Diverse Families

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  I Can Hear the Sun

  Patricia Polacco

  Stephanie Michelle, who cares for animals and listens to the sun, believes the homeless child, Fondo, when he tells her that the geese have invited him to fly away with them.

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  I Don't Have Your Eyes

  Carrie A. Kitze

  Family connections are vitally important to children as they begin to find their place in the world. For transracial and transcultural adoptees, domestic adoptees, and for children in foster care or kinship placements, celebrating the differences within their families as well as the similarities that connect them, is the foundation for belonging. As parents or caregivers, we can strengthen our children's tie to family and embrace the differences that make them unique. Each child will have their own story and their own special place to belong. This beautifully illustrated and uplifting book, for 2-5 year olds, will help to create the intimate parent/caregiver and child bond that is so important. While others may notice the physical differences between us on the outside, inside we are the same.

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  I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

  Will Walton

  For most of his young life Avery has dealt with his alcoholic mother with the help of his grandfather Pal--he immerses himself in poetry and popular music, and now that high school is over for the summer, he makes out with his best friend Luca (who understands about alcoholic mothers), but the death of his grandfather creates a hole in his life that he can not seem to crawl out of.

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  If I Ever Get Out of Here

  Eric L. Gansworth

  Seventh-grader Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is a lot of tension and hatred between Native Americans and Whites--and Lewis is not sure that he can rely on friendship.

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  If I Lie

  Corrine Jackson

  Seventeen-year-old Sophie Quinn becomes an outcast in her small military town when she chooses to keep a secret for her Marine boyfriend who is missing in action in Afghanistan.

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  If I Tell

  Janet Gurtler

  Raised by her grandparents, seventeen-year-old Jasmine, the result of a biracial one night stand, has never met her father but has a good relationship with her mother until she sees her mother's boyfriend kissing Jaz's best friend.

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  If I Told You So

  Timothy Woodward

  Sean Jackson is sixteen and his choice is either to take a landscaping job in Georgia with his father, or to stay in his small New Hampshire hometown and take a job at the local ice cream shop. He stays home and deals with the pressures of a young man who struggles with trying to tell his father that he is gay.

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  If I Was Your Girl

  Meredith Russo

  Amanda Hardy only wants to fit in at her new school, but she is keeping a big secret, so when she falls for Grant, guarded Amanda finds herself yearning to share with him everything about herself, including her previous life as Andrew.

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  If Only

  Jennifer Gilmore

  At sixteen Bridget is pregnant--and her boyfriend has dumped her for another girl. She's trying to envision a future for her baby. But as she sifts through the many paths and the many people who want to parent her child, she can't help but feel that there is no right decision. Fifteen years later: Ivy knows that she is now the same age Bridget was when she placed Ivy for adoption. She knows that Bridget was the one who named her. When Ivy goes in search of Bridget--of her own history--will the risks outweigh the benefits of knowing where she comes from and why her birth mother chose to walk away?

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  If the Shoe Fits

  Gary Soto

  After being teased about his brand new loafers, Rigo puts them away for so long he grows out of them.

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  I Funny: A Middle School Story

  James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

  Resolving to become the world's greatest stand-up comedian despite less-than-funny challenges in his life, wheelchair-bound middle school student Jamie Grimm endures bullying from his mean-spirited cousin and hopes he will be fairly judged when he enters a local comedy contest.

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  I Funny: School of Laughs (I Funny #5)

  James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

  When a new principal threatens to close the school library, Jamie Grimm tries to save the day by teaching a comedy class for his fellow students.

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  I Funny TV: A Middle School Story (I Funny #4)

  James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

  Jamie Grimm has finally accomplished his dream of proving himself the Planet's Funniest Kid Comic, and the sky's the limit from there. Enter a couple of TV executives with a huge plan for Jamie: a new show about Jamie and his oddball friends!

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  If You Come Softly

  Jacqueline Woodson

  After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

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  If You Could be Mine: A Novel

  Sara Farizan

  In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin's parents announce their daughter's arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.

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  If Your Monster Won't Go to Bed

  Denise Vega

  If you have a monster that won’t go to bed, don’t bother asking your parents to help. They know a lot about putting kids to bed, but nothing about putting monsters to bed. It’s not their fault; they’re just not good at it. Read this book instead.

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  I Have Lost My Way

  Gayle Forman

  A fateful accident draws three strangers together over the course of a single day: Freya who has lost her voice while recording her debut album. Harun who is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved. Nathaniel who has just arrived in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. As the day progresses, their secrets start to unravel and they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in help­ing the others out of theirs.

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  I Have Two Homes

  Marian de Smet

  Nina used to live with her parents in one house, but now she lives in two houses, sometimes with her mom and other times with her dad, and although she is confused about what is happening, Nina knows both her parents love her very much.

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  I Know It's Over

  C. K. Kelly Martin

  Sixteen-year-old Nick, still trying to come to terms with his parents' divorce, experiences exhiliration and despair in his relationship with his girlfriend Sasha especially when, after instigating a trial separation, she announces that she is pregnant.

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  Ilario: The Lion's Eye

  Mary Gentle

  Abandoned and alone, the fosterling Ilario grows up as the King's Freak, surrounded by all the pomp, intrigue, and danger of the Iberian court. Fleeing a failed treacherous attack, Ilario crosses the sea to Carthage, where the mysterious Penitence shrouds the sky in darkness. There, a strange and awful destiny awaits the would-be painter, one that spans continents and kingdoms.

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  I’ll Give You the Sun

  Jandy Nelson

  A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah.

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  I'll Meet You There

  Heather Demetrios

  Skylar Evans, seventeen, yearns to escape Creek View by attending art school, but after her mother's job loss puts her dream at risk, a rekindled friendship with Josh, who joined the Marines to get away then lost a leg in Afghanistan, and her job at the Paradise motel lead her to appreciate her home town.

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  ​​I Love My Purse

  Belle Demont

  Charlie loves the bright red purse that his grandmother let him have. One day, he decides to take it to school. First his father, then his friends, and even the crossing guard question him about his "strange" choice. After all, boys don't carry purses. They point out that they, too, have things they like, but that doesn't mean they go out in public wearing them. But Charlie isn't deterred. Before long, his unselfconscious determination to carry a purse starts to affect those around him. His father puts on his favorite, though unconventional, Hawaiian shirt to go to work; his friend Charlotte paints her face, and the crossing guard wears a pair of sparkly shoes. Thanks to Charlie, everyone around him realizes that it isn't always necessary to conform to societal norms. It's more important to be true to yourself. With its humorous, energetic illustrations, this book is ideal as a read-aloud or as a story for emerging readers. It can also be used as a starting point for a discussion about gender roles.

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  I Love Saturdays y domingos

  Alma Flor Ada

  A young girl enjoys the similarities and the differences between her English-speaking and Spanish-speaking grandparents.

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  I Love You Like Crazy Cakes

  Rose A. Lewis

  A woman describes how she went to China to adopt a special baby girl. Based on the author's own experiences.