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Me, My Shelf, & I | Valerie

Introduce Yourself | Hi there, I’m Valerie! I’m the digital marketing assistant at Little, Brown Young Readers. I work mostly on creating digital content for our social platforms, updating the NOVL and LBYR websites, as well as maintaining a few of the social media accounts (mainly the LBYR Instagram, but I do work on the NOVL Instagram and Twitter as well!)

Favorite Book of All Time | The Pendragon Series by D.J. McHale. More specifically, my favorite book in the series is the 9th one - Pendragon: Raven Rise (not pictured, because I borrowed it from my school library). I love my Harry Potter (woo, Ravenclaw!), but I think Pendragon is definitely a very underrated series that more people should read.

Favorite LBYR Book | To be honest, I’m relatively new to LBYR, so I haven’t read too many of our titles yet (even though I did read some before I worked here!) So if I had to choose, I would say The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones. It gave me a type of excitement for a book that I haven’t felt in years. The characters were well-developed, and I liked that the story didn’t completely revolve around romance.

Book You’ve Been Meaning to Read for a While | Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. When I worked at Barnes & Noble my freshman year in college, my co-worker talked about this book nonstop, and how it changed his perception on the way people treat each other. I’ve been meaning to read it for so long, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.

Book(s) You Think Everyone Should Read | The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley. This book is remarkable, and it changed my perspective on the world. After the first read, I went through and marked down my favorite passages that I still refer to sometimes. I’m also super indecisive when it comes to choosing books (because there are so, so, so many good ones!), so I also want to mention Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. I read the short story that the film Arrival is based on for class, and I was immediately hooked. Chiang is a phenomenal writer, and he weaves the stories in a way that made me pause and contemplate my own ideas about religion, humanity, and science. If you’re a Black Mirror fan, then you’ll love the collection.

Most Worn-Out (but Well-Loved) Book | Bloomability by Sharon Creech. This book arguably made me into a book lover. Its competitor is Walk Two Moons by the same author, but I remember that I read Bloomability over 20 times throughout my elementary and middle school years. I carried it everywhere with me. The spine is broken down, the pages are yellow, there’s a green stain on the side from an unknown source, and it has that old, dusty book smell. I haven’t read it in a while, but talking about it makes me want to read it all over again.

A Signed Book on Your Shelf | Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes. I actually never met any authors until I started working at LBYR. She came in one day to give a very moving talk about the book, and I got my copy signed afterwards. She’s a wonderful and talented writer, speaker, and person.

Currently Reading | Elon Musk: Inventing the Future by Ashlee Vance. As much as I love my YA lit, I very much enjoy my biographies. It’s insane how much Elon Musk can fit into a week, especially since sometimes I’ll take a break before I even start doing anything. I’m also reading Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray right now, in anticipation for Before the Devil Breaks You.