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:
Interracial
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If You Come Softly
Jacqueline Woodson
After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.
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If Your Monster Won't Go to Bed
Denise Vega
If you have a monster that won’t go to bed, don’t bother asking your parents to help. They know a lot about putting kids to bed, but nothing about putting monsters to bed. It’s not their fault; they’re just not good at it. Read this book instead.
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I Love Saturdays y domingos
Alma Flor Ada
A young girl enjoys the similarities and the differences between her English-speaking and Spanish-speaking grandparents.
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I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
Rose A. Lewis
A woman describes how she went to China to adopt a special baby girl. Based on the author's own experiences.
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I'm Adopted!
Sheila M. Kelly and Shelly Rotner
Simple text and ample pictures describe what adoption is and how it works.
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I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother
Selina Alko
A child in an interracial family wonders what his yet-to-be-born sibling will look like.
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In a Minute
Tony Bradman
Jo cannot wait to get to the playground and play with her friend Sita and Sita's dog Patch, but her Mum and Dad keep slowing her down.
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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 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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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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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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It's Test Day, Tiger Turcotte
Pansie Hart Flood
Already so worried about the big second grade test that his stomach is upset, seven-year-old Tiger Turcotte, whose parents are Black, Meherrin Indian, and Hispanic, gets stuck on the question about race.
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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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Jack and Jim
Kitty Crowther
Jack the blackbird and Jim the seagull become friends, but Jack is sad that the other seagulls do not seem to like him.
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Jalapeño Bagels
Natasha Wing
For International Day at school, Pablo wants to bring something that reflects the cultures of both his parents.
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Jimi & Me
Jaime Adolf
After his father's tragic death, twelve-year-old Keith James moves from Brooklyn to a small midwestern town where his mixed race heritage is not accepted, but he finds comfort in the music of Jimi Hendrix and the friendship of a white classmate.
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Jing's Family (All Kinds of Families)
Elliot Riley
There are many types of families. Meet Jing and her family and learn about what adoption means.
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Jin Woo
Eve Bunting
Davey is dubious about having a new adopted brother from Korea, but when he finds out that his parents still love him, he decides that having a baby brother will be fine.
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Jubilee Journey
Carolyn Meyer
Emily Rose has always felt comfortable growing up in Connecticut with her African American mother and her "French American" father, but when they spend some time with her great-grandmother in Texas, Emily Rose learns about her black heritage and uncovers some new and exciting parts of her own identity.
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Just Add One Chinese Sister: An Adoption Story
Patricia McMahon and Conor Clarke McCarthy
Claire and her mother are working together on a scrapbook as they relive their first days and hours together following Claire's arrival from her birth home in China.
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Keurium
Jessica Sun Lee
Shay Stone lies in a hospital bed, catatonic -- dead to the world. Her family thinks it's a ploy for attention. Doctors believe it's the result of an undisclosed trauma. At the mercy of memories and visitations, Shay unearths secrets that may have led to her collapse. Will she remain paralyzed in denial? Or can she accept the unfathomable and break free?
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Kimchi & Calamari
Rose Kent
Teenaged Joseph Calderaro, who was adopted from Korea by Italian parents, begins to make important self-discoveries about race and family after his social studies teacher assigns an essay on cultural heritage and tracing the past.
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Knife Edge (Noughts & Crosses, #2)
Malorie Blackman
Following Callum's death, the people who loved him relate how their lives have been changed, especially in reference to his girlfriend, Sephy, and their mixed-race child.
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Less Than Half, More Than Whole
Kathleen Lacapa and Michael Lapaca
A child who is only part Native American is troubled by his mixed racial heritage.
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Levi's Family (All Kinds of Families)
Elliot Riley
Easy reader introduces a foster child and his foster parents, highlighting their family dynamics and adoption.