Multicultural YA for Discerning Teen Reader

Africa
o
o
o
o
o
o

Asia
o
o
o
o
o
o

Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Adichi
Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor
Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You by Hanna Jansen
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beal
Many Stones by Carolyn Coman
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William
Kamkwamba
A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo
Karma by Cathy Ostlere
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Europe
o
o
o
o


Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Nothing by Janne Teller
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Middle East
o The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
o Words In The Dust by Trent Reedyhold
o Under the Persimmon Tree Suzanne Fisher Staples
o Where The Streets Had A Name by by Randa Abdel-Fattah
o 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East by Naomi Shihab Nye
Central/South America
o The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
o The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
o The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
o The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle
o Keeper by Mal Peet
(https://thereadingzone.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/world-literature-that-high-school-students-actually-want-toread-share-a-story-shape-a-future-2012/)
1. Mexico; translated from Spanish
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
The story of a young woman's struggle with following family tradition or her heart. This novel is an example of the magical realism
style of fiction.
Here are some other well-known Latin American writers whose fiction is available in English:
The Campaign, Carlos Fuentes (Argentina)
Baltasar Bustos, son of a wealthy Argentinian ranch owner, defies the Spanish colonial regime and falls in love with a magistrate's
wife after sneaking into her house and substituting her newborn with the child of a black prostitute.
Collected Novellas, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
His better known work, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is considered by some a modern masterpiece, but it may be too dense for
use in a high school classroom. However, the earlier works in Collected Novellas contain similar themes that reappear in the novel.
2. Nigeria; written in English
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
The protagonist Okonkwo functions appropriately in his Ibo tribal world until European missionaries arrive in the late 19th century
and his son converts to Christianity.
The Bride Price, Buchi Emecheta
When Aku-nna's father dies, tribal traditions demand that she, her mother, and brother go to live with her uncle. But this is the
1950's, and Aku-nna finds the traditional ways confining.
3. Germany; written in German
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
World War I soldier Paul Baumer's first person account of a young man faced with the realities and atrocities of fighting in a war.
Some other German novels also explore the themes of coming-of-age and questioning society's expectations:
Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
Based upon Buddhist philosophy, the life journey and search for truth of the fictional character Siddhartha is followed from
boyhood to old age.
A People Betrayed, Alfred Doblin
Becker, a wounded officer, tells a story that includes much about Berlin and describes Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
working through the war.
4. France; written in French
Candide and Other Stories, Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire
This is Voltaire's classic social satire about a young man who naively believes that "all is for the best in the best of all possible
worlds."
The Traveler's Tree, Bruno Bontempelli
The crew of the becalmed Entremetteuse attempts to land on a Caribbean island in the 18th century, but coral reefs deter them while
supplies rot and sailors contract scurvy.
Also written in French, but by an African author, this novel might provide some interesting comparisons with Things Fall Apart and The
Bride Price:
The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampate Ba
In French Africa at the beginning of the 1900s, a young African man determines to work his way up in the civil service maintained
by the conquerors. As interpreter for a French officer, Wangrin is uniquely placed to see both sides of colonialism, and his ability to
function in the conqueror's realm allows him to secure himself and his family in a time of economic and political uncertainty.
5. Japan; written in Japanese
The Sound of Waves, Yukio Mishima
A story about the strength and perseverance of young lovers who endure gossip and disapproval as a result of their relationship.
6. West Indies; written in English
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
Compiled as short stories and interwoven as a novel, an Antiguan girl's struggle to discover her own identity. It is more difficult to
search in NoveList for fiction from the West Indies, since the subject cataloging often mentions only the specific country.
7. India; written in English
Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala Markandaya
The story of a young woman's hardships in a changing culture, conveying concepts of Eastern thought and religion. A book listed in
YALSA Outstanding Books for the College Bound.
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Kiran Desai
The story of protagonist Sampath Chawla's journey from failed post office clerk to guava-tree-inhabiting guru.
8. Netherlands; written in Dutch
The Winter when Time was Frozen, Els Pelgrom
In Holland during the last months of World War II a twelve-year-old girl and her father find shelter with a farm family who
courageously give sanctuary to all in need of it.
My Father's War by Adriaan van Dis offers another view of the effects of World War II on the Netherlands. A mixed-race family
goes to Holland after escaping a Japanese concentration camp in the Dutch East Indies, only to find that the Dutch do not accept
them as full citizens when the war ends.
9. Greece; written in modern Greek
The Fratricides, Nikos Kazantzakis
In the 1940s, an elderly priest mediates between the Greek loyalists and the pro-Communist rebels. A moving story by one of the
great 20th Century storytellers.
10. Russia; written in Russian
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
One day in 1951, Ivan Denisovich continues the rituals he has created during eight years' imprisonment in a Stalinist labor camp in
Siberia.
Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
Yuri Zhivago, doctor and poet, lives and loves during the first three decades of 20th-century Russia. The novel is rather long for
some young adult readers, but the adventure and romance will captivate.
11. Chile; written in Spanish
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
The Trueba family embodies strong feelings from the beginning of the 20th century through the assassination of Allende in 1973.
12. Tanzania; written in English
Paradise, Abdulrazak Gurnah
Yusuf, 12, is sold as an indentured servant to Aziz although at first he is unaware of the transaction because Aziz treats him
reasonably. This novel provides yet another look at the effects of colonialism in Africa.
13. Czech Republic; written in German
The House on Prague Street, Hana Demetz
At the beginning of World War II, Helena, who is half Jewish has to adjust to the loss of friends and fears for her mother while
spending 12-hour days working in an armaments factory.
14. Italy; written in Italian
The Late Mattia Pascal, Luigi Pirandello
The story of Mattia Pascal's attempt to escape his life and reinvent himself. Pirandello was a master Italian storyteller.
15. China; written in Chinese
Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom, Jicai Feng
Hiz Hizyu, accused of political crimes in the Cultural Revolution, is sent to a provincial pottery factory to work although he is a
graduate in fine arts.
Love Must Not be Forgotten, Zhang Jie
The story of a young woman who ponders love and the consequences of entering into a loveless marriage.
16. South Africa; written in English
Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton
A Zulu country parson arrives in Johannesburg and finds that his sister has become a prostitute and his son a murderer. Paton was a
South African of English descent who lamented the effects of Apartheid on his country.
Occasion for Loving, Nadine Gordimer
A Jewish musicologist and his wife come to visit friends from the university in Johannesburg, and when the wife falls in love with
an African artist, she commits unforgivable social taboos.
(http://novselect.ebscohost.com/Display/TreeNodeContent?format=html&profile=s7762005.main.novsel2&pas
sword=dGJyMOPY8U2vpgAA&ui=500776&schema=http:&source=012510&version=2.1&print=true)