PoC – Page 4 – YA Pride

I Was Made to Believe There’s Something Wrong With Me: Why #BlackLivesMatter in YA Lit

By Shelly|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Black, Intersectionality, PoC, Queer Girls, Representation, Trans|

Black Lives Matter Series: Day 1 - Previous Posts: Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series by Nakiya I’ve been reading LGBTQ YA fiction for almost five years and I’ve never read a book focused on a black LGBTQ woman. When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite books was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. In middle school two of my favorite series were The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin and Animorphs by K. A. Applegate, both of which had a central black female character. I grew up in a town that [...]

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Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive|Tags: Black, PoC|

As I set up this series, I had a number of people ask me “what made you think of connecting what’s happening to queer YA?” I want to address this question before we get into the actual posts. My intention with the Black Lives Matter series is not to connect police violence with queer YA—that would be impossible and inappropriate. Rather, I want to vocalize the Black Lives Matter phrase for our community. YA is extremely white, and queer YA is no exception. GayYA.org is a site that seeks to be a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone. Queer [...]

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Resilient Butterflies: On Rigoberto González’s The Mariposa Club

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:24-05:00November 10th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: gay, PoC, Trans|

We are thrilled to introduce one of our new contributors, Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez! She will be writing mostly about Latina/o characters and representation in queer YA. We are so happy to have her on board! by Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez The Mariposa Club (Alyson Books, 2009) Rigoberto González’s [1] The Mariposa Club (2009) is the first novel in a three part series followed by Mariposa Gown (2012) and Mariposa U (forthcoming 2015). The series stands out as the first of its kind because it’s the first to center queer Latino youth characters. The series is a part of a [...]

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Interview With Alaya Dawn Johnson: Transcript

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:27-05:00October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Book Club|Tags: PoC, Queer Girls, Speculative|

We interviewed Alaya Dawn Johnson author of The Summer Prince and Love is the Drug. Find the recorded interview here! V: Hey everyone, I’m Victoria. K: And I’m Kathleen. Today we have Alaya Dawn Johnson with us, author of our September book of the month, The Summer Prince. Alaya, thank you for joining us, all the way from Mexico City! A: Thanks so much for having me. K: The Summer Prince is a dystopian science fiction novel that takes place many years in the future. V: We chose it for our September book of the month because it [...]

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Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:39-05:00September 30th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review, Teen Voices|Tags: lesbian, New Releases, PoC, Queer Girls, Religion|

by Laurel May When I heard this book was about an interracial lesbian couple living in the 1950's I immediately wanted it. I was just blown away by the idea of this story! Now that I have read it, I am blown away by the actual story. What an exceptional book! "Lies We Tell Ourselves" is not an easy read. You only have to look at the time period to understand why that is. This book is set in 1959, after the desegregation of Little Rock School. Here, Sarah and 10 other black students are the first to [...]

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Interview With Alaya Dawn Johnson, Author of The Summer Prince

By Vee|2016-05-24T14:52:09-05:00September 29th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Book Club|Tags: Bisexual, PoC, Queer Guys, Speculative|

Part 1 of Interview: Part 2: Transcript to come! Next month we'll be interviewing Laura Lam, author of our October Book of the Month, Pantomime. Let us know what you thought of this month's interview in the comments (because they are working again!!! *throws hat*), and drop some questions you'd like us to ask Laura Lam.

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Jack by Shannon LC Cate: review by Simren Handa

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:41-05:00August 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: PoC, Small Press|

Mama doesn't like boys, but Jack's not like most boys. Born a girl during the Civil War, Jack has been passing as a boy in the slums of Five Points, Manhattan, since running away from an orphans' home at age eight. He makes his living at petty thievery, surviving pocket watch-to-pocket watch until he discovers a talent for gambling. Lucy is a bright girl trapped in a dreary life with her widowed mother. When she meets Jack on the street, her days are happier than they have ever been. But her heart is broken when mother takes her [...]

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YA Latina Lesbians: On Mayra Lazara Dole’s Down to the Bone

By Sonia|2020-03-28T13:42:44-05:00January 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: lesbian, PoC, Queer Girls|

by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez Down to the Bone (Harper Teen & Bella Books, 2012) In Mayra Lazara Dole’s [1] Down to the Bone (2012) Laura, a Cuban-American high school junior, is forced to come-out when her Catholic school teacher reads Laura’s private texts to her girlfriend aloud to the entire class. As a result, Laura is humiliated, kicked out of school, and asked by her mother to leave their home. Dole’s description of Laura’s coming-out is significant, among many reasons, because it centers a Latina lesbian protagonist. Despite the increased awareness for the need of diverse [...]

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