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

Zoboi, Ibi

She is a New York Times best selling author who writes Young Adult and middle grade novels. She has an MFA in children and YA writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and three children.

Tags: author; Black/african (author); woman (author)

Zarycky, Hilary

Hilary Zarycky is the Associate Art Director at HarperCollins Publishers. He has designed jackets for many books over the years.

Tags: graphic designer; man (illustrator)

Zara Hossain Is Here

Pakistani immigrant Zara Hossain and her family have waited nine years in Texas for their green card approval. As the only Muslim girl at her catholic school, Zara tries not to create trouble for her family. But after a threatening note, the…

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); brown skin (primary character); brown skin (secondary characters); Christian (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; LGBTQ+ (primary character); LGBTQ+ (secondary characters); Muslim (primary character); straight (secondary characters); white, assumed (secondary characters); young adult fiction

You Should See Me in A Crown

Living in a rich white town, high school senior and anxious introvert Liz Lighty loses her financial aid for college and runs for prom queen to win a scholarship. She grapples with school drama, romance, and family issues.

Tags: Black/african (author); Black/African (primary character); Black/African (secondary characters); boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; LGBTQ+ (author); LGBTQ+ (primary character); LGBTQ+ (secondary characters); straight (secondary characters); white, assumed (secondary characters)

Yang, Kalia Kao

“Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She is the author of the memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Song Poet, and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Yang is also the author of the children’s books A map Into the World, The Shared…

Tags: Asian (author); author; unspecified sexuality (author); woman (author)

Yancey, Rick

Rick Yancey is an American writer of suspense, fantasy, and science fiction YA books. He attended Florida Southern College with a major in Communications and transferred a year later to Florida State University and then proceeded to graduate from…

Tags: man (author); straight (author); white (author)

Wume, Cindy

Based in Taipei, Taiwan, Wume is primarily an illustrator, using a range of materials and drawing inspiration from humanity and nature. She loves plants and animals.

Tags: Asian (author); Asian (illustrator); unspecified sexuality (author); unspecified sexuality (illustrator); woman (author); woman (illustrator)

Wulfkotte, Dana

Dana Wulfkotte is a freelance animator, comic artist, and children's book editor. She was born in Seoul, Korea, and lives in Queens, New York. She provided the illustrations forThe Remember Balloons, written by Jessie Oliveros, which was the2019…

Tags: animator; Asian (illustrator); author; comic artist; illustrator; straight (illustrator); woman (illustrator)

Wonky Donkey's Big Surprise

A young donkey missing her mother is excited as her father sits her down to give her a surprise. With its funny rhyming words and its charming illustrations, this Children's Choice Award Wonky Donkey sequel tells the tale of a loving family and…

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

With the Fire on High

The novel narrates the story of Emoni Santiago’s life. Emoni becomes pregnant in her senior year at high school. As a single mom, she has to manage her responsibilities towards her daughter, Abuela, school, and her passion for cooking (Amazon).

Tags: girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); language: English; multiracial (primary character); straight (primary character); young adult fiction

Windows and Mirrors: Omeka Guide

WindowsMirrors-OmekaGuide-2024-07-18.pdf

For the purposes of this project, this regularly-updated guide is comprised of comprehensive sections on how to create Omeka items using well-defined Dublin Core and Item Type Metadata elements, including map, tags and item relations, and on how to…

Wicked Like A Wildfire

Iris and Malina’s family have magical abilities also known as “gleam” which manipulates beauty. This ability only applies to the women in the family. Iris has the power to see flowers as fractured images and turns these fragmented images into…

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

What I Like About You

Nash and Halle have built a seemingly wonderful virtual connection. They have shared interests and beliefs, but Kels, Halle's fictional character, is everything she wishes she was. When Halle and her brother move in with her Grandfather and finds…

Tags: boy/man (primary character); boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); Jewish (primary character); language: English; LGBTQ+ (secondary characters); white, confirmed (primary character); white, confirmed (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)

Weinstein, Norah

University of California, Berkley and USC School of Law graduate Norah Weinstein currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children. She is an attorney and one of two co-CEOs of Baby2Baby, a non-profit organization she and her friend Kelly…

Tags: attorney; author; co-CEO; Jewish (author); unspecified sexuality (author); white (author); woman (author)

We Are Water Protectors

In this Caldecott Medal-winning picturebook, a young Indigenous girl must rally her community to defend the Earth's water, the most sacred medicine of all, against a black snake that threatens to destroy the land.

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); Indigenous (primary character); Indigenous (secondary characters); language: English; picture book

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)

We All Play

Animals and Indigenous children play side by side. Cree words are peppered throughout the book, and a glossary at the end provides the Cree names for all of the animals depicted. There is also a guide to Cree pronunciation for those not familiar with…

Tags: group (characters); human (secondary characters); language: Cree; language: English; non-human (primary character); picture book; unspecified gender (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters)

Warnes, Tim

Tim has had a long-time passion for illustrating since childhood and currently drawings inspiration from volunteering at the local school his children go to. He also occasionally writes under the pseudonym “Lily Moon” which allows him to express new…

Tags: Christian (illustrator); illustrator; man (illustrator); straight (illustrator); white (illustrator)

Walking in Two Worlds

Bugz is a shy Anishinaabe teen girl, but online, she’s a confident video gamer. Her two worlds collide when she befriends Feng, a Muslim Uighur teen boy and fellow gamer who moves into the Rez. Together, they must learn to reconcile broken…

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

Wada, Rachel

"Rachel Wada was raised between Japan and Hong Kong and is currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has created illustrations for magazines, newspapers, advertising and even a mural." (lerner books)

Tags: Asian (illustrator); illustrator; unspecified sexuality (illustrator); woman (illustrator)

Vespertine

Grey sisters are nuns that purify and cleanse the bodies of the dead so their souls can pass on. The protagonist, Artemisia, is training to become one. But when her covent is threatened by possessed soldiers, she awakens an ancient spirit, the…

Tags: girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); language: English; non-human (secondary characters); unspecified gender (secondary characters); unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); white, assumed (primary character); young adult fiction

Vermette, Katherena

“Katherena Vermette (She/her/hers) is a Red River Metis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the metis Nation. She has worked in poetry, novels, children’s literature, and film.” (Katherena Vermette)

Tags: author; Indigenous (author); unspecified sexuality (author); woman (author)

Unplugged

Jett Baranov attends Oasis, a "wellness" camp that forces him to "unplug" from technology. Although unimpressed at first, Jett soon finds that Oasis is a place of friendship, mystery, adventure, and chaos!

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

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

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