Browse Items · Windows and Mirrors: Diversity in Books for Young Readers

Girl in Pieces

This book is a great choice for someone who is going through a tough time: it has heartbreak, learning experiences, and much more. This book is about a girl who is struggling in her life and needs help.

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); language: English; psychiatric disability/condition (primary character); straight (primary character); white (primary character); woman (author); young adult fiction

Plague

Eight months after everyone over age fifteen disappeared, protagonist Sam Temple and the youth of Perdido Beach are alone with supernatural abilities in the FAYZ (the dome/barrier that surrounds them). Their dystopian world is filled with hunger,…

The Night Before Playoffs

"The Night Before Playoffs" is a children's story about the woodland creatures who like to play hockey once the humans are fast asleep. With amazing illustrations, this picture book puts a Canadian twist on the holiday classic "A Visit from St.…

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (secondary characters); group (characters); language: English; non-human (secondary characters); picture book; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

Refugee

Refugeefollows three children escaping three different traumatic situations: in the 1930s, a Jewish boy named Josef escapes Nazi Germany; in 1994, a girl named Isabel tries to leave Cuba to go to America; and in 2015, a Syrian boy named Mahmoud is on…

Tags: Arab (primary character); boy/man (primary character); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); Jewish (primary character); language: English; Latinx (primary character); middle grade book (ages 8-12); Muslim (primary character); unspecified sexuality (primary character); white, assumed (primary character)

Kind

This children's picture book reinforces the importance of showing kindness. It explores various settings and circumstances where there are opportunities to show kindness.

Tags: Arab (secondary characters); Asian (secondary characters); Black/African (secondary characters); group (characters); human (secondary characters); language: English; non-human (secondary characters); picture book; unspecified gender (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); white, assumed (secondary characters)

InvestiGators: Ants in Our P.A.N.T.S.

In the fourth installment of John Patrick Green's InvestiGators series, the crocodile agents at S.U.I.T are faced with a new problem when agent Brash's replacement, RoboBrash, comes equipt with giant ants. It's up to him and Mango to stop both the…

Tags: Asian (secondary characters); boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); brown skin (secondary characters); girl/woman (secondary characters); graphic novel; human (secondary characters); language: English; non-human (primary character); non-human (secondary characters)

Deeplight

In this fantasy story, the Gods have disappeared for over 30 years and divers search for some of their remains. Hark finds a divine heart to save his best friend Jelt, but the divine does not seem to mingle well with the human. The book follows two…

Tags: boy/man (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); young adult fiction

Batpig: When Pigs Fly

Part of the Batpig series. Gary Yorkshire was a perfectly ordinary pig who gets Superpowers thanks to a radioactive bat bite. Gary, inspired by his Crimson Swine comics, decides to put his powers to good use and adopts the moniker Batpig.

Tags: boy/man (primary character); graphic novel; language: English; non-human (primary character)

The Other Black Girl

The Other Black Girl is about a twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant named Nella Rogers. Rogers is tired of being the only black employee at Wagner Books, where she works. She becomes friends with Hazel, another black girl who she quickly becomes…

Tags: Black/African (primary character); Black/African (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); wh; white, confirmed (secondary characters); young adult fiction

The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis is about a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith. Olive struggles with relationships and doubts that she will be able to find true love. In this book, Olive undergoes an experiment in love because she is a biologist and tries to…

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; straight (primary character); straight (secondary characters); white, confirmed (primary character); white, confirmed (secondary characters); young adult fiction

I Love You to the Moon and Back

I Love You to the Moon and Back is a short children’s novel recounting a parent bear and their cub from morning to night as they recall all the ways they show their love.

Tags: early reader (ages 5-9); language: English; non-human (primary character); unspecified gender (primary character); unspecified sexuality (primary character)

Beatrice and Croc Harry

Beatrice is a young girl who wakes up in a treehouse in the magical forest of Argilia with no knowledge of who she is and how she got there. She wakes up alone with amnesia but quickly finds an ally in a crocodile... While working together to…

Tags: Black/African (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); cognitive/neurological disability/condition (primary character); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); language: English; middle grade book (ages 8-12); non-human (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

That Was Then, This is Now

Set in the 1960s, this coming-of-age novel follows two male best friends, Mark Jennings and Bryon Douglas, as they evolve and drift apart.

Tags: boy/man (primary character); human (primary character); language: English; unspecified sexuality (primary character); white, assumed (primary character); young adult fiction

The Outsiders

This novel discusses the disparities between working-class and upper-class gangs who are divided because of their status. It is a novel focused on teenage boys getting caught in trouble and is a first person account from the main character, Ponyboy.…

Tags: boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; straight (primary character); straight (secondary characters); white, assumed (primary character); white, assumed (secondary characters); young adult fiction

Eyes That Kiss in the Corners

A Chinese girl notices that her eye shape is unlike those she sees at school. She looks to her family and culture to find the beauty and revolution in her difference.

Tags: Asian (primary character); Asian (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); language: English; picture book; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

Great Too

This fun children's book is about hockey and overcoming challenges in sports. It shows children the importance of teamwork and relying on each other.

Tags: Black/African (secondary characters); boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; picture book; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); white, assumed (primary character); white, assumed (secondary characters)

What About Will

Trace Reynolds is a white-Puerto Rican 12-year-old who has always looked up to his 17-year-old brother Will. But when Will suffers from a traumatic brain injury during a football game, their family starts to fall apart. Will's depression, anger…

Tags: boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); cognitive/neurological disability/condition (secondary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; Latinx (secondary characters); middle grade book (ages 8-12); multiracial (primary character); multiracial (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

Cartwright, Debra

Cartwright received her BA in Art History and Studio in 2010 from University of Virginia. She also received her MFA from Mason School of Arts, Rutgers University in 2010.
Cartwright resides in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Jasmine Project

This book is a romantic comedy about a teen Korean American adoptee who finds herself and also someone else, unexpectedly.

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); language: English; straight (primary character); straight (secondary characters); woman (author); young adult fiction

Tokyo Ever After

Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom…

Tags: Asian (primary character); Asian (secondary characters); boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; unspecified sexuality (primary character); young adult fiction

There’s a Ghost in this House

A story young girl who lives in a haunted house but has never seen ghost. The mixed media illustration depict her hunt for a ghostly presence sound her home.

Tags: girl/woman (primary character); language: English; picture book; white, assumed (primary character)

The 12 Days of First Grade

What will the teacher share with us on The 12 Days of First Grade? Find out in this rhyming storybook by Jenna Lettice! Follow along to discover all the school activities and supplies for a fun-filled 12 Days of First Grade.

Tags: Asian (secondary characters); boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); brown skin (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; picture book; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); white, assumed (secondary characters)

The Boi of Feather and Steel

This book is the second one in the queer witchy fantasy duologyMetamorphosis(sequel toThe Girl of Hawthorne and Glass). The three main characters are Eli, a female white assasin, Tav, a black magic queer boi, and Kite, a blue-skinned witch. In the…

Tags: Black/African (primary character); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); language: English; LGBTQ+ (primary character); non-binary (primary character); non-human (primary character); white, assumed (primary character); young adult fiction

The Couch Potato

A couch potato believes it can live life sitting on a sofa in front of a wall of screens—that is until the power goes out and forces the couch potato to play outside. Being in nature reminds the couch potato that fresh air, exercise, and human…

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (secondary characters); language: English; non-human (primary character); non-human (secondary characters); picture book; unspecified gender (primary character); unspecified gender (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

We Are Not Broken

A memoir covering family relationships, love, loss, queerness, and racism experienced during the author’s time growing up in New Jersey with their brother and cousins, as they are raised together by their grandmother, whose legacy the book…

Tags: Black/african (author); Black/African (primary character); Black/African (secondary characters); boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; LGBTQ+ (author); LGBTQ+ (primary character); non-binary (author); non-binary (primary character)

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