An essay by Nicole Chung on The Toast:
What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism
And a chaser: 21 Racial Microagressions you hear on a Daily Basis on Buzzfeed.
An essay by Nicole Chung on The Toast:
What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism
And a chaser: 21 Racial Microagressions you hear on a Daily Basis on Buzzfeed.
You can’t do that! Stories have to be about White people. An essay by Darren Chetty in the UK, about the moment he realized what he was up against.
Racism and Science Fiction — classic essay by Samual Delany, an essential text from 1998.
Zen Cho on fantasy — an article from the Independent.
It’s okay to admit that Lovecraft was racist — an article on Salon.
Black to the Future — Philadelphia Weekly reports on the Ferguson is the Future symposium on speculative fiction. Click on that link and you’ll be listening to amazing speculative fiction writers take on questions of race, of voice, of philosophy, Afrofuturism and so so much more.
Why do authors write what they write?
Good Enough by Paula Yoo is the story of Patti Yoon, a senior in high school juggling parents with (extremely) high expectations, a crush on a boy who’s sending (very) mixed signals, and a new awareness of how much her music–long thought to be a means to the Ivy League–truly means to her.
Recommend to readers who love gentle reads, who will enjoy the lively church setting of some of the plot. The novel is a quick read for any kid who knows all about parental pressure. The author’s note at the end indicates the novel is semi-autobiographical, and the warm tone that wraps you up in this story feels like home. Recommended for 6th grade and up.
Diverse content: The main character is Korean American. She’s is active in her church youth group, which doesn’t seem to be as common in kidlit as it is in actual life. She calls it “Korean church” to indicate the entwining of heritage and religion.
Study this for gentle humor and sly use of various literary devices — lists and recipes, schedules and test questions.
This Side of Home by Renée Watson
Recommend this book to readers of contemporary teen fiction who love straightforward prose. Readers looking for stories of teens making a difference in their communities will find an engaging heroine here.
Diverse content: The protagonist is a Black teen struggling with the community displacement afflicting her “gentrifying” neighborhood. A pervasive, centuries-old problem is brought into focus. The protagonist’s best friend is economically displaced by the gentrification in a historically Black neighborhood.
Study this for how it lets the characters directly address social issues. I appreciate the fact that the author let us hear the main character’s thoughts about her neighborhood and the changes; sometimes authors don’t go there, perhaps out of fear that it would be “preachy” or didactic if a character discusses their opinion on a political or social issue. But here is an example of how to do this. I love these teens engaged with analyzing and critiquing the city they live in. It felt authentic.