Showing Our True Colors: YA Covers That Got it Right in 2012
Publishing companies aren’t putting out enough YA titles that feature protagonists of color. And when they do, some book covers try to hide or obscure the characters’ race by showing them in silhouette or in shadow, or at times whitewashing them completely. Even the most diverse library collections sometimes look homogenous when you just see the covers. Don’t believe me? Check out my post from last week: “It Matters If You’re Black or White: The Racism of YA Book Covers.”
The problem is insidious, but it’s not completely pervasive, as many of you pointed out in the post comments last week. There are a lot of publishers, authors, and books that have no problem putting people of color on the covers of their books. So I just wanted to take a moment to recognize and celebrate those folks who understand how important it is for everyone to be able to see their own identity validated on the cover of a book. Here are some books covers that got race right in 2012.
Have any other covers you think deserve a shout out? Share them in the comments.
– Annie Schutte, currently reading After the Snow by S. D. Crockett
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I just added some of these to my pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/petal65/diverse-covers-diverse-books-ya-and-mg/
Cuttlefish and Steam Mole by David Freer
My favourite youth fantasy book is Momo by Michael Ende with the main character being a young brown girl. Race isn’t mentioned in the book but on the cover she’s definitely not white. http://books.google.ca/books/about/Momo.html?id=P1s_PgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Friday Society!