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:
-
Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities
Donald R. Gallo
Presents ten stories of teenagers facing all of the usual challenges of school, parents, boyfriends and girlfriends, plus the additional complications that come with having a physical or psychological disability.
-
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?
-
Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale
Duncan Tonatiuh
When Papa Rabbit does not return home as expected from many seasons of working in the great carrot and lettuce fields of El Norte, his son Pancho sets out on a dangerous trek to find him, guided by a coyote. Includes glossary and author's note about illegal immigration and undocumented workers
-
Papa's Backpack
James Christopher Carroll
Illustrations and rhyming text portray a bear cub who understands that because Papa is a soldier, he sometimes must go, but imagines what it would be like to stay near by riding in Papa's backpack.
-
Paper Wishes
Lois Sepahban
Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her and her grandfather's dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and accept all that has happened to her family.
-
Parachutes
Kelly Yang
They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out. Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. But Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course when her debate coach starts working with her privately. As they steer their own distinct paths, Dani and Claire keep crashing into one another, setting a course that will change their lives forever.
-
Parrotfish
Ellen Wittlinger
Grady, a transgendered high school student, yearns for acceptance by his classmates and family as he struggles to adjust to his new identity as a male.
-
Peace, Locomotion
Jacqueline Woodson
Through letters to his little sister, who is living in a different foster home, sixth-grader Lonnie, also known as "Locomotion," keeps a record of their lives while they are apart, describing his own foster family, including his foster brother who returns home after losing a leg in the Iraq War.
-
Peas and Carrots
Tanita S. Davis
After her mother is arrested, fifteen-year-old Dess is sent to live with the foster family that took in her baby brother several years before, and although she and her new foster sister, Hope, clash immediately, they soon realize they have much in common.
-
Pecan Pie Baby
Jacqueline Woodson
When Mama's pregnancy draws attention away from Gia, she worries that the special bond they share will disappear forever once the baby is born
-
People Like Us
Dana Mele
When a girl is found dead at her elite boarding school, soccer-star Kay Donovan follows a scavenger hunt which implicates suspects increasingly close to her, unraveling her group of popular friends and perfectly constructed life.
-
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.
-
Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry, #1)
Simon Elkeles
When wealthy, seemingly perfect Brittany and Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, develop a relationship after Alex discovers that Brittany is not exactly who she seems to be, they must face the disapproval of their schoolmates--and others.
-
Personal Effects
E. M. Kokie
Matt has been sleepwalking through life while seeking answers about his brother T.J.'s death in Iraq, but after discovering that he may not have known his brother as well as he thought he did, Matt is able to stand up to his father, honor T.J.'s memory, and take charge of his own life.
-
Petey
Ben Mikaelsen
In 1922, at the age of two, Petey's distraught parents commit him to the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Bound by his wheelchair and struggling to communicate with the people around him, Petey finds a way to remain kind and generous despite the horrific conditions in his new "home." Through the decades, he befriends several caretakers but is heartbroken when each eventually leaves him. Determined not to be hurt again, he vows to no longer let hope of lifelong friends and family torment him. That changes after he is moved into a nursing home and meets a young teen named Trevor Ladd; he sees something in the boy and decides to risk friendship one last time. Trevor, new to town and a bit of a loner, is at first weary of the old man in the wheelchair. But after hearing more of his story, Trevor learns that there is much more to Petey than meets the eye.
-
Picnic in the Park
Joe Griffiths and Tony Pilgrim
A charming picture book for children which shows that families are diverse and come in all shapes and sizes.
-
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Patricia Reilly Giff
A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.
-
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.
-
Pink
Lili Wilkinson
Ava is tired of her ultracool attitude, ultraradical politics, and ultrablack clothing. She's ready to try something new—she's even ready to be someone new. Someone who fits in, someone with a gorgeous boyfriend, someone who wears pink. But Ava soon finds that changing herself is more complicated than changing her wardrobe. Even getting involved in the school musical raises issues she never imagined. As she faces surprising choices and unforeseen consequences, Ava wonders if she will ever figure out who she really wants to be.
-
Pink!
Lynne Rickards
Teased in school for being pink, Patrick the penguin leaves the South Pole to live with the flamingos in Africa.
-
Pink is for Boys
Robb Pearlman
A celebration of how colors are for everyone depicts characters engaging in their favorite activities.
-
Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat
Francesa Lia Block
After her family loses their cottage in the Los Angeles hills, junior high school outcast Weetzie Bat's father leaves her mother and Weetzie learns how to stand up for herself and to find beauty in even the most difficult situations.
-
Pinky and Rex and the Bully
James Howe
Pinky learns the importance of identity as he defends his favorite color, pink, and his friendship with a girl, Rex, from the neighborhood bully.
-
Playground: The Mostly True Story of a Former Bully
Curtis 50 Cent Jackson and Laura Moser
After beating up Maurice on the playground, Butterball is forced to see the school therapist.