelling story that appeals to a wide audience. Today I’m sharing some book recs for readers to check out after The Weight of Feathers, and don’t miss an author Q&A with Anna-Marie McLemore and our book club discussion!
Many thanks to Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin for providing us with review copies of this book!
About the book:
The Weight Of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore, Hardcover, 320 pages, A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin, September 15.
Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * IndieBound
For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows-the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find.
Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she’s been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees.
Beautifully written, and richly imaginative, Anna-Marie McLemore’s The Weight of Feathers is an utterly captivating young adult novel by a talented new voice.
About the Author:
ANNA-MARIE MCLEMORE was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and grew up in a Mexican-American family. She attended University of Southern California on a Trustee Scholarship. A Lambda Literary Fellow, she has had work featured by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, CRATE Literary Magazine’s cratelit, Camera Obscura‘s Bridge the Gap Series, and The Portland Review. The Weight of Feathers is her first novel.
Check out our Book Club Discussion and Author Q&A:
- Sandie from Teen Lit Rocks features our “Book Club Discussion“
- Kristan from We Heart YA features an “Author Q&A with Anna-Marie McLemore“
If this sounds like your kind of book, read on to find out about more books we think you’ll enjoy!
The WeiGht of feathers further reading: diverse fantasy and latin heritage month recs
The Weight of Feathers is a diverse fantasy featuring a star-crossed romance and a performing circus backdrop. This book is pitched as “The Night Circus meets Romeo and Juliet.” Anna-Marie McLemore’s writing is lush, dreamy and magical and reminded us of authors like Laini Taylor and Maggie Stiefvater. If you are a fan of those authors you may want to check out this book!
Some other diverse YA fantasy to consider: Serpentine by Cindy Pon, The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Otherbound by Corinne Duyas, The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older.
Also, since this month is National Hispanic Heritage Month, you can celebrate by reading The Weight of Feathers or some of these other recommended reads by Latino Authors:
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina, Aristotle and Dante Discover the History of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez, The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle, and Hollywood Witch Hunter by Valerie Tejeda
And Sandie has some more awesome recs for us:
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Peréz, Becoming Maria and The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano, The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau, The Vicious Deep series by Zoraida Córdova, When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez, The Living series by Matt de La Pena.
Next Month:
Hope you’ll read-along with this month as we discuss DON’T FAIL ME NOW by Una LaMarche,
Follow us on Tumblr to keep up with our book club schedule and feature posts. Have something to say about THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS or our other featured books? You are welcome to submit your posts for inclusion in the roundups on Tumblr.
This probably isn’t for me because of the fantasy elements.