1. 16 February 2012 · 12:23 PM · 280 notes
    I'm looking for YA books with POC in them.

    feminerdism:

    I tutor reading and phonics at an inner-city middle school in Denver. Most of the students are Latino, from low-income households, English Language Learners, and immigrants. Some of them are undocumented immigrants, or their parents are undocumented. Some of their parents work two or three minimum wage jobs, others have parents who are incarcerated. I tell you all of this so you will understand: The odds are stacked overwhelmingly against these students. They need all the help we can offer them, which is why I volunteer my time tutoring (my good friend is their science teacher).

    Anyway, starting in a few weeks I’ll be running a Book Club for five of the best readers in the seventh grade. These are kids who already love to read, but don’t really have an adult in their lives who can foster and encourage their love of reading. The Book Club is meant to give them a place where they can talk about their love of books, and to give them access to books that are a little more challenging than what many of their classmates are reading (some of the seventh graders in their school read English at a first-grade level). We want to challenge them, and to give them a fun experience.

    Ok, long-winded explanation aside, I need young-adult books with people of color in them. It would be great if I could find some books with Chicano/as or Latino/as as the main characters, but honestly I just don’t want to give them books that are as white-washed as most of the other media they are forced to consume. These kids are incredibly bright, and they recognize discrepancies in representation and privilege because they witness it every day.

    They’ve already read The Hunger Games and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and enjoyed them, so that’s the reading level I’m talking about. I will be donating the books to the school, so it would be great if they were something I could easily find at used book stores, but if I have to order them all off of Amazon.com that’s ok too.

    Please recommend some YA books with POC in them for my students.

    And as a bonus, tell me your favorite YA novel. :)

    The Circle of Magic, the Circle Opens, and Circle Reforged series are a fantasy series by Tamora Pierce features several POC main characters. Daja is black, I believe Briar is non-white, and Evy is Asian. 

    Malinda Lo tends to write Asian characters in her books. “Ash” is considered debatable, but “Huntress” definitely has two Asian main characters. This is also fantasy.

    Also, I’ve heard good things about “Akata Witch” by Nnedi Okorafor, which is about a Nigerian American girl who has magic.

    young adultfictionbookspoc

    1. evashandor reblogged this from stfuconservatives
    2. wanderingandfound reblogged this from themindislimitless and added:
      Okay, so not in the same genre as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but for my twelfth birthday my grandmother gave me...
    3. lemonpie42 reblogged this from madamethursday
    4. trans-terrific reblogged this from ceasesilence
    5. ceasesilence reblogged this from goldenheartedrose
    6. gilly-laughs reblogged this from feminerdism and added:
      Seed Folks by Judy Pederson
    7. nocureforcuriosity reblogged this from stopwhitewashing and added:
      This would be a great resource for librarians, and I also figured, some librarians could help recommend some excellent...
    8. suicide-in-the-trenches reblogged this from alasihavetransfiguredmyfeet and added:
      First thing which comes...Malorie Blackman; mainly...Noughts...
    9. flefla reblogged this from fuckyeahlesbianliterature
    10. narcolassie reblogged this from stopwhitewashing
    11. fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin reblogged this from fuckyeahlesbianliterature
    12. comedanceintherain reblogged this from fuckyeahlesbianliterature
    13. struckamatchwithfeeling reblogged this from brokenhouse
    14. brokenhouse reblogged this from karnythia
    15. whenbirdstakewing reblogged this from fuckyeahlesbianliterature and added:
      http://www.diversityinya.com //americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/...
    16. stopwhitewashing reblogged this from karnythia
    17. nimodoz reblogged this from karnythia
    18. counterftnoire reblogged this from karnythia
    19. curiouskitty reblogged this from karnythia
    20. icecrystal2k reblogged this from fuckyeahlesbianliterature and added:
      Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea series, maybe? I know the first book in the series, A Wizard of Earthsea, was written as a...
    21. alisonofagun reblogged this from strugglingtobeheard and added:
      Santa Olivia by Jaqueline Carey is a YA novel with a superpowered queer Latina protagonist set in a dystopian sci-fi...
    22. fuckyeahlesbianliterature reblogged this from pretzlcoatl and added:
      Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazra Doyle Ash and Huntress by Malinda Lo
    23. lordaardvark reblogged this from karnythia
    24. pretzlcoatl reblogged this from strugglingtobeheard and added:
      http://www.connectedyouth.org/books/index.cfm?booklist=hispanicteen My favorite when I was 14 or so was The House on...
    25. karnythia reblogged this from strugglingtobeheard
    26. strugglingtobeheard reblogged this from theoceanandthesky
    27. tobey reblogged this from agradschoolbreakup
    28. alasihavetransfiguredmyfeet reblogged this from ethiopienne and added:
      Only two come to mind immediately, which is quite depressing as I love YA fiction. There’s Does My Head Look Big In...
    29. navigatethestream reblogged this from agradschoolbreakup
    30. dreamiermaalik reblogged this from agradschoolbreakup
    31. looast reblogged this from hemlockmartini and added:
      Very much looking forward to this!
    32. blackjackgabbiani reblogged this from feminerdism and added:
      don’t know if anyone’s suggested...Young Wizards series yet, but one