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Heroines of colour are still terribly underrepresented in YA literature, so I thought we could make a list of books for teens and young adults that feature heroines of colour as the main character.

As long as the books are for teens or young adults it doesn't matter which genre they are: Fantasy, Dystopian, Thriller... the only important thing is, that the main character is a woman of colour so that we can have an overview of books featuring WOC as heroines.

*This list is supposed to give an overview of what YA books with WOC as main characters and heroines there are, so please don't add novels with white main characters that happen to have WOC as sidekicks or as supporting characters.*
1

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3.77 avg rating — 10,111 ratings
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2

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4.04 avg rating — 1,109,442 ratings
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3

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3.70 avg rating — 1,928 ratings
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4

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3.68 avg rating — 55,380 ratings
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5

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3.71 avg rating — 14,744 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 364 ratings
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7

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4.44 avg rating — 1,049,338 ratings
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8

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3.96 avg rating — 63,193 ratings
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9

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4.07 avg rating — 72,768 ratings
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10

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3.83 avg rating — 83,231 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 1,843 ratings
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11

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4.37 avg rating — 146 ratings
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13

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3.77 avg rating — 2,757 ratings
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14

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4.33 avg rating — 27 ratings
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15

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3.86 avg rating — 8,867 ratings
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16

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3.63 avg rating — 543 ratings
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17

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3.83 avg rating — 35,601 ratings
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18

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3.74 avg rating — 2,624 ratings
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19

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3.95 avg rating — 366,150 ratings
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20

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3.78 avg rating — 4,759 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,736 ratings
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22

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4.09 avg rating — 196,131 ratings
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23

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4.23 avg rating — 366,280 ratings
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24

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3.78 avg rating — 13,561 ratings
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25

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4.04 avg rating — 179 ratings
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26

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3.28 avg rating — 8,924 ratings
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27

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3.71 avg rating — 10,600 ratings
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28

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4.10 avg rating — 40,937 ratings
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29

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3.82 avg rating — 32,424 ratings
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30

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3.48 avg rating — 1,594 ratings
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31

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3.56 avg rating — 3,986 ratings
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31

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3.99 avg rating — 22,593 ratings
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33

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3.92 avg rating — 60,465 ratings
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33

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4.33 avg rating — 39,308 ratings
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35

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4.12 avg rating — 1,040,468 ratings
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35

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4.16 avg rating — 86,020 ratings
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35

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3.94 avg rating — 17,100 ratings
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38

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4.11 avg rating — 62 ratings
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39

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3.89 avg rating — 3,748 ratings
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40

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3.73 avg rating — 2,633 ratings
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41

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3.90 avg rating — 96,108 ratings
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41

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3.68 avg rating — 17,432 ratings
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43

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3.96 avg rating — 5,439 ratings
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44

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3.73 avg rating — 5,861 ratings
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45

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4.02 avg rating — 39,361 ratings
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46

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3.81 avg rating — 39,324 ratings
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47

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4.02 avg rating — 9,339 ratings
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48

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3.74 avg rating — 11,017 ratings
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49

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3.83 avg rating — 5,350 ratings
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50

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4.10 avg rating — 93,344 ratings
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51

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3.85 avg rating — 4,518 ratings
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52

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3.87 avg rating — 6,490 ratings
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53

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3.72 avg rating — 9,434 ratings
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53

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3.68 avg rating — 3,574 ratings
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53

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3.32 avg rating — 344 ratings
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53

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4.12 avg rating — 205 ratings
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53

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3.38 avg rating — 37 ratings
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53

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3.17 avg rating — 546 ratings
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53

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4.14 avg rating — 3,006 ratings
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53

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19,928 ratings
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53

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4.33 avg rating — 33 ratings
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62

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3.89 avg rating — 10,454 ratings
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62

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4.10 avg rating — 60,144 ratings
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62

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3.60 avg rating — 440 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 12,930 ratings
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62

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4.51 avg rating — 10,145 ratings
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62

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3.88 avg rating — 1,508 ratings
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62

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4.10 avg rating — 261,827 ratings
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62

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3.92 avg rating — 3,927 ratings
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62

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3.89 avg rating — 5,893 ratings
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71

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3.61 avg rating — 4,709 ratings
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71

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4.60 avg rating — 9,810 ratings
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71

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4.41 avg rating — 322,531 ratings
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71

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3.75 avg rating — 1,806 ratings
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71

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4.06 avg rating — 1,653 ratings
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71

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3.24 avg rating — 333 ratings
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77

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3.86 avg rating — 145,057 ratings
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77

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3.86 avg rating — 4,771 ratings
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77

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4.27 avg rating — 14,134 ratings
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77

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4.05 avg rating — 6,285 ratings
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77

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3.99 avg rating — 1,328 ratings
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82

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4.05 avg rating — 27,500 ratings
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82

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4.01 avg rating — 15,115 ratings
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82

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3.88 avg rating — 1,224 ratings
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82

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3.80 avg rating — 6,199 ratings
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82

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4.09 avg rating — 228 ratings
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87

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3.14 avg rating — 660 ratings
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87

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3.66 avg rating — 1,245 ratings
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89

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3.57 avg rating — 4,743 ratings
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89

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4.33 avg rating — 40,073 ratings
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89

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3.74 avg rating — 15,021 ratings
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92

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4.11 avg rating — 17,103 ratings
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92

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3.93 avg rating — 195 ratings
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94

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4.17 avg rating — 22,582 ratings
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94

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3.64 avg rating — 11 ratings
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96

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4.01 avg rating — 65,809 ratings
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96

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3.73 avg rating — 14,280 ratings
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96

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3.97 avg rating — 34 ratings
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99

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3.78 avg rating — 84,011 ratings
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99

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3.35 avg rating — 1,317 ratings
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203 books · 66 voters · list created December 30th, 2013 by Kate (votes) .
15 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Kate 3097 books
114 friends
Michelle 624 books
132 friends
Cat 3572 books
13 friends
Dely 378 books
53 friends
Kaitlin 1199 books
80 friends
Hansel 248 books
14 friends
avis03 2812 books
24 friends
skadoosh 1489 books
18 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-1 of 1 (1 new)

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message 1: by Kate (new)

Kate Okay, friends, I said YA. "Resurrecting Cybele" is clearly not a YA book, so I don't know why you would add it? This list is for books for Teenagers and Young Adults, so 12-18, I'd say. I would really like to keep adult books off this list, it's meant for teens.

Maybe someone can make another list like this for adult books with WOC as heroines. I would, but I don't read enough adult fantasy books to know enough books.


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