From Susan at Color Online
Put an ‘X’ by what you’ve read, “#” by what books are on your tbr and “!” by books you loved. This list in very short and focused on women writers of color. Feel free to add titles in your comments. The list sorely needs works by Native Americans and Latinas for example.Susan’s Unofficial List of Great YA by or About Women of Color:
#1. When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune by Lori A. Williams
#2. Every Time A Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia
#3. No Laughter Here by Rita Williams-Garcia
#4. Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia
#5. If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
#6. The House You Pass On The Way by Jacqueline Woodson
#7. Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
#8. From The Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson
#9. Sold by Patricia McCormick
#10. Heaven by An Na11.
#The Parable of The Sower by Octavia E. Butler
#12. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#13. Persepolis by Majane Satrapi
#14. The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon
#15. Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
X!16. Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
#17. A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
#18. Down To The Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
X!19. Don’t Get It Twisted by Paula Chase
X20. Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson
#21. Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper
#22. Kendra by Coe Booth
#23. Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
#24. Does My Head Look Big In This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah
#25. Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
#26. Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim
#27. The Meaning of Conseulo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
X!28. In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
#29. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
#30. First Part Last by Angela Johnson
#31. Pemba’s Song by Marilyn Nelson
#32. Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan
#33. M + O 4EVR by Tonya Hegamin
#34. Lucy The Giant by Sherri L. Smith
x!35. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
#36. Throwaway Piece by Jo Ann Hernandez
#37. White Bread Competition by Jo Ann Hernandez
#38. Across A Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande
#39. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
#40. Ash by Malinda Lo
x41. The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
My list additions
42. When the Black Girl Sings by Bill Wright
43. Maizon at Blue Hill by Jacqueline Woodson
44. That's What's Up by Paula Chase
45. It Chicks by Tia Williams
46. Hotlanta by Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller
47. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith (great show even better books!)
48)Indigo Sound by Regina Baiocchi
49) Meant To Be by Rita Whack
50) Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven by Dawn Turner Trice
I'm like Tashi I now have a whole lot of books to add to my 'to be read (tbr)' pile! That's most definitely a good thing :)
Ok now for the clarifications, randomness and 'more about the blog':
1) This blog isn't only for poc, it's for ANYONE who WANTS TO READ ABOUT POC characters in fiction. So if you're white, Asian, Latino/a, Native American feel free to follow the blog and email me and be like 'you need to read/review more books for Native Americans' (an example). However, the main focus will be on AA books, but I'll try and read/review lots of books with poc.
2) I really want to have a contest. But I don't think I'm going to have one until I have a certain number of followers/viewers of my blog. *I have to figure out where to get a site visitor widget thing.* So follow and comment so I know your out there!
3) I feel like my reviews may be too long. Thoughts?
4) some of the books I added to the list aren't really deep. More like throughly entertaining. I wanted to add some light hearted book titles to the list. I think it's good to read seriosu, deep books with more wit and biting humor. But I also think sometimes you need to read simple books that make you laugh or just take you away from the world you live in, but don't require you to think that hard or cause you pain.
5) Huge thanks to Susan at Color Online, Doreet at HappyNappyBookseller, Tashi & Kiki at Taste Life Twice and Zetta Elliott at Fledgling for the shout-outs on their blogs and/or adding me to their blogroll.
6) I think the red and purple on this blog don't go well together. I added the red (and black font) for the African flag (I think. correct me if I'm wrong) which is red, green and black. I don't like the color green and I love purple so I subsituted purple for green. But now I think the red doesn't work with the purple? Agree/Disagree?
7) I'm going to be participating in the NewCrayons/Waiting on Wednesday (thanks Susan for the New Crayons idea!), and Throwback Thrusday (thanks Tashi for that great idea!) blog posts. Maybe Sunday Salon as well. Teaser or Taste Tuesday
And vote in the MJ poll! P.Y.T. is winning so far. Is no one voting in protest because Smooth Criminal isn't in there? ;)
All the Best,
MissA
Hey Miss, A,
ReplyDeleteHow about a follower contest? I tweeted about you and Tashi.
In my defense my list does say by or about women. lol
My daughter didn't like Hotlanta. I wasn't feelin' it. I like urban lit but I was not impressed with the writing from little I read.
Maizon at Blue Hill was my first Woodson title! I am in my own mind, her biggest fan.
Thanks for the additions. Will work on this.
I agree the writing in Hotlanta wasn't the greatest, but it seems that the style/genre (i.e. books about rich girls) is really popular so I just wanted to show that there is an option if your into that kinda stuff about AAs. Maizon at Blue Hill was my first Woodson title too! actually, my last. Sadly, I thought her work was a bit too middleschool level for me and I wanted to read more complex books. I'm going to go back and read them all though especially cuz the ones by her on your list sound like they are written for high schoolers.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking a follwer contest and I'll probably do it once I get some decent books to give away (almost all the good ones I've read, I got from the library).
I loved It Chicks. I like that there is substance behind the characters.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out a book called Hot Girl by Dream Jordan. If you serach my site there is a review and interview with author.
Shortie Like Mine by Ni-Ni Simone is suppose to be good. I wouldn't know since our latest copy has walked just like the first.
ReplyDeleteAnd to answer your question, no your reviews aren't too long.
ReplyDeleteAm reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - nonfiction about William Kamkwamba, a 14 year old boy from Malawi who had to drop out of school because the drought destroyed their harvest and his family couldn't afford his school fees. While working on their crops and reading library books, he built a windmill from whatever materials he could salvage and was able to install electricity in his house. It's so well written and an amazing story.
ReplyDeleteAnd it has a POC male real life hero!