Books with Black characters for DD12

[Queenie04]

Hello really running out out of ideas for books with Black characters. My daughter is an avid reader reads anything. But representation matters to her and she lights up when there is a book with Black characters. Any ideas will be much appreciated

I loove Roll of thunder hear my cry it was a childhood fav , she loved it too. If any other suggestions pop into you minds please just add. I'm sure other parents will appreciate this thread. Thanks guys

Not for now as 12 would be too young but one to add to the list for when she is older is Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman.

The Rivers Of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. They're a magic/detective/crime series and I don't think they'd be too much for a 12 year old but you may want a quick scoot through beforehand just to double check.

There is no way I would give my daughter the colour purple, at this age. The content is too heavy

Also she has ready several books about slavery looking for uplifting books at this point

The Threads series by Sophia Bennett

Oh and The Unstoppable Octobia May

I will recommend Sag Harbour - Colson Whitehead. It's adult fiction but not heavy. A coming of age type novel set in the wealthy middle class black American community of the Hamptons. He's a great writer and I found the subject fascinating. You hear so much about celebrity and this exclusive area and this is a totally different perspective.

That should read within the Hamptons not of.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon maybe? The main character is mixed race - half black, half Asian. It's a YA romance.

I used to love 'point horror' at that age!! my fave set was called 'the forbidden game' was a trilogy by LJ Smith and one of the main characters was black. Quite a scary tale tho.

Was going to say Roll of Thunder. Also, Journey to Jo'Burg

I'm on the US Amazon site, but this author here writes a variety of childrens/YA fiction.

On the US site it's also possible to search for African American Children's Books - don't know how they'd categorize the same books for the UK.

bookriot.com/2016/11/28/faces-color-2017-ya-books/

Some of these might be a little old for a 12 year old but just posting it here in case its useful for anyone else looking

Twintuition with Tia and Tamara. Or is that too young?

Has she read the follow ups to Roll of Thunder, Let the Circle be Unbroken and several more?

The poet Jackie Kay has written one children's book called Strawgirl. I didn't think it was as amazing as her adult books but my dd (10) liked it. About a black girl in the Highlands.

Has she seen the film, The Queen of Katwe, about the Ugandan girl who became a chess champion? I loved watching a film where all the characters are black that is about a girl's amazing achievements and not about slavery etc. Think there is a book about her too, it is a true story.

Roots, Too kill a mocking bird and the movie 'The Slave'

Would also recommend the Tillerman series. Really strong interesting black character Mina, who appears in the second of the series (Dicey's Song) and is the heroine of Come A Stranger. You can get them second hand.

Thanks for this thread, I am always looking for similar books for my dc.

Thinking about this more, is there a real shortage of books for preteens that have black/ethnic minority main characters but aren't about slavery or Civil Rights?

Yes - there's a Canadian charity that does a count every year of number of books published, characters who are non-white, authors, and illustrators, then compares it to the population %.

there is actually (now) reasonable representation of main characters, but if you look at supporting characters and crowd scenes, there tend to be too many white faces. It's like some people think 'well done, I put one non-white character in there, job done' and just stop thinking about diversity.

There's also a much higher representation of non-whites in 'serious' books, and if you want your kid just to read any old fiction there isn't the diversity that there should be in children's books.

OK one more.

The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexis. Fantastic book about a Native American kid deciding to go to a predominantly White school off the reservation. Bits are sad but I thought it was fantastic. My 12 year old D's read it, content is definitely YA so dd(10) hasn't had it yet.

You could try 'A Medal for Leroy' by Michael Morpurgo although that is possibly a bit young.

A Country for Ice Cream Star would be good when she's older. The themes might be a bit too mature at the moment.

Interesting Kick, I tend to read the serious books my kids like rather than the lighter ones, and certainly I am struggling to think of lighter books with black character. What about Jacqueline Wilson, say, are there any main ethnic minority characters in any of hers?

One more I remembered A Long Way to Go by Marjorie someone. About a black girl in WW1 whose brother was a conscientious objector.

Wing Jones