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This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, as we’ve already discussed, but let’s talk about books I’ve already read in which the main character (not a supporting character) is a person of color. Obviously, a lot of the manga I’ve been reading lately features people of color — at least, the ones set in Japan can reasonably be assumed to be people of color. (There’s an ongoing discussion among people who know more about manga than I do that addresses this, because many people unfamiliar with manga assume that the characters are white because of the range of hair colors and because eye shape isn’t characterized with the fold that is so common to Asian people, but from what I understand, it’s just an artistic choice, not a statement on the race of the characters. It certainly makes it easier to distinguish different characters when you’ve got a range of hair colors, especially in black-and-white manga. But that’s not what this post is really about.)

So what science fiction and fantasy — specifically, for young readers — have you read lately that feature a main character of color? Here’s my list (note that even though this is a “multicultural” list, I’m deliberately leaving out fantasy inspired by Celtic culture unless it features a character of color, because such fantasy is usually the most predominant in the market. I love it, but it’s not what this list is for):

SFF books for young readers that feature multicultural characters that I’ve read

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, 2009, by Grace Lin. I’m still working on reading this fairy-tale retelling-like tale, but so far it’s beautiful.
• Wildwood Dancing, 2007, by Juliet Marillier. This one’s a little bit of a stretch, but it is set in Romania, which is a culture we don’t see too often in non-vampire stories.
• Book of a Thousand Days, 2008, by Shannon Hale. Mongolia-inspired. Lovely, lovely fairy tale retelling. My favorite of Shannon’s books (and that’s saying something, because she writes some good books!).
• The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, 1994, by Nancy Farmer. Set in Zimbabwe in the year 2194.
• The House of the Scorpion, 2002, by Nancy Farmer. Set in the zone between the U.S. and Mexico, main character is Latino.
• Flora Segunda, 2007, by Isabeau S. Wilce, and its sequel Flora’s Dare. Set in a fantasy world inspired by a fun mix of medieval, fashion-forward, and Spanish-inspired cultures (Spain-Spanish, given how the language is used, I’m thinking, but I could be wrong).
• Little Sister,1996, by Kara Dalkey, and a sequel for which I’ve forgotten the name. Japanese folklore. This is actually one of the first multicultural fantasies I discovered way back in college, and I loved it so much, but at the time couldn’t find many more books like it.
• Magic or Madness, 2005, and its sequels by Justine Larbalestier. Reason Cansino, the main character, is an Australian of mixed race.
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. This one has had a lot of misunderstanding over the years due to publishers in the 60s and 70s putting a white Ged on the cover, when in fact Ged and many of the other characters are dark-skinned.
• Eternal, 2009, by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Miranda is Chinese-American.
• Tantalize, 2007, by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Main character Quincie is English-Italian-Texan, and non-POV character (but featured in a graphic novel sequel) Kieren is Mexican-American. (This one’s kind of a stretch, because Quincie isn’t technically a person of color–unless that Texan part is Latino?)

ETA: How could I forget Lawrence Yep? I have one of his books, but I’m not sure where it is. The ones I’ve read of his feature Asian characters in Asian settings (Chinese? I can’t remember off the top of my head). His books are great reads.

SFF books written by authors of color (where I’ve been able to identify them) in which characters may be of ambiguous ethnicity, or ethnicity simply not mentioned

Sucks to Be Me, 2008, by Kimberly Pauley

Multicultural science fiction and fantasy on my TBR pile

• Silver Phoenix, 2009, by Cindy Pon. Set in ancient China.
• Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, 2008, by Nahoko Uehashi, and its sequel, Moribito II. Written by a Japanese author (originally published in Japan and translated to English) and set in a culture inspired by medieval Japan.
• The Shadow Speaker, 2007, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Set in Niger, 2070. I’ve had the ARC of this since 2007, and have been wanting to read it for forever, and keep misplacing it when I actually think of it! It’s an oversight I need to correct.
• Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.
• Extras, 2007, by Scott Westerfeld. Main character, Aya, is Japanese, I believe. I LOVED the first three in the series (and somehow have misplaced my signed copies of the first two books ) but haven’t had a chance to catch up with this one.
• How to Ditch Your Fairy, 2008, Justine Larbalestier
• Tantalize: Kieren’s Story, by Cynthia Leitich Smith–the above-mentioned sequel to her Tantalize.
• The Animorphs series
• Chronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu
• Doret says that she’s been told the Pendragon series apparently has a black girl protagonist, despite the white boy on the cover? I’ll have to investigate that–perhaps it’s alternating viewpoints, or perhaps she’s introduced at a later point in the series? I know there is a follow-up series once the main boy protag grows up, so perhaps she’s in that?
• Devil’s Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda
• Libyrinth, by Pearl North
• The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
• Sword and Wandering Warrior by Da Chen

Multicultural fantasy that never came to be, and I lament it

Books 7 and 8 of the Hallowmere series by Tiffany Trent, which was canceled at book 6. I was so looking forward to editing Mara’s story (former slave, probably the most interesting of the Hallowmere girls because of her backstory) in book 7 and Chumana’s story (Hopi girl who Mara was going to meet in her travels through the raths) in book 8.

And books to add to my TBR pile thanks to shweta-narayan

• Across the Nightingale Floor and its sequels, by Lian Hearn. Japanese historical fantasy. I had a copy of this in Seattle, and I’m not sure where I put it. I think I must have lost it in the move to Utah.
• Annals of the Western Shore series by Ursula K. LeGuin. I remember the controversy over this cover, too–originally when Gifts came out, they’d put a white kid on the cover, too, and given LeGuin’s long history of having the cover of Earthsea whitewashed, that was a pretty big fight, and the final book ended up with I believe an Indian or Pakistani boy on the cover instead.
• Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. I keep forgetting to read this one, though people keep recommending it to me. I even have a free copy from ALA a few years back.
• The Two Pearls of Wisdom (or Dragoneye Reborn as it’s known in the US) by Alison Goodman. I’ve been meaning to pick this one up. The whole mythology is inspired by Asian culture (Japanese? I can’t remember which one).
• Lavender-Green Magic, by Andre Norton.
• A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith. (Is this YA?)
• Stormwitch, by Susan Vaught
• The Dragon Keeper, by Carole Wilkinson
• A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer
• The Wizard series by Diane Duane
• The Green Boy, by Susan Cooper
• Jin Shei trilogy by Alma Alexander
• The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl, by Virginia Hamilton
• Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed, by Virginia Hamilton
• 47, by Walter Mosley
• Pemba’s Song, by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
• The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie
• The Night Wanderer, by Drew Hayden Taylor

There are also books in which the ethnicity of the character is neutral/unclaimed, as in The Hunger Games, in which most of those who work in the Seam are dark-skinned, but of an unspecified ethnic origin (Mitali Perkins discussed this on her blog a while back), so I’m not counting it on this list but it’s still a great book.

As you can see, there are some really great books out there already, but the list is still pretty short. Can you guys help me add to it? Especially the TBR pile, though I know I’m also forgetting books that I’ve read that I just don’t have copies of. What am I missing?

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Bronze Dragon Codex

More information about ICFA, from Amie’s blog:

In one sentence: IAFA is a scholarly organization dedicated to the study of the fantastic in the arts. Let’s break down those terms:

“Scholarly” refers to academic papers, most grad school level or above, although every once in a while there’s some good undergrad papers.

“Fantastic” refers to anything outside the realm of reality. This includes high fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, science fiction, science fantasy, and basically anything that doesn’t fall under realistic.

“Arts” refers to literature, film, graphic novels, picture books, fanfic, visual art.

Now for some some FAQs:

What do you do?
Currently I am head of the Children’s and Young Adult division. This means I receive and evaluate scholarly papers and determine which belong in the conference (and some other boring behind the scenes stuff). Deadline for papers is October 31; official CFP will be posted here later. I am NOT in charge of deciding which writers get compensation for attending and how much; I’m just looking for names to pass along at this point.

I don’t write papers, I write fiction. What can I contribute?
There are also author readings at the conference (usually one block of readings per session; there’s about 4-6 sessions per day). I’d love to get some new children’s and YA writer blood into those readings. In addition to readings, you can also do signings and book sales. A great chance to interact with people who have an academic interest in your genre (who knows, you may even get to meet someone who wrote a paper about your work; there’s a lot on recent books!).

What do I get for attending?
Compensation varies and is, I must warn you, competitive. Later this summer the person in charge of arranging visiting writers will be emailing out conference info and what you need to send to get compensation. If you’re interested, give me your name and contact info so I can pass it on to her.

Who else will be there?
This year the Guest of Honors are Lawrence Yep and Nalo Hopkinson. For an idea of other writers who’ve attended in the past, this past year’s program is available at www.iafa.org (to find names quickly, just to a search on “Reading”)

Why should I come?

• Hear papers on current issues in children’s literature such as “Twilight” or ancient issues relating to fairy tales, or anything in-between.
• Talk with some amazing writers and scholars in a very friendly environment (I call this a “conference with training wheels” when encouraging grad students to attend).
• It’s in Orlando in March, so if you live in a cold climate it’s a chance to warm up and maybe swing by Disneyworld.
• It’s a networking opportunity; I met slwhitman there and she ended up being the editor for my first book.
• Because this is one of the most amazing, fun conferences in existence.

If you’re interested, contact her directly with the information she’s asking for.

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I’ve been considering this possibility for years — it’s actually been a dream of mine since perhaps college or a few years after I graduated. When I was laid off from Mirrorstone, I looked for a job in New York City publishing, but I was laid off right before all the layoffs were starting there, which meant that what few job openings were still around were hard to come by, and most other places were either in a hiring freeze or preparing for possible layoffs. I moved to Utah to freelance while I figured out what my next step was. I considered becoming an agent, which is a common path for editors in my position, but that didn’t feel right either.

In the mean time, as you know if you read this blog, I’ve been critiquing manuscripts directly for authors, teaching the occasional community writing seminar (remember: worldbuilding seminar at the end of this month!), and providing freelance editorial services to a variety of publishers — mostly copyediting and proofreading. But even the freelancing is drying up these days — as publishers cut back, they pull all their freelance services in-house, piling more work on the editors they still have left. I enjoy helping new writers, but I like seeing the whole process, having the end result of a printed book to share with readers. I love being an in-house editor.

I’m still sending submissions to Tor — and am still looking for agented submissions for that, and for books by authors with whom I’ve worked in the past (including requesting a full manuscript or revisions) — but that isn’t a full-time thing.

One of the issues in fantasy publishing in the last six months or so have been about how fantasy is typically white, and it’s gotten me thinking (and plotting) about doing something more specific within that particular segment of the market. Racefail, especially, got me thinking about how children’s and YA fantasy and science fiction, while we’re working on becoming more representative of the readers, still don’t always reach the kids from various multicultural backgrounds. (Don’t even get me started on the all-white casting of the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie.) Most of the kids I know who love fantasy are white/of a European Caucasian descent, and no wonder, because they are the kids most likely to identify with the characters in children’s and YA fantasy. But how can we reach Latino kids? Do Asian-American kids identify with most of the fantasy that’s out there? Don’t kids of all kinds of backgrounds read many non-Western stories, and can’t those stories be told in a way that reaches a wide range of modern American kids? There are some great books out there that do this–and I want to contribute to making more of them possible.

I love all sorts of fantasy, including fantasy with white characters, whether or not it’s inclusive of multiculturalism. But there’s so much already out there, and I got to wondering how we might be able to bring what is currently a niche market (most multicultural books are nonfiction or realism) and combine it with the adventure, romance, magic, forward-thinking, and all the other awesome things that fantasy and science fiction provide to readers, bringing out more stories with characters of all sorts of cultural backgrounds.

So that’s the thinking behind the small press — publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction. I’ve been working on a business plan, with all the intricacies involved in that, with a business partner (who is also a good friend) who cares about these things as well. We’ve got a site reserved and are working on submission guidelines, and we’re working on a number of processes necessary to starting the business. In addition to the publishing part of the business, we’ve also got a lot of ideas about how to get involved in the community, locally and throughout the country. We want to be a force for good not only in awareness of the issues, but in just bringing good books out to all sorts of readers no matter what their cultural inspiration. Once we have those things in place, I’ll be able to tell you more details like what kinds of stories we’re looking for and how to submit, and where to submit to, and all those things that you’ll want to know. I will continue to critique individual authors’ work and freelancing until we make an official announcement about what we’re looking for.

It takes a lot of money to start a publishing company, even a small press, no matter how important the cause. With that in mind, I’ve added a button on the sidebar for anyone who believes in what we’re doing and would like to donate to the effort. It’s not by any means something I’ll push–this will be my last mention of it in the blog — I just thought that if anyone was interested and wanted to, I’d make the option available. If you also believe in expanding fantasy and science fiction to be more inclusive, please consider helping out. All donations will go into the capital fund for the small press.

Hope that answers at least a few questions about what we’re hoping to do, at least until we have an official company presence on the web to direct you to.

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Thanks to everyone who came! I think a writing group grew from it, as well. Good luck with your writing.

I think I’ll try to do a seminar like this every quarter or so, and perhaps a few other classes, perhaps getting more in-depth on other aspects of writing science fiction and fantasy for young readers. Suggestions for class topics welcome, and if anyone from the class has further questions I’m happy to answer them.

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On to other news. Suddenly life has gotten really busy! Especially with LTUE coming up this week (Thurs-Sat in the Wilkinson Center at BYU), I have several things on the agenda that I need to get done today so that I can clear the schedule for LTUE. With Monday being a holiday, I took some time off to hang out with friends who normally work during the day, so I have had a bit of a shortened week myself and I’m playing catch-up now.

Coming up after LTUE, if you’re local, I’m working on scheduling a community class on writing science fiction and fantasy for children and young adults, which I’ll announce here when I’ve finalized plans (which will be tomorrow, when I print out the flyers I will bring with me to LTUE–grab one if you’re going to be there this weekend). We’ll focus on what editors look for, the craft of writing in those genres (especially when writing for young readers), and how writing for children in SFF differs from writing SFF for adults–not to mention how writing for children under 12 differs from writing for teens, and how that specifically applies in fantasy and science fiction. It’ll be a chance to get an in-depth discussion going with your questions in mind. It looks like the best time for it will be late March. If this goes well, I’m considering making it a series.

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Now, the book list says "YA SF," but I’m seeing everything from Captain Underpants (how could I forget him?) to Scott Westerfeld, so it encompasses more than just YA. I’ll skim and see what I can glean for the particular list we’re making here, and if you all happen to see any on there that would count as middle grade, let me know.

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Remember, we’re talking specifically about books published for middle grade readers, kids age 8-12. The lines can be blurry, but I want to keep books published for young adults and adults off the list even if kids those age are reading them, simply for clarity’s sake.

Also, let’s leave off anything published prior to . . . oh, let’s give it a wide swath but say 1990. Science fiction published before those years was definitely science fiction, and there are kids who still find that interesting, but like I’ve said before, it’s a forward-looking genre, and really, books published before the kids were born will probably not be regarded as forward anything. But I gave i
t a little bigger swath than what should be probably 1997-2001, because there are a lot of good books like The Giver which are still popular in schools and aren’t set at any time that the reader couldn’t imagine to be their future.

Let’s also do a subgenre breakdown in the list, so we know why we’re calling it science fiction rather than fantasy (especially time travel novels: for the sake of clarity, few of the time travel novels have plausible science in them. I mean, do *you* know anyone who has traveled in time? but for ease of listing, I’m just plunking it in science fiction). If you have a subgenre classification I haven’t used here that applies to your book, let me know.

Dystopic

* City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau
* The Giver, Lois Lowry
* Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix
Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cyberpunk

Are there any cyberpunk books for middle graders? Would we even WANT there to be any? (Most of the cyberpunk I’ve read is pretty mature.)

Steampunk

Steampunk is one of those genres that crosses the line between SF and fantasy, too. The one that stands out most is Larklight by Philip Reeve. Others?

Space/spaceships/space travel

* A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle (this makes *both* fantasy and science fiction lists because it has elements of both. Please be careful when suggesting books like this, but if it it fits, it goes on the list)

Time travel

* Many Waters, Madeleine L’Engle (also a double, fuzzy, slippage kind of book)

Other planets

* Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey (this goes on this list as much as or more than it does on fantasy, given that the dragons are actually just native to the new planet) new info says this book is definitely YA–sex in later books in the series
* Dragon and Thief (Dragonback), Timothy Zahn 

So far the length of this list sucks. I *know* there are more books out there, but my fantasy collection here at home is far more vast than my science fiction collection. Every SF book I think of tends to be more YA than MG.  I know that Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson have spoken out about how little SF there is for kids, but I don’t know that I’d classify Crystal Doors as more SF than fantasy, and most places I’ve seen it sold in the YA section anyway.

So, what’s out there, people?

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