About Guinevere & Libertad aka Dos Twinjas

(Can't tell us apart???That's okay sometimes we can't either!!!)

We @ Twinja Book Reviews are sisters extremely passionate about Diversity in Books. We really are Twins and we were lucky to have been nicknamed the "Twinjas" after showing so much promise in all of our studied forms of Martial Arts(Tang Soo Do, Cuntao &Wing Chun Kung Fu).....That and we have these unusual first names! >_<  Twinjas was just easier and gotta admit it sounded catchy .

Here @ Twinja Book Reviews, we hope to open the discussion about diversity in YA, NA, MG as well as Science Fiction & Fantasy themed books.The lack of diversity in Science Fiction and Fantasy is bone chilling. Instead of writing depressing posts about stories without any diverse lead characters or love interests, Our idea was to come up with a book blog featuring stories that do. 

You may ask yourself, Why is Diversity in Books so important to us? Shouldn't we see the world's population as equal? Aren't our struggles the same? Can't we look past the fact that most characters in Fantasy and Science Fiction are White, Able Bodied, Straight, Christian and Cis-Gendered?

The short answer is Yes. The long answer is way more complicated.

Growing up Cuban American(and on top of that "Negra"or Black), we never really read characters like ourselves in our favorite genre of books, Fantasy and Science Fiction.
 Maybe Black characters(which we held onto with dear life)But Afro-Latinas...Yea, we may be waiting a long time for that. 
 
Anyways, being an invisible entity in the world's atmosphere(1. Being Girls 2.Being Black 3. Being Latina)made us come to the understanding that we can't be the only two that feel like they haven't seen the proper portrayals of people who look like us, act like us and come from similar cultures as us.

So why books? Well, books are one of the first things children are introduced to as entertainment. Think about in pre-school...Think hard....For us, that was along time ago >_< But if anything, we remember being read to at story time. We remember being read to at night before we went to sleep. Like it or not, Books are some peoples first introduction to how they'll see the world, and if the story just features a small range of like characters, Imagine how that can shape your image of the people in this world?

We're not on some kind of agenda, we don't believe in writers meeting kind of quota when writing diverse characters, All we want to do is promote the idea of capturing the world as it is today, Colorful, Interesting and Diverse. 
 
So why not show that in Books???

6 comments:

  1. You both are so right! As a biracial female, it was sometimes difficult for me to find characters I could relate to in books and on TV as a child. Even now, it takes effort.

    I love your multiculturalism focus!
    -Randie @ http://randiesreviews.blogspot.com/

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  2. While times are definitely changing, it is, and will probably still be an issue. My boyfriend(Libby) is a biracial man, and it is always an issue for him. He always felt because he was so fair, Blacks didn't identify with him, but because he didn't speak Spanish, Latinos didn't identify with him. He claims he never related to anyone growing up =/

    It is a big issue. I live it everyday :)

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  3. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I am excited to find your site -- it's right up my alley! Thanks so much for writing about such a meaningful subject!

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  4. Thanks for following my blog! I think this is a great thing you're doing. I've added your icon to my blog as well. A good book I read recently that was multicultural was XII: Genesis by Jason Rowe. It's a real international cast.

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  5. Hi Guinevere & Libertad: I am hosting a reading challenge called Diversity on the Shelf and each month I plan on highlighting a book blogger, an author, or a genre. I would love to feature your blog for the month of January. If you are interested please email me your pics a short bio, along with our top five books. I will link up the rest. Thanks
    littlepocketbooks at gmail dot com

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  6. Just discovered this site and it is great! I just recently published a YA Sci-Fi novel for girls of color and I did not know there was such a supportive community for books like mine! Thanks

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Thanks for leaving awesome comments!We appreciate and reply to everyone!