Last week, Joyce Moyer Hostetter at The Three R’s—Reading, ‘Riting and Research posted about the 2011 YA Historical Fiction Challenge. Sab Horande at YA Bliss is hosting the challenge, and you can read all about it here and sign up to participate.
Basically, the challenge is to read 5, 10, or 15 historical fiction novels (depending on the level of challenge you pick), and they have to be either middle-grade or young-adult. Then you blog about them–with a few basic thoughts or a full review–and each post enters you for all sorts of fun giveaways. The books do not have to be published in 2011, and Sab has thoughtfully included a few book lists to help us get started.
I’m going in at Level 1, which means I will read and blog about 5 books. Honestly, I’m going to use her list to totally stock my to-read pile, but I don’t want to commit to more than 5 review posts. I like to talk about books that really excite me as a story or that show me a wonderful example of some piece of writing craft, so I want to save the review slots for books I really want to share with you. Plus, I’m going to try and focus my search on books with protagonists who are at least 16 years old, at the older end of the YA spectrum. Don’t worry. If I fall in love more than 5 times, you’ll most likely hear about it–if not here, on Facebook & Twitter.
I’m a big believer in reading what you’re writing, so I’m excited and grateful to Sab for setting this up. I can’t wait to see the reviews that everyone else in the challenge comes up with. 2011 is going to be a great year for reading!
Becky Levine 
What a great idea! I’m a huge historical fiction fan, so I will definitely check this out. In the least, I’ll look forward to your reviews. Thanks for sharing~
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Oh, good, Amanda. Sometimes I think I’m probably the last to find out about something & it won’t be news to anyone. 🙂
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“Plus, I’m going to try and focus my search on books with protagonists who are at least 16 years old, at the older end of the YA spectrum.”
I’ll be paying attention! Seeing what I can learn from your thoughts on the older teen voice.
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Believe me, I’ll be paying attention, too. I think this is going to be great for readers AND writers. 🙂
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thanks for this post. I missed it on Joyce’s blog and glad you reblogged it!
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Great. 🙂 Are you going to join up?
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Great, I am for anything that will get people to learn about and enjoy history.
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I’m a recent convert to this genre, especially to the nonfiction part of it, but I’m quickly and definitely falling in love. 🙂
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Have fun, Becky!
Sounds like a great challenge for YA & MG writers.
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It does! 🙂
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Have fun, Becky! Sounds like a great challenge for YA & MG writers.
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