The Faces of ’10

Great faces below. It’s fun to see these all together…
This round (there’s more to come- next, the illustrated covers) is the photographed faces of 2010 books that have “African American” as an LOC subject (with 1 exception: Between Sisters takes place in Ghana). They are: Teenie by Christopher Grant (Knopf), Sell-Out by Ebony Joy Wilkins (Scholastic), Between Sisters by Adwoa Badoe (Groundwood), Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman (Delacorte), Maxine Banks is Getting Married by Lori Aurelia Williams, (Roaring Brook), Good Fortune by Noni Carter (Simon & Schuster), A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes (Zondervan), Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson (Simon & Schuster), Secret Saturdays by Torrey Maldonado (G.P. Putnam’s), Can’t Hold Me Down by Lyah B. LeFlore (Simon Pulse), We Could Be Brothers by Derrick Barnes (Scholastic), Enjoying True Peace by Stephanie Perry Moore (Moody), Split Ends by Jacquelin Thomas (Simon & Schuster), Caught Up in the Drama and Drama Queens by ReShonda Tate Billingsley (Simon & Schuster).
For the most part, books this year that have African American as one of their subjects, have people of color on their jackets. I haven’t really found any whitewashing… Furthermore, only one (I think) of the authors of the books below is white (Something Like Hope). How does this compare to past years? Hard to say. The CCBC has numbers that you can look at – but they don’t break out YA, and I find that there are a lot more picture books with non-white faces on them (probably there are a lot more picture books in general).

So what do you think?

Teenie: High school freshman Martine, longing to escape Brooklyn and her strict parents, is trying to get into a study-abroad program but when her long-time crush begins to pay attention to her and her best friend starts an on-line relationship, Teenie’s mind is on anything but her grades. Age 12+.
Sell-Out: NaTasha loves her life of affluence in Park Adams, but her grandmother fears she has lost touch with her roots and whisks her off to Harlem, where NaTasha meets rough, street-wise girls at a crisis center and finds the courage to hold her own against them. Age 12+. Reviews 1, 2, 3, 4.
Between Sisters: Sixteen-year-old Gloria, who lives in poverty in Accra, dreams of becoming a dressmaker but has difficulty with school, and when a distant relative offers to pay for dressmaking school in exchange for Gloria looking after her son in Kumasi, Gloria accepts the offer and finds that life in Kumasi is full of temptations and distractions which she must struggle to overcome. Age 12+. Reviews 1, 2.
Something Like Hope: Shavonne, a fierce, desperate seventeen year-old in juvenile lockup, wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past make her task seem impossible. Age 14+.
Maxine Banks: When seventeen-year-old Maxine’s best friend gets married, Maxine suddenly decides that she and her boyfriend Brian should too, but things do not turn out the way she expected, and both she and Brian realize that they are not as grown up as they thought. Age 14+. Reviews 1.
Good Fortune: Brutally kidnapped from her African village and shipped to America, a young girl struggles to come to terms with her new life as a slave, gradually rising from working in the fields to the master’s house, secretly learning to read and write, until, risking everything, she escapes to seek freedom in the North. Age 12+. Reviews 1, 2. The author talks about the book.
A Girl Named Mister: A pregnant teenager finds support and forgiveness from God through a book of poetry presented from the Virgin Mary’s perspective. Age . Reviews 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Book trailer.
Sweet, Hereafter: Sweet leaves her family and goes to live in a cabin in the woods with the quiet but understanding Curtis, to whom she feels intensely connected, just as he is called back to serve again in Iraq. Age 12+. Reviews 1.
Secret Saturdays: Twelve-year-old boys living in a rough part of New York confront questions about what it means to be a friend, a father, and a man. Age 10+. Reviews 1, 2.
Can’t Hold Me Down:  Blue, having lost his successful entertainment production company after one catastrophic night, finds his best friend, who was also his business partner, and his girlfriend turning their backs on him and decides he will fight to get it all back. Age 14+.
We Could Be Brothers: Two eighth-graders from very different backgrounds, Robeson “Crease” Battlefield and Pacino Clapton, discover in afterschool detention that they have a great deal in common. Age 10+. Reviews 1, 2. Book trailer.
Enjoying True Peace: When her father’s decision to move the whole family sends everyone in an uproar, triplet Yasmin continues to depend on God to help her remain calm and find peace in the midst of this new storm. Age 12+
Split Ends: Preferring homelessness to living with her irresponsible mother, teenaged Kylie runs away, takes a job at a hair salon, and learns to trust God.
Caught Up in the Drama: When Camille starts to appear in rap music videos, her close relationship with her friends in the Good Girlz is threatened by her quest for stardom. Age 13+.
Drama Queens: As The Good Girlz anticipate attending Prairie View A&M University in the fall, Alexis’s summer internship is threatened by bad decisions, Jasmine worries her final exam scores will not win her a scholarship, and Angel announces she is moving to Dallas with a new boyfriend. Age 13+.

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