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

One Last Stop

Casey McQuiston's One Last Stop is a romance novel about a girl who gives up on love but ends up falling for someone who was unexpected.

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

The main character, Aisha, is a nineteen-year-old black single mother of two living in the New York Projects. She does not take life too seriously and tries to enjoy it as much as she can -- that is, until she receives a welfare benefits termination…

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

Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen's Kittycat Club

Karen endeavours to start a cat-sitting club with her friend, Hannie, neighbour, Amanda, and their family pets. This is the fourth installment in a series of graphic-novel adapted versions of Ann M. Martin's Babysitter's Little Sister series.

Tags: brown skin (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); graphic novel; language: English; unspecified sexuality (primary character); unspecified sexuality (secondary characters); white, confirmed (primary character)

A Snake Falls to Earth

A coming-of-age story about Nina, a 16-year-old Lipan Apache girl from Texas and Oli, a cottonmouth snake person. Nina believes in old stories and the idea there's much more to life than what is on Earth. Oli is from the Reflecting World and learns…

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

Blood Like Magic

A teen with is forced to sacrifice the love of her life in order to preserve her family's magical powers. Being a teen, she has never been in love and is tasked with finding Mr. Right in order to kill him. She applies for a matchmaking program and is…

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

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

Mindy Kim and the Big Pizza Challenge (Mindy Kim Series)

In the sixth novel of the series, Mindy Kim, an Asian American child, enters a pizza trivia contest with her father. Mindy must help her father overcome some cultural differences and references that he does not understand, while her father simply…

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

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

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

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)

Pinkalicious and the Babysitter

Based on the PBS Kids TV series Pinkalicious & Peterrific, Pinkalicious and the Babysitter is a tie-in that follows Maya as she babysits Peter and Pinkalicious. WhenPeter accidentally breaks his mother’s mug, Pinkalicious takes on the challenge…

Tags: boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (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 (primary character); white, assumed (secondary characters)

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

Switches between the perspectives of Leena and Campbell, two teenagers trying to make it home from a football game in Atlanta, through a race-related protest-turned-riot with police presence.

Tags: Black/african (author); Black/African (primary character); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; white (author); white (primary character); woman (author)

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)

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

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)

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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)

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

Merry Christmas, Anne

A holiday book inspired by L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. Anne explores friendship, thankfulness, and showing appreciation around Christmastime.

Tags: Christian (primary character); girl/woman (primary character); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; picture book; unspecified sexuality (primary character); white, confirmed (primary character); white, confirmed (secondary characters)

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

After having lost her mother and two sisters, 12-year-old Coyote has been living with her Dad in a school bus, traveling everywhere but their hometown. When she learns that the park where she had buried a memory box is about to be demolished, she…

Tags: Black/African (secondary characters); boy/man (secondary characters); girl/woman (primary character); girl/woman (secondary characters); human (primary character); human (secondary characters); language: English; Latinx (secondary characters); LGBTQ+ (secondary characters); man (author); white (author); white (illustrator); white (primary character); woman (illustrator)

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