My Reading Across America Challenge

Now, to explain one of the primary purposes of starting this blog. I saw this post via Pinterest a while ago and it inspired me to read more YA fiction. The original Epic Reads blog post interested me. The author used forums to survey librarians and readers to fill in each state with a book that was set primarily within that state. I realized that it would be a great project for my...extended down time, as well as keep me in tuned with the YA community.

While in library school, I had the idea of becoming a high school librarian and so I took a Young Adult Lit course...it was fascinating. It allowed librarians to think about ways to enthrall teens/tweens in reading and what kind of materials could do the trick.  We thought about how teens would react to the material and how they could relate to the story. This will be the concept and framework I use in my post on each book. I will also give a personal review. This is will be difficult as let's face it, I am no young'un! The stories may not necessarily be plots that interest me, though of course I am not the targeted audience. I promise to do my best to keep it relevant to a young adult review, but I may not be able to help my personal opinion.

The challenge is that I will be going in alphabetical order by state and reading across the United States. It is my goal to read the 50 books in one year (52 weeks). This could be complicated as I have seen some of these books on the library shelves and they can be quite lengthy. Additionally, my employment situation could always change, leaving me to find time to read and blog.

I; however, believe in this challenge. To the tell you all the truth, I was never much of a reader. Some friends have told me this makes me a horrible librarian, but I disagree. I enjoy alternative materials, such as graphic novels and audiobooks for nurturing my mind, it's just novels were always tricky. I only started to get more into novels while in undergraduate. One of the worst patterns I have recently gotten into, is reading 75% of the book and then never finishing.  I believe this reading project will be the ticket to explore the Young Adult literature genre, as well as address my own reading difficulties.

My first post on Alabama will be coming up in the next few days, but take a look at the list and you will see what it is to come. I hope you enjoy!