Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults

Book excerpt: Multicultural fiction is an essential part of the American literary landscape. This reference helps scholars, teachers, and librarians choose significant texts from both the past and present, and provides guidance in approaching multicultural issues as they are discussed in fiction for young adults. Included are entries for 51 writers, some of whom have nearly been forgotten, others who are just emerging. Each entry provides biographical, critical, and bibliographical information, while a general bibliography of works on multicultural literature concludes the book. Authors included range from the nearly forgotten, such as Laura Adams Armer, to the newly discovered, such as Graham Salisbury, winner of the 1994 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The breadth of authors covered ensures an historical context for the issues raised by multiculturalism, and the sections on the critical reception of each author address such important issues as the authority and authenticity of the writer to comment on a different culture. Contributors are of many different ethnicities and include important scholars of children's literature, lending authenticity and authority to the volume itself.