Jimmy Fallon Unveils First Summer Book Club Pick

Television

'Children of Blood and Bone,' a YA fantasy trilogy from author Tomi Adeyemi, won after receiving over 140,000 votes from audience members.

Audiences have chosen The Tonight Show’s first-ever book club pick: Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. 

After announcing last week that The Tonight Show would be launching its first-ever “Tonight Show Summer Reads” program, host Jimmy Fallon revealed Friday that the first of the YA fantasy trilogy won after receiving over 140,000 votes from audience members. 

“This is the jam right here,” the late-night host said after unveiling the winning book. Fallon then noted that many have compared Adeyemi to both Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. 

The novel chronicles Zélie Adebola’s quest to restore magic to her homeland of Orïsha after a vicious king slaughtered many former magicians and tried to strip Orïsha of its magic. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Adeyemi dubbed the novel "Black Panther with magic." 

After reading the summary, Fallon poked some fun at the title with Steve Higgins after Higgins asked Fallon, “Are you bone?"

"Yeah I'm boning it man," Fallon replied, only for Higgins to quip, "All right blood."

After encouraging his audience to join him in reading the book, Fallon also suggested they visit their local libraries. "You don't even need friends. I'm reading the book with you. You don't need money or your friends." 

For those joining the host, readers can follow on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #tonightshowsummerreads to share their thoughts with Fallon, who joked that it may take him “three or four weeks” to get through the hefty novel.