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.
This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by genre.
DIVerse Families is a comprehensive bibliography that demonstrates the growing diversity of families in the United States. This type of bibliography provides teachers, librarians, counselors, adoption agencies, children/young adults, and especially parents and grandparents needing to empower their children with materials that reflect their families.
Browse by Genre:
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ADH-Me!
John Hutton
As far back as I can recall (starting when I was very small) I’ve daydreamed, gazing into space, climbed and jumped all over the place...” Written by a pediatrician and health literacy expert, ADH-Me! is an empathetic journey from the perspective of a child learning to live and succeed with ADHD. An accessible, rhyming narrative and inviting illustrations help families know what to expect from diagnosis through stages of treatment, while reminding all readers that love and support are the surest means to a happy ending.
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Adopted: The Ultimate Teen Guide
Suzanne Slade
Provides a resource for adopted teens who struggle with questions of identity, the search for and meeting with birth parents, and adoption by those of a different race or country, and offers advice and anecdotes from adopted teens.
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Adoption
Laurie Willis
Collection of eleven essays pertaining to the topic of adoption, covering open adoption, transracial adoptions, challenging same-sex couples the right to adopt, and other related topics.
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Adoption and Foster Care
Kathlyn Gay
Describes how these placement systems work and reveals the feelings of young people who find homes through adoption and foster care.
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Adoption Stories for Young Children
Randall B. Hicks
Explaining in very simple terms why some parents cannot care for their children, and would choose to place them for adoption, this helpful collection of case studies also shows photographs of real adoptive parents who cannot bear children of their own, and introduces the idea that adults have often been adopted, too.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color / Todos Los Colores de Nuestra Piel: La Historia de por que tenemos diferentes colores de piel
Katie Kissinger
Explains, in simple terms, the reasons for skin color, how it is determined by heredity, and how various environmental factors affect it.
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Being Adopted
Maxine Rosenberg
Several young children recount their experiences as adopted members of their families.
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Branded by the Pink Triangle
Ken Setterington
Before the rise of the Nazi party, Germany, especially Berlin, was one of the most tolerant places for homosexuals in the world. But that all changed when the Nazis came to power. The pink triangle sewn onto prison uniforms became the symbol of the persecution of homosexuals, a persecution that would continue for many years after the war. A mix of historical research, first-person accounts and individual stories bring this time to life for readers.
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Celebrating Families
Rosemarie Hausherr
Presents brief descriptions of many different kinds of families, both traditional and non-traditional.
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Cookies and Cake & the Families we Make
Jennifer L. Egan
A book about exposure and acceptance of the diverse families that are part of our society: single parents, multiracial parents, two moms, two dads, one of each or even an unrelated guardian. Those families who may at first seem different are quite similar, because what really matters is the love and care they give to their children. The author uses the metaphor of the different cakes and cookies we can bake to help young readers respect, accept and welcome diversity.
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Coping as a Foster Child
Geraldine M. Blomquist and Paul B. Blomquist
A discussion of ways to make living with foster parents and living in a foster home a better experience.
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Coping When a Parent is in Jail
John J. La Valle
This book discusses problems that are common to children who have incarcerated parents.
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Dinosaurs Divorce: A Guide for Changing Families
Marc Brown and Laurene Krasny Brown
Text and illustrations of dinosaur characters introduce aspects of divorce such as its causes and effects, living with a single parent, spending holidays in two separate households, and adjusting to a stepparent.
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Divorce and Children
Maria L. Howell
Explores the issues surrounding divorce and children. Presents diversity of opinion on the topic, including both conservative and liberal points of view in an even balance.
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Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Volume 1
Jeff Sheng
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Volume 1,' is the first ever photobook featuring the portraits and stories of closeted service members in the United States armed forces who are still currently serving and affected by the laws that mandate the discharge of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender service members in the United Sates military. In 2009, American artist Jeff Sheng gained the trust of seventeen closeted service members and flew over 30,000 miles back and forth across the country to photograph these individuals at either their homes or local hotel rooms near where they were stationed.
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Emmanuel's Dream
Laurie Ann Thompson
Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah's inspiring true story—which was turned into a film, Emmanuel's Gift, narrated by Oprah Winfrey—is nothing short of remarkable. Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people—but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his family, and, eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message: disability is not inability. Today, Emmanuel continues to work on behalf of the disabled. Thompson's lyrical prose and Qualls's bold collage illustrations offer a powerful celebration of triumphing over adversity.
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Everything You Need to Know about Being a Biracial / Biethnic Teen
Renea D. Nash
This book for children and teenagers discusses what it means to be biracial or biethnic and what it means to find one's own identity.
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Everything You Need to Know about Living in a Foster Home
Joe Falke
Gives examples of teenagers who have been sent to live with foster families, detailing some of the reasons for needing foster care, what to expect, and how to make the necessary adjustments.
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Everything You Need To Know About Living With A Single Parent
Richard E. Mancini
Discusses why some families have only one parent and examines some of the problems that occur in single-parent families.
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Families
Susan Kuklin
In frank interviews, children from fifteen different types of families talk about the ups and downs of their home lives and offer a look at diversity in American society
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Families
Ann Morris
A simple explanation of families, how they function, how they are different, and how they are alike.