Young Adult Books with Black Characters

[queerbychoice]

From Jayelle:

My just-turned-11-year-old TutorKid wants books. That's good, 'cause he needs help reading (it's the reason he's my TutorKid!) He's black. He would like some young adult books with black characters who are not, in his words, "running away from some slavemaster or living in the 50s." That sounds like such a *little* request, right? Except apparently, it's not. I just spent 15 minutes on the phone with a lady at Books-A-Million (evil corporate bookstore, I know) who couldn't find anything and has decided to make it a personal quest. I couldn't find anything at Amazon. Urban Think, non-evil and non-corporate, has very few kids' books at all. I can now understand completely why he's frustrated!

There must be somebody reading my journal who can offer suggestions here.

*EDIT* Wait, I remember there's one by Philip Pullman titled The Broken Bridge. Well, and there's at least one by M. E. Kerr, but M. E. Kerr kind of . . . tries too hard to put really simplistic P.C. messages into the stories, so I'm not really comfortable recommending that one. Philip Pullman's characters are much more human and much less, "LOOK EVERYBODY! It's a Token Black Main Character!"

Hmm, what else?

Comments

[freeze-dried.livejournal.com]

Give these URLs to your friend, yo.

Black Books Galore (http://www.blackbooksgalore.com)
Black Library (http://www.theblacklibrary.com)
Cush City (http://www.cushcity.com)
Black Expressions (http://www.blackexpressions.com)
Angel's Book Store (http://www.angelsbookstore.com)
The Black Bookshelf (http://www.theblackbookshelf.com)
Black Literature Online (http://www.blackliterature.com)
Sammie's YRC (http://www.thesistahcircle.com/sammieyrc.htm)
Kulture Zone Kidz (http://www.kulturezone.com)
G.R.I.T.S Kidz (http://www.gritskidz.com)
Black Butterfly Press (http://www.maxinethompson.com)

Hope these help!