Welcome, Sharon Draper!

We are thrilled to welcome Sharon Draper to readergirlz. Her novel Copper Sun is our February pick! Check out the our interview with Sharon, book party ideas themed around both books, and our Reach Out project idea--as well as the awesome soundtrack Sharon's chosen for the book--on readergirlz.com.

Here's a little about Copper Sun:

Fifteen-year-old Amari's village is destroyed, her family is slaughtered, and she is taken as a slave. Forced from her loving home in Ghana, marched across the continent to a slave ship where she endures the horrors of the Middle Passage, Amari is sold in South Carolina to a life of degradation and despair. But with strength and dignity, Amari first learns to endure, and then survive. She discovers friendship in the indentured servant Polly, and when the opportunity to escape presents itself, Amari and Polly decide to work together to find the thing they both want most -- freedom.

And the buzz...

"The fast pace and truly horrifying scenes of Copper Sun will have adolescent readers quickly turning pages. Their reward is a riveting tale." - Rollie Welch, The Plain Dealer

"Draper builds the explosive tension to the last chapter, and the sheer power of the story, balanced between the overwhelmingly brutal facts of slavery and Amari's ferocious survivor's spirit, will leave readers breathless, even as they consider the story's larger questions about the infinite costs of slavery and how to reconcile history." - Booklist starred review

"Poignant and harrowing, this narrative of early America alternates between the voices of enslaved Amari and indentured servant Polly, building a believable interracial friendship centered on the common goal of freedom." - Kirkus starred review

2007 American Library Association/Coretta Scott King Literary Award Winner

Top Ten Historical Fiction Books for Youth by Booklist

Ohioana Award for Young Adult Literature

Heartland Award for Excellence in YA Literature

International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society

Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal

New York Times Bestseller List

We are excited to have the amazing Sharon with us this month! Join us all month right here on the blog for discussions and mark your calendars a LIVE chat on Wednesday, February 17th at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

Happy February, readergirlz!