YA chicklit with POC

[oyceter]

Does anyone have recommendations for happy YA chicklit starring POC and/or by POC?

Qualifications:

I have read half of Dana Davidson's Jason & Kyra and got bored by the prose and descriptions of what everyone was wearing, I know about Melissa de la Cruz, I've read Does My Head Look Big in This? and liked it, may check out First Daughter soon,

Comments

[gair]

Okay, here we go...

EVERYTHING EVER WRITTEN BY MELISSA LUCASHENKO I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE HARD TO TRACK DOWN SHE IS THE MOST AWESOME WRITER IN THE WORLD OMG.

Back cover blurb: 'Melissa Lucashenko can write about the hard stuff in a way that makes you feel glad to be alive'. So not exactly fluffy, but not depressing, either.

Titles: Hard Yards (not half-girl, but female author and lots of girls in), Killing Darcy (ditto - I wonder why she likes the boy POV so much?), Too Flash (all about girls).

One of the girls in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books (Anne Brashares) is a POC, and those are fluffy liek whoa, I love them.

I'm guessing you've read Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt already? if not, I think it pretty much fits your requirements entirely.

I haven't seen Nobody's Family is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh on anyone's list, I don't think, and it's one of my favourite books of all time. Got me through my adolescence. (Another one with 'difficult themes' but which ends up making you feel better about

[oyceter]

Thank you! My library doesn't have Lucashenko, but I'm going to try hunting for her stuff via UBS and etc.

[poilass]

I haven't really looked through it, but there seem to be a lot of recs here for YA and children's books by & about POC: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/cyalr_index.html.

[oyceter]

Oh, awesome, thank you!

[oracne]

This sounded interesting:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/01/16/review-the-kayla-chronicles-by-sherri-winston/

Review of THE KAYLA CHRONICLES by Sherri Winston.

[oyceter]

I saw that! I have it on hold at the library and am waiting for it to get in!

[oracne]

Good, now you can read it and tell me if I absolutely have to have it.

[lnbw]

How about Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land (about an Asian-American girl who converts to Judaism, though that description doesn't really do it justice) or Tanuja Desai Hidier's Born Confused (which I vaguely recall is about an Indian girl who likes photography; I can't remember whether it was good or not, but it's definitely chick lit)?

[oyceter]

I've actually already read a bit of Born Confused (*points to the giant list*), but thanks for the Gish Jen rec! That sounds interesting.

[sparkymonster]

I second the rec of "Mona in the Promised Land." It's one of the few books that I feel like "gets" ideas about fluidity of ethnic identity. Mona is an Asian-American woman who feels strong ties to Judaism, and converts. But it's not about her journey away from Asian-ness towards white Judaism. It's about how she does and does not fit into Asian-American ideas, and ways she does fit into a certain type of Jewish idea and uh. Stuff.

Except it's not YA.

[oyceter]

Oh awesome! I have it out from the library right now and am looking forward to reading it.

[oyceter]

Glad the comments are helping! I think I managed to get most of them via my library and/or interlibrary loan, so am looking forward to reading and reporting back.