2016 Contemporary Challenge | ANOTHER CHALLENGE!

There aren't many challenges I've turned my head to lately, but this one has definitely caught my eye. Hosted by Montana @ The Book Belles and Jillian @ Jillian's Books, I present the 2016 Contemporary Challenge.

My Reasoning...

I read 9 contemporary books out of 85 in 2015 and that is definitely not okay. The only way to get myself jumpstarted into reading more contemporary is to challenge myself. This is exactly the kind of incentive I've been looking for! Just because I don't find myself particularly reading contemporary on a daily basis, doesn't mean it shouldn't be apart of my balanced bookish diet. I plan on making more than half the books I read this year contemporary books. So if you have any suggestions, just leave me some in the comments below. 

RULES AND CHALLENGE DETAILS

• You can read any YA contemporary novel, and it doesn't necessarily have to be published in 2016. (The 2016 YA Scavenger Hunts will be exclusive to authors of YA contemporaries published in 2016.) But for the challenge, you're welcome to read any contemporaries you'd like.
• Everyone who either has a Goodreads account or some platform to review on (e.g. blog, YouTube, etc.) is eligible to participate!
• For a book to count in the challenge, you must read and review it between January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2016.
• Both the challenge and the monthly giveaways are international.
• You'll get one entry for each review posted to the linky in the monthly prize pack drawings. If you link up one review, you'll get one entry; two reviews equate to two entries, and so on.
• The review linky and giveaway will be posted on the 15th of each month in both here and on The Book Belles.

LEVELS

• Poppy: 1-5 books
• Carnation: 6-10 books
• Peony: 11-15 books
• Lily: 16-20 books
• Tulip: 21-25 books
• Rose: 26+ books

MINI-CHALLENGES

This year, Montana and I created 12 mini-challenges for the scavenger hunt. There will be bonus entries in the giveaways for anyone who completes one or more of these challenges. Here they are:

1. Read a contemporary from an author you've never heard of
2. Read one that features mental illness
3. Read a contemporary book with only one (1) word as its title
4. Read one with watercolors on its cover
5. Read one that you borrowed from the library
6. Read a contemporary novel with more than 400 pages
7. Read a contemporary book with a cover that features your favorite color
8. Read a contemporary by a 2016 debut author
9. Read a contemporary that's been on your TBR for 1+ year
10. Read a contemporary that starts with the same letter of your first name
11. Read a contemporary that's a standalone
12. Read a contemporary recommended to you by someone else (friend, family member, blogger, etc.) 

WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE

Contemporary YA has some incredible books and authors! If not just for that, there will also be awesome challenges and giveaways throughout the year.

Furthermore, the YA Contemporary Scavenger Hunt will be back at the end of January, and Contemporary Challenge participants may just have an extra entry in that giveaway, too! 2016 is going to be such a great year if you join in and read with us all some lovely contemporary novels.

Books I plan to read 

1. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (fulfills a contemporary that starts with the same letter of your first name)
2. Dumpin by Julie Murphy (fulfulls the contemporary with a one word title)
3. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
4. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
5. I Was Here by Gayle Forman (fulfills the contemporary that has been on my TBR for a year +)
6. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (fulfills the contemporary that's a standalone challenge)
7. Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer (fulfills the contemporary from an author I've never heard of)
8. Just One Day by Gayle Forman
9. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (fulfills a book that was recommended to me by a friend) 
10. Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn 
11. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover (Breaking the rules with NA heheh) (fulfills a book that has a cover that features my favorite color *blue*) 
12. None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

2016 Diverse Books Reading Challenge | I'M DOING IT!

Finally a challenge that I can easily commit to. I consider diverse reads to be in a genre of their own because of how unique and different they are from regular YA novels. I haven't read many diverse books and there goes my reason for joining this wonderful challenge hosted by Mishma and Shelly! Everything states below can be found on their original post, here! 

The Rules

• Read books that are diverse
• The Main Character must be part of a diverse group*

Defined by We Need Diverse Books:  We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.                          

*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.

·         The book can be set in a diverse setting, but not necessarily.

( But, note that books set in a different country, but features a white MC won't be considered as diverse here. Eg : Ink by Amanda Sun, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins )

·         #Ownvoices stories (stories about marginalized groups written by a member of that marginalized group) are widely encouraged as well! Promoting diverse books by diverse authors is important.

·         If the book is a fantasy it can be based on/inspired by a diverse mythology or folklore       

   ( E.g. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh)

·         If the book is sci fi or dystopia, it has to be based on a dystopian country that’s not USA.  

  ( E.g. Cinder by Marissa Meyer)

·         Intersectionality is encouraged.

 ( Eg :- A book featuring a person of colour with a disability )

·         The novels don’t have to be YA, but as we are YA bloggers, those are probably the novels we are more likely to read

Logistics

 This challenge will run from the 1st of January 2016 to the 31st of December 2016.

·         You can join in anytime you want.

·         This challenge is meant to be a personal goal challenge to help find more diverse novels and to read more diversely.

·         There are no levels/points! You can read as much or as little as you’d like, this is a personal goal and is mainly individualized

·         To join the challenge, add your sign up post to the link up at the bottom of the post. You can include your TBR for the challenge if you want, but it’s not a requirement. Your sign up post can be a separate post or a part of a giant list of all your 2016 reading challenges. Anything is fine.

·         If you don’t have a blog, you may use a twitter handle or instagram profile and share this post with the hashtag #DiverseReads2016 that you’re participating! But add that link to the sign up link below.

·         If you want to share why you joined the challenge or why you want to read more diverse books, you can tweet us using #Iwanttoreaddivesitybecause… and we can discuss there. This is optional, just adding your blog to the bottom of this post is enough for this requirement!

·         There are themes for every couple of months, with different features and posts for each month:  

o   January to March : Ethnic Diversity                                       

o   April to June :  LGBTQIA +Diversity

o   July to September : Religious Diversity                 

o   October to December : Mental and physical health and disabilities.

        

·    But this doesn’t mean that you have to only read books with the particular theme of the season.Your selection of books can be your choice. This is more of a fun way to help you  categorize your reads, if you’d like.

·    We’ll have a link up on our blogs by the end of each season, where you can add your reviews of diverse books. We also welcome you to post non review posts on diversity and diverse books such as discussion posts, a list of recommendations etc., and you can add such posts on the link up as well.

·    We have a list of diverse novels here on this google docs. It’s on Read Only mode so if you have recommendations, please tweet us!

·    Spread the word! Share this challenge on twitter, instagram, pinterest or any social media you want. Grab the banner and add it to your sidebar!

Books I Want To Get To During the Challenge

• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
• All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
• It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
• Soundless by Richelle Mead
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern 

Books I've Read During the Challenge

• The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
• The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
• Jerkbait by Mia Siegert 
• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella 
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I'm super excited for this challenge. As always, you can find the progress bar for my status as the year goes by. I hope you all find the time to join in and let's get to reading some #YAdiversity!