It’s time for another Calendar Girls Books post, and this month our prompt is Black History Month (Favourite Book by a Black Author). While looking through my “read” list, I realized that I had not read as many books by black authors as I had thought! So, now, I’m even more excited to see what other participants will choose because I’d like to add more books by black authors to my TBR (and also read them of course)!

Hosted by Katie @ Never Not Reading and Darque Reader Reads, “Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and will now be hosted by me, Katie. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers, and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl. Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and I will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!” — Katie

Title: Dread Nation
Author: Justina Ireland
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Historical,
Fantasy, Horror
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)
Published: April 3, 2018

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville — derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities — and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY CALENDAR GIRLS POST! HAVE YOU EVER READ ANY OF THE BOOKS THAT I HAVE SELECTED FOR THIS MONTH’S PROMPT? IF SO, WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ANY YET, ARE THEY ON YOUR TBR LIST? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW, WHETHER YOU’RE A CALENDAR GIRLS BOOKS PARTICIPANT OR NOT!