I am removing The Hunger Games - Katniss is white.

Mike wrote: "I am removing The Hunger Games - Katniss is white."

While I understand Katniss' race is ambiguously described and she COULD be white, I think it's oversimplifying to say she IS. Suzanne Collins has indicated that she is probably ethnically mixed.

Also, I'm not sure why The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland is on this list? It's a great book, and Cat Valente has made the suggestion of casting a black actress as September if it ever went to film, but in the book's descriptions and illustrations, she is white.

Ah. Whoops. I had already deleted it, but I put it back on the list, along with Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Unless anyone else has objections, we can leave it on.

Oh, my god. Megan Crewe liked this list. And I made it after finishing The Lives She Lost, which she wrote. You have no idea how happy you've made me, Crewe.

Tessa from Clockwork Prince is almost definitely white. Any objections to its removal?

While Fire is one of the best books around (as far as I'm concerned), I don't remember any main characters who are not white. Is this just an instance of a bad memory?

ETA: See response/retraction below

This is an amazing list! Thank you so much for making it! It's a great resource for our bookshelf and we'll be adding a lot of books from this list that we don't already have to it. We encourage everyone to feel free to recommend books to us too when you find more that fit the bill.

You're quite welcome. I'm shocked that this didn't exist before now.

Mike wrote: "Tessa from Clockwork Prince is almost definitely white. Any objections to its removal?"

It isn't Tessa people are thinking of it's Jem (who is half Chinese)

Ah. Well, Jem isn't the protagonist, Tessa is.

Mike wrote: "Ah. Well, Jem isn't the protagonist, Tessa is."

That is true.

This list rocks. Love it.

Ezekiel wrote: "While Fire is one of the best books around (as far as I'm concerned), I don't remember any main characters who are not white. Is this just an instance of a bad memory?"

Well Fire is described as having "brown skin" but I'm not entirely sure if she is white or not.

Therealbadkitty wrote:... Well Fire is described as having "brown skin" but I'm not entirely sure if she is white or not."

Yes, I just re-read Fire and Bitterblue. I double checked in Fire and I just COULDN'T find any words explicitly stating her color, however at one point it was made obvious that "most" people in the Dells are "brown," and then in Bitterblue she is finally explicitly defined as such. In fact I was just coming here to edit/retract what I said before.

That said, it would have been nice if it didn't feel like I had needed to go on a hunting expedition to find proof of her brown-ness, though perhaps it is/was more obvious to other people? I mean the colors of Fire's hair and eyes are talked about at length, it seems weird that people/the narration wouldn't comment on her skin similarly when discussing her beauty, for instance talking about mesmerizing the quality of her skin tone or how her hair is particularly good for setting off the highlights in her skin (or vice versa). It's just in a book all about how this character looks, and how she chooses to use the power created by her looks, it seems weird at how LITTLE that particular detail is mentioned, while other things are mentioned again and again.

In R.L Stine's book, "Fear Street Seniors: No Answer", Clarissa Turner (a black girl) is the main character/protagonist.