Wednesday 15 August 2018

Diversity Adversity





I've been thinking a lot about diversity this week. It was sparked by a conversation on Twitter about the lack of Young Adult books featuring girls with autism, but quickly spread into a discussion about why there weren't more stories featuring black/gay/transgender/fat/Asian/kids with disabilities etc etc. 

According to figures I found under #WeNeedDiverseBooks, in 2017 a character in a children's picture book was four times more likely to be a dinosaur than an American-Indian child.

In my book Daughter of Kali: Awakening, my main character is a half-Indian half-English girl. I wrote her because a) you write what you know, and that's my background and b) growing up, there were very few characters in books who I could identify with. Indian girls, let alone Indian girls with secret destinies and hidden powers, were just not that thick on the ground. 

I was massively into Marvel comics when I was a teenager, but I couldn't help noticing that superheroes were predominantly white males. The first black superhero in mainstream comics was Black Panther back in 1966, and he only appeared alongside the Fantastic Four (all white, except arguably I suppose The Thing, who was technically orange. But he started out white.) 


One of my favourite TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was woefully short on non-white characters. The second Slayer, Kendra, only lasted a couple of episodes before being killed off. (It did have a fully-rounded lesbian relationship though, which was ground-breaking for the time.)


Thankfully, things have moved on somewhat, and there are some terrific books out there celebrating the human race in all its uniqueness. So, in the interests of diversity, here are five YA books you should read or get your child to read. Because representation matters, and we should all have access to different perspectives. 


What kind of characters would YOU like to see? Please comment below. Happy reading!


Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school.
There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.

 Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.
Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

Evan Panos doesn’t know where he fits in. His strict Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend Henry has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.
Tired, isolated, scared—Evan’s only escape is drawing in an abandoned church that feels as lonely as he is. And, yes, he kissed one guy over the summer. But it’s his best friend Henry who’s now proving to be irresistible. It’s Henry who suddenly seems interested in being more than friends. And it’s Henry who makes him believe that he’s more than his mother’s harsh words and terrifying abuse. But as things with Henry heat up, and his mother’s abuse escalates, Evan has to decide how to find his voice in a world where he has survived so long by avoiding attention at all costs.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas


Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr