Interview with Cassandra Clare

Posted by on Dec 5, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Interviews, Young Adult | 5 comments Cassandra Clare is the author of the bestselling Mortal Instruments trilogy, beginning with City of Bones, which introduced the half-angel Shadowhunters who keep the ordinary world safe from demons. Clare’s latest book, Clockwork Prince, is the second in a prequel trilogy, The Infernal Devices, set in Victorian London. The first installment of this prequel trilogy, Clockwork Angel, brought...
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Janet Gurtler on If I Tell

Posted by on Oct 17, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Guest Posts, Young Adult | 4 comments Jaz, the main character in If I Tell, is biracial with a black father and a white mother. Race is a large part of Jaz’s story as she struggles in the midst of chaos to figure out exactly how she fits into the world. She’s been raised by white grandparents and has virtually no connections to her black heritage. So what made me, Snow White (minus the seven friends, fairest of them allishness...
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On the Trail of the Wolf

Posted by on Oct 4, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Guest Posts, Young Adult | 2 comments I’ve been fascinated by animals all of my life … especially such large carnivores as wolves and bears and mountain lions. One of my earliest ambitions was to become a naturalist or perhaps a park ranger where I would be able to interact with such powerful creatures on a regular basis. My feeling of connection to those animals grew even deeper as I grew older and learned more about the...
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On Eurocentricity in Fantasy Fiction

Posted by on Sep 13, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Guest Posts, Young Adult | 8 comments I admit it — I am Eurocentric, but I am trying to evolve. My racial heritage is Scots-British-Irish with a dash of German. There is some tenuous documentary evidence of Cherokee and possibly African blood, but if it’s there, it has been greatly diluted. And it was introduced so long ago that it’s not visibly part of my physical, social or emotional heritage. Because I have lived my life in...
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Karen Sandler on Tankborn

Posted by on Sep 6, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Guest Posts, Young Adult | 7 comments I’d like to say I grew up in an environment full of diversity, that people of all ethnicities came and went in my house, that all races attended my school. But that would be a lie. I grew up in an all-white neighborhood in Southern California and attended (nearly) all-white schools. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians weren’t unwelcome in my grandmother’s house (she raised me from age 6 through...
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September’s New Books

Posted by on Aug 30, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Middle Grade, New Books, Young Adult | 7 comments Every month we feature all the new middle grade and young adult releases that include diversity. September brings a bumper crop of 26 new titles: 16 new middle grade and 10 new young adult novels. This month also marks the publication of the first three titles from Tu Books, a multicultural imprint from Lee & Low that focuses on fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. By “diversity” we...
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