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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Grand
Marla Stewart Konrad
This picture book shows the many special and everyday moments that occur between grandparents and grandchildren.
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Grandfather Counts
Andrea Cheng and Ange Zhang
When her maternal grandfather comes from China, Helen, who is biracial, develops a special bond with him despite their age and language differences.
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Grandfather's Journey
Allen Say
A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America, which he later also undertakes, and describes the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.
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Grandmama's Joy
Eloise Greenfield
When Rhondy's grandmother is sad after learning that they must find another place to live, Rhondy reminds her that they will still have what is most important--each other.
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Grandmother's Visit
Betty Quan
Grandmother lives with Grace's family. She tells her stories about growing up in China and together they savor the flavors of her childhood. Grandmother says goodbye when she drops Grace off at school every morning and hello when she picks her up at the end of the day. Then, Grandmother stops walking Grace to and from school, and the door to her room stays closed. One day, Grandmother's room is empty. And one day, Grandmother is buried. After the funeral, Grace's mom turns on all the outside lights so that Grandmother's spirit can find its way home for one final goodbye.
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Grandpa, Is Everything Black Bad?
Sandy Lynne Holman
An illustrated story of an African American boy who comes to appreciate his dark skin by learning about his African heritage from his grandfather.
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Grandparents Song
Sheila Hamanaka
A rhyming celebration of ancestry and of the diversity that flourishes in this country.
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Great Joy
Kate DiCamillo
Just before Christmas, when Frances sees a sad-eyed organ grinder and his monkey performing near her apartment, she cannot stop thinking about them, wondering where they go at night, and wishing she could do something to help.
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GreenBean: True Blue Family
Elizabeth Blake
Greenbean is worried that she does not belong in her family because she is different, but discovers that belonging is about something different.
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Greetings, Leroy
Itah Sadu
The first day at a new school is nerve-wracking enough, never mind when it's in a new country! In this lively picture book from award-winning storyteller Itah Sadu, Roy realizes he may come to love his new home in Canada as much as he loves his old home in Jamaica.
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Guy Time
Sarah Weeks
A humorous account of thirteen-year-old Guy's dealing with the separation, and possible divorce, of his eccentric parents and with his own new-found interest in girls.
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Hairs=Pelitos
Sandra Cisneros
A girl describes how each person in the family has hair that looks and acts different: Papa's like a broom, Kiki's like fur, and Mama's with the sweet smell of bread before it's baked. Desde el corte de pelo tipo cepillo de papá, hasta la espesa cabellera de Kiki o el pelo resbaloso de Nenny, ésta es una familia con todo tipo de pelo. Y luego está mamá, cuyo pelo tiene un olor dulce como el pan. El pelo de mamá es único e incomparable.
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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Lisa Dunn-Dern
An interracial family enjoys a Saturday ritual. After a pancake breakfast, the mother goes to a hair salon, while the little girl and father style each other's hair. Because her father is bald, the little girl must use her imagination, play-dough, and ribbons to create his hair-do. Each week, the family enjoys each other's new hairstyles.
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Half a Heart
Rosellen Brown
When her biracial daughter appears suddenly after eighteen years searching for the mother who left her, former civil rights activist Miriam Vener begins a painful confrontation with her past.
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Half a Man
Michael Morpurgo
From a young age, Michael was both fascinated by and afraid of his grandfather. Grandpa’s ship was torpedoed during the Second World War, leaving him with terrible burns. Every time he came to stay, Michael was warned by his mother that he must not stare, he must not make too much noise, he must not ask Grandpa any questions about his past. As he grows older, Michael stays with his grandfather during the summer holidays and learns the story behind Grandpa’s injuries, finally getting to know the real man behind the solemn figure from his childhood. Michael can see beyond the burns, and this gives him the power to begin healing scars that have divided his family for so long.
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Half and Half
Lensey Namioka
At Seattle's annual Folk Fest, twelve-year-old Fiona and her older brother are torn between trying to please their Chinese grandmother and making their Scottish grandparents happy.
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Half a World Away
Cynthia Kadohata
Twelve-year-old Jaden, an emotionally damaged adopted boy fascinated by electricity, feels a connection to a small, weak toddler with special needs in Kazakhstan, where Jaden's family is trying to adopt a "normal" baby.
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Hancock Park
Isabel Kaplan
While attending an exclusive prep school in Los Angeles, a smart but anxiety-ridden high school junior tries to deal with boys, popularity, and her parents' divorce.
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Happy Adoption Day!
John McCutcheon
Parents celebrate the day on which they adopted their child and continue to reassure the new addition to their family that they are wanted, loved, and very special.
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Happy Birthday, Bertie!
Marcus Pfister
It's Bertie's birthday and he's going to have a birthday party. There's a birthday cake to be made, and decorations to be hung, and games to be played, and best of all, presents to be opened. But where is Daddy's present? Daddy has hidden it so well, he cannot find it himself.
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Happy Birthday to Me (Amy Hodgepodge, #2)
Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts
Amy is very excited about the special sleepover she has planned for her tenth birthday until her friends get the chance to go to a concert the same night, and meanwhile, she worries that her family will be moving again.
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Happyface
Stephen Emond
After going through traumatic times, a troubled, socially awkward teenager moves to a new school where he tries to reinvent himself.
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Happy Families
Tanita S. Davis
In alternating chapters, sixteen-year-old twins Ysabel and Justin share their conflicted feelings as they struggle to come to terms with their father's decision to dress as a woman.
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Happy in Our Skin
Fran Manushkin and Lauren Tobia
Bouquets of babies sweet to hold: cocoa-brown, cinnamon, and honey gold. Ginger-coloured babies, peaches and cream, too--splendid skin for me, splendid skin for you! A delightfully rhythmical read-aloud text is paired with bright, bustling art from the award-winning Lauren Tobia, illustrator of Anna Hibiscus, in this joyful exploration of the new skin of babyhood.
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Harbor Me
Jacquline Woodson
It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat--by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them--everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.