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 Race & Culture:
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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'm Here
Peter H. Reynolds
In a crowded park, a boy makes an airplane out of a piece of paper carried to him by a gentle breeze, sends it on its way, and watches a new friend bring it back to him.
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I'm New Here
Anne Sibley O'Brien
Three students are immigrants from Guatemala, Korea, and Somalia and have trouble speaking, writing, and sharing ideas in English in their new American elementary school. Through self-determination and with encouragement from their peers and teachers, the students learn to feel confident and comfortable in their new school without losing a sense of their home country, language, and identity.
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I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother
Selina Alko
A child in an interracial family wonders what his yet-to-be-born sibling will look like.
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In a Minute
Tony Bradman
Jo cannot wait to get to the playground and play with her friend Sita and Sita's dog Patch, but her Mum and Dad keep slowing her down.
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In English, of Course
Josephine Nobisso
Set in the Bronx during the 1950s, when postwar immigrant children were placed in their first American classrooms, this delightful story tells of the riotous linguistic misunderstandings of Josephine’s first day of school. The daughter of savvy Italian engineers, Josephine has lived in the city long enough to have learned a few words in English, but is overcome when her teacher makes her stand up in front of the class and tell about her life in Italy—in English, of course. The result is a charming tale of adventures and multicultural miscommunications as Josephine attempts to make herself understood. Children will come to understand that sometimes people underestimate the talents and dignity of newcomers to the United States and will embark on a poignant journey as Josephine tells her incredible story the best way she knows how and attempts to understand her English-speaking teacher and classmates. Josephine Nobisso is the author of 17 books including Grandpa Loved, Grandma’s Scrapbook, and Shh! The Whale is Smiling. She lives in Quogue, New York. Dasha Ziborova is the illustrator of Crispin the Terrible. She lives in New York City.
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Inkmistress
Audrey Coulthurst
Asra is a demigod with a dangerous gift: the ability to dictate the future by writing with her blood. To keep her power secret, she leads a quiet life as a healer on a remote mountain, content to help the people in her care and spend time with Ina, the mortal girl she loves. When bandits threaten Ina's village, Asra uses her blood magic to try and help but her spell goes horribly wrong. Ina takes a savage dragon asher manifest, and swears revenge on the king, unaware Asra is at fault. To stop Ina, Asra becomes a player in lethal games among assassins, gods, and even the king himself.
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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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In Search of Us
Ava Dellaira
Relates the stories of Marilyn who, at age seventeen, fell in love with James, left her stage-mother, and set out on her own and Angie, her now seventeen-year-old daughter, who returns to Hollywood seeking her father.
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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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Into the Beautiful North
Luis Alberto Urrea
Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US when she was young. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.
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I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life
Grace Kendall
Popular young-adult authors weave together questions of identity, loss, and redemption into poignant tales for today's teens.
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Islandborn
Junot Díaz
Lola was just a baby when her family left the Island, so when she has to draw it for a school assignment, she asks her family, friends, and neighbors about their memories of her homeland ... and in the process, comes up with a new way of understanding her own heritage
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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 All Comes Down to This
Karen English
Perfect for fans of Glory Be, this charming middle grade coming-of-age novel set in Los Angeles in the summer of 1965 is narrated by Sophie, a precocious, sheltered twelve-year-old. But when her family becomes the first African Americans to move into their upper middle-class neighborhood and riots erupt in nearby Watts, she learns that life-and her own place in it-is a lot more complicated than it had seemed.
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It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living
Dan Savage and Terry Miller
Growing up isn't easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, and this is especially true for LGBT kids and teens. It Gets Better is a collection of original essays and expanded testimonials written to teens from celebrities, political leaders, and everyday people, because while many LGBT teens can't see a positive future for themselves, we can.
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It's Not All Black and White: Multiracial Youth Speak Out
St. Stephen's Community House
Biracial and multiracial youth discuss their lives and questions of identity though poems, essays, interviews, and personal reflections.
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It's Not the Stork! A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends
Robie H. Harris
Young children are curious about almost everything, especially their bodies. And young children are not afraid to ask questions. What makes me a girl? What makes me a boy? Why are some parts of girls' and boys' bodies the same and why are some parts different? How was I made? Where do babies come from? Is it true that a stork brings babies to mommies and daddies? IT'S NOT THE STORK! helps answer these endless and perfectly normal questions that preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school children ask about how they began. Through lively, comfortable language and sensitive, engaging artwork, Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley address readers in a reassuring way, mindful of a child's healthy desire for straightforward information. Two irresistible cartoon characters, a curious bird and a squeamish bee, provide comic relief and give voice to the full range of emotions and reactions children may experience while learning about their amazing bodies. Vetted and approved by science, health, and child development experts, the information is up-to-date, age-appropriate, and scientifically accurate, and always aimed at helping kids feel proud, knowledgeable, and comfortable about their own bodies, about how they were born, and about the family they are part of.
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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 Test Day, Tiger Turcotte
Pansie Hart Flood
Already so worried about the big second grade test that his stomach is upset, seven-year-old Tiger Turcotte, whose parents are Black, Meherrin Indian, and Hispanic, gets stuck on the question about race.
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It Takes Love (and Some Other Stuff) to Make a Baby
L. L. Bird
"Mommy, how are babies made?" Any parent who's fielded this question knows how essential a good book can be to help guide a tricky conversation. But what if your family doesn't fit the standard mold? How do you explain pregnancy and birth if your child has two moms? It Takes Love is for little kids in lesbian families born via donor insemination. Using simple, matter-of-fact language and bright, fun illustrations, it introduces the basics of reproduction and the concept of the donor. Both known donors and sperm banks are presented, but with a light touch. Because each family is unique, the book leaves space for parents to control the most sensitive part of their child's story.
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Jack and Jim
Kitty Crowther
Jack the blackbird and Jim the seagull become friends, but Jack is sad that the other seagulls do not seem to like him.
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Jalapeño Bagels
Natasha Wing
For International Day at school, Pablo wants to bring something that reflects the cultures of both his parents.
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Janine
Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Janine is one of a kind. She focuses on the positive while navigating life with disabilities. She makes a difference just by being herself