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2025 Reading Challenge

2025

READING

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David has read 94 books of his goal of 52!

181%

David Bowles

Goodreads Author

Born

in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, The United States

Website

http://www.davidbowles.us

Twitter

DavidOBowles

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult, Poetry

Influences

Ursula K. Le Guin, Meg Medina, Margarita Engle, Octavia Butler, Robert ...more

Member Since

July 2007

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/davidbowles

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David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from south Texas. He has written several award-winning titles, most notably THEY CALL ME GÜERO and MY TWO BORDER TOWNS

His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, Strange Horizons, School Library Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature.

Additionally, David has worked on several TV/film projects. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which has negotiated greater Latinx representation in publishing. He is presently the president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

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David Bowles’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 12,990 ratings · 2,806 reviews · 96 distinct works • Similar authors

	They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems 4.06 avg rating — 2,134 ratings — published 2018 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Two Border Towns by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Erika Meza (Illustrator) 4.28 avg rating — 1,066 ratings — published 2021 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ancient Night by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), David Alvarez (Illustrations) 3.86 avg rating — 581 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent, #1) by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Charlene Bowles (Illustrator) 3.87 avg rating — 376 ratings — published 2020 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Goodreads Author) 3.84 avg rating — 262 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Amanda Mijangos (Illustrator) 3.91 avg rating — 255 ratings — published 2023 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Battle of the Bad-Breath Bats (13th Street #1) by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Shane Clester (Illustrations) 3.86 avg rating — 241 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Witch Owl Parliament by David Bowles (Goodreads Author), Raúl the Third, Stacey Robinson 3.57 avg rating — 250 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico 4.33 avg rating — 197 ratings — published 2018 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	They Call Her Fregona: A Border Kid's Poems 4.23 avg rating — 177 ratings — published 2022 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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David Bowles's Blog: Meme Floe

“The Midday Witch” by Karel Jaromír Erben

The poem “The Midday Witch” (“Polednice” in Czech) was written by Czech folklorist and poet Karel Jaromír Erben in 1834. It was included in his 1853 collection A Bouquet of Folk Legends (Kytice z pověstí národních), also known by the short title Bouquet (Kytice).

In the piece, Erben evokes the legendary Polednice—a noon demon in Slavic mythology, known in English as the Midday Witch, Lady Midday, N

Series by David Bowles

A Border Kid's Poems (2 books)
by

David Bowles (Goodreads Author)

4.07 avg rating — 2,311 ratings

13th Street (6 books)
by

David Bowles (Goodreads Author),

Shane Clester (Illustrations)

4.01 avg rating — 530 ratings

Tales of the Feathered Serpent (3 books)
by

David Bowles (Goodreads Author),

Charlene Bowles (Illustrator)

3.87 avg rating — 426 ratings

Clockwork Curandera (1 book)
by

David Bowles (Goodreads Author),

Raúl the Third,

Stacey Robinson,

Damian Duffy

3.57 avg rating — 250 ratings

Garza Twins (4 books)
by

David Bowles (Goodreads Author)

3.52 avg rating — 213 ratings

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David is Currently Reading

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Her Cruel Empire (The Devil's Plaything #1)

by Persephone Black (Goodreads Author)

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Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents (Language and Literacy Series)

by Deborah Appleman (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 01, 2025 09:59AM

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Backwards to Oregon (The Oregon Series, #1)

by Jae (Goodreads Author)

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Aug 16, 2025 09:00PM

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David is currently reading Her Cruel Empire (The Devil's Plaything #1) by Persephone Black (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 04, 2025 11:36AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Her Cruel Empire by Persephone Black. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Her Cruel Empire by Persephone Black <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David rated a book really liked it Lone Wolf (Red Rivals) by Persephone Black (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 04, 2025 11:35AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Lone Wolf by Persephone Black. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Lone Wolf by Persephone Black <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David rated a book it was amazing Change Of Heart by Clare Lydon (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David is currently reading Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents (Language and Literacy Series) by Deborah Appleman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David rated a book really liked it The Paradise Charade by T.B. Markinson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 31, 2025 11:00PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Paradise Charade by T.B. Markinson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Paradise Charade by T.B. Markinson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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David rated a book really liked it The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 26, 2025 01:18AM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Aug 24, 2025 10:02AM · like

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Quotes by David Bowles (?)

“When wounds are healed by love,
The scars are beautiful.”
― David Bowles, Shattering and Bricolage

tags: healing, kintsukuroi, poetry

71 likes

“I want to be part of your story. I want your story to rearrange the symbols in my mind. I want your voice to be my voice.”
― David Bowles, The Blue-Spangled Blue

tags: inspirational, romance

22 likes

“Maybe I'm deceiving myself. Perhaps I don't know him as well as I'd like to imagine. What does a person so willing to utterly remake himself hold inside his heart? Can I trust such a man? What motivates him?

In an instant she knew, and she felt a bit of relief.

Love. Love was what drove him.”
― David Bowles, The Deepest Green

tags: family, inspirational, motivation, romance

11 likes

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Polls

Vote for our June 2022 graphic novel!

Facebook poll: https://www.facebook.com/groups/28175...

The Witch Owl Parliament by David Bowles

1 vote, 50.0%

Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës by Isabel Greenberg

1 vote, 50.0%

Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry by Julian Peters

0 votes, 0.0%

My Boyfriend Is a Bear by Pamela Ribon

0 votes, 0.0%

2 total votes

1 comment

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Reading with Style: WI 20-21 Completed Tasks	997	85	Feb 28, 2021 09:01PM
Sci-fi and Heroic...: What have you been reading this August?	71	60	Aug 31, 2021 01:21PM
Children's Books: September 2019: Pura Belpre Award	35	33	Oct 08, 2021 12:38PM
Into the Forest: 2022 Around the World Challenge Latin America	40	51	Dec 11, 2022 12:38AM
Nothing But Readi...: New 2 U Authors 2022	107	584	Dec 31, 2022 04:49PM
The Challenge Fac...: Build Your Own Library	37	163	Jan 26, 2023 05:52PM
Book Nerds :D: Summer Sandcastle Challenge: Sammie's Beach	35	17	Sep 05, 2023 04:10AM
Children's Books: September 2021: Picture Books by Hispanic/Latino Authors and Illustrators	95	43	Jun 06, 2024 03:55PM
Monthly Challenges: JULY 2024 COMPLETED TASKS	40	8	Aug 01, 2024 06:22AM
Nothing But Readi...: Keely's Reading Challenges	43	184	Dec 10, 2024 05:19PM

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David’s Quotes

“One planet, one experiment.”
― Edward O. Wilson

tags: environmentalism, science

66 likes

“Human nature is deeper and broader than the artificial contrivance of any existing culture.”
― Edward O. Wilson, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth

24 likes

“...human beings are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their ignorance of the misuse.”
― Robert Wright

22 likes

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”
― Philip K. Dick, I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon

4324 likes

“The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give.”
― Philip K. Dick

1102 likes

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David’s Groups

¡ POETRY ! — 22424 members — last activity Aug 29, 2025 08:43PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

Bizarro Fiction — 1101 members — last activity Apr 29, 2025 01:06PM
This is a group devoted to lovers of bizarro fiction. Whether you write it or read it, you are welcome here. Come join us in our love of the weird and ...more

McAllen Public Library — 61 members — last activity Dec 19, 2019 02:05PM
McAllen Public Library invites you to join our book discussion group to discover what your community is reading and to discuss literature.

Latino and Latin American Literature — 1264 members — last activity Aug 19, 2025 02:19PM
Best Writings of The Americas

VAO Publishing — 5 members — last activity Apr 04, 2012 02:35PM
VAO Publishing is a division of the 501(c)(3) non-profit Valley Artist Outreach. Our mission is to promote the voices of writers in the Río Grande Val ...more

American Westerns — 661 members — last activity Aug 31, 2025 03:24PM
The American Westerns group provides a forum for the appreciation and discussion of classic and current fiction of the Old West.

Vallujos: Los de Valle — 35 members — last activity Feb 19, 2017 04:53PM
The Rio Grande Valley of South Texas is full of culture and drama! Get to know the literature written by and about Vallujos.

Literate in the Rio Grande Valley — 13 members — last activity Sep 22, 2012 06:42PM
A group of people in the Rio Grande Valley, Tx who love to read!!

Spanish Writers — 70 members — last activity Jul 28, 2023 03:56PM
This group is opened to the whole world, is born with the target to treat any topic regarding writers and Hispanic literature. Not for it, the group l ...more

Urban Latino Book Club — 16 members — last activity Oct 19, 2017 08:52PM
The Urban Latino book club, Though welcomes all Authors and Genres, has been created as a platform, serving the literary works of our Latino Brothers ...more

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David’s Year In Books

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David Bowles

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57 posts
David Bowles's Blog: Meme Floe

“The Midday Witch” by Karel Jaromír Erben

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