Question, o flist:

[winkingstar]

Can anyone think of YA fairytale novels (traditional or original) that feature multicultural characters? There are plenty of multicultural picture book fairy tales, but I can't say the same for YA fairy tales. The only one I can think of at the moment is Wabi: A Hero's Tale by Joseph Bruchac (and I think a couple of his other books are fairytale-

Comments

[valancy_s]

Wait, by multicultural do you mean it deals with a clash of cultures, or multiple cultures? Or do you just mean you're looking for books about non-white people/settings?

If the latter, I think you might be running into trouble since the fairy tales we think of as canonical are European... authors writing about non-European cultures tend to use the myths of those cultures.

[winkingstar]

Multiple cultures would be cool, but I'm more broadly thinking of non-Western European cultures. Either way would make me happy, so long as the non-white characters are more than minor characters.

I'm thinking of all the picture books of fairy tales from different regions. It seems like at least some of those should carry over to novel retellings besides our Western European canon fairy tales.

[valancy_s]

Well, if Eastern Europe counts, Orson Scott Card has a Sleeping Beauty retelling that uses Russian fairy tale elements. I think Lloyd Alexander has some of the kind of thing you're looking for, though they're probably more middle grade than YA. I've never read her but Tanith Lee might be someone to look at. Nothing else is coming to mind.

Maybe the best way would be to scan through lists of well-known Ethnic American writers and see if they've done anything for younger audiences.

[winkingstar]

Oh, right, Enchantment! Thanks for reminding me.

We're allowed to do middle grade stuff, so long as some of the younger teens would read it. Our textbook is for grades 4-12. And I'd probably feel more comfortable with middle grade stuff anyway.

Thanks! :)

[lacontessa11]

I can think of some YA fantasy books, but I don't think any of them are fairy tales. I'll have to think about this one.

[winkingstar]

Yeah, I've found several fantasy books in my Google searching. Somehow I always seem to find the topics that are less well represented. :/

[lacontessa11]

There have got to be some Asian myth retellings somewhere (based on what you said in response to a later comment). I know there's some Son Goku/Monkey King stories, but I don't know the ages. Also, when we were in Alaska, there were TONS of kids books about the native tribes and their myths (we were looking for gifts for the ringbearer and flower girl). I would guess there are some YA versions, too.

[winkingstar]

Oh, that makes me happy that they have a huge selection in Alaska!

I only know of one native YA author off the top of my head (Joseph Bruchac, who I mentioned in the post), so I'll have to look for more. Maybe I can go check out the bookstore at the American Indian museum.

I did find a few Chinese myth and fairy tale type stories in my further Googlings. And a few more that tended more towards fantasy.

Oh! Duh, I should check the LoC subject headings. It's annoying because they class juvenile and YA together, so I'll have to wade through a million picture books, but maybe there will be some novels in the first couple pages.

[fish_echo]

I echo what valancy-s said "Wait, by multicultural do you mean it deals with a clash of cultures, or multiple cultures? Or do you just mean you're looking for books about non-white people/settings?" and also ask for clarification on the descriptor "fairy tales" -- what about folk tales? Is mythology acceptable? (Because in my mind I tend to lump fairy tales and folk tales and tall tales and legends and mythology all together, because they are all sort of 'oral storytelling through lots of time'.)

Also, what length of story are you interested in? (I know I read several anthologies of shorter stories.)

Sorry for being picky.

I know I read stuff as a teen that fell into 'oral history stories' that wasn't western European. I'm fairly certain that my book case at my parents' has some of them still (but it's possible they've migrated to other people's book cases). I could call my mum and ask her to go look for me if you'd like.

(edited for spelling and another thought.)

[winkingstar]

As I told valancy_s, multiple cultures would be cool, but in general I'm looking for non-Western European characters. Or at least significant non-white supporting characters.

Folklore in general, I guess. Fairy tales and mythology. Legends, too, but I tend to class those separately in my head. (They're all in 398 according to Dewey, though.) (I tend not to like tall tales, I don't know why.)

Anthologies of shorter stories are cool so long as they're modern retellings, and not just anthologies of the original tales.

[fish_echo]

Fish's mum has been asked, I'll let you know what she says.

[winkingstar]

Thank you, sweets! :)