African American Studies Commons^™

Finding Her Voice: A Conversation With Allison Whittenberg, Kaavonia Hinton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Sweet Thang. Life Is Fine. Hollywood & Maine. These are all books by poet and dramatist Allison Whittenberg. These novels are about young black women coming to terms with who they are intellectually, emotionally, and culturally. Critics say Whittenberg’s young adult fiction is well written, and they praise the way she crafts convincing dialogue and moving narration ( Jones, 2009 ; Rochman, 2008 ; Brautigam, 2006 ; Hutley, 2006 ). They also commend her for offering readers an opportunity to see characters grapple with issues they are concerned about. For example, Martin (2006) points out that in Sweet Thang , …