At the peak of the civil rights movement, Lydia Abarca was the first ballerina in a Black ballet company to grace the cover of Dance magazine. Alongside founding members Shelia Rohan and Gayle McKinney-Griffith and first-generation dancers Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells, Abarca invited a bright light to shine on Black professional classical dancers. Grit, determination, and exquisite artistry propelled these swans of Harlem to dizzying heights as they performed around the world for audiences that included celebrities, dignitaries, and royalty.

Forty years after the swans of Harlem made history, when Lydia's granddaughter wanted to show her own ballet class evidence of her grandmother's success, she found almost none — just some yellowing photographs and programs in the family basement. With The Swans of Harlem (Adapted for Young Adults), these revolutionary ballerinas and longtime friends give voice to their stories on and offstage, reclaiming their past so that it is finally recorded, acknowledged, and lauded, never to be lost again.

The adult edition (Knopf/Pantheon; April 2024), on which this Young Adult edition is based, has been hailed as “a captivating corrective to an often-whitewashed history” (Publishers Weekly, starred) and is in development as a Netflix miniseries under the helm of the producer behind Black Swan, 12 Years a Slave, Slumdog Millionaire, and numerous other box office hits.

Arriving to shelves just in time for Black History Month, this “poignant and gripping piece of little-known history” (Kirkus) will captivate fans of narrative nonfiction, dance memoirs, and forgotten histories and inspire readers of all ages and interests to chase their dreams and follow their hearts.

I haven't had time to read The Swans of Harlem yet, but I'm very intrigued by the story it tells. I'll definitely be picking it up soon. If you're also interested in reading it, you'll want to enter this giveaway to win a copy of the young adult edition of the book for yourself:

Grand Prize Giveaway:

- 5 winners will receive a paperback copy of The Swans of Harlem (Adapted for Young Adults) by Karen Valby.

- US only, we will select the winners and ship directly

- The giveaway starts at 12:01am ET on February 24th and ends March 9th at 11:59pm ET

- Rafflecopter giveaway link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/74cc7a8d7/?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Welcome to THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY blog tour! In honor of Django Wexler’s new series, perfect for fans of Coraline, Inkheart, and The Books of Elsewhere, we’ve paired Django and fellow Penguin author Seth Fishman (The Well’s End) in a battle of wits! Each day for the next two weeks, Seth and Django will challenge each other to escape from popular story scenes in the most creative way. Follow along as the two try to outmatch each other and check out some cool interior art from THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY along the way!
It seems her uncle is more than he says he is. But then so is Alice.
About Seth Fishman: Seth Fishman is a native of Midland, Texas (think Friday Night Lights), and a graduate of Princeton University and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.  He spends his days as a literary agent at The Gernert Company and his nights (and mornings) writing. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.  This is his first novel (that's not in a drawer). 

It's hard to express just how fun and satisfying book blogging is for me.  It really is such a good time.  I'm secure enough in my nerdiness to admit that publicly (not that it will surprise any of you).  As much as I love this gig, though, there are parts of my "job" that make me feel stressed, pressured and guilty.  Yes, I'm talking about blog tours.  I've tried cutting back, agreeing to review only the books I'm really, really, really interested in and yet, I still find myself signing up for more tours than I can handle and then having trouble meeting those commitments.  This makes me feel both embarrassed and guilty.  It's not the blog tour coordinators or anyone else making me feel this way—it's me!  I can't control myself.  So, I am officially resigning from participation in blog tours.  In addition, scheduled reviews will no longer be available, except in the special cases described below.  I feel terrible doing this, but I know it will help me remain sane and keep blogging fun.

What's going to happen to the tours for which I've already signed up?  I will honor those engagements to the best of my ability.  However, no new tour stops will be scheduled from here on out.  I'm still interested in reviewing books, of course, but only those that can be evaluated within my own time frame.  If that doesn't work for you, then you'll have to find a different reviewer.  I'm still open to hosting giveaways, author interviews, product reviews (of at least a semi-bookish nature) and cover reveals/tour stops/guest posts for authors with whom I have previously worked or with whom I would like to work.  In addition, I may be open to scheduling an occasional tour stop, but only for books published through a traditional, established publisher (i.e. Harper Collins, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Deseret Book, etc.) or written by authors to whom I've given positive reviews in the past.  Anyone is welcome to email me with questions or queries, just be aware that unless your book meets the above guidelines, I will probably not accept it for review.  

Just to make everything crystal clear, I will no longer be participating in blog tours.  If you run a tour company, you can take my name off your contact list or you can continue querying me.  It's totally up to you. If you are an author, publicist, intern, etc. looking to have a book reviewed in an open time frame, please feel free to query me.  I'll accept or decline requests in the same way I always have—based on how much a book appeals to me.

I hope all this makes sense.  If you have questions or comments, you're always welcome to email me.  I love getting your ideas and feedback, so don't hesitate to communicate with me.

Thank you for understanding!  I really think this decision will help me be a better, more relaxed, more efficient reviewer.  And that's what we all want, right?

[Imagine a cute vintage photo of me and my dad here. I can't find the darn picture anywhere, so you'll have to use your imagination ...]

So, what do you think? Can you come up with one reason why I should hate my Christmas birthday? Because I can't. Not a single one. It's a day filled with tradition, memories and happiness. And Olive Garden (thanks to my husband). And Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (my kids' contribution). It's a day stuffed full of my favorite things, all because of my favorite people. I ask you again, what's not to love?

I'm baaaaaack! While flying home from Utah yesterday, I thought about all the things I was returning to - laundry, dishes, diapers, cooking, cleaning, the heat - and I almost turned right back around. I had such a fun weekend visiting with old friends, hobnobbing with writerly folk, and talking about books, books, books. The Conference was excellent - I met lots of great people, learned a ton about writing and just had a ball. I'm exhausted, so I'll post more later, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm alive and well.

I have tons to catch up on, blog-wise and life-wise. Be patient with me! A couple of quick things:

- I take pride in helping out with blog tours, and I try to follow the guidelines the author/publicist asks me to follow. When I wrote my last post, I was at the conference, running on very little sleep and using my friend's teensy tiny computer. Needless to say, I did not have a chance to edit the post, so it was very garbled and typo-filled. Sorry about that! Hopefully, it makes more sense now.

- I wanted to make sure you know that the tour for The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs is still going. I believe the next stop will be tomorrow at The Pink Chandelier. I could be wrong about that, but it's a fun blog, so check it out anyway.

- Big Honcho Media, who is running the tour, has generously offered one of my readers the chance to win a $50 Visa gift card to use toward the purchase of their own copy of The Ocean Between Us. Cool, huh? Click here to enter.

- Speaking of Susan Wiggs' book, I finished it while I was in Utah. Look for a review soon.

Okay, I think that covers it. I've got to get my kiddos off to school. After that, well, my bed is looking awfully inviting!

As I've mentioned before, I have hundreds of book blogs on my feeds list. Some of them I check as soon as I see they've been updated, others I glance at when I get the chance, still others I drop in on only once in a blue moon. The Six LDS Writers and A Frog blog is one of those blue moon ones, but I happened to read a post a few months ago in which author Jeffrey S. Savage asked for hints on how to promote his new fantasy series. Numerous people said, "Send out ARCs and let people review them on their blogs." Being the smart guy that he is, Mr. Savage is doing just that. If you're interested in participating in his Find Your Magic Farworld 2008 Blog Tour, check this out. I think it's a fabulous idea.