Browse by Family Relationship:
Step Parent
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Eleanor & Park
Rainbown Rowell
Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor -- Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough -- Eleanor. Park -- He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises -- Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds -- smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
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Emmy & Oliver
Robin Benway
Since her best friend Oliver was kidnapped ten years ago, Emmy's parents have smothered her with their relentless worry, and when Oliver suddenly reappears in his hometown, he and Emmy struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of the crime.
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Excellent Emma
Sally Warner
Emma McGraw's third-grade class is getting ready for Winter Games Day, and Emma wants to win a prize more than anything. It would be the perfect way to make her father proud. But the rest of the class has mixed feelings about Winter Games Day. Jared is desperate to be the fastest runner and the farthest jumper, Fiona is worried about her weak ankles, and Annie Pat doesn't seem to care at all. When the big day arrives, nothing goes exactly as planned, but Emma is still determined to be as excellent as she can be.
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Fade to Us
Julia Day
Brooke's summer is going to be EPIC -- having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she's excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger's--and Brooke's not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs. After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She's mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah--the production's stage manager. When her summer finally comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants--and the love she's only dreamed about?
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Families
Susan Kuklin
In frank interviews, children from fifteen different types of families talk about the ups and downs of their home lives and offer a look at diversity in American society
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Families
Ann Morris
A simple explanation of families, how they function, how they are different, and how they are alike.
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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.
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Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love
Aylette Jenness
Photographs and text depict the lives of seventeen families from around the country, some with step relationships, divorce, gay parents, foster siblings, and other diverse components. The material was originally a traveling exhibition, begun at the Children's Museum in Boston.
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For a Muse of Fire
Heidi Heilig
Jetta, a teen who possesses secret, forbidden powers, must gain access to a hidden spring and negotiate a world roiling with intrigue and the beginnings of war.
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Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit
Jaye Robin Brown
Joanna Gordon has been out and proud for years, but when her popular radio evangelist father remarries and decides to move all three of them from Atlanta to the more conservative Rome, Georgia, he asks Jo to do the impossible: to lie low for the rest of her senior year. And Jo reluctantly agrees. Although it is (mostly) much easier for Jo to fit in as a straight girl, things get complicated when she meets Mary Carlson, the oh-so-tempting sister of her new friend at school. But Jo couldn't possibly think of breaking her promise to her dad. Even if she's starting to fall for the girl. Even if there's a chance Mary Carlson might be interested in her, too. Right?
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Grasslands
Debra Seely
In the 1880s, thirteen-year-old Thomas moves west from the aristocratic Virginia home of his grandparents to a poor Kansas farm to live with a father he barely remembers and his new stepfamily.
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Hidden
Tomas Mournian
Based on a news article written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian. When 15-year-old Ahmed inadvertently outs himself to his parents, they take him to a residential treatment center in the Nevada desert, Serenity Ridge, where he's tortured, molested, and put through a straight rehabilitation program. After 11 months, Ahmed manages to escape to a safe house for runaway gay teens in San Francisco.
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Highly Illogical Behavior
John Corey Whaley
Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that--and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.
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How Would You Feel If Your Dad Was Gay?
Ann Heron
Jasmine thinks she's lucky to have three dads--a stepfather, her natural father, and his lover. However, her schoolmates and even teachers find this hard to accept. Jasmine's brother is subjected to name-calling and almost ends up in a fight over his father's lifestyle. At home, the two dads are supportive and understanding, and the children's natural father contacts the principal about it. A special assembly is the result, with a children's counselor discussing different kinds of families. A subplot, featuring a lesbian and her son, speaks nonjudgmentally to the issue of the sexual preferences among the offspring of homosexual parents. This book with a purpose does a good job of raising the issues sensitively and answering the questions reasonably. Scratchy ink drawings depict an African-American family living in an average neighborhood, with the children attending a racially balanced school.
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Hurt Go Happy
Ginny Rorby
When thirteen-year-old Joey Willis, deaf since the age of six, meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his chimpanzee Sukari, who use sign language, her world blooms with possibilities but that of the chimp begins to narrow.
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In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World
Joey Graceffa
A confessional, uplifting memoir from the beloved YouTube personality. It's not where you begin that matters. It's where you end up. Twenty-three year old Joey Graceffa has captured the hearts of millions of teens and young adults through his playful, sweet, and inspirational YouTube presence (not to mention his sparkling eyes and perfect hair). Yet, Joey wasn't always comfortable in his skin, and in this candid memoir, he thoughtfully looks back on his journey from pain to pride, self-doubt to self-acceptance. To his fans, Joey is that best friend who always captures the brighter side of life but also isn't afraid to get real. In the pages of his first book, he opens up about his years of struggling with family hardships and troubles at school, with cruel bullying and the sting of rejection. He tells of first loves and losses, embarrassing moments and surprising discoveries, loneliness, laughter, and life-changing forks in the road, showing us the incalculable value of finally finding and following your true passion in this world. Funny, warm-hearted, and inspiring, Joey Graceffa's story is a welcome reminder that it's not where you begin that matters, but where you end up.
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Is Your Family Like Mine?
Lois Abramchik
In this book, a 5 year old girl named Armetha has two mothers who raise her. She begins to become curious about other families and asks all of her friends “Who is in your family?” She quickly becomes aware that all of her friends come from different families; some are nuclear while others have a step parent, single parent, or foster parent. Armetha and her friends decide that while their families are different, their common bond is love, and that is what makes a family. This is great to introduce to a group of children from different backgrounds to help them relate to one another.
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It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families
Robbie H. Harris
Uses bird and bee cartoon characters to present straightforward explanations of topics related to sexual development, love, reproduction, adoption, sexually transmitted diseases, and more.
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Kiss Number 8
Colleen AF Venable
Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family, and minor league baseball games with her dad. She goofs off with her best friend Cat, and has thus far managed to avoid getting kissed by Adam, the boy next door. It's everything she hoped high school would be... until all of a sudden, it's not. Her dad is hiding something big--so big it could tear her family apart. And that's just the beginning of her problems: Mads is starting to figure out that she doesn't want to kiss Adam... because the only person she wants to kiss is Cat. Just like that, Mad's tidy little life has gotten epically messy--and epically heartbreaking. And when your heart is broken, it takes more than an awkward, uncomfortable, tooth-clashing, friendship-ending kiss to put things right again. It takes a whole bunch of them.
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Learning Seventeen
Brooke Carter
New Hope Academy, or, as seventeen-year-old Jane Learning likes to call it, No Hope, is a Baptist reform school where Jane is currently being held captive. Of course, smart, sarcastic Jane has no interest in reforming, failing to see any benefit to pretending to play well with others. But then Hannah shows up, a gorgeous bad girl with fiery hair and an even stormier disposition. She shows Jane how to live a full and fulfilling life even when the world tells you you're wrong, and how to believe in a future outside the "prison" walls. Jane soon learns, though, that Hannah is quietly battling some demons of her own.
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Like Jake and Me
Mavis Jukes
In this Newbery Honor—winning story from 1984, a new family builds a relationship as a stepfather and stepson celebrate their differences and take heart in their similarities.
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Little & Lion
Brandy Colbert
Suzette returns home to Los Angeles from boarding school and grapples with her bisexual identity when she and her [stepbrother] Lionel fall in love with the same girl, pushing Lionel's bipolar disorder to spin out of control and forcing Suzette to confront her own demons.
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Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess
Shari Green
Sixth grade is coming to an end, and so is life as Macy McMillan knows it. Already a "For Sale" sign mars the front lawn of her beloved house. Soon her mother will upend their perfect little family, adding a stepfather and six-year-old twin stepsisters. To add insult to injury, what is Macy's final sixth-grade assignment? A genealogy project. Well, she'll put it off - just like those wedding centerpieces she's supposed to be making. Just when Macy's mother ought to be understanding, she sends Macy next door to help eighty-six-year-old Iris Gillan, who is also getting ready to move?in her case into an assisted living facility. Iris can't pack a single box on her own and, worse, she doesn't know sign language. How is Macy supposed to understand her? But Iris has stories to tell, and she isn't going to let Macy's deafness stop her. Soon, through notes and books and cookies, a bond grows between them. And this friendship, odd and unexpected, may be just what Macy needs to face the changes in her life.
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Me & Emma
Elizabeth Flock
Eight-year-old Carrie Parker and her little sister, tired of living in an abusive environment, concoct a plan to run away, but their escape is thwarted by a shocking revelation that will change their lives.
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My Mother's Getting Married
Joan Drescher
Katy is not looking forward to the changes that her mother's marriage will bring.