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Worth Fighting 4
by Jarold Imes
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SPOTLIGHT ON YOUNG ADULT FICTION
BY
JAROLD IMES
A young man walks into the bookstore I worked at years ago. I immediately walked up and began my sales pitch to him. At the time my novel, Hold On Be Strong, was always on sale and for me it’s the easiest book for me to sell. What can I say, I’m a hustler baby! At first look, dude looked like he could have went to A&T with me however, it was something in his response that let me know the boy wasn’t as old as he thought he was. Sure, he was taller than my 5’10” frame and actually, he looked built like a basketball player. But something about his whole demeanor didn’t sit well with me. As bad as I wanted to sell my book and as interested as he seemed in my book I had to ask this one last question:
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be fourteen in two weeks.”
Damn! Lost the sale. In spite of the fact that my book was a social conscious coming of age story about a man who has to make the right choices in relationships with the death of his mother, I also knew that it had a lot of cursing and sex scenes that would make the average hard core reader blush. His mom walks in and I had to apologize because I didn’t know her son was underage. I explained to her that I had made a pitch for my book and naturally, she agreed with me that the content of my book was not appropriate for her teen. She thanked me for my honesty and she asked for fiction novels that were appropriate for her teen. As luck would have it, I sold my last copy of Walter Dean Myers’ Monster the day before and I didn’t have any more of his books in stock. What was I going to do? I did what any other author/salesman/hustler would do… I picked up a copy of Jihad’s Street Life, gave them a discount and thanked God that morally, I made the right decision not push my book. But in the back of my mind, what bothered me was that there weren’t many age appropriate books for African American teens in 2004 and if you didn’t know who Walter Dean Myers was, chances are, you didn’t know any other African American young adult writer. And what books are these 12 – 17 year olds who will read books are reading? As much as I love and respect authors like Victor L. Martin, Noire and Nikki Turner, however if I catch my 14 year old reading their books or a Zane novel or a Teri Woods tale… I’m going to have to whoop somebody’s butt. Nothing against nobody, but I have enough problems with the fact that she looks like she might be eighteen and a… yeah, girl I could have went to school with.
Fast forward to a year later, KaShamba Williams publishes Dymond in the Rough, a tongue in cheek tale about a young girl who enters high school and hangs out with her sassy and confident friends and gets her first boyfriend. Dymond in the Rough is a book I wish I had obtained copies of before my store closed down. Months later, my own clean street book Worth Fighting 4 along with Ride Wit’ Me by Katina King would appear in stores. Around the same time, Kimani Press, a division of Harlequin Limited announces plans to produce a line of books for African American teens. Meanwhile in California, L. Divine is planning the release of her Drama High Series, based around a sixteen year old girl in Compton.
It does my heart good to know that so many authors are coming out with books for teens. Many of the authors leading the cause are the very street/urban/hip-hop authors that critics and haters are so quick to bash for the kinds of books “we write.”
Evette Porter, Editor of the KimaniTru line says in her company’s release statement:
“KimaniTru novels will not only reflect young adult life, but the stories will be in told in a compelling and creative way. Both the editorial and packaging will reflect the exceptional quality of all Kimani Press books. Young adults, parents, teachers and all organizations working with teens will appreciate the values and messages these unique novels offer – something scarce in today’s marketplace.”
A quick read of Monica McKayhon’s Indigo Summer and JDGuilford’s The Edification of Sonya Crane confirm Kimani’s intentions.
“African-American teens are underserved in today’s literary climate with stories that solely dwell on the negative influences of the streets,” states Linda Gill, general manager of Kimani Press. “Our goal is to reach out and embrace young adult readers with stories that are true to their life experiences, but that also encourage growth, and empowerment. At times, teens feel alone with the issues they are facing…and in KimaniTru novels they will meet characters they can ultimately learn from,” Gill concludes.
Kimani isn’t exactly alone in their endeavors to publish and promote age appropriate African American novels. Precioustymes Entertainment and Young Diamond Books, the label founded by former school teacher and best selling author Darren Coleman and Joy King are actively seeking submissions.
In a statement posted on the Young Diamond Books website, Darren Coleman declares “Since 2003, I have nearly 200,000 books in print bearing my name. Even though they are for adults, I know that young people are picking them up. It doesn’t sit well with me, yet I know why. They don’t have anything else to read that appeals to them. At this point I felt blessed to be able to put something in print that is intended for young people. I’ve been approached by the majors to do young adult fiction, but I, with Ms. King, decided to come with our own specific flavor. This right here, isn’t for the money, it’s for the diamonds. Our youths are far more valuable than any money, they are our crown jewels, our young diamonds.”
Meanwhile, LifeChangingBooks.net encourages young readers, especially young African American males to submit stories that deal with everyday teens. One should suspect it will only be a matter of time if and when other African American owned publishing houses will follow suite and help expand a growing market for African American teens. Currently, young adult imprints for major publishing houses do not have adequate representation of African American writer’s.
Many street/urban/hip-hop authors would tell you of the number of complaints they get about books they wrote for adults ending up in the hands of the kids. And as an educator, this situation is a double edge sword. On one hand, I am educating a generation of kids who are more interested in video games, new movies and learning the lyrics to the latest rap song than they are picking up a book to read. However on that flip side, when 12 year old girls walk in my class with a copies of the popular titles like Girls From the Hood II or Bitch or Bad Girlz, I’m not so quick to take the books out their hands because many times, I haven’t had nothing of alternative to hand them… until now.
So I encourage everyone to support the new African American young adult books coming out. Many of these books can be purchase in major and African American owned bookstores nationwide or at their company’s respective websites. It is time to put age appropriate literature in the hands of our teens.
Titles Featured in this article:
Street Life by Jihad [Mass Market Version (Urban Books $6.99) June 2007
Ride Wit’ Me by Katina King (Young Diamond Books $12.00)
Dymond in the Rough by Precious (Precioustymes Entertainment $6.99)
Drama High: The Fight by L.Divine (Dafina/Kensington $9.99)
Worth Fighting 4 by Jarold Imes {Young Adult Edition] (Abednego’s Free $10.99) May 2007
Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhon (KimaniTru $9.99)
The Edification of Sonya Crane by JDGuilford (KimaniTru $9.99)
Monster by Walter Dean Myers (Amistad $7.99)
Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers (Amistad $6.99
Copyright 2006 - 2008 Abednego's Free, LLC & Jarold Imes