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.
This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by genre.
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 Genre:
-
Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol
Bonnie Christensen
You might recognize him from his famous paintings of Campbell's soup cans and coke bottles. But do you know about the artist who created these images? Any Warhol was often sick as a child but found comfort in reading comic books and most especially in drawing. From his early days in Pittsburgh in the 1930s to the height of his glory in the 1960s when he blurred the line between commercial art and fine art, this book chronicles an artist's remarkable path to becoming a renowned Pop Art icon.
-
Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love
Aylette Jenness
Photographs and text depict the lives of seventeen families from around the country, some with step relationships, divorce, gay parents, foster siblings, and other diverse components. The material was originally a traveling exhibition, begun at the Children's Museum in Boston.
-
Forbidden Love
Gary B. Nash
Presents accounts of how mainly anonymous Americans have defied the official racial ideology and points out how guardians of the past have written that side of our history out of the record.
-
Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist, Author, Editor and Diplomat
Jim Whiting
Traces the life and historical impact of the noted abolitionist, detailing his birth into slavery and harsh upbringing, his subsequent escape, and his emergence as a leader.
-
Gay in America
Scott Pasfield
A photographic survery of gay men in America. The photographer traveled across all fifty states to document the lives of 140 gay men from all walks of life.
-
Gay & Lesbian History for Kids: The Century-Long Struggle for LGBT Rights
Jerome Pohlen
Who transformed George Washington's demoralized troops at Valley Forge into a fighting force that defeated an empire? Who cracked Germany's Enigma code and shortened World War II? Who successfully lobbied the US Congress to outlaw child labor? And who organized the 1963 March on Washington? Ls, Gs, Bs, and Ts, that's who...This up-to-date history includes the landmark Supreme Court decision making marriage equality the law of the land. Twenty-one activities enliven the history and demonstrate the spirited ways the LGBT community has pushed for positive social change.
-
Halle Berry: Academy Award-Winning Actress
Kerrily Sapet
A look at the life and career of the famous actress.
-
Helen Keller: Toward the Light
Stewart Graff and Polly Anne Graff
A biography of the blind and deaf woman who rose above her physical disabilities to international renown and who helped other handicapped persons to live fuller lives.
-
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.
-
I Am Jazz
Jessice Herthel and Jazz Jennings
From the time she was two years old, Jazz knew that she had a girl's brain in a boy's body. She loved pink and dressing up as a mermaid and didn't feel like herself in boys' clothing. This confused her family, until they took her to a doctor who said that Jazz was transgender and that she was born that way.
-
I and I: Bob Marley
Tony Medina
A biography in verse about the Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley, offering an overview of key events and themes in his life, including his biracial heritage, Rastafarian beliefs, and love of music. End notes on poems provide further biographical information.
-
Intersex
Thea Hillman
Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word) chronicles one person’s search for self in a world obsessed with normal. What is “intersex”? According to the Intersex Society of North America, the word describes someone born with sex chromosomes, genitalia, or an internal reproductive system that are neither clearly male nor clearly female. In first-person prose as intimate as a diary, Thea Hillman redefines memoir in a series of compelling stories that take a no-holds-barred look at sex, gender, family, and community. Whether she’s pondering quirky family tendencies (“Drag”), reflecting on “queerness” (“Another”), or recounting scintillating adventures in San Francisco’s sex clubs, Hillman’s brave and fierce vision for cultural and societal change shines through.
-
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
Diane Guerrero
The star of Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin presents her personal story of the real plight of undocumented immigrants in this country.
-
It’s Okay to Sparkle
Avery Jackson
The inspirational story, told in her own words, of 7-year-old Avery Jackson, who was assigned male at birth, but has now transitioned into a young girl, tells the story of how she realized she was a girl and how she helped her parents and friends to understand her transition. Her heart-warming story covers themes of friendship, bullying and self-esteem. Whether you're into dolls, ninja warriors or teddy bears, climbing trees, Tae Kwon Do or ballet, this book lets readers know that it's okay to be who you want to be. Avery's words are incredibly wise and articulate for such a young person and she will undoubtably provide support and inspiration to other families in similar situations.
-
Jazz Jennings: Voice for LGBTQ Youth
Ellen Rodger
A groundbreaking advocate for transgender youth and LGBTQ rights, Jazz Jennings is one of the first youth to speak publicly about her experiences as a transgender individual. A spokesperson, writer, and public figure, Jazz inspires all people to embrace themselves and be accepting of all people. Overcoming incredible struggles as a young transgender person, Jazz now uses her platform to make a difference in the LGBTQ community. A vocal advocate for equal rights, she co-founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation-all before the age of 15.
-
Laverne Cox
Erin Staley
Highlights the struggles and achievements of Laverne Cox, an American actress, who became the first openly transgender person to win numerous awards and have a wax work in Madame Tussauds.
-
Mao's Last Dancer
Cunxin Li
Chosen from millions of children to serve in Mao's cultural revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, Li knew ballet would be his family's best opportunity to escape the bitter poverty in his rural China home. From one hardship to another, Li persevered, never forgetting the family he left behind.
-
Mariah Carey (Biographies of Biracial Achievers)
Kerrily Sapet
Provides an overview of the life and career of Mariah Carey, discussing her family, achievements in the entertainment industry, challenges, and more.
-
Martin De Porres: The Rose in the Desert
Gary D. Schmidt
The story of Saint Martín de Porres--an endearing tale of perseverance, faith, and triumph over racial and economic prejudice.
-
Martin's Big Words
Doreen Rappaport
A brief biographical sketch of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest figures in the American civil rights movement.
-
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman
An autobiographical and biographical cartoon in which the author explores his strained relationship with his father, an Auschwitz survivor, while also relating the story of his parent's experiences as Jews in wartime Poland, as told to him by his dad during a series of conversations they had years later in New York and Vermont.
-
Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk
Dustin Lance Black
Profiles Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay people to be elected to public office, partially in the words of the people who knew him, and describes the making of the biographical film about him, "Milk."
-
My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family
Zach Wahls
An advocate and son of same-gender parents recounts his famed address to the Iowa House of Representatives on civil unions, and describes his positive experiences of growing up in an alternative family in spite of prejudice.
-
No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom, and Adventure
Susan Hughes
Based on legends, poems, letters and first-hand accounts, these seven biographical tales tell of women who disguised themselves as men. From ancient Egypt to the 19th century, this historically accurate graphic treatment transports readers to bygone eras. For the sake of freedom, ambition, love or adventure, these women risked everything.
-
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero
Marissa Moss
A story of a nineteen-year-old woman who disguised herself as a man to avoid an unwanted marriage and who distinguished herself as a male nurse during the Civil War, and later as a spy for the Union Army.