Some African-American YA Lit

I apologize for having left off literature so much in recent posts and promise a great deal more to come in December and January. Each issue of the SCBWI Bulletin contains notices of new publications, authors' and illustrators' websites, and so forth. I always try to browse through the websites, and here are two that caught my eye in the last issue (Nov./Dec. '08). 

Allison Whittenberg is an author, poet, and playwright who I believe is based in Philadelphia. Her two young adult novels thus far include Sweet Thang (2005) and Life is Fine (March 2008). Her website includes events, excerpts, and contact information. Here's a quick review of Sweet Thang by Cynthia Leitich Smith. And here's an interview Whittenberg did in February with The Brown Bookshelf. 

Jean Alicia Elster is a former attorney who has done both middle-grade fiction and the children's book series "Joe Joe in the City," which at present numbers four works. Her latest novel is Who's Jim Hines?, about a boy growing up in 1935 Detroit. It hit stores this past July 31. Her website has a great deal of material about herself, her writing style, and her books, well worth a look. 

It's great that so many presses are serving so many racial, ethnic, and religious markets today, and I hope they're achieving a strong crossover the way preschool shows like Ni Hao Kai-lan and Little Bill are doing. Judged purely on their literary merits, of course, it looks like both Whittenberg's and Elster's work is well worth checking out.