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 Diverse Families by Subject:
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Loving vs. Virginia: Lifting the Ban Against Interracial Marriage
Susan Dudley Gold
Describes the case of Loving v. Virginia including each side's claims, the outcome, and excerpts from the Supreme Court justices' decisions.
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Loving V. Virginia: Interracial Marriage
Karen Alonso
Explores the Supreme Court case that challenged and eventually overturned Virginia's law forbidding interracial marriages.
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Lu
Jason Reynolds
Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu's way--literally and not-so-literally--and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means--
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Lubna and Pebble
Wendy Meddour
Lubna's best friend is a pebble. Pebble always listens to her stories. Pebble always smiles when she feels scared. But when a lost little boy arrives in the World of Tents, Lubna realizes that he needs Pebble even more than she does. This emotionally stirring and stunningly illustrated picture book explores one girl's powerful act of friendship in the midst of an unknown situation.
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Lucky Beans
Becky Birtha
During the Great Depression, Marshall, an African American boy, uses lessons learned in arithmetic class and guidance from his mother to figure out how many beans are in a jar in order to win her a new sewing machine in a contest.
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Lucky Girl: A Memoir
Mei-Ling Hopgood
In a true story of family ties, journalist Hopgood, one of the first wave of Asian adoptees to arrive in America, comes face to face with her past when her Chinese birth family suddenly requests a reunion after more than two decades.
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Lucky Strikes
Louis Bayard
Set in Depression Era Virginia, this is the story of orphaned Amelia and her struggle to keep her siblings together.
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Lucy and Linh
Alice Pung
In Australia, Lucy tries to balance her life at home surrounded by her Chinese immigrant family, with her life at a pretentious private school.
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Lucy Goes to the Country
Joseph Kennedy
Madcap adventures ensue when a gay couple and their cat spend the weekend in the country.
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Lucy Rose, Here's the Thing About Me
Kelly Katy
Eight-year-old Lucy Rose keeps a diary of her first year in Washington, D.C., her home since her parents' separation, where she spends time with her grandparents, makes new friends, and longs to convince her teacher to let her take care of the class pet during a holiday.
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Lum
Libby Ware
Lum has always been on the outside. At eight, she was diagnosed with what we now call an intersex condition and is told she can't expect to marry. Now, at thirty-three, she has no home of her own but is shuttled from one relative's house to another -- valued for her skills, but never treated like a true member of the family. Everything is turned upside down, however, when the Blue Ridge Parkway is slated to come through her family's farmland. As people take sides in the fight, the community begins to tear apart -- culminating in an act of violence and subsequent betrayal by opponents of the new road. However, the Parkway brings opportunities as well as loss.
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Luna
Julie Anne Peters
Fifteen-year-old Regan's life, which has always revolved around keeping her older brother Liam's transsexuality a secret, changes when Liam decides to start the process of "transitioning" by first telling his family and friends that he is a girl who was born in a boy's body.
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Lunch Box Dream
Tony Abbott
Told from multiple points of view, a white family on a 1959 road trip between Ohio and Florida, visiting Civil War battlefields along the way, crosses paths with a black family near Atlanta, where one of their children has gone missing.
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Luv Ya Bunches
Lauren Myracle
Four friends--each named after a flower--navigate the ups and downs of fifth grade. Told through text messages, blog posts, screenplay, and straight narrative.
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Mackenzie, Lost and Found
Deborah Kerbel
After the death of her mother, Mackenzie and her father move to Israel, where she befriends an American girl dealing with a similar tragedy and begins dating a Palestinian boy, which leads to her involvement with a black-market crime ring.
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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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Maddi's Fridge
Lois Brandt
Maddi's fridge is almost empty, while Sophia's fridge is full of food. How can Sophia help her friend Maddi without breaking her promise not to tell anyone?
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Made in China: A Story of Adoption
Vanita Oelschlager
Made in China tells the story of a girl adopted into an American family and the problems she encounters with her older sister. With help from her father, the adopted sister learns the value of her Chinese beginnings. Later the girls accept their differences and embrace the joy that comes from a loving family.
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Made of Stars
Kelley York
When eighteen-year-old Hunter Jackson and his half sister, Ashlin, return to their dad's for the first winter in years, they expect everything to be just like the warmer months they'd spent there as kids. And it is, at first. But Chance, the charismatic and adventurous boy who made their summers epic, is harboring deep secrets. Secrets that are quickly spiraling into something else entirely. The reason they've never met Chance's parents or seen his home is becoming clearer. And what the siblings used to think of as Chance's quirks-the outrageous stories, his clinginess, his dangerous impulsiveness-are now warning signs that something is seriously off. Then someone turns up with a bullet to the head, and all eyes shift to Chance's family. Hunter and Ashlin know Chance is innocent ... they just have to prove it. But how can they protect the boy they both love when they can't trust a word Chance says?
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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor
Rick Riordan
Thor's hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon--the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn't just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can't retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer's return is the gods' worst enemy, Loki--and the price he wants is very high.
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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
Rick Riordan
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows-a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god. The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years. When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision. Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die.
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Maiden and Princess
Daniel Haack and Isabel Galupo
In this modern fairy tale, a strong, brave maiden is invited to attend the prince's royal ball, but at the dance, she ends up finding true love in a most surprising place.
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Maisie's Scrapbook
Samuel Narh
As the seasons turn, Maisie rides her bull in and out of Dada's tall tales. Her Mama wears linen and plays the viola. Her Dada wears kente cloth and plays the marimba.They come from different places, but they hug her in the same way. And most of all, they love her just the same. A joyful celebration of a mixed-race family and the love that binds us all together.
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Making My Family
Naomi Stern
Much awaited read-it-to-me book about a child adopted by two Dads. What makes a family? Lots of love, no matter what the mix! This story applies to any family, but is particularly powerful for families of gay parents.
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Making Toast: A Family Story
Roger Rosenblatt
When his daughter, Amy, collapses and dies from an asymptomatic heart condition, Rosenblatt and his wife leave their home on Long Island to move in with their son-in-law and their three young grandchildren. He peels back the layers on this most personal of losses to create a testament to familial love.