That’s Mighty White Of Ya

That’s Mighty White Of Ya.

via That’s Mighty White Of Ya.

ADVICE FROM THE TOKEN BLACK CHICK

Cover via Amazon

 My response to someone who asked me about books for African Americans :

Okay, I’m an African American (but, I’ll preface my comments by saying that I grew up predominantly around European Americans until I was 16). The books that I’m going to suggest aren’t necessarily “African American” books, but I think that they deal with themes that ALL teens can relate to. The graphic novels Palestine, Maus, and A.D. New Orleans, these all deal with populations that have had to deal with oppression and adversity. The other books that I would recommend are: Shine, Hate List, 13 Reasons, The Hunger Games, The Freedom Writers,Bruiser, Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes, and Looking for Alaska.
You also might want to read The Rose that Grew from Concrete, I think this book would be really good if you study any poetry.
During my teens, I was a star runner, a runaway, foster child, gang member and when I didn’t have to worry about taking care of myself, I was/am a hippie. The one thing that I can say, is that sometimes it’s nice to escape from your everyday life and see that some teen experiences are universal, like wanting to know that you’re safe and loved; if you’re a teen in the inner city, Palestine, or a rural community, there’s always someone who’s a little higher up on the food chain than you are.

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Young Adult Lit

Teen and Young Adult Fiction (Photo credit: Blue Train Books)

As part of my training in my Master’s program, I frequently read and evaluate Young Adult Literature. I recently enrolled in a program, that affords me the opportunity to read books before their release  to the public. Today it dawned on me, that most  of the novels I’m  reading are dystopian/apocalyptic in nature. I don’t recall there being such a great quantity of books of that nature when I was a teen; I had so many real-life things that I had to deal with as a teen, so perhaps I missed them. I am currently reading a book called Shadowed Ground by Vicki Keire, it is dystopian in nature. So far, I’ve found the book  very interesting, although it jumps around and would be much better in my opinion, if there was a clear line that showed the relationship between the characters. I’m only on the fifth chapter, so perhaps things will become clear shortly.

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