YA chicklit with POC

[oyceter]

Does anyone have recommendations for happy YA chicklit starring POC and/or by POC?

Qualifications:

I have read half of Dana Davidson's Jason & Kyra and got bored by the prose and descriptions of what everyone was wearing, I know about Melissa de la Cruz, I've read Does My Head Look Big in This? and liked it, may check out First Daughter soon, read half of Born Confused and got bored by the prose, just read Whale Talk and will probably blaze through Crutcher's backlist, and read a few pages of The Fly on the Wall and got bored. I've also read Justine Larbalestier, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Susan Vaught, Nancy Farmer, Tamora Pierce, and am planning on going through suggestions here. (How is Virginia Hamilton on the depressing scale?)

I also want books, not manga or comics.

I know about the imprint Kimani TRU but haven't read anything of theirs, so thumbs up or down are appreciated.

1. I want happy. As in, I am tired of scanning summaries of books about POC and going "gang, unwanted pregnancy, gang, violence, gang, OPPRESSION, gang, racism, gang, abusive boyfriend, gang, historical oppression, gang." (if you can't tell, please no more gangs!)

2. I am thinking of something sort of like Fresh off the Boat or Does My Head Look Big in This?, or like Maureen Johnson. Sarah Dessen works too (I would prefer interior angst over GANG). I tend to like girls who are not ashamed of their culture and/or race, interesting prose, and romance, but romance isn't required.

3. The book has to star a girl, or at least have her section of the story comprise of at least half.

ETA: 4. The book has to have a POC protagonist (not a secondary role, no matter how cool) or a POC author.

5. Fluff is good! Just to give you an idea... the last three books I have read were about hazing, Japanese internment camps, and physical and emotional abuse. I think I need to read something light and happy and fluffy before going there again.

Comments

[fresne.livejournal.com]

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, which as I recall had a number of POC characters and was about the power of imagination. As I recall it ended happily. Or at least with the characters picking a new thing to go research/become interested in.

[oyceter]

Oh huh. Is the main character POC? I've also been avoiding that for a while because everyone hates the sequel or something?

[fresne.livejournal.com]

I don't remember if it's tight POV or general. It's been 20 years, but the three characters I remember are a white girl (who has all the theater stuff or theater background, or something), a POC girl (who pushes the research forward) and Marshall, the POC girl's insanely cool little brother (who is all of six and therefore is designated the boy king. Kid had gravitas.)

I remember loving it when I was in middle school. I only found out there was a sequel just now when I looked up the author's name. Since the reviews were uniformly miserable, I think I'll skip it. Mind you, since I'm not currently 12-13, I couldn't tell you whether I'd still think it was awesome. But it was very... it valued research and learning and imagining things and playing dress up.

[oyceter]

Huh, ok. Maybe I should finally read this!

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the POC is a supporting character and the main character is white. The sequel should be avoided at all costs, but I read The Egypt Game a year or two ago and adored it.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Those are my recollections as well. The main character is white, and her friend and her friend's brother are POC. The book itself is one of my childhood favorites, but not actually matching the guidelines you provided.

[marfisa.livejournal.com]

Unless I'm getting it mixed up with another book, there are actually two POC female friends. The main one is African-American (which you find out by the viewpoint character's saying something like, "Laura's mother came to Parent-Teacher Day. I could tell she was Laura's mother because she was the only black mother there.") But there's also an Asian girl named Beth who's a year or so younger but gets invited to participate in the game anyway because she bears a striking resemblance to Queen Nefertiti. (She winds up being called Neferbeth in the game.)

Some of this actually seems a bit dubious in hindsight...