This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by Grades 6-8.
DIVerse Families is a comprehensive bibliography that demonstrates the growing diversity of families in the United States. This type of bibliography provides teachers, librarians, counselors, adoption agencies, children/young adults, and especially parents and grandparents needing to empower their children with materials that reflect their families.
Browse by Grade Level:
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Harbor Me
Jacquline Woodson
It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat--by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them--everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.
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Hard Love
Ellen Wittlinger
After starting to publish a zine in which he writes his secret feelings about his lonely life and his parents' divorce, sixteen-year-old John meets an unusual girl and begins to develop a healthier personality.
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Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
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Heart Picked: Elizabeth's Adoption Tale
Sara Crutcher
Six-year-old Elizabeth is excited to have her dad visit school today but worries some of her classmates might notice they don't look alike. How will Elizabeth respond when her friend says, "That's your dad? You don't look like him."
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Hello, Groin
Beth Goobie
When Dylan Kowolski agrees to create a display for her high school library, she has no idea of the trouble it's going to cause—for the school principal, her family, her boyfriend Cam and his jock friends, and her best friend Jocelyn. And for Dylan herself. If only her English class had been studying a normal, run-of-the-mill, mundane book like Lord of the Flies instead of Foxfire things wouldn't have gotten so twisted. Then the world wouldn't have gone into such a massive funk. And then Dylan wouldn't have had to face her deepest fear and the way she was letting it run her life.
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Here to Stay
Sara Farizan
When a cyberbully sends the entire high school a picture of basketball hero Bijan Majidi, photo-shopped to look like a terrorist, the school administration promises to find and punish the culprit, but Bijan just wants to pretend the incident never happened and move on.
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Hero
S. L. Rottman
After years of abuse from his mother and neglect from his father, ninth-grader Sean Parker is headed for trouble until he is sent to do community service at a farm owned by an old man who teaches Sean that he can take control of his own life.
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Heroes
Robert Cormier
After serving in the United States Army in World War II and having his face blown off by a grenade, Francis, a young soldier, returns home hoping to find--and kill--the former childhood hero he feels betrayed him.
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Hey, Kiddo
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
A National Book Award Finalist! Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.
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Hidden Roots
Joseph Bruchac
Although he is uncertain why his father is so angry and what secret his mother is keeping from him, eleven-year-old Sonny knows that he is different from his classmates in their small New York town.
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Hide and Seek
Katy Grant
In the remote mountains of Arizona where he lives with his mother, stepfather, and two sisters, fourteen-year-old Chase discovers two kidnapped boys and gets caught up in a dangerous adventure when he comes up with a plan to get them to safety.
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Hit the Road, Manny
Christian Burch
As the Dalinger family travels across America in a rented recreational vehicle, Keats grows more accepting of the attention-getting behavior of their "manny"--Male nanny--especially after a visit with the manny's parents on their Wyoming ranch.
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Hold Fast
Blue Balliett
On a cold winter day in Chicago, Early's father disappeared, and now she, her mother and her brother have been forced to flee their apartment and join the ranks of the homeless--and it is up to Early to hold her family together and solve the mystery surrounding her father.
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Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story
David David Levithan
Larger-than-life Tiny Cooper finally gets to tell his story, from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends, in the form of a musical he wrote.
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Holly's Secret
Nancy Garden
When she starts middle school, eleven-year-old Holly decides to become sophisticated and feminine, change her name to Yvette, and hide the fact that her two moms are lesbians.
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Homelessness in America Today
Jennifer Bringle
Discusses homelessness in the United States, including a brief history, the effects of the recent economic recession on the homelessness rates in the nation, and what can be done to end homelessness.
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Homesick
Kate Klise
Benny's parents are getting divorced, his mom left and his father has become a hoarder, and to make matters worse his hometown has been entered into a contest, and now the pressure is on to get the house cleaned up.
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Honor Among Thieves
Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre
A savvy young criminal with antisocial behavior is recruited to attend the Honors space program and joins a team on a sentient spaceship destined for the far reaches of the galaxy only to discover dangerous secrets hidden among the stars.
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Hoods
Angela Betzien
Each night two hoods ride a train to a wrecking yard on the outskirts of the city. Here, in this cemetery of stories, they are storytellers with the power to fast forward, pause and rewind. Tonight, they tell the story of three kids left in a car. Rewind. It’s Friday, KFC night and the last day of school before Christmas. Kyle, Jessie and baby brother Troy are waiting in the car for their mum. As night approaches the car park takes on a dark and sinister aspect filled with strange and familiar characters. The shopping centre closes, Mum still hasn’t returned and the baby won’t stop crying. Exploring issues of poverty and family violence, Hoods is a suburban tale of survival and solidarity against the odds.
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Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet
Sheri L. Smith
Disaster strikes when Ana Shen is about to deliver the salutatorian speech at her junior high school graduation, but an even greater crisis looms when her best friend invites a crowd to Ana's house for dinner, and Ana's multicultural grandparents must find a way to share a kitchen.
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House of Robots: Robot Revolution (House of Robots Series Book 3)
James Patterson
Robots on strike! Sammy's underappreciated mechanical helpers are causing chaos in book 3 of the bestselling House of Robots series
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How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity
Michael Cart
Presents twelve stories by contemporary, award-winning young adult authors, some presented in graphic or letter format, which explore themes of gender identity, love, and sexuality.
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How I Became a Writer and Oggie Learned to Drive
Janet Taylor Lisle
A young writer's fantasy world becomes dangerously entangled with reality. Eleven-year-old Archie and his six-year-old brother, Oggie, are constantly going back and forth between their mother's home and the apartment that their father shares with his girlfriend. To distract Oggie from the turbulence of endlessly bouncing from "Saturn" to "Jupiter" and back again, Archie invents a fantastic story about the Mysterious Mole People. When Oggie's wallet is stolen by kids from a local gang, Archie tries to retrieve it and becomes increasingly ensnared in the gang's dangerous activities. Even worse, he soon finds that his fictitious mole story is merging with the darkness of real life in a very frightening way.
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How I Saved My Father's Life (And Ruined Everything Else)
Ann Hood
After her father leaves and marries the glamorous Ava Pomme, Madeline blames her mother for their difficult new life, but in spite of the twelve-year-old's efforts to achieve sainthood, it takes a summer trip to Italy to put her family into perspective.
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How It Feels To Have A Gay Or Lesbian Parent: A Book By Kids For Kids Of All Ages
Judith Snow
Children, adolescents, and young adults here talk openly and candidly about how and when they learned of their parent's sexual orientation and the effect it had on them and their families, covering themes of prejudice, harassment, conflict and confusion, as well as hope for tolerance and family harmony.