3 New Young Adult Novels That Center Women of Color

In today’s world, although it’s become increasingly easier to find works of literature that center the stories of various minority groups, it’s still quite a difficult task to uncover a young adult novel that tells the story of a person of color and focuses on the “person” aspect, rather than the “of color.” The following books are ones that I find to tell the whole story of fictional females of color - ones that have helped me realize the depths of these kinds of narratives and the significance of effective representation across all forms of media.

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Sabaa Tahir’s All My Rage (March 2022) follows the stories of Salahudin and Noor, two Pakistani teenagers living in Juniper, California who try to balance intense family troubles, racial discrimination, and community dangers all while navigating their complex relationship and deep history with each other. Between his dying mother and his addict father, Salahudin resorts to desperate measures in order to save the motel that meant the world to his mother and served as the foundation of his childhood. Noor lives with her abusive uncle and attempts to find a way to escape her toxic home while keeping her mission discreet. The childhood friends are each other’s only comforts, but layered pasts and family tensions damage their relationship deeply. This beautifully-told story accurately and accessibly centers young people (including young women) of color in a world where discrimination never seems to come to an end.

Content warning: this novel contains mentions and descriptions of racism, Islamophobia, domestic and physical abuse, addiction, drug overdose, assault, and death. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Iman Hariri-Kia’s debut novel, A Hundred Other Girls (July 2022), tells the story of Noora, a young Middle Eastern writer who gets hired as the assistant to the editor-in-chief of the renowned Vinyl magazine. Noora’s new boss, Loretta James, burdens her with tedious and tiresome tasks and harshly confines her to the print side of the magazine, rather than the up-and-coming digital platform. As Noora begins making friends at Vinyl, she learns the history behind the print-digital war and realizes that the magazine she grew up idolizing is a bit more problematic than she originally thought. As she navigates writing under a pseudonym, responds to racism from her coworkers, picks up a romantic interest, attempts to continue satisfying Loretta, and figures out how to support both herself and her sister through the craziness of her job, Noora learns the realities of her “dream job” and the media world as a whole. A Hundred Other Girls is a fun, colorful read that comments on the complexities of emerging into the “real world" and attempting to establish a career as a young woman of color.

Such a Fun Age (December 2019) by Kiley Reid is about a 25-year-old Black woman named Emira who babysits for a white family. One night, she brings the toddler she sits to the grocery store due to an emergency, and gets accused of kidnapping the young child. The novel depicts the events following the incident, switching between the narratives of Emira and her boss, Alix. As Emira ponders whether or not she should continue working for the Chamberlain family and struggles with her financial situation, she develops a relationship with Kelley, the man who filmed her interaction with a security guard at the grocery store. Meanwhile, Alix begins to obsess over Emira and change aspects of herself in order to make Emira like her more. Kiley Reid’s debut young adult novel compellingly explores the nuanced concepts of “woke” racism, power dynamics, and intersectionality.