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:

Poverty

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Lucky Strikes

Louis Bayard

Set in Depression Era Virginia, this is the story of orphaned Amelia and her struggle to keep her siblings together.
Lucy and Linh

Alice Pung

In Australia, Lucy tries to balance her life at home surrounded by her Chinese immigrant family, with her life at a pretentious private school.
Maddi's Fridge

Lois Brandt

Maddi's fridge is almost empty, while Sophia's fridge is full of food. How can Sophia help her friend Maddi without breaking her promise not to tell anyone?
Mama's Way

Helen Ketteman

Wynona longs for a beautiful new dress to wear to her graduation from sixth grade, even though she knows that her mama cannot afford to buy one for her.
Mao's Last Dancer

Cunxin Li

Chosen from millions of children to serve in Mao's cultural revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, Li knew ballet would be his family's best opportunity to escape the bitter poverty in his rural China home. From one hardship to another, Li persevered, never forgetting the family he left behind.
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968

Alice Faye Duncan

This historical fiction picture book presents the story of nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson through prose and poetry. In 1968 she witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final stand for justice before his assassination--when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest.
Mighty Jack

Ben Hatke

Jack might be the only kid in the world who's dreading summer. But he's got a good reason: summer is when his single mom takes a second job and leaves him at home to watch his autistic kid sister, Maddy. It's a lot of responsibility, and it's boring, too, because Maddy doesn't talk. Ever. But then, one day at the flea market, Maddy does talk―to tell Jack to trade their mom's car for a box of mysterious seeds. It's the best mistake Jack has ever made. In Mighty Jack, what starts as a normal little garden out back behind the house quickly grows up into a wild, magical jungle with tiny onion babies running amok, huge, pink pumpkins that bite, and, on one moonlit night that changes everything…a dragon.
Mighty Jack and the Goblin King

Ben Hatke

Like a bolt from the blue, Jack's little sister Maddy is gone―carried into another realm by an ogre. When Jack and Lilly follow Maddy’s captor through the portal, they are ready for anything . . . except what they find waiting for them in the floating crossroads between worlds. Even the power of their magic plants may not be enough to get them back to earth alive. Alone and injured, Jack and Lilly must each face their own monsters―as well as giants who grind the bones of human children to feed their “beast” and a fearsome goblin king in the sewers down below. But when Jack finds himself in a tough spot, help comes from the most unlikely person: the goblin king!
Migrant

Jose Manuel Mateo

A Mexican boy tells of his journey to the U.S. with his family. They must face many dangers to cross the border, only to experience the uncertainty felt by all illegal immigrants. The narrative is accompanied by one long, beautifully vivid illustration reminiscent of pre-Hispanic codices, packaged as an accordion-style foldout frieze.
Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel

Leslie Connor

Miss Bridie immigrates to America in 1856 and chooses to bring a shovel, which proves to be a useful tool throughout her life.
Money Hungry

Sharon Flake

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.
My Grandmother's Journey

John Cech

A grandmother tells the story of her eventful life in early twentieth-century Europe and her arrival in the United States after World War II.
My Name is Blessing

Eric Walters

Based on the life of a real boy, this warm-hearted, beautifully illustrated book tells the story of Baraka, a young Kenyan boy with a physical disability. Baraka and eight cousins live with their grandmother. She gives them boundless love, but there is never enough money or food, and life is hard--love doesn't feed hungry stomachs or clothe growing bodies, or school keen minds. Baraka is too young, and, with his disability, needs too much, and she is too old. A difficult choice must be made, and grandmother and grandchild set off on a journey to see if there is a place at the orphanage for Baraka. The story begins by looking at Baraka's physical disability as a misfortune, but ends by looking beyond the disability, to his great heart and spirit, and the blessings he brings.
Naming Liberty

Jane Yolen

In parallel stories, a Ukrainian Jewish family prepares to immigrate to the United States in the late 1800s, and Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designs, raises funds for, and builds the Statue of Liberty in honor of the United States' centennial.
No Fixed Address

Susin Nielsen

Twelve-year-old Felix's appearance on a television game show reveals that he and his mother have been homeless for a while, but also restores some of his faith in other people.
No Mirrors in My Nana's House

Ysaye M. Barnwell

A girl discovers the beauty in herself by looking into her Nana's eyes.
No Place

Todd Strasser

Rendered homeless by circumstances beyond his family's control, Dan is forced to move to Tent City, where he begins fighting for better conditions only to be targeted by an adversary who wants to destroy the impoverished region.
No Small Thing

Natale Ghent

Then twelve-year-old Nathaniel and his two sisters, Cid and Queenie, discover an ad for a free pony in the paper, they can hardly believe their luck. The pony is theirs, as long as they can afford to take care of it. But what will their mother say? Nat knows things are hard for his mom; his dad walked out on them four years ago. But having a pony would help Nat and Cid stop bickering and it would mean so much to Queenie. When Nat's mother lets them keep it, life is still not easy, but at the end of each day, Nat knows his pony is waiting from him. Until a fire destroys the barn.
Oranges on Golden Mountain

Elizabeth Partridge

Being sent from China to work with his uncle on Golden Mountain, Jo Lee's mother gives him words of encouragement to see him through the difficult transition to his new life in a new world in late-nineteenth-century California.
Pablo Finds a Treasure

Andrée Poulin

Pablo and his sister spend every day at "Treasure Mountain," the local dump. There, they rummage through the mounds of garbage looking for items that their mother can sell in order to provide food for the family. Occasionally, they find a "real" treasure like some still-edible food, or a picture book, which Pablo delights in, even though he can't read. The work is exhausting, and sometimes not very lucrative, but the worst thing they have to contend with is Filthy-Face, a brutish bully who steals the finds of all the children. But one day, Pablo discovers a real treasure. Will he be able to keep it from falling into the hands of Filthy-Face?
Peppe the Lamplighter

Elisa Bartone

Peppe becomes a lamplighter to help support his immigrant family in turn-of-the-century New York City, despite his papa's disapproval. But when Peppe's job helps save his little sister, he earns the respect of his entire family.
Picture Us In The Light

Kelly Loy Gilbert

Daniel, a Chinese-American teen, must grapple with his plans for the future, his feelings for his best friend Harry, and his discovery of a family secret that could shatter everything.
Pieces of Why

K.L. Going

Tia lives with her mom in a high-risk neighborhood in New Orleans and loves singing gospel in the Rainbow Choir with Keisha, her boisterous and assertive best friend. Tia's dream is to change the world with her voice; and by all accounts, she might be talented enough. But when a shooting happens in her neighborhood and she learns the truth about the crime that sent her father to prison years ago, Tia finds she can't sing anymore.
Proxy

Alex London

Privileged Syd and and his proxy, Knox, are thrown together to overthrow the system.
Ramona Blue

Julie Murphy

Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever. Since then, it's been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she's fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she's destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever. The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona's friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he's talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.