Hi, this is Sara with the Wichita Public Library and I'm here today to talk about category 2:
own voices with #ReadICT. If you're not familiar with own voices, “own voices” is a genre where
the subject of the book reflects the author's experience so that could be a person of color,
a person of a marginalized group, someone in the LGBTQ community, something to that effect.
The first book that I've chosen is There There and this is by Tommy Orange. This is a fictional book
about Native Americans and it has 12 intersecting stories. The folks in this book are all going to
the Big Oakland Powwow and some of them are as crazy as there's a heist involved or we've got a
grandma reuniting with some of her grandchildren she's never met. They're all over the spectrum.
What's really interesting about this book is that Tommy's discussion talks about the diaspora of
Native Americans and how they've been spread out across the country and how they come together to
reunite. It talks about the importance of powwows for their culture, a way for them to not only get
together but also sell their wares and celebrate their identity. So if you're looking for own
voices, a Native American perspective, There There by Tommy Orange is a really good book to pick up.
Second book for own voices is Darius the Great is Not Okay. This is a Y.A. novel
and what's really interesting about this book is that it focuses on Darius.
He is an... he's a half Persian, half American teenager in Portland and he struggles with his
identity. He never really feels like he fits in. He also has clinical depression so when he
finds out that his grandfather is sick in Iran, his family decides to go visit him.
He's really anxious about this trip but when he goes to Iran, he actually meets someone really
inspiring and that is another teenage boy, Sohrab, that's his grandfather's neighbor.
They develop a really strong relationship and Darius is able to let loose and kind of
understand that he doesn't have to worry about other people's expectations. He can be
himself and he can be accepted for that. So this story focuses on the friendship between Sohrab
and Darius and finding self-acceptance. It's a great coming-of-age story but it's also really
nice to learn the nuances of Persian culture and how that plays out for Darius and his family.
My third selection for own voices is Dominicana and this is by author Angie Cruz.
This is a autobiographical book but it's taken from her mother's perspective and it talks
about a 15 year old Anna who's in the story or Anna. She emigrates from the Dominican Republic
and she marries a man that's twice her age. She's kind of coerced into this relationship by her
family. They're seeking independence, there's a lot of turmoil in the Dominican Republic
and so they end up marrying and immigrating to New York City. She is out of place there
and doesn't know how to cope with the stress but she knows that she has to because she wants her
family to come abroad and join her and so it talks about her relationship with her husband
but also it focuses on her independence when he ends up leaving her to go
back to the Dominican Republic and secure his investments there. So when he's gone,
in his absence she's able to find out who she is, explore the culture of New York and delve
into learning English more thoroughly and it gives her a sense of pride. That gives her the
strength that she needs later in the book when she has to confront her husband and the demons that
they wrestle with. So I would recommend Dominicana for a Latina perspective, Latinx perspective. It's
a very good story. The one thing I will... the one caveat I will say is it's written like it's spoken
and there is no punctuation so if you are used to seeing things in parentheses or in quotation
marks, you're going to have to let that go in order to feel comfortable reading this story.
Last but not least if you're looking for non-fiction, this is
Thick and this is by Tressie McMillan Cottom. She is a sociologist professor but she's also
very prolific on social media. She has a blog and she's written for many publications.
In this book, she... she discusses what it is to be a Black American woman
in our contemporary society and she does that in a way that it's extremely personal to her
account but she makes it accessible to the readers and what she's making comment on is
beauty and identity, how that relates to racism, how that relates to health care. They're very
personal essays that she writes that have been published in other publications that she compiles
in this book. It was important for me to read because as a woman who wants to champion feminism,
there are things that are often overlooked and Tressie does a really good job
bringing in her discussion of everyone that's involved in the feminist... feminist take.
If you're looking for more recommendations for #ReadICT category 2, own voices,
check our website: wichitalibrary.org/readict.
You can also follow us on Facebook or if you're looking for e-book recommendations,
check out our Libby app and our e-books on OverDrive.