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Article: The young adult boom: it's a mixed bag for teens of color.
- Article from:
- Colorlines Magazine
- Article date:
- November 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Color Lines Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GIVEN THE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS OF THE HARRY POTTER SERIES, publishers are now treating teenage readers as a major consumer market. The number of young adult fiction books published has risen by about 30 percent in the last five years, and in this rush for profit, communities of color have been a target, for better and worse.
Much of what is available to young readers follows the cliche of a young person of color dealing with an identity crisis because of their race. But some books are actually about teens with a smart and sassy approach to their racial identities. Either way, these books are garnering teenage and adult authors thousands of dollars and publicity, as ...