Reminds me of the papers on Buffy...

Via Mitali's Fire Escape, a Carnival of YA lit -- portraying people of color in SF/F. Some really interesting reading to be had here, and this is, as always, a topic dear to our hearts, as we at the Wonderland tree house feel it's vital to reflect the worlds of young readers in their books.

Don't miss the piece on Jacob Black, the heavily exoticized Quileute character in the Stephanie Meyers' TWILIGHT series -- is he really anything more than a metaphor to Bella Swan (and aaargh-- the name. Beautiful Swan. Is she anything more than a badly cut out paper doll? But that's a post for another day.)? Love the scholarly angle on this one -- reminded me of those thesis papers on Buffy, back in the day (what IS IT with us and vampires?!).

The anti-princess rant from an anti-pink, anti-blonde-Disney-princess role modeling Mom made me smile. However, "I Didn't Get A Heroine" is really ...well, enlightening, to say the least. At least we've now found someone who's read one of the KimaniTRU books and can comment. The words 'graphic' and Street Lit' don't begin to cover it, methinks. The tagline for the KimaniTRU series is "Reflecting your dreams. Your issues. In your voice," and the irony there is very heavy indeed.

A happier discovery is the Virgin Comics graphic PANCHATANTRA: THE TALL TALES OF VISHNU SHARMA, which includes a cameo by a murderous Harry Potter. Heee! Has anyone else read any Virgin graphics? I'll be looking for reviews of this one.

And that's the work avoidance this hour.