Young adult

Books marketed to people 13-18. YA books are written every genre, including science fiction and fantasy. (Though there is lots more of the latter than of the former)

YA, Young Adult, and children's books could be gathered and listed here.

YA Books Featuring Heroines of Color

Here is a list to start off with, compiled by Victoria McManus. It's a list of YA books with strong female heroines of color.

• Judith Berman, BEAR DAUGHTER
• Joseph Bruchac, SKELETON MAN
• Jane Louise Curry, THE BLACK CANARY
• Michael Dorris, MORNING GIRL
• Louise Erdrich, THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE
• Nancy Farmer, A GIRL NAMED DISASTER and THE EAR, THE EYE, AND THE ARM and HOUSE OF THE SCORPION
• Hiromi Goto, HALF WORLD (out fall/winter 2007)
• Virginia Hamilton, JUSTICE AND HER BROTHERS
• Ursula K. LeGuin, Earthsea trilogy, GIFTS, VOICES, and POWERS [fall 2007]
• Walter Mosley, 47 (Won the Parallax Award, 2006)
• Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, ZAHRAH THE WINDSEEKER (Shortlist, Parallax, 2006) and THE SHADOW SPEAKER (upcoming)
• Cynthia Leitich Smith, RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME (non-fantasy, but highly recommended)
• Louise Spiegler, AMETHYST ROAD [AU gypsies]
• Joyce Sweeney, WAITING FOR JUNE
• Yoshiko Uchida, A JAR OF DREAMS and THE BEST BAD THING
• Carole Wilkinson, DRAGON KEEPER
• Susan Vaught, STORMWITCH (Kindred Award 2006)
• Paul Yee, THE BONE COLLECTOR'S SON
• Laurence Yep, TIGER'S APPRENTICE, many others

Also:

Sharyn November also replied with some author names, but I haven't looked into them yet:

• Rita Williams-Garcia
• an na
• joan abelove
• walter dean myers (who has also done some genre)

The LJ post is here: http://oracne.livejournal.com/885281.html