The Diverse Families bookshelf was created and funded through numerous grants. Due to lack of additional grants and the loss of key personnel, the project has come to an end. We have tremendously enjoyed creating this database and hope that it can help bring readers and books together.
Browse by Family Relationship:
Adoption
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How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom
S.J. Goslee
When his older sister encourages him to ask someone to the prom, things do not go as planned and Nolan ends up fake dating a guy who used to bully him.
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How to Save a Life
Sara Zarr
Told from their own viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Jill, in grief over the loss of her father, and Mandy, nearly nineteen, are thrown together when Jill's mother agrees to adopt Mandy's unborn child but nothing turns out as they had anticipated.
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I Don't Have Your Eyes
Carrie A. Kitze
Family connections are vitally important to children as they begin to find their place in the world. For transracial and transcultural adoptees, domestic adoptees, and for children in foster care or kinship placements, celebrating the differences within their families as well as the similarities that connect them, is the foundation for belonging. As parents or caregivers, we can strengthen our children's tie to family and embrace the differences that make them unique. Each child will have their own story and their own special place to belong. This beautifully illustrated and uplifting book, for 2-5 year olds, will help to create the intimate parent/caregiver and child bond that is so important. While others may notice the physical differences between us on the outside, inside we are the same.
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If Only
Jennifer Gilmore
At sixteen Bridget is pregnant--and her boyfriend has dumped her for another girl. She's trying to envision a future for her baby. But as she sifts through the many paths and the many people who want to parent her child, she can't help but feel that there is no right decision. Fifteen years later: Ivy knows that she is now the same age Bridget was when she placed Ivy for adoption. She knows that Bridget was the one who named her. When Ivy goes in search of Bridget--of her own history--will the risks outweigh the benefits of knowing where she comes from and why her birth mother chose to walk away?
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I Funny: School of Laughs (I Funny #5)
James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
When a new principal threatens to close the school library, Jamie Grimm tries to save the day by teaching a comedy class for his fellow students.
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I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
Rose A. Lewis
A woman describes how she went to China to adopt a special baby girl. Based on the author's own experiences.
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I'm Adopted!
Sheila M. Kelly and Shelly Rotner
Simple text and ample pictures describe what adoption is and how it works.
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I Miss My Foster Parents
Stefon Herbert
A little boy who is adopted tells why he misses his foster parents.
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In My Heart
Molly Bang
Parents describe how their child is always in their hearts, no matter where they are or what they are doing.
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In Our Mothers' House
Patricia Polacco
Three young children experience the joys and challenges of being raised by two mothers.
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
Dusti Bowling
Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all...even without arms.
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International Adoptions
Margaret Haerens
This volume explores the topics relating to the adoption of international children by presenting varied expert opinions that examine many of the different aspects that comprise these issues. The viewpoints are selected from a wide range of highly respected and often hard-to-find sources and publications. Allows the reader to attain the higher-level critical thinking and reading skills that are essential in a culture of diverse and contradictory opinions.
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Is That Your Sister?: A True Story of Adoption
Catherine Bunin and Sherry Bunin
An adopted six-year-old girl tells about adoption and how she and her adopted sister feel about it.
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It's Okay To Be Different
Todd Parr
Illustrations and brief text describe all kinds of differences that are "okay," such as "It's Okay to be a different color," "It's Okay to need some help," "It's Okay to be adopted," and "It's Okay to have a Different nose."
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It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health
Robie H. Harris
Introduces human sexuality, describes the changes brought about by puberty, and discusses sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, and pregnancy.
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It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families
Robbie H. Harris
Uses bird and bee cartoon characters to present straightforward explanations of topics related to sexual development, love, reproduction, adoption, sexually transmitted diseases, and more.
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I Wished for You: An Adoption Story
Marianne Richmond
A mama bear and her little boy bear talk about how they became a family because of the mother's wish.
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Jazzy's Quest: Adopted and Amazing!
Carrie Goldman and Juliet C. Bond
What makes you amazing? That's what adoptee Jazzy Armstrong has to figure out before the big community talent show. Is she musical like her parents and sisters? Can she make dazzling flower arrangements like her birth mother, score goals on the soccer field like her birth brother, or is there something unique about Jazzy that is nothing like her families? Join Jazzy on her quest to discover just what makes her amazing!
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Jesus Land: A Memoir
Julia Scheeres
It's the mid-1980s. Julia Scheeres and her adopted brother David are sixteen years old and have just moved to rural Indiana, a landscape of cottonwood trees and trailer parks, and a racism neither of them is prepared for. While Julia is white, her close relationship with David, who is black, makes them both outcasts. At home, a distant mother, more involved with her church's missionaries than with her own children, and a violent father only compound their problems. When high-school hormones, bullying, and a deep-seated restlessness prove too much to bear, they are packed off to a Christian boot camp in the Dominican Republic. Surrounded by natural beauty, the Escuela Caribe is governed by a disciplinary regime that demands its teens repent for their sins, which few of them are aware they've committed. How they made it through with heart and soul intact is told here with candor and humor.
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Jing's Family (All Kinds of Families)
Elliot Riley
There are many types of families. Meet Jing and her family and learn about what adoption means.
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Jin Woo
Eve Bunting
Davey is dubious about having a new adopted brother from Korea, but when he finds out that his parents still love him, he decides that having a baby brother will be fine.
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Josh and Jaz Have Three Mums
Hedi Argent
This brightly illustrated book for young children helps to explain the diversity and 'difference' of family groups and encourages an understanding and appreciation of same sex parents. Josh and Jaz Have Three Mums will be particularly useful for social workers, child care professionals, carers and adoptive parents when exploring the diversity of modern family life with young children. One of the rare children's books to explore and discuss adoption by same sex parents.
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Just Add One Chinese Sister: An Adoption Story
Patricia McMahon and Conor Clarke McCarthy
Claire and her mother are working together on a scrapbook as they relive their first days and hours together following Claire's arrival from her birth home in China.
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Keurium
Jessica Sun Lee
Shay Stone lies in a hospital bed, catatonic -- dead to the world. Her family thinks it's a ploy for attention. Doctors believe it's the result of an undisclosed trauma. At the mercy of memories and visitations, Shay unearths secrets that may have led to her collapse. Will she remain paralyzed in denial? Or can she accept the unfathomable and break free?
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Kimchi & Calamari
Rose Kent
Teenaged Joseph Calderaro, who was adopted from Korea by Italian parents, begins to make important self-discoveries about race and family after his social studies teacher assigns an essay on cultural heritage and tracing the past.