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:

Separation

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The Romantics

Leah Konen

When his first big relationship crumbles on the heels of his parents' painful separation, seventeen-year-old Gael is heartbroken until Love intervenes.
The Stranger Within Sarah Stein

Thane Rosenbaum

When her parents separate, twelve-year-old Sarah Stein feels split into her mother's daughter and daddy's girl, but a disgraced firefighter who lives in a hidden room in the Brooklyn Bridge, and her grandmother's story of her own childhood, help Sarah find her true self.
The Summer of Riley

Eve Bunting

Eleven-year-old William never needed a friend more than now. After his parents' separation, his father's new engagement, and his grandfather's dying without any warning -- adopting big, beautiful Riley is the first thing in a long time that has made him feel better. That is, until Riley innocently chases a horse. Local law states that any animal that chases livestock must be put to sleep. Suddenly William stands to lose another thing close to him. Together with his "totally unsurpassed" friend Grace, William begins a campaign to reverse the county commissioners' decision. But with a community divided on the issue, and the bully Ellis Porter trying to stop them at every turn, will they be able to save Riley's life? Celebrated author Eve Bunting shows William's determined struggle to fight for what he believes in. The Summer of Riley is an inspiring novel about learning to accept life's changes, the healing power of friendship, and the unending desire to protect those we love.
The Sweet Life of Stella Madison

Lara M. Zeises

Seventeen-year-old Stella struggles with the separation of her renowned chef parents, writing a food column for the local paper even though she is a junk food addict, and having a boyfriend but being attracted to another.
The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door

Karen Finneyfrock

Fourteen-year-old Celia, hurt by her parents' separation, the loss of her only friend, and a classmate's cruelty, has only her poetry for solace until newcomer Drake Berlin befriends her, comes out to her, and seeks her help in connecting with the boy he left behind.
The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish

Claudia Mills

While dealing with her parents' separation and her best friend's distance, Amanda is able to work out some of her anxiety through her fifth-grade project--writing a diary from the point of view of a ten-year-old girl whose brothers fight on opposite sides in the Civil War.
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

Teresa Toten

Adam not only is trying to understand his OCD, while trying to balance his relationship with his divorced parents, but he's also trying to navigate through the issues that teenagers normally face, namely the perils of young love--
The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Nick Burd

It's Dade's last summer at home, and things are pretty hopeless. He has a crappy job, a "boyfriend" who treats him like dirt, and his parents' marriage is falling apart. So when he meets and falls in love with the mysterious Alex Kincaid, Dade feels like he's finally experiencing true happiness. But when a tragedy shatters the final days of summer, he realizes he must face his future and learn how to move forward from his past.
Through the Eyes of a Child

Jimena Licitra

William was a happy little boy who lived with his parents in a green house with a lovely little garden, decorated with paper flowers. But one day everything changed. It was as if he'd been torn in two and turned into two different kids: one who went with his dad, and another who stayed with his mom. Through the Eyes of a Child reminds us of the importance of communicating, and that after a change in a family's structure, a child can feel “whole" again and grow up happily...even though his parents have separated.
Truth and Salsa

Linda Lowery

A spirited young girl must travel far from home to finally find herself. Mexico is a long way from Kalamazoo-and not just in terms of miles. Almost-thirteen-year-old Hayley Flynn is spending six months with her eccentric grandmother in the rural mountain town of San Miguel. Her father recently deserted the family and Hayley's mom needs time to, as she puts it, "work things through." Down in Mexico, everyone calls Hayley by her new, more glamorous chosen name, Margarita, and life is surprisingly exciting-exotic birds, beautiful butterflies, holidays, colorful fiestas, and new friends like Lili. Hayley and Lili even win parts as extras in a Hollywood movie being filmed in the town. But there are also difficult lessons to be learned. Poverty and unemployment send Lili's father and other men from the village to Michigan to work as migrant workers so they can send money back home to their anxious families. Meanwhile Hayley is on the lookout for la fantasma (the ghost) that is said to haunt her grandma's house. With Lili's help she solves the mystery-and prepares for a new life with her mom back in the States.
Two Naomis

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Audrey Vernick

Other than their first names, Naomi Marie and Naomi Edith are sure they have nothing in common, and they wouldn't mind keeping it that way. Naomi Marie starts clubs at the library and adores being a big sister. Naomi Edith loves quiet Saturdays and hanging with her best friend in her backyard. And while Naomi Marie's father lives a few blocks away, Naomi Edith wonders how she's supposed to get through each day a whole country apart from her mother. When Naomi Marie's mom and Naomi Edith's dad get serious about dating, each girl tries to cling to the life she knows and loves. Then their parents push them into attending a class together, where they might just have to find a way to work with each other--and maybe even join forces to find new ways to define family.
Two Nests

Laurence Anholt

Two birds build a nest together and hatch a baby bird, but when they fail to get along the father bird moves to a new nest, and though baby bird is unhappy at first, when he learns to fly from nest to nest he sees that the situation isn't that bad.
Unbecoming

Jenny Downham

Life has just become very complicated for seventeen-year-old Katie; her father walked out a year ago, her mother is stressed out, her brother is a "special needs" teenager, and she is caring for the maternal grandmother she has never met, who is suffering from Alzheimer's--and Katie has a secret of her own that she cannot reveal.
Untwine: A Novel

Edwidge Danticat

Identical twin teenagers Giselle and Isabelle Boyer have always been inseparable, and expected to stay that way even though their Haitian American parents are separating--but when when the entire family is caught in a car crash, everyone's world is shattered forever.
Valentine to a Flying Mouse

Laura Hawkins

During preparations for the fourth grade Valentine party, Tammy meets the wheelchair-bound owner of the local bookstore who helps her learn to cope with her parents' separation and to believe in herself.
Waiting for You

Susane Colasanti

It's sophomore year, and Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, hopefully, her first real boyfriend. But after popular Derek asks her out, things get complicated. Not only do her parents unexpectedly separate, but Marisa has a fight with her best friend, and Derek, the love of her life, delivers a shocking disappointment. The only things keeping Marisa together are the podcasts from the anonymous DJ, who seems to totally understand Marisa. But she doesn't know who he is ... or maybe she does.
Water Balloon

Audrey Vernick

A warm debut novel about friendship and first love, from a popular picture-book author. Marley's life is as precarious as an overfull water balloonone false move and everything will burst. Her best friends are pulling away from her, and her parents, newly separated, have decided she should spend the summer with her dad in his new house, with a job she didn't ask for and certainly doesn't want. On the upside is a cute boy who loves dogs as much as Marley does ... but young love has lots of opportunity for humiliation and misinterpreted signals. Luckily Marley is a girl who trusts her instincts and knows the truth when she sees it, making her an immensely appealing character and her story funny, heartfelt, and emotionally true.
Wave Good-Bye

Francess Lantz

Rae hasn't been her usual self lately, and no one at camp seems to know why. Her crabby attitude is starting to affect everyone, including her best friend, Luna. When Luna catches Rae precariously riding the piers, she decides to confront her friend head-on. Finally Rae admits the truth: her parents have decided to separate, and even worse -- her father's company is relocating him to Chicago. Now Rae feels torn between staying in southern California with her overbearing mother and moving with her father to an unfamiliar city. Though leaving would ease the tension between Rae and her mom, it would mean the end of Rae's surfing, too. Will Luna be able to convince Rae to stick around or will she lose her best friend forever?
Weekends with Max and His Dad

Linda Urban

Third-grader Max pursues neighborhood adventures with his dad as they both adjust to recent changes in their family.
We the Children

Andrew Clements

Sixth-grader Ben Pratt's life is full of changes that he does not like--his parents' separation and the plan to demolish his seaside school to build an amusement park--but when the school janitor gives him a tarnished coin with some old engravings and then dies, Ben is drawn into an effort to keep the school from being destroyed.
What Hearts

Bruce Brooks

After his mother divorces his father and remarries, Asa's sharp intellect and capacity for forgiveness help him deal with the instabilities of his new world.
When Katie's Parents Separated

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

Katie learns that there are both good and bad things about her parents no longer living together.
Wild Blues

Beth Kephart

Thirteen-year-old Lizzie relates, through a victim statement, her harrowing journey through the Adirondacks seeking her disabled friend, Matias, who was kidnapped by escaped convicts.
Yes No Maybe So

Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

Jamie Goldberg, who chokes when speaking to strangers, and Maya Rehrman, who is having the worst Ramadan ever, are paired to knock on doors and ask for votes for the local state senate candidate.
You and Violence in Your Family

John Giacobello

Explains what family violence is, its various types and how children involved in family violence can get help to learn to cope and adjust.