Marley Dias Gets It Done

March 1, 2018
Grades 4-8 Teen Marley Dias, founder of the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign to promote titles with black women and girls as protagonists, has created a lifestyle guide to inspire her generation to get woke, do great things, and read. With a colorful, photo-heavy layout and a you-can-do-it conversational tone, she shares personal stories of growing up and volunteering, primarily with her mother's GrassROOTS Community Foundation. The young Dias believes that activism, regardless of age, can make a difference, such as bolstering family understanding, increasing diversity on school reading lists, and improving health in Africa, and, age appropriately, she swings from fashion tips to advice on using social media to calling out companies for carbon emissions. She includes a bibliography of 500 middle-grade and YA titles with general booktalking advice and gives shout-outs to famous librarians Augusta Baker and Carla Hayden while deeming the American Library Association the coolest club ever. Among the many things readers learn is that one of Dias' favorite words is dynamic, and both she and her book are certainly that.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)