September has now ended, which means so did my library’s Diverse Book Drive, and I want to give so many thanks to everyone who donated and participated!

I thought it went really well, and it wouldn’t have been possible without all your support and generosity! I’ve never seen my tiny local library’s shelves so full of diverse books, and they haven’t even all been catalogued yet!

But that’s not quite what you’re here for, is it? I bet you want some cold, hard facts, right? Well, let’s get down to the details, then, shall we?

There were a total of 58 new books donated in September!

Of these books, there was 1 easy reader, 13 middle grade, 35 young adult, and 9 adult books.

Here’s the first round of books, all catalogued and ready, right before they officially hit the shelves of the library:

There’s more where that came from, too! Because our senior cataloger is 94 years old (yes, you read that number right … she’s my idol!), cataloguing is a little slow since she’s working from home for her own safety. So books have to go out to her house for the initial process before coming back in for the last steps before they go on the shelf. It’s a whole thing.

The first book drive book to officially get checked out is … The Girl Who Speaks Bear!

This was a really special sort of checkout, too, which is why I want to share it. See, the woman in question (because indeed, it was an adult) has been a patron of the library for years, mostly for the movies. She’s struggled with reading since a child, so she just never did it. Last year, we really encouraged her to take part in the adult winter reading, and she did! At least every other day, she came in to read books. The early reader sort, which she was embarrassed of at first, but we always encouraged her and asked about her reading and how it was going.

Long story short, a year ago, this woman was reading maybe first grade level books. She’s spent the past year really working on her reading ability, and guys, she’s come such a long way! The Girl Who Speaks Bear is a middle tier middle grade read and the chunkiest book I’ve ever seen her check out! Also, this is a woman who was born and raised in this county and has never left, so mission success, guys. She is literally experiencing a culture she will never have to experience in real life and likely would’ve never thought to read about previously.

Meet the Tour Hosts & Their Recommended Reads

So many thanks to these people here! They’re all absolutely fabulous, and they donated their time and effort to help with this blog tour. Click on the title of their recommended book to check out the blog post they wrote for this!

Leelynn Sometimes Leelynn Reads Dating Makes Perfect	Lauren Always Me The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
Toya The Reading Chemist Felix Ever After	Michelle Carry A Big Book Sharks in the Time of Saviors
Shenwei READING (AS)(I)AN (AM)ERICA The Astonishing Color of After	Maria Daughter of Parchment & Paper Patron Saints of Nothing
Bri Bri’s Book Nook True Friends (Carmen Browne)	Bec Bec&books Lobizona
Jorie Jorie Loves A Story Top Ten Diverse Stories Jorie Felt Deeply Connected To Whilst Reading	Sienna Daydreaming Book Lover Loveless
Keri Keri McBookNerd Raybearer	Noly The Artsy Reader The Name Jar
Keri Are You My Book? The Tea Dragon Society	Shannon It Starts At Midnight The Space Between Worlds
Melissa Ramblings of a Jedi Librarian Girl in Translation	Livy Shelves of Starlight Clap When You Land
Crystal Lost in Storyland American Born Chinese	Lili Lili’s Blissful Pages A Wish in the Dark
Leslie Books Are The New Black The Poppy War	Noura The Perks of Being Noura Love From A to Z
Crini Crini A Pale Light in the Black	Rachelle Rae’s Reads and Reviews Dear Haiti, Love Alaine
Dini DiniPandaReads Wicked As You Wish	Madeline Mad’s Books Spin the Dawn
Tessa Narratess Brace Yourself	Kimberly My Bookish Bliss Truly Madly Royally
Rena Bookflirting 101 Anna K: A Love Story	Arina Bookwyrm’s Guide to the Galaxy A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Maya Awesome Reads Jackpot	Sammie The Bookwyrm’s Den Paola Santiago & the River of Tears

Wanted to donate? It’s not too late!

If you thought you missed your chance, don’t fret! I’m going to leave the wishlist for the blog tour books open for the rest of this month, so there’s still time to make a late donation if you want.

The Amazon wishlist can be found here.

The Book Depository wishlist can be found here.

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