We are excited to host Na’ima B. Robert, author of Boy vs. Girl as part of The Teen Book Scene blog tour!
We asked Na’ima to give us her favorite books of all time and a few recommendations on what she thinks you should read.
Here’s Na’ima….
It’s a great pleasure to be posting on this great blog – thanks for the invitation!
Me in a bookstore is like a kid in a candy store – I simply cannot leave empty-handed!
I do however feel out of step with current trends as I am not a romance reader and I am so not into paranormal – so my list will seem really school teacherish!
Growing up as a teenager in Zimbabwe, I didn’t have access to the limited number of YA titles that were available at the time so I read the books from my father’s library (as well as a few of my mum’s ‘bodice rippers’!) As a result, even today, my favourite books are best classified as world literature – I am a fan of African and Asian writing, as well as minority or multicultural books for teens and adults.
My recommended reads for young people include:
- The Garbage King – Elizabeth Laird
- Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse
- Copper Sun – Sharon Draper
- Guantanamo Boy – Anna Perreira
My guilty pleasure is the no holds barred – Skulduggery Pleasant books – phew, what a ride!
My all-time favourite adult novels include:
- Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamnda Ngozi Adichie
- The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
- Minaret – Leila Aboulela
- Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley
- Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
- A Thousand Pplendid Suns – Khalid Hosseini
- Of Mice and Men & Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
I’d like to invite you to explore some of these books as they will really open your eyes to a new world out there – I know that they did that for me!
Thanks again for this great opportunity.
Na’ima B. Robert
