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 Family Relationship:
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I Never
Laura Hopper
Janey King’s priorities used to be clear: track, school, friends, and family. But when seventeen-year-old Janey learns that her seemingly happy parents are getting divorced, her world starts to shift. Back at school, Luke Hallstrom, an adorable senior, pursues Janey, and she realizes that she has two new priorities to consider: love and sex.
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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 Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World
Joey Graceffa
A confessional, uplifting memoir from the beloved YouTube personality. It's not where you begin that matters. It's where you end up. Twenty-three year old Joey Graceffa has captured the hearts of millions of teens and young adults through his playful, sweet, and inspirational YouTube presence (not to mention his sparkling eyes and perfect hair). Yet, Joey wasn't always comfortable in his skin, and in this candid memoir, he thoughtfully looks back on his journey from pain to pride, self-doubt to self-acceptance. To his fans, Joey is that best friend who always captures the brighter side of life but also isn't afraid to get real. In the pages of his first book, he opens up about his years of struggling with family hardships and troubles at school, with cruel bullying and the sting of rejection. He tells of first loves and losses, embarrassing moments and surprising discoveries, loneliness, laughter, and life-changing forks in the road, showing us the incalculable value of finally finding and following your true passion in this world. Funny, warm-hearted, and inspiring, Joey Graceffa's story is a welcome reminder that it's not where you begin that matters, but where you end up.
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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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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
Dusti Bowling
Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all...even without arms.
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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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In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
Diane Guerrero
The star of Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin presents her personal story of the real plight of undocumented immigrants in this country.
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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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Is Your Family Like Mine?
Lois Abramchik
In this book, a 5 year old girl named Armetha has two mothers who raise her. She begins to become curious about other families and asks all of her friends “Who is in your family?” She quickly becomes aware that all of her friends come from different families; some are nuclear while others have a step parent, single parent, or foster parent. Armetha and her friends decide that while their families are different, their common bond is love, and that is what makes a family. This is great to introduce to a group of children from different backgrounds to help them relate to one another.
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Itch
Michelle D. Kwasney
In 1968, after the death of her beloved Gramps, Delores "Itch" Colchester and her grandmother move from Florida to an Ohio trailer park, where she meets new people and, when she learns that a friend is being abused by her mother, tries her best to emulate her plain-spoken grandfather.
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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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I Totally Funniest: A Middle School Story (I Funny #3)
James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
Jamie Grimm is back and better than ever. After scoring big on national TV in the semifinals contest, everyone back home is jumping on the Jamie Grimm bandwagon, and all the attention might be going to his head. Not only are his friendships starting to suffer, but the pressure of coming up with his best material ever for the ultimate standup act to snag the final win in Hollywood is pushing Jamie to the brink. Suddenly, life isn't looking very funny anymore. Can Jamie take the grand prize without pushing away his fans, friends and family?
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It's Not the End of the World
Judy Blume
A young girl tries to restore order to her family life by preventing her parents from going through with their divorce.
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It's Not What You Expect
Norma Klein
At loose ends the summer their parents separate, fourteen-year-old twins open and operate a restaurant with the help of their friends
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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 Our Prom (So Deal with It)
Julie Anne Peters
Told in separate voices, Azure, who is a lesbian, and Luke, who is bisexual, help plan an inclusive senior prom. At the same time, Luke is writing and producing a musical about his life, both are working through the crush they have on their friend Radhika, and all three are dealing with problems at home.
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It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health
Robie H. Harris
Introduces human sexuality, describes the changes brought about by puberty, and discusses sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, and pregnancy.
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It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families
Robbie H. Harris
Uses bird and bee cartoon characters to present straightforward explanations of topics related to sexual development, love, reproduction, adoption, sexually transmitted diseases, and more.
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It's Yr Life
Tempany Deckert and Tristan Bancks
Sim's from Byron Bay. Milla lives in Hollywood. Sim's in a foster home and dumpter-dives for food. Milla lives in a mansion with her celebrity parents. When the two are forced to email each other for an assignment, it's doomed to fail. So why haven't they stopped? Secrets.
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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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I Wished for You: An Adoption Story
Marianne Richmond
A mama bear and her little boy bear talk about how they became a family because of the mother's wish.