Dr. Chea Parton (Literacy in Place) put together a reading challenge for people ages 0-299 (not a typo) for this summer, which will run from May-September, in four distinct categories: Children, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult. All of the books celebrate Appalachian stories and voices.
On the day of the festival, we will have sessions set aside for you to discuss the books with others who completed the challenge, whether it was one book or all five!
​
Share with a friend you want to read with this summer!
Summer Reading Challenge
SEPTEMBER Selections
CHILDREN
When I Was Young in the Mountains
by Cynthia Rylant
illustrated by Diane Goode
MIDDLE GRADE
Vicious is My Middle Name
by Kevin Dunn
YOUNG ADULT
Funny How Things Change
by Melissa Wyatt
​
ADULT
Strange as this Weather Has Been
by Ann Pancake
AUGUST Selections
CHILDREN
That Book Woman
by Heather Henson
illustrated by David Small
MIDDLE GRADE
Same Sun Here
by Silas House & Neela Vaswani
YOUNG ADULT
Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
​
ADULT
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts
by Crystal Wilkinson
JULY Selections
CHILDREN
Sequoyah
by James Runford
MIDDLE GRADE
Free Verse
by Sarah Dooley
YOUNG ADULT
In the Wild Light
by Jeff Zentner
​
ADULT
Those We Thought We Knew
by David Joy
JUNE Selections
CHILDREN
A is for Affrilachia
by Frank X. Walker
illustrated by upfromsumdirt
MIDDLE GRADE
Bone's Gift
by Angie Smibert
YOUNG ADULT
Fault Lines
by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
​
ADULT
Gay Poems for Red States
by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.
MAY Selections
CHILDREN
When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike
by Michelle Houts
illustrated by Erica Magnus
MIDDLE GRADE
As Brave As You
by Jason Reynolds
YOUNG ADULT
The Gone Away Place
by Christopher Barzak
​
ADULT
Even As We Breathe
by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
About Dr. Chea Parton
Chea Parton grew up on a farm and still considers herself a farm girl. She has been a rural student and is currently a rural middle school English Teacher and visiting assistant professor at Purdue University where she works with future teachers through the Transition to Teaching Program. She is passionate about rural education. Her research focuses on the personal and professional identity of rural and rural out-migrant teachers as well as rural representation in YA literature. She currently runs Literacy In Place where she seeks to catalogue rural YA books and provides teaching resources, hosts the Reading Rural YAL podcast where she gives book talks and interviews rural YA authors, and serves on the Whippoorwill Book Award for Rural YA Literature selection committee. You can reach her at readingrural@gmail.com.