Young Adult Novels with Protagonists of Color

Young adult novels are written for teens ages 13-19, although many adults (myself included) enjoy them just as much. Here you will find a collection of Young Adult novels in which the main characters are people of color. Books marked with an * are #ownvoices novels, meaning that the author comes from the same community as the protagonist.

African American

• The Friends by Rosa Guy*
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
• When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds*
• All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds* and Brenden Kiely
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds*
• Solo* by Kwame Alexander

Asian-American

• All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg (Vietnamese-American)
• The Epic Crush of Genie Lo* by F.C. Yee

Latino/a

• Gabi: A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero*
• Shadowshaper and Shadowhouse* Falls by Daniel José Older
• Wild Beauty* by Anna-Marie McLemore

Native American

• Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac* (Apache)

Other

• A Thousand Nights  and Spindle  by E.K. Johnston (dark-skinned fantasy)

Muslim-American

• Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali*

*#ownvoices

Middle Grade Fiction with Protagonists of Color

Middle Grade Fiction is for readers between nine and twelve. The following are middle grade novels I have read that feature protagonists of color. This list is part of my on-going book list project, in response to the Cooperative Book Center’s statistics regarding the lack of diversity in children’s books. Books marked with a * are #ownvoices books, meaning that the author belongs to the same community as the protagonist. I will be adding to this list as I read more books. Please leave suggestions in the comments!

African-American

• One Crazy Summer* by Rita Williams-Garcia (2011 Newbery Honor Book, 2011 Scott O’Dell Award, 2011 Judy Lopez Memorial Award Honor Book)
• P.S. Be Eleven *by Rita Williams-Garcia (2014 Coretta Scott King Award)
• After Tupac and D Foster* by Jacqueline Woodson (2009 Newbery Honor Book, 2009 Bank Street College of Education Josette Frank Award )
• Money Hungry* by Sharon G. Flake (2002 Coretta Scott King Author Honor)
• Locomotion* by Jacueline Woodson (2004 Coretta Scott King Author Honor)
• The House of Dies* Drear by Virginia Hamilton
• Toning the Sweep* by Angela Johnson (1994 Coretta Scott King Award)
• Crossover* by Kwame Alexander (2015 Newbery Medal, 2015 Coretta Scott King Author honor book)
• Ninth Ward* by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Coretta Scott King Author Award 2011)
• As Brave as You* by Jason Reynolds (Schnieder Family Book Award 2017, Coretta Scott King Author Honor 2017)
• Oddity by Sarah Cannon

Native American

• The Birchbark House* by Louise Eldrich (2006 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Middle School Book)

Indian-American

• Same Sun Here* by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

Latino/a

• The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child* by Francisco Jiménez
• Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco by Judith Robbins Rose
• The First Rule of Punk* by Celia C. Perez

Middle Eastern 

• Whichwood* by Tahereh Mafi (fantasy story with elements of Middle Eastern culture)

Asian-American

• Spirit Hunters* by Ellen Oh

You may also be interested in my Picture Books with Protagonists of Color, Picture Books with Racial or Ethnic Diversity, and International Picture Book lists.

Picture books with protagonists of color

Following the publication of the 2013 statistics on children’s books by and about people of color by the Children’s Cooperative Bookstore (CCBS) the showed that of 3,200 books surveyed only 93 were about black people (either Africans of any nationality or African-Americans), Walter Dean Meyers and Christopher Meyers wrote moving op-eds for the New York Times about what this disparity means for young people of color.  Both men are accomplished authors of children’s literature and their essays speak eloquently to the larger issues that the numbers in the CCBS study represent.

I often see parents posting in online forums for recommendations of multicultural children’s books. This blog post is the first in a series of book lists I am compiling to make finding books about under-represented groups of people a little easier to find. All of these lists are a work in progress, so please post suggestion in the comments and check back often for updates. All of the books listed here are books I have personally read where the main character is a person of color. Because racial, cultural, or ethnic identity is not always obvious if they are not the focal point of the story, I am including all picture books with protagonists of color in this list. When the protagonist’s racial, cultural, or ethnic background is explicit in the text or otherwise obvious, I have included it in parentheses in the list. Links are to reviews on this blog. Without further ado, the list: