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  Between Us Baxters

  Bethany Hegedus

  The story of twelve-year-old Polly, a poor white Southern girl whose close friendship with Timbre Ann, a middle-class black teen, puts both families in danger. As white supremacists set fire to black businesses, Polly struggles to cope with the implications for her family and to understand the true meaning of friendship. Polly's sense of justice threatens to upset the status quo in her small town.

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  Between You & Me

  Marisa Calin

  Phyre, sixteen, narrates her life as if it were a film, capturing her crush on Mia, a student teacher of theater and film studies, as well as her fast friendship with a classmate referred to only as "you."

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  Beverly, Right Here

  Kate Dicamillo

  Beverly put her foot down on the gas. They went faster still. This was what Beverly wanted — what she always wanted. To get away. To get away as fast as she could. To stay away. Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it’s not running away. It’s leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mom, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn’t want to depend on anyone, and she definitely doesn’t want anyone to depend on her. But despite her best efforts, she can’t help forming connections with the people around her — and gradually, she learns to see herself through their eyes. In a touching, funny, and fearless conclusion to her sequence of novels about the beloved Three Rancheros,

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  Be Who You Are

  Jennifer Carr

  Nick was born in a boy's body, but has always felt like a girl inside. Nick's family supports him when he says he no longer wants to be called a boy or dress like a boy. "Always remember to be who you are Nick. Remember that we love you, and we are so proud of you." Nick's parents find a group for families like theirs. With their support, Nick expresses a desire to be addressed as "she," and then to be named Hope.

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  Be Who You Are

  Todd Parr

  Picture book encouraging kids to be proud of what makes them unique, where they come from, and how they express themselves and see the world.

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  Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

  Susan Kuklin

  Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

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  Big Big Sky

  Kristyn Dunnion

  It is the future. ScanMans, an alien race, invades the warring, poverty stricken, and diseased remains of the Earth. They exterminate all human adults. They recruit orphans for military training in their subterranean, experimental training facility. Rustle is a young scout in a tight-knit female warrior group of five. They're trained to be aggressive, quick thinking, obedient--though for what exact purpose they couldn't quite tell you. But somehow the group is falling apart.

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  Big Bob, Little Bob

  James Howe

  Big Bob likes trucks and throwing balls and being loud. Little Bob likes dolls and jingling bracelets and being quiet. No matter what they do, they do not do it the same way. Can they possibly be friends despite these differences?

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  Bigger Than a Bread Box

  Laurel Snyder

  Devastated when her parents separate, twelve-year-old Rebecca must move with her mother from Baltimore to Gran's house in Atlanta, where Rebecca discovers an old bread box with the power to grant any wish--so long as the wished-for thing fits in the bread box.

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  Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd)

  Julie Bowe

  Fourth grader Wren Jo Byrd questions lots of things--both little and big--when her parents decide to get a divorce, and learns a lot about the true meaning of family, home, and friendship.

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  Billie of Fish House Lane

  Meredith Sue Willis

  A twelve-year-old girl attempts to understand and accept her affluent, white cousin while living in a multiracial, eccentric family.

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  Billy Had to Move: A Foster Care Story

  Theresa Ann Fraser

  Child Protection Services have been involved with Billy and his mother for some time now. He has been happily settled in a kinship placement with his grandmother and enjoys his pet cat, interacting with neighbors and even taking piano lessons. As the story unfolds, Billy's grandmother has unexpectedly passed away and so the story of Billy Had To Move begins. Unfortunately, Billy's mother cannot be located. Mr. Murphy, Billy's social worker, places him in the foster home of Amy, Tim, and their baby "Colly." Billy experiences great loss resulting not only from his grandmother's death, but also the loss of the life he knew. Billy's inner journey therefore has also begun and with the help of Ms. Woods, a Play Therapist, there is hope.

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  Binge

  Tyler Oakley

  Pop-culture phenomenon, social rights advocate, and the most prominent LGBTQ+ voice on YouTube, Tyler Oakley brings you Binge, his New York Times bestselling collection of witty, personal, and hilarious essays. For someone who made a career out of over-sharing on the Internet, Tyler has a shocking number of personal mishaps and shenanigans to reveal in his first book: experiencing a legitimate rage blackout in a Cheesecake Factory; negotiating a tense stand­off with a White House official; crashing a car in front of his entire high school, in an Arby’s uniform; projectile vomiting while bartering with a grandmother; and so much more. In Binge, Tyler delivers his best untold, hilariously side-splitting moments with the trademark flair that made him a star.

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  Bingo Love

  Tee Franklin

  When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage.

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  Bi-Normal

  M. G. Higgins

  High school social dynamics and issues of sexual identity combine in this compact yet thoughtful entry in the Gravel Road series. Brett Miller is a high school sophomore who knows exactly who he is. He is the boyfriend of the fantastically hot Jillia. He is popular. He is normal and 100 percent not gay. Then he meets Zach in art class. Brett's attraction is undeniable and suddenly he doesn't know who he is anymore. The first person point of view enables the reader to empathize with Brett's confusion as he struggles to come to terms with his bisexuality.

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  Bird

  Zetta Elliott

  Young Mekhai, better known as Bird, loves to draw. With drawings, he can erase the things that don't turn out right. In real life, problems aren’t so easily fixed. As Bird struggles to understand the death of his beloved grandfather and his older brother’s drug addiction, he escapes into his art. Drawing is an outlet for Bird’s emotions and imagination, and provides a path to making sense of his world. In time, with the help of his grandfather’s friend, Bird finds his own special somethin’ and wings to fly. Told with spare grace, Bird is a touching look at a young boy coping with real-life troubles. Readers will be heartened by Bird’s quiet resilience, and moved by the healing power of putting pencil to paper.

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  Bird Lake Moon

  Kevin Henkes

  Twelve-year-old Mitch and his mother are spending the summer with his grandparents at Bird Lake after his parents separate, and ten-year-old Spencer and his family have returned to the lake where Spencer's little brother drowned long ago, and as the boys become friends and spend time together, each of them begins to heal.

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  Bitter Rose: Color Me Crushed

  Melody Carlson

  A Mexican-American high school senior deals with the separation and divorce of her parents and their effects on her relationship with them and with God.

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  Blabber Mouth

  Morris Gleitzman

  Rowena Batts is hiding in a cupboard after having stuffed a frog into Darryn Peck's mouth. But she has a bigger problem that involves her dad, his shirts, and his habit of singing in public. How can she tell him these things are wrecking her life?

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  Black and White

  Eric Walters

  Thomas meets Denyse after he watches her amazing skills at basketball. As the two become friends, they endure name-calling, cruel glances, and hurtful comments because of the difference of their skin.

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  Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

  Ibi Zoboi

  Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed best-selling black authors writing for teens today - Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and black in America.

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  Black is Brown is Tan

  Arnold Adoff

  Describes in verse a family with a brown-skinned mother, white-skinned father, two children, and their various relatives.

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  Black Like Me

  John Howard Griffin

  The Deep South of the late 1950's was another country: a land of lynchings, segregated lunch counters, whites-only restrooms, and a color line etched in blood across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. White journalist John Howard Griffin, working for the black-owned magazine Sepia, decided to cross that line. Using medication that darkened his skin to deep brown, he exchanged his privileged life as a southern white man for the disenfranchised world of an unemployed black man.

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  Black Means…

  Barney Grossman

  Records the feelings of New York elementary school children toward the word "black."

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  Black, White and Tan

  Nicole C. Mullen

  Nicole C. Mullen’s book reminds children “Together we are beautiful!” God loves all the kids in his family―no matter what color they are.