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:

Single Parent

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Death by Toilet Paper

Donna Gephart

Contest-crazed twelve-year-old Ben uses his wits and way with words in hopes of winning a prize that will keep his family from being evicted until his mother can pass her final CPA examination.
Debbie Harry Sings in French

Meagan Brothers

When Johnny completes an alcohol rehabilitation program and his mother sends him to live with his uncle in North Carolina, he meets Maria, who seems to understand his fascination with the new wave band Blondie, and he learns about his deceased father's youthful forays into "glam rock," which gives him perspective on himself, his past, and his current life.
December

Eve Bunting

A homeless family's luck changes after they help an old woman who has even less than they do at Christmas.
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.
Dirt

Denise Orenstein

Eleven-year-old Yonder stopped talking when her mother died, and she stopped going to school because of the bullies, knowing that her father would never even notice (although the social worker did); indeed the only creature that seems to care about her is the one-eyed Shetland pony called Dirt who lives on the neighboring farm--so when she discovers that Dirt is about to be sold for horsemeat she is determined to find a way to save him.
Dirty One

Michael Graves

Set in the 1980s, Dirty one follows a pack of adolescent characters coming of age in a the suburban town of Leominster, Massachussetts.
Do I Have a Daddy?: A Story About a Single-Parent Child with a Special Section for Single Mothers and Fathers

Jeanne Warren Lindsay

A single mother explains to her son that his daddy left soon after he was born. Includes a section with suggestions for answering the question, "Do I have a daddy?"
Don't Let Me Go

J.H. Trumble

Some people spend their whole lives looking for the right partner. Nate Schaper found his in high school. In the eight months since their cautious flirting became a real, heart-pounding, tell-the-parents relationship, Nate and Adam have been inseparable. Even when local kids take their homophobia to brutal levels, Nate is undaunted. He and Adam are rock solid. Two parts of a whole. Yin and yang. But when Adam graduates and takes an off-Broadway job in New York at Nate's insistence- that certainty begins to flicker. Nate's friends can't keep his insecurities at bay, especially when he catches Skyped glimpses of Adam's shirtless roommate. Nate starts a blog to vent his frustrations and becomes the center of a school controversy, drawing ire and support in equal amounts. But it's the attention of a new boy who is looking for more than guidance that forces him to confront who and what he really wants.
Double Exposure

Bridget Birdsall

Fifteen-year-old Alyx Atlas starts school in a new state with a new identity--as a girl--but a bully on the basketball court threatens to reveal that Alyx is an intersex person, which could disqualify Alyx and the team from playing in the state championship game.
Dread Nation

Justina Ireland

When families go missing in Baltimore County, Jane McKeene, who is studying to become an Attendant, finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that has her fighting for her life against powerful enemies.
Dreamers

Yuyi Morales

An illustrated picture book autobiography in which award-winning author Yuyi Morales tells her own immigration story.
Dream On, Amber

Emma Shevah

As a half-Japanese, half-Italian girl with a ridiculous name, Amber's not feeling molto bene (very good) about making friends at her new school. But the hardest thing about being Amber is that a part of her is missing. Her dad. He left when she was little and he isn't coming back...not for her first day of middle school and not for her little sister's birthday. So Amber will have to dream up a way for the Miyamoto sisters to make it on their own.
Drita, My Homegirl

Jenny Lombard Lombard

When ten-year-old Drita and her family, refugees from Kosovo, move to New York, Drita is teased about not speaking English well, but after a popular student named Maxine is forced to learn about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita, the two girls soon bond.
Either the Beginning or the End of the World

Terry Farish

For sixteen years, it's been just Sofie and her father, living on the New Hampshire coast. Her Cambodian immigrant mother has floated in and out of her life, leaving Sofie with a fierce bitterness toward her-and a longing she wishes she could outgrow. "To me she is as unreliable as the wind." Then she meets Luke, an army medic back from Afghanistan, and the pull between them is as strong as the current of the rushing Piscataqua River. But Luke is still plagued by the trauma of war, as if he's lost with the ghosts in his past. Sofie's dad orders her to stay away; it may be the first time she has ever disobeyed him. "A ghost can't love you." When Sofie is forced to stay with her mother and grandmother while her dad's away, she is confronted with their memories of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, a war-torn countryside, and deeds of heartbreaking human devotion. "I don't want you for ancestors. I don't want that story." As Sofie and Luke navigate a forbidden landscape, they discover they both have their secrets, their scars, their wars. Together, they are dangerous. Together, they'll discover what extraordinary acts love can demand.
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.
Everett Anderson's Christmas Coming

Lucille Clifton

Relates, in verse, the excitement and joy of a young boy anticipating as well as celebrating Christmas in the city.
Everett Anderson's Friend

Lucille Clifton

Having eagerly anticipated the new neighbors, a boy is disappointed to get a whole family of girls.
Everything, Everything

Nicola Yoon

The story of a teenage girl who's literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she's ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.
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.
Every Turtle Counts

Sara Hoagland Hunter

When seven-year-old Mimi finds a frozen sea turtle on the beach, she refuses to believe that it will die.
Every Year on Your Birthday

Rose A. Lewis

Each year on the birthday of her adopted Chinese daughter, a mother recalls the moments they have shared, from the first toy to the friends left behind in China.
Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol

Bonnie Christensen

You might recognize him from his famous paintings of Campbell's soup cans and coke bottles. But do you know about the artist who created these images? Any Warhol was often sick as a child but found comfort in reading comic books and most especially in drawing. From his early days in Pittsburgh in the 1930s to the height of his glory in the 1960s when he blurred the line between commercial art and fine art, this book chronicles an artist's remarkable path to becoming a renowned Pop Art icon.
Families

Ann Morris

A simple explanation of families, how they function, how they are different, and how they are alike.
Families

Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly

Big or small, similar or different-looking, there are all kinds of families. Some have one parent, some have two, and many include extended family. This inclusive look at many varieties of families will help young readers see beyond their own immediate experiences.
Families

Meredith Tax

Realities such as divorce, stepfamilies, adoption, single parenting, and gay and lesbian parenting are explored through the curious, affectionate, and nonjudgemental eyes of six-year-old Angie as she introduces readers to her multicultural groups of friends, who are loved and cared for within many different types of families.