Hello, and happy Wednesday!

Welcome back to another episode of The 5 O'Clock Book Club. This week, we read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. We had no idea about the controversy surrounding this book before we decided to read it. However, before our discussion, we did some research and were shocked by what we learned. We decided that highlighting the issues surrounding this book and its author was more meaningful than skipping the discussion altogether. Ultimately, we walk away from our time with this book more informed and committed to reading books about migration from authors whose voices have been less amplified.

Here is a list of books we've added to our TBR to consider reading instead of American Dirt :

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Where We Come From by Oscar Casares

Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

Next week's book: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Love ya,

-Em and SK <3