Culturally accurate or pandering attempts?

I present these two books because after I finished reading them, I wasn't sure if they were giving me an insight into cultures I didn't know about or if they were created in an overtly PC way to fill a market with woefully few minority perspectives. (An example: The Newbery-winning book A Single Shard is full of interesting historical and cultural facts, yet it is a horrifically boring novel that seems to have been praised just for the fact that it presents an unfamiliar culture)


Girls for Breakfast, David Yoo

The main character of this book struggles because he doesn't live up to the Asian ideal -- he's not brainy or dorky or... anything, really, he's just average. The book follows his struggles through school and the awkwardness of finding a ladyfriend. It seems to be an attempt to recreate in high school form the guy-lit genre popularized by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, etc.). The subject matter of this is probably more appropriate for middle and high schoolers.



Becoming Naomi Leon, Pam Munoz Ryan

This book is a Powell's staff pick and a contender for the 2007 Sasquatch Awards (through the Washington Library Media Association), so I'm inclined to believe that this isn't just receiving buzz for the fact that it's about a Mexican girl living with her extended family. This is a touching story with lots of cultural history that I wasn't aware of, and (peripherally) honestly addresses the issues of children with special needs.

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