The following is an updated listing of MG and YA books written by authors of color, with a few exceptions. Maybe I try to be too specific when I describe my list? I think I need to be.

Recently, someone requested suggested titles written for children of color. Well, what book isn’t written for children of color?!

I collect titles written by authors of color. Every once in a while, a White author does the work and writes a a book with an authentic story outside his/her own culture and when that happens, I’ll include it. I don’t include titles with supporting characters of color. There are just too many of them (thankfully)!  I’ve seen well written articles that describe for authors the work they need to do to successfully write about another culture. But, I would say it’s even simpler than that. To be authentic in your writing, you have to write what you know. If people of color are not in your circle of friends and if you don’t routinely read books by people of color, you may question why you’re writing about the experience.

Selected Shorts: New American Stories (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story) by Jhumpa Lahiri, Sherman Alexie, Chimamand Ngozi Adichie and Aleksandar Hemon; Symphony Space, October

The readers’ advisory guide to street literature by Vanessa Irvin Morris and Terri Woods; American Library Association Editions

African Mythology Rocks! by Linda Jacobs Altman (Author), William Sauts Bock (Illustrator); Enslow Publishers, October 2011

Break up diaries vol 2 by Nikki Carter and Kevin Elliott; Kensington Press, Oct

Dork diaries 3 1/2: how to dork your diary  by Rachel Renee Russell; Aladdin, 11 October

Saga of the Sioux: An adaption of Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dwight Jon Zimmerman (adapter); Dee Brown (author); Henry Holt and Co.,  25 October

Wolf Mark  by James Bruchac; Lee and Low Books, October

Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children’s Books by Linda Pavonetti;  Oct 16, 2011, Scarecrow Press

Maya’s Choice by Earl Sewell; Kimani Tru, 17 Oct

Chulito by Charles Rice-Gonazlez; Magnus Books; October

There is no long distance now by Naomi Shihab Nye; Greenwillow Press, 11 October

Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa; Harlequin Books, 25 October

Free: Great escapes from slavery on the Underground Railroad by Lorene Cary; New City Community Press, 29 October

Caleb’s War by David Dudley; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October

On The Come Up by Travis Hunter;   Dafina, October 25, 2011

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow: Four Novellas by Daniel Nayeri; Candelwick, 25 Oct

Full list of 2011 releases