Family Relationships

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.

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A Forever Family

Roslyn Banish and Jennifer Jordan-Wong

Eight-year-old Jennifer Jordan-Wong describes her adoption by a family after four years of living as a foster child with many different families.
A Friendship for Today

Patrick C. McKissack

In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.
After the Fall

Kate Hart

Told from two viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Raychel relies on the support of her overachieving best friend Matt while secretly sleeping with his brother Andrew, and Matt tries to play hero and hide how much he loves her.
After Tupac & D Foster

Jacqueline Woodson

In the New York City borough of Queens in 1996, three girls bond over their shared love of Tupac Shakur's music, as together they try to make sense of the unpredictable world in which they live.
A Gift from Abuela

Cecilia Ruiz

The first time Abuela held Niña, her heart overflowed with tenderness. And as Niña grows up, she and Abuela have a lot of fun doing simple things. Abuela decides that she wants to buy Niña a special treat, so she saves a little bit of her money every week. But then something terrible happens, and Abuela's dream of a surprise for Niña seems impossible. Luckily, the time they spend together and the love they have for each other are the best gifts of all.
A Handful of Stars

Cynthia Lord

When her blind dog slips his collar, twelve-year old Lily meets Salma Santiago, a young Hispanic girl whose migrant family are in Maine for the blueberry-picking season, and, based partly on their mutual love of dogs, the two forge a friendship while painting bee boxes for Lily's grandfather--but as the Blueberry Queen pageant approaches Lily and Selma are confronted with some of the hard truths of prejudice and migrant life.
A Heart in a Body in the World

Deb Caletti

When everything has been taken from you, what else is there to do but run? From Seattle to Washington, DC, Annabelle is running through mountain passes and suburban landscapes, from long lonely roads to college towns. She's not ready to think about the why yet, just the how - muscles burning, heart pumping, feet pounding the earth. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't outrun the tragedy from the past year, or the person - The Taker - that haunts her. Followed by Grandpa Ed in his RV and backed by her brother and two friends (her self-appointed publicity team), Annabelle becomes a reluctant activist as people connect her journey to the trauma from her past. Her cross-country run gains media attention and she is cheered on as she crosses state borders, even thrown a block party and given gifts. The support would be nice, if Annabelle could escape the guilt and shame from what happened back home. They say it isn't her fault, but she can't feel the truth of that. Through welcome and unwelcome distractions, she just keep running to the destination that awaits her. There, she'll finally face the miles of love and loss behind her...and what still lies ahead.
A Home for Leo

Vin Vogel

Leo grew up in the sea. He has a family of sea lions he loves. He’s happy, but he has always known he was different. Then Leo’s suddenly reunited with his human parents, and he finds he loves them too. But he still feels like a fish out of water. Being from two worlds and having two families isn’t so easy. Leo has a lot to figure out…
A House Between Home: Youth in the Foster Care System

Joyce Libal

Discusses the laws that govern the foster care system, the newest and most innovative programs available today and provides an overview of the history of foster care, including the orphan trains and the British home children.
A Koala for Katie: An Adoption Story

Jonathan London

On a trip to the zoo, Katie gets a special present that helps her realize how much her adoptive parents love her.
Alan Cole is Not a Coward

Eric Bell

Hoping to keep his older brother Nathan silent about his secret crush on another boy at their school, twelve-year-old Alan agrees to a ruthless sibling competition involving nearly impossible tasks--from standing up to their demanding father to getting a first kiss.
A Lei for Tutu

Rebecca Nevers Fellows

Nahoa loves making leis with her grandmother and looks forward to helping her create a special one for Lei Day, until her grandmother becomes very ill.
Alex As Well

Alyssa Brugman

Alex has turned vegetarian, changed schools, stopped taking her medications, and created a new identity. An identity that shakes her world. And Alex - the other Alex - has a lot to say about it.
A List of Cages

Robin Roe

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian; the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years.
A Little Friendly Advice

Siobhan Vivian

Ruby is on the verge of turning sixteen. Her friends have been planning her party for weeks. They all have gathered at her house for a pre-party. Her mom has made her favorite dinner - ziti. All is perfect, down to the vintage Polaroid camera her mother has given her. Then it turns horribly wrong. With the ring of the doorbell, her father, who has been gone for years, has come back into her life.
All About Adoption: How Families are Made & How Kids Feel About It

Marc. A. Nemiroff and Jane Annunziata

Using simple language, describes the stages of the adoption process and discusses complex feelings commonly felt by adopted children.
All About Adoption: How to Deal with the Questions of Your Past

Anne Lanchon

Part of the "Sunscreen" series, this book uses personal testimonial advice to help kids understand the questions about their own lives. It also discusses issues for kids who are of a different ethnic background than their adoptive parents, and includes kids who don't want to find out about their birth parentage.
All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated

Nell Bernstein

In this "moving condemnation of the U.S. penal system and its effect on families" (Parents’ Press), award-winning journalist Nell Bernstein takes an intimate look at parents and children—over two million of them—torn apart by our current incarceration policy. Described as "meticulously reported and sensitively written" by Salon, the book is "brimming with compelling case studies...and recommendations for change" (Orlando Sentinel); Our Weekly Los Angelescalls it "a must-read for lawmakers as well as for lawbreakers."
All Families are Different

Sol Gordon and Vivien Cohen

Discusses differences in families in today's society, as well as what makes each family special.
Allison

Allen Say

When Allison realizes that she looks more like her favorite doll than like her parents, she comes to terms with this unwelcomed discovery through the help of a stray cat.
All My Stripes: A Story for Children with Autism

Shaina Rudolph and Danielle Royer

Zane rushes home to tell his mother about problems he faced during his school day, and she reminds him that while others may only see his "autism stripe," he has stripes for honesty, caring, and much more.
All the Lights in the Night

Arthur A. Levine

Two brothers celebrate Hanukkah on a true and unforgettable journey to freedom as they escape from Tsarist Russia and travel on to Palestine. "The narrative is convincing; the characterizations are natural; and the resolution is touching.
All the Stars Denied

Guadalupe Garcia McCall

When resentment surges during the Great Depression in a Texas border town, Estrella, fifteen, organizes a protest against the treatment of tejanos and soon finds herself with her mother and baby brother in Mexico.
All We Can Do Is Wait

Richard Lawson

In the hours after a bridge collapse rocks their city, four teens are forced to face their pasts and the prospect of very different futures as they wait at Boston General Hospital for news of their loved ones.
All We Have Left

Wendy Mills

In interweaving stories of sixteen-year-olds, modern-day Jesse tries to cope with the ramifications of her brother's death on 9/11, while in 2001, Alia, a Muslim, gets trapped in one of the Twin Towers and meets a boy who changes everything for her as flames rage around them.