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| photo: Andrea Cipriani Mecchi | |
Marley Dias made headlines as a sixth grader when she started the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign to collect children's books featuring black protagonists. Marley has been featured in the New York Times, has been recognized as a "21 under 21" ambassador for Teen Vogue, is an editor in residence for Elle.com and launched a national literacy tour in partnership with the White House. Marley lives in New Jersey with her parents. Her first book, Marley Dias Gets It Done, was released on January 30 by Scholastic Press.
On your nightstand now:
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Favorite book when you were a child [Marley defined this as "under 10 years old"]:
Punk Wig by Lori Ries and Erin Eitter Kono
Your top five authors:
Jacqueline Woodson
Jenny Han
John Green
Marie Lu
Rita Williams-Garcia
Book you've faked reading:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Tapper Twins Run for President by Geoff Rodkey
Book you've bought for the cover:
Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate
Book you hid from your parents:
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. I didn't really hide it from them, but it does have a character who is a sex addict (though I haven't [yet] gotten to any part with sexual acts). This is one of the consequences of having a high reading level at a young age.
Book that changed your life:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson changed by life, but the most impactful book on my life so far is Another Brooklyn also by Jacqueline Woodson. It may even be better than BGD.
Favorite line from a book:
"Hey we're making music twice as good/ By playing what we've got." It's a line from the poem "Ourchestra" in Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.
Five books you'll never part with:
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Aya: Life in Yop City by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Book that was a guilty pleasure:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green