Direct Diversity

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  Truth and Salsa

  Linda Lowery

  A spirited young girl must travel far from home to finally find herself. Mexico is a long way from Kalamazoo-and not just in terms of miles. Almost-thirteen-year-old Hayley Flynn is spending six months with her eccentric grandmother in the rural mountain town of San Miguel. Her father recently deserted the family and Hayley's mom needs time to, as she puts it, "work things through." Down in Mexico, everyone calls Hayley by her new, more glamorous chosen name, Margarita, and life is surprisingly exciting-exotic birds, beautiful butterflies, holidays, colorful fiestas, and new friends like Lili. Hayley and Lili even win parts as extras in a Hollywood movie being filmed in the town. But there are also difficult lessons to be learned. Poverty and unemployment send Lili's father and other men from the village to Michigan to work as migrant workers so they can send money back home to their anxious families. Meanwhile Hayley is on the lookout for la fantasma (the ghost) that is said to haunt her grandma's house. With Lili's help she solves the mystery-and prepares for a new life with her mom back in the States.

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  Tutus Aren't My Style

  Linda Skeers

  When she receives a ballerina costume from her uncle, Emma, who does not know how to be a ballerina, gets a lot of advice from friends and family.

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  Two Boys Kissing

  David Levithan

  A chorus of men who died of AIDS observes and yearns to help a cross-section of today's gay teens who navigate new love, long-term relationships, coming out, self-acceptance, and more in a society that has changed in many ways.

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  Two Dads: A Book About Adoption

  Carolyn Robertson

  Having two dads is double the fun! Many families are different. This family has two dads. A beautifully illustrated, affirming story of life with two dads, written from the perspective of their adopted child.

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  Two Homes

  Claire Masurel

  A young boy named Alex enjoys the homes of both of his parents who live apart but love Alex very much.

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  Two Moms, the Zark, and Me

  Johnny Valentine

  A young child with two moms, a playful animal called a zark, and the narrow-minded McFinks all come together in this whimsical story that looks at just what a family is all about.

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  Two Naomis

  Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Audrey Vernick

  Other than their first names, Naomi Marie and Naomi Edith are sure they have nothing in common, and they wouldn't mind keeping it that way. Naomi Marie starts clubs at the library and adores being a big sister. Naomi Edith loves quiet Saturdays and hanging with her best friend in her backyard. And while Naomi Marie's father lives a few blocks away, Naomi Edith wonders how she's supposed to get through each day a whole country apart from her mother. When Naomi Marie's mom and Naomi Edith's dad get serious about dating, each girl tries to cling to the life she knows and loves. Then their parents push them into attending a class together, where they might just have to find a way to work with each other--and maybe even join forces to find new ways to define family.

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  Two Nests

  Laurence Anholt

  Two birds build a nest together and hatch a baby bird, but when they fail to get along the father bird moves to a new nest, and though baby bird is unhappy at first, when he learns to fly from nest to nest he sees that the situation isn't that bad.

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  Two White Rabbits

  Jairo Buitrago and Elisa Amado

  A young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the U.S. border. They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn't know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.

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  Tyler Buckspan

  Jere' M. Fishback

  Fifteen-year-old Tyler Buckspan lives with his mom and grandmother in 1960s Cassadaga, a Florida community where spiritual "mediums" ply their trade. The mediums--Tyler's grandmother among them--read palms and tarot cards, conduct seances and speak with the dead. Tyler's a loner, a bookish boy with few interests, until his half-brother Devin, nineteen and a convicted arsonist, comes to live in Tyler's home. For years, Tyler has ignored his attraction to other boys. But with Devin in the house, Tyler can't deny his urges any longer. He falls hopelessly in love with his miscreant half-brother, and with the sport of basketball, once Devin teaches Tyler the finer points of the game. In a time when love between men was forbidden, even criminalized, can Tyler find the love he needs from another boy? And is Devin a person to be trusted? Is he truly clairvoyant, or simply a con artist playing Tyler and others for fools? What does Devin really know about a local murder? And can Tyler trust his own psychic twinges?

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  Tyrell

  Coe Booth

  An astonishing new voice in teen literature, writing what is sure to be one of the most talked-about debuts of the year. Tyrell is a young African-American teen who can't get a break. He's living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. His father's in jail. His girlfriend supports him, but he doesn't feel good enough for her? and seems to be always on the verge of doing the wrong thing around her. There's another girl at the homeless shelter who is also after him, although the desires there are complicated. Tyrell feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his father's footsteps?

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  Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain

  Portia de Rossi

  Known for her roles on the hit TV shows "Ally McBeal" and "Arrested Development," de Rossi delivers a revelatory and searing account of the years she spend secretly suffering from bulimia, all the while living under the glare of Hollywood's bright lights.

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  Uncle Aiden

  Laurel Dykstra

  The chrming story of why every little girl needs a gay uncle! Anna Maria and her Uncle Aiden share their love of pretty things, tea parties and baseball - but most of all they share their love of each other.

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  Uncle Bobby's Wedding

  Sarah S. Brannen

  Chloë is jealous and sad when her favorite uncle announces that he will be getting married, but as she gets to know Jamie better and becomes involved in planning the wedding, she discovers that she will always be special to Uncle Bobby--and to Uncle Jamie, too.

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  Uncle What-Is-It is Coming to Visit!!

  Michael Willhoite

  Igor and Tiffany have never met their homosexual uncle who is coming to visit, and become concerned when some of the older kids try to scare them with gay stereotypes.

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  Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen

  DyAnn DiSalvo-Ryan

  A boy spends the day with Uncle Willie in the soup kitchen where he works preparing and serving food for the hungry.

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  Under a Painted Sky

  Stacey Lee

  All Samantha wanted was to move back to New York and pursue her music, which was difficult enough being a Chinese girl in Missouri, 1849. Then her fate takes a turn for the worse after a tragic accident leaves her with nothing and she breaks the law in self-defense. With help from Annamae, a runaway slave she met at the scene of her crime, the two flee town for the unknown frontier. But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls. Disguised as Sammy and Andy, two boys heading for the California gold rush, each search for a link to their past and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. Until they merge paths with a band of cowboys turned allies, and Samantha can’t stop herself from falling for one. But the law is closing in on them and new setbacks come each day, and the girls will quickly learn there are not many places one can hide on the open trail.

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  Under Rose-Tainted Skies

  Louise Gornall

  Norah has agoraphobia and OCD. When groceries are left on the porch, she can't step out to get them. Struggling to snag the bags with a stick, she meets Luke. He's sweet and funny, and he just caught her fishing for groceries. Because of course he did. Norah can't leave the house, but can she let someone in? As their friendship grows deeper, Norah realizes Luke deserves a normal girl. One who can lie on the front lawn and look up at the stars. One who isn't so screwed up. Can she let him go, or will she find the strength to face her demons?

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  Under the Lights (Daylight Falls, #2)

  Dahlia Adler

  As Vanessa confronts her emerging feelings for her handler, Bri, her co-star Josh confronts his realization that the Hollywood scene might not really be his cup of tea.

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  Under the Mesquite

  Guadalupe Garcia McCall

  Throughout her high school years, as her mother battles cancer, Lupita takes on more responsibility for her house and seven younger siblings, while finding refuge in acting and writing poetry.

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  Under the Wolf, Under the Dog

  Adam Rapp

  Sixteen-year-old Steve struggles to make sense of his mother's terminal breast cancer and his brother's suicide.

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  Uniquely Wired

  Julia Cook

  Zak knows he's not quite like his siblings and classmates. Bright lights and big crowds send him into freak-out mode. Hugs make him uncomfortable, too. His atypical behaviors, from flapping his arms to spinning his body, seem so out of place. But for Zak, that's just how he copes. Despite some peculiar behaviors, Zak's desires and disappointments are as ordinary as any child's. He loves watches; he hates being excluded. As Zak embraces life the only way he knows how, he teaches those around him important lessons about fairness, patience, curiosity, and independence.

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  Unleashed

  Sigmund Brouwer

  Jace has taken up boxing on the wrong side of the tracks as he prepares to seek vengeance on his abusive father with two other teen vigilantes.

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  Unreachable

  Katie Leone

  Janice Rosenthal is entering her eighth year of teaching, but it might be her last. Never before has she had a student as unruly and insubordinate as this one. Andrew Bryant is the terror of seventh grade, a student known for driving teachers to the edge of retirement, and he is in her class. How can Janice--and the rest of her students--make it through the school year with such a disruptive force in the classroom? Her only hope is to try to break through the orphan's defenses, to pierce a wall that no other teacher has ever scratched. When she discovers Andrew's secret, two lives will be changed forever.

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  Untwine: A Novel

  Edwidge Danticat

  Identical twin teenagers Giselle and Isabelle Boyer have always been inseparable, and expected to stay that way even though their Haitian American parents are separating--but when when the entire family is caught in a car crash, everyone's world is shattered forever.