More About Me

Sinead at Huntress of Diverse Books nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award.  I don’t normally do these sorts of things, but decided to give it a try.  We learned a lot about her from her responses, so maybe you will be interested in learning more about me!

To accept this award, I must:

• Thank the person(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo on your post or blog.

1.Which character do you wish you were friends with in real life?

I’m going to cheat on this one and choose a whole family.  I think the Fletcher Family would get along pretty well with my family, and we could vacation next door to each other.

2. If you could be the main character in a book, what kind of genre would you like the book to be?

I’d want to be magical but not scared for my life, so a fantasy but one with political intrigue or a fantasy romance, not an action-packed fantasy.

3. Which character’s wardrobe would you like to have?

Hmm.  Just going off books I’ve read recently, Dimple Shah is probably the closest to what I actually would want to wear.  From a nonfiction perspective, I enjoyed all the different edgy fashionable outfits that Lilly Singh was wearing in How to Be a Bawse, although I wouldn’t wear the heels.

4. What medium do you prefer for your reading? Paperbacks, e-book readers, PC, hardcovers, etc?

I have a Kindle (an older one) and used that a lot when I commuted by bus and when I crocheted more blankets.  It could hold a lot of books at a low weight and it was easier to prop up in a fold of the blanket-in-progress.  I almost never purchased books for the Kindle, everything was either free or borrowed.  However, I haven’t used it in a year.  I don’t know where the charging cord is or what books are on it anymore.  So clearly, paper books are a win for me.  Perhaps on our next vacation I may give it another try.

For the kids, I try to get hardcover if I suspect it will be well-loved.  Softcover picture books don’t last past the first two kids.  For myself, it’s more about price.  If I can get a hardcover for a similar price, that’s a better value for my money.  Or sometimes I buy the hardcover because I’m impatient.  However, I rarely buy mass market paperbacks anymore.  They just don’t hold up to rigorous reading.

My other thing is I need the series books to match.  We have the Scraps of Time books in paperback, and the Clubhouse Mysteries in hardcover – it’s not about one being better than the other, but what was available for me to get the whole series in the same format.

I do read on the computer, mainly poetry or technical materials.  And I have a few apps on my phone to read poetry, important documents of the USA, and religious texts.  Between those, educational apps, the nonfiction paperback in my purse, and the hardcover in my car, I never waste time while waiting in lines.  See #6 also.

5. What is one of your bookish-related goals that you would like to accomplish in the next 7 years?

I recently started the #100indigenousbooks project and would love to see that accomplished 7 years from now.  I don’t have an end in mind or specific goal for the Diverse Disabled project, but I would like to have finished A Long Walk to Freedom and some of the other 300+ page books I’ve started or have on my TBR.

6. What hobbies, other than reading, do you have? I am assuming that one of your hobbies is reading, since I’ve nominated book bloggers.

As mentioned above, I knit and crochet.  Actually I do almost any kind of fiber craft and have tried quilting, spinning, hand and machine sewing, felting, rug hooking, weaving, etc.  When I am able to do so, I love hiking.  Once upon a time, I wrote original fantasy fiction and realistic fiction.  We’ve had many pets including all the standard ones.  With Husband we do a lot of home improvement projects and traveling within the US.  I used to travel internationally more but now we mostly travel around Wisconsin.  I dabble in LOTS of arts and crafty things like painting, woodburning, or scrapbooking, but really reading, book blogging, and knitting are where I spend my free time.

As for knitting, I mainly make winter accessory sets these days, or wool socks.  It took a few years, but I was able to learn how to knit and read at the same time.

7. What superpower(s) would you like to have?

I would like to be invisible, if I could turn it on and off.  Also super hearing if I had control over it.

8. What’s behind the name of your blog?

Good question.  Originally I started my blog because my family did something in summer 2016 called the 30 Day Project, where over the course of two months (sometimes we skipped days), we read a selection from D is for Drinking Gourd, a selection from 28 Days, and a picture book and we did a coloring page.

I kept records tracking what we did and looked different places to find books, but not all the books were good.  When school started I was still excited and teachers kept asking for more information about the project.  So I started my blog to review the books we read for that project.  Originally I didn’t intend to review chapter books or fiction at all!

The best blog and domain names were already taken, so I kept googling ideas until finally ColorfulBookReviews didn’t turn up any established book blogger.  It was a good fit because I strive to make sure my blog has at least one review for everyone across every spectrum of being.  I also liked it because ColorfulBookReviews doesn’t make any titular claims.

9. In which bookish universe would you like to live?

UnLunDun.  Even though it can be scary, it’s just so cool.  And I could still come back to the real world maybe, sometimes.

10. Have you ever thought about writing a book?

I wrote one.  It wasn’t very good.  Then I edited a bunch of other people’s books.  Mostly theirs were better than mine.  I have thought about writing nonfiction though, I think I’d be better at that.  There are a few ideas percolating.

11. What is your favorite book?

With every passing year this question becomes harder to answer.  Check out my favorite diverse book reviews from 2016.  Keep in mind these may change!

Board Book – Anything illustrated by Julie Flett (love her)
Non-fiction picture book – Carole Boston Weatherford or Laban Carrick Hill
Picture book fiction – The Snowy Day
Memoir/autobiography – Born a Crime really holds up.  If you can tolerate swearing and violence (first gratuitous, second not), read this.
From this year, Redefining Realness.
Other nonfiction – Hidden Figures (the adult version)
Graphic Novel – Malice in Ovenland

Fiction – Out of diverse #ownvoices books that I read this year, Orleans by Sherri L. Smith.  But even that was hard because I read so many good books!

Bonus…
Favorite book from the #100indigenousbooks project (so far) – If I Ever Get Out of Here or anything by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Favorite book from the Diverse Disabled reading list (so far) – The Memory of Light or This Kid Can Fly.

My Questions

1. What book would you like to see made into a movie or TV show (that isn’t already)?
2. What is your favorite non-fiction book?
3. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
4. If you could meet any fictional character from a book, who would you choose?
5. What is your favorite #ownvoices book?
6. Tell us a poem you enjoy (or put it in your post if copyright allows).
7. Your thoughts on audiobooks?
8. What was the last children’s book you read? (Not counting YA, MG or lower.)
9. Please put a picture of (or link to a picture of) a book cover with your favorite color.
10. If you could have one skill that you don’t already, what would it be?
11. Have you ever met one of your favorite authors?  (If not, who would you want to meet?)

I Nominate…

Okay this is really hard.  I went back and forth over who to nominate and honestly I just want to post this.  So if you are reading this and haven’t done the Sunshine blogger award, or just want to answer the questions, then I nominate YOU!  Let me know in the comments (or link back to this post) and I’ll add you to the list.  Thanks.