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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An African Princess
Lyra Edmonds
Lyra and her parents go to the Caribbean to visit Taunte May, who reminds her that her family tree is full of princesses from Africa and around the world.
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An American Face
Jan M. Czech and Frances Clancy
Adopted from Korea by American parents, Jessie excitedly waits for the day he will get his American citizenship and, he thinks, an American face.
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And Then There Were Four
Nancy Werlin
When five high school students are brought together under mysterious circumstances, they begin to piece together a theory that their parents are working together to kill them all.
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An Ellis Island Christmas
Maxinne Rhea Leighton
Papa has already left Poland, and Krysia longs to see him again. "First we must cross the ocean to get to Ellis Island in America," says Mama. "That's where Papa is waiting for us." Saying goodbye to her home is hard, and the ocean voyage is long and stormy, but finally, on Christmas Eve, Krysia sees the Statue of Liberty! Dennis Nolan's richly rendered illustrations powerfully evoke the uncertainty, wonder, and hope of this young immigrant's experience. An Ellis Island Christmas is a holiday story to treasure, year after year.
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An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir
Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.
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An Eye for an Eye (Noughts & Crosses, #1.5)
Malorie Blackman
This is a novella in the Noughts & Crosses series, written especially for World Book Day. In a world where the two classes are divided by colour and never treated as equals; Sephy, a Cross and daughter of a top politician, is six months pregnant. The child's father, Callum, is a Nought, but worse, he is dead and Callum's brother is out for revenge. Can two wrongs make a right?
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Anger is a Gift
Mark Oshiro
Six years ago, Moss Jefferies' father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media's vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks. Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals in their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration. When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.
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Angry Management
Chris Crutcher
Every kid in this group wants to fly. Every kid in this group has too much ballast. Mr. Nak's Angry Management group is a place for misfits. A place for stories. And, man, does this crew have stories. There's Angus Bethune and Sarah Byrnes, who can hide from everyone but each other. Together, they will embark on a road trip full of haunting endings and glimmering beginnings. And Montana West, who doesn't step down from a challenge. Not even when the challenge comes from her adoptive dad, who's leading the school board to censor the article she wrote for the school paper. And straightlaced Matt Miller, who had never been friends with outspoken genius Marcus James. Until one tragic week—a week they'd do anything to change—brings them closer than Matt could have ever imagined.
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An Mei's Strange and Wondrous Journey
Stephan Molnar-Fenton
A picture book illustrated by the award-winning artist of Lullaby Raft follows the life of a six-year-old orphaned girl born in China, who is adopted and brought to America, where she learns to adjust to her new, unfamiliar home.
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Anna Hibiscus
Atinuke .
Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Africa with her whole family, loves to splash in the sea and have parties for her aunties, but Anna would love to see snow.
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Another Way to Dance
Martha Southgate
While spending the summer at the School of American Ballet in New York City, fourteen-year-old Vicki Harris must come to terms with the reality of her parents' divorce, her crush on Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the impact of being an African American on her future as a dancer.
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A Path of Stars
Anne Sibley O'Brien
A refugee from Cambodia, Dara's beloved grandmother is grief-stricken when she learns her brother has died, and it is up to Dara to try and heal her.
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A Piece of Home
Jeri Watts
When Hee Jun’s family moves from Korea to West Virginia, he struggles to adjust to his new home. His eyes are not big and round like his classmates’, and he can’t understand anything the teacher says, even when she speaks s-l-o-w-l-y and loudly at him. As he lies in bed at night, the sky seems smaller and darker. But little by little Hee Jun begins to learn English words and make friends on the playground. And one day he is invited to a classmate’s house, where he sees a flower he knows from his garden in Korea — mugunghwa, or rose of Sharon, as his friend tells him — and Hee Jun is happy to bring a shoot to his grandmother to plant a “piece of home” in their new garden. Lyrical prose and lovely illustrations combine in a gentle, realistic story about finding connections in an unfamiliar world.
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A Place in My Heart
Mary Grossnickle
Charlie, a chipmunk adopted by a family of squirrels, begins to wonder about his birthparents but is afraid that asking questions will upset his family.
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A Place to Call Home
Jackie French Koller
Biracial Anna, 15, is a strong character in search of love & roots following sexual abuse & rejection from her own family. Caring for her two younger siblings after their unreliable mother abandons them, fifteen-year-old Anna discovers the difficulties of trying to be a parent.
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Armond Goes to a Party: A Book about Asperger's and Friendship
Nancy Carlson
Armond doesn't want to go to Felicia's birthday party. Parties are noisy, disorganized, and smelly--all things that are hard for a kid with Asperger's. Worst of all is socializing with other kids. But with the support of Felicia and her mom, good friends who know how to help him, he not only gets through the party, but also has fun. When his mom picks him up, Armond admits the party was not easy, but he feels good that he faced the challenge--and that he's a good friend.
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Army Brats
Daphne Benedis-Grab
When the Bailey family moves into an army base in Virginia there are a lot of adjustments to make; twelve-year-old Tom runs afoul of the base school bully, ten-year-old Charlotte finds herself trying too hard to make friends with the "cool" girls, and six-year-old Rosie is just being difficult as usual--but they come together to investigate a mysterious building full of weird cages, and uncover Fort Patrick's secrets.
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Aru Shah and the End of Time
Roshani Chokshi
Twelve-year-old Aru stretches the truth to fit in at her private school, but when she is dared to prove an ancient lamp is cursed, she inadvertently frees an ancient demon.
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A Sister for Matthew: A Story About Adoption
Pamela Kennedy
When Matthew's parents decide to adopt a baby girl from China he has many questions, but by the time she arrives, he is excited about his new sister.
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As the Crow Flies
Melanie Gillman
Charlie Lamonte is thirteen years old, queer, black, and questioning what was once a firm belief in God. So, she's spending a week of her summer vacation at an all-white Christian backpacking camp. And she can't help but poke holes in the pious obliviousness of this storied sanctuary with little regard for people like herself...or her fellow camper, Sydney.
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A Tale of Two Mommies
Vanita Oelschlager
A young boy describes to two other children how his two mommies help him with all his needs.
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A Taste of Colored Water
Matt Faulkner
LuLu and Jelly are very excited to see the "colored" water they heard about in the city's water fountain, but are surprised to learn what "colored" water actually means.
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A Very Important Day
Maggie Rugg Herold
Two-hundred nineteen people from thirty-two different countries make their way to downtown New York in a snowstorm to be sworn in as citizens of the United States.
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Away
Emil Sher
A gentle tale told entirely through sticky notes between a mother and daughter as the girl's departure for her first summer camp draws near demonstrates how love can be found even in scribbled messages and other unlikely places.
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Baby's First Words
Stella Blackstone and Sunny Scribens
Brief text relates the daily activities of a city baby with two daddies by featuring terms for objects, actions, and sounds. On die-cut board pages with tabs.