Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p discussion

Does anyone care to share what was their last read that they liked featuring multiculturalism?

What about your last read featuring multiculturalism in which you didnt like it?

What were the highs and lows of both?

What would you have liked to see?

I'll go first :)

While I am reading two books currently featuring multiculturalism, the last one I finished was the 4th book in the house of night series "Untamed".

I like The House of Night series so far,as it has many examples of multiculturalism.

Zooey Redbird herself is 1/4 Native American(while her appearance is Caucasian,she highly identifies with it). She has one Jamaican American best girl friend, and also her best guy friend is gay.

While the dialogue is a bit young,Im assuming it may be because I have no idea how Okies(their nickname for Oklahoma natives ;p)speak.


Now a book Im currently reading named Untamed isnt my cup of tea. I feel as though the author isnt descriptive and outside of the leading male(white) and the leading lady(biracial,half black)I dont even know if their circle of friends are their race. The author confuses me with alot of telling,and it sucks that so many black women get stereotyped as women who only like to get high,and have bad attitudes.

I can honestly think of very little that would redeem this book, but i havent finished it,so im giving it the benefit of the doubt and going to follow through and finish.

So far I'm reading a YA novel called Living Violet by Jaime Reed.So far I've gathered that it's about a bi-racial girl who falls in love with some average looking caucasian fellow with violet eyes.I'm not sure what he is yet, if he's human or what but I put it down this week. I'm going to try to read a bit more tonight.

I would have liked to see the book focus on a non bi-racial leading lady.For the main reason being i'm not sure if i consider a girl who's bi-racial dating someone white isn't really interracial because she shares half of his racial background. It seems to be the safe thing to do today, to make characters bi-racial. I'm giving this book a chance but It would have been nice for someone to have the bravery to change it up.

I actually loved Living Violet because the cast, including classmates, is multicultural. Nothing annoys me as much as a novel set in modern times and in diverse cities but the entire cast of the book is mono-racial. It's unrealistic. I also liked Samara as a heroine because YA is filled with Bella Swann-clones who allow the boy to treat them like crap because he's "hot".

I do get what you're saying about biracial being a "trend", especially with New York publishing circles. My guess is that they're still trying to appeal to white readers who are still stuck on stupid when it comes to race, lol, and the feeling is a biracial character (part white) is somehow far relatable than a character who's of a single ethnic background. All the while, the character is just ethnic enough to entice the growing diverse demographic. In short, they're trying to have it both ways. I have no problem with biracial characters because most biracial black people identify as black (our president for starters). Like you though, I would like to see more black heroines and heroes doing extraordinary things too and being the romantic leads. I'd also like to see more natural hair styles represented.

If you want some great examples try:
(the hero is black)

(self-explanatory, lol)

(great cover! great book)

This will be out soon . Shapri is an awesome character!

I heard about emlyn chand book.her covers are amazing!and she seems to feature main protagonists that are non caucasian

My recent introduction to Rick Riordan was with the first book of the Kane Chronicles, The Red Pyramid

, part of my effort to gain some familiarity with the middle grade genre. I also read Flying the Dragon


The Kane Chronicles novel was simply fun and adventurous so no particular thoughts regarding it. Flying the Dragon leaned toward certain Asian stereotypes but was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

I second . I need to check when the next book is out.

has a main character who is struggling with sexual identity.

is a middle grade series set in Indian mythology

@kindle-aholic i think you told me about the last one.I love the cover i'm def gonna check those three books out!I'm deciding that i'm a big fan of books that feature characters struggling with their sexual identity. It's a hard subject to talk about but it's the same struggle as anyone else's.

Libertad wrote: "@kindle-aholic i think you told me about the last one.I love the cover i'm def gonna check those three books out!I'm deciding that i'm a big fan of books that feature characters struggling with the..."

I love Sarwat Chadda. I read his Billi Sangreals (Dark YA UF), so I HAD to get Ash. :)

Deva wrote: "I love the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter.
The lead is full Native American female. Theirs a white vampire master with lots of vampires under him of various races and ethnicities. In the la..."

Have you read the whole series?Seems like an interesting series

Faith Hunter's Jane is awesome!

I borrow most of my books from the library's Overdrive system on my Ipod touch (via mps) and unfortunately they don't feature a huge range of multicultural titles.

Is there some other way to borrow mp3 titles like Pitch or Three Parts Dead?

Recently I read L.A. Banks' which was the first book in her new series. If featured a young adult black protagonist and a pretty awesome character ensemble. I liked it because every single character was a minority of some sort - I'd never read a book of that type before.

Prior to that I read by Steven Barnes which was the story of a alternate America which was colonized by African peoples. Quite an interesting read and one of the best tales of alternate history I've ever read.

My more recent reads are The House on Mango Street and Cinder. The first book opened my eyes for its depiction of a poor Latino neighborhood. I liked the intimacy of the first-person narration, even though there were tragic moments.

As for the second book, which is basically Cinderella as a cyborg set in futuristic China, I loved the fairy tale retelling, but I have to admit the Asian background was too vague--apart from occasional props of dumplings and orchids, it could easily be set in North America or Europe. I guess this is one thing that bothers me when reading books like these, I wish that when authors write about a different culture, they don't just show it as cool and exotic. There are customs and history and a whole lot of background in it.

So i'm reading The House on Tradd Street, which takes place in Charleston, SC. Not a mecca of wide multiculturalism but i know it is a place that's diverse in history and people. One of the very minor characters is sooo stereotypical. Older black woman working in a donut shop, big enough to waddle with a ponderous bust, dark skinned and very deferential. Of course we find out that she is the custodian of more than 15 nieces and nephews and the main character gifts her with coupons in order to help her care for this brood.

her purpose in the story? she gives nothing really to the plot except to sell the main character coffee and donuts while encouraging her to eat more than sweets, cause she's just an itty bitty thang.

uhhhh...that's just ONE of the things that annoys me with this particular book. i'm THISCLOSE to giving it up as a lost cause since the main character is such a flipping twit.

Aya wrote: "My more recent reads are The House on Mango Street and Cinder. The first book opened my eyes for its depiction of a poor Latino neighborhood. I liked the intimacy of the first-person narration, eve..."

I read Cinder a few months ago as well, and i agree.It was way too vague about it's asian culture influences.If the lead characters weren't white, I didnt know because the author didn't spend a great deal describing them.I think maybe Kai was asian, but she didn't describe him in great enough detail to distinguish him from a white person. I think it was her intention to just "borrow"from the culture without having to have the full responsibility of truly representing it.But i know what would have helped me understand it better, Not naming cities after popular Asian cities and countries.She should have just set it in an alternate universe and used different names to call the places.

Thisgurl wrote: "So i'm reading The House on Tradd Street, which takes place in Charleston, SC. Not a mecca of wide multiculturalism but i know it is a place that's diverse in history and people. One of the very ..."

What's the book about exactly?

Aya wrote: "My more recent reads are The House on Mango Street and Cinder. The first book opened my eyes for its depiction of a poor Latino neighborhood. I liked the intimacy of the first-person narration, eve..."

I'm goina check out the house on mango street!

Libertad wrote: "What's the book about exactly?"

Darn if i know...lol

Apparently this real estate woman, Melanie, sells old Charleston houses even though she hates old homes with their history and all. She has the ability to see ghosts (or dead people as she calls it). Her mother deserted her and her dad when she was seven. She's obviously never come to terms with the abandonment. (nor heard of THERAPY) After visiting an old man on Tradd Street about the possibility of listing his broken down manor, she sees the ghost of his mother in the garden, she doesn't want to see this ghost and pretends that she doesn't. Still he decides to leave his old house to her. why? because he knows that she can see his ghostly mother which to his mind means his mom approves of her. of course he dies a couple of days later, leaving her the house, his money and the task of finding out what happened to HIS mom who "allegedly" ran away with some man when he was eight leaving him and his father. he has never believed that she left him because she loved her house on tradd street as much as she loved him.

it's told in first person pov and maybe if Melanie was a more likeable girl i could overlook some things. But she's a twit with moments of vulnerability that...okay i can sometimes relate to, but her twit-ness grates!

A friend of mine recommended the book. Obviously she was thinking that because i read paranormal stuff i'll suffer through anything.

sorry for the rant

I'm excited to read Vessel. I have to admit, the cover immediately caught my eye-- it's gorgeous! I've only begun reading so far, but it's about a young girl who was expected to be the "vessel" for her tribe's goddess. However, when the goddess rejects her, the tribe abandons her to the desert, and that's where the real journey begins (it also hints at a charismatic trickster god who finds her during the sojourn, so I'm very curious to see where that goes :)

I've really wanted to try the Jane Yellowrock series for a long time--that looks like just the type of dark action story I enjoy!

Oh wow, Vessel's cover is gorgeous! Thanks for the recommendation, Heather :)

I read the first chapter of Barry Eisler's "A Clean Kill in Tokyo" a few days ago, but somehow couldn't go on. I've traveled to Japan several times, and I should have been happy with the familiar references of places and the Japanese language, but actually it's too much of an info dump to me. The protagonist didn't really appeal to me either. I guess what I want to say is that characters/plot still matter most, even though the author has definitely done his homework.

Heather wrote: "I'm excited to read Vessel. I have to admit, the cover immediately caught my eye-- it's gorgeous! I've only begun reading so far, but it's about a young girl who was expected to be the "vessel" for..."

I want to read Vessel too. I have read a few by Durst and liked them.

I read and finished a few weeks back.

There were some confusing aspects about the book, but it definitely wasn't marketed as a book with girls of different races, but had alot of girls with different races.

Trying to find more books with with people whom have disabilities. Specifically fantasy and sci fi, anyone know any suggestions? =D

It's not out yet, but the lead in Playing Tyler is dealing with ADD. I have heard it is pretty realistic.

I haven't finished it, but the lead in Bleeding Violet is dealing with mental illness.

@ Guinevere: wait for my future book! I have my protagonist trained by a blind weapons master :)

I can't think of any examples of books in English, but there's this Japanese movie Zatoichi, which features a blind swordsman, based on a long-running TV series. There's also a couple Hong Kong movies in the 60s called "The One-Armed Swordsman" which may be hard to find.

Awesome Aya =D let me know when to expect it!