We have enjoyed reading and watching Kailey of Luminous Libro for years as she shares the titles she reads through her website, YouTube channel, and on Instagram. As a bilingual reader and music teacher, she enjoys spreading the word about the titles she loves in a variety of formats. We delight in helping her with that goal by sharing titles from independent and/or international publishers with her. When we asked Kailey to tell us about herself and her reviewing work, this is what she shared:
I review all types of books on my blog, Luminous Libro, and on my YouTube channel of the same name. I also post reviews on GoodReads, X, StoryGraph, and Instagram. I currently have more than 7,500 subscribers and followers.
I typically read about 200 books each year! I gravitate toward classics, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, nonfiction, children’s books, picture books, sci-fi, cozy mystery, and fantasy. I also love reading books in Spanish, since I am bilingual. I read a lot of children’s picture books to share with my two little nieces.
I grew up in Mexico in the 1980s; my parents were missionaries to the poor. However, living in Mexico meant that I didn’t have access to a library with books in English. Most of the Mexican children’s libraries only had nonfiction titles, but I wanted fiction! I would reread the same books at home over and over. At every birthday and Christmas, I would ask for more books! My parents did their best to order books from the States, and I loved reading Shakespeare, Little Women, Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie, and Anne of Green Gables.
We moved back to the States when I was 17 years old, and I was amazed at the richness of the public libraries! I started reading everything I could get my hands on. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a book collection with over 2,000 books in my home and hundreds more on Kindle. After so many years thirsting in a reading desert, I will never take for granted the readily available reading material I have now. I’m so grateful for all these book blessings!
You can find and follow Kailey on her website, on her YouTube channel, on X at @LuminousLibro, and on Instagram, too. We share her reviews on our own Bluesky account.