Recs if you like It Waits in the Forest...

Representations of the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction. Recommendations welcome!

Big vibes and big hair cover art books. (It's not a f*ckin 'cloud bob' Vogue).

If we are going to do Qwordy's the Hardest Reading Challenge You'll Ever Do 3.0 - we should probably get some Pagebound badges along the way! I'm specifically going to be adding books from Quests and readalongs that I think matches at least one of these cover prompts: craft, food, motion, biomes/landscapes, animals, weather.

“They will probably be some type of middle grade adventure, with lots of humor and action, and probably draw on myth or folklore in some way. Our goal is to publish great middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage." (From his website)

books by black authors and/or with black characters

My favourite books or from my TBR by BIPOC authors in a range of different genres (though I primarily read fantasy and romance) (only first book for a series added, unless not directly linked)

Fantasy, Romantasy, Science Fiction, and Speculative Fiction books written by authors of the diaspora

Just a list of books featuring black protagonists in various genres: fantasy, romantasy, horror, Sci-Fi., Contemporary romance, historical romance...

These Diverse Baseline Challenge was created by @bookish.millennial & @themargherita.s (on instagram). In 2025, the goal is to read 1 book by a racialized author each month. This challenge is meant to encourage readers to try genres they historically don’t reach for, find new-to-them racialized authors, and to encourage reflection on our reading habits.

This is a mix of recommendations by the challenge organizers and myself.

Mythology Reads from Various Cultures for Middle School and Teens (Adults too!) NOTE: I’m only including the first book from series for now.