Diverse Characters
The Tea Dragon Society
Katie (Cartoonist) O'Neill
jGRAPHIC NOVEL O'Neill
Diverse Characters, Adventure, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novels, Kids
After discovering a lost Tea Dragon in the marketplace, apprentice blacksmith Greta learns about the dying art form of Tea Dragon caretaking from the kind tea shop owners.
Heartstopper
Alice Oseman
GRAPHIC NOVEL Oseman Heartstopper
Diverse Characters, LGBTQ+, Romance, Graphic Novels, Young Adult
Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork. Absolutely delightful. Sweet, romantic, kind. Beautifully paced. I loved this book. -- Rainbow Rowell, author of Carry On Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.
Alice Oseman writes my favorite graphic novel series -- Heartstopper! Nick and Charlie's love story is guaranteed to melt hearts. If you, too, can't get enough of this series, be sure to check out the TV show, which Alice Oseman also helped produce. -Violette
Old enough : a novel
Haley Jakobson
FICTION Jakobson Haley
Diverse Characters, Fiction, LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult
"Savannah 'Sav' Henry is almost the person she wants to be, or at least she's getting closer. It's the second semester of her sophomore year. She's finally come out as bisexual, is making friends with the other queers in her dorm, and has just about recovered from her disastrous first queer 'situationship.' She is cautiously optimistic that her life is about the begin. But when she learns that Izzie, her best friend from childhood, has gotten engaged, Sav faces a crisis of confidence. Things with Izzie haven't been the same since what happened between Sav and Izzie's brother when Sav was sixteen. Now, with the wedding around the corner, Sav is forced to reckon with trauma she thought she could put behind her. On top of it all, Sav can't stop thinking about Wes from her Gender Studies class--sweet, funny Wes, with their long eyelashes and green backpack. There's something different here--with Wes and her new friends; it feels, terrifyingly, like they might truly see her. With a singulary funny, heartfelt voice, Old Enough explores queer love, community, and what it means to be a survivor in a post #MeToo world. Haley Jakobson has written a love letter to friendship and an honest depiction of what it means to find your people"--
I love this book because it illustrates what it's like to be a young queer woman navigating the world through self discovery. I would recommend Old Enough to anyone who is questioning their identity, as Haley Jakobson shows the power of finding your community and loving yourself just as you are. -Violette
Gender queer
Maia Kobabe
306.768 /Kobabe
Diverse Characters, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novels, Memoir, Young Adult
"In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere."--Amazon.
Gender Queer is one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. In this memoir, we follow Maia's journey of self discovery in finding eir gender identity, coming out to eir friends and family, and making eir place in this world. A truly essential text for LGBTQ+ young adults, advocates, and anyone wishing to make the world a kinder, more compassionate place for everyone to exist in. -Violette
Our work is everywhere : an illustrated oral history of queer & trans resistance
Syan Rose
306.76 /Rose
Diverse Characters, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction
"A visually stunning graphic non-fiction book on queer and trans resistance. Over the past ten years, we have witnessed the rise of queer and trans communities that have defied and challenged those who have historically opposed them. Through bold, symbolic imagery and surrealist, overlapping landscapes, queer illustrator and curator Syan Rose shines a light on the faces and voices of these diverse, amorphous, messy, real, and imagined queer and trans communities. In their own words, queer and trans organizers, artists, healers, comrades, and leaders speak honestly and authentically about their own experiences with power, love, pain, and magic to create a textured and nuanced portrait of queer and trans realities in America. The many themes include Black femme mental health, Pacific Islander authorship, fat queer performance art, disability and health care practice, sex worker activism, and much more. Accompanying the narratives are Rose's startling and sinuous images that brings these leaders' words to visual life. Our Work Is Everywhere is a graphic non-fiction book that underscores the brilliance and passion of queer and trans resistance. Includes a foreword by Lambda Literary Award-winning author and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, author of Care Work : Dreaming Disability Justice."--
Our Work Is Everywhere is a beautiful graphic novel depicting the history of queer and trans resistance. Syan Rose's illustrations are so stunning--I could read this book over and over again. You should too! -Violette
Malibu rising : a novel
Taylor Jenkins Reid
FICTION Reid Taylor
Diverse Characters, Fiction
August 1983. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their baby sister, Kit. The siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over-- especially as the offspring of legendary singer Mick Riva. It's the day of Nina's annual end-of-summer party, and she's the only person not looking forward to it after being abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Hud needs to confess something to the brother from whom he's been inseparable since birth. Jay is counting the minutes until the girl he can't stop thinking about promised she'll be there. And Kit has a couple secrets of her own. The alcohol will flow, the music will play... and by morning the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. -- adapted from jacket
I love all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books, but this one is my favorite! The family dynamics are written incredibly well in this novel, and I would certainly recommend it as a summer read! -Violette
¡Vamos! let's celebrate Halloween and Día de los Muertos
1976- author Raúl the Third
j394.2646 Raul
Diverse Characters, Picture Books
"Little Lobo is celebrating two big holidays this fall! On Halloween, he and his friends dress up in costumes, trick-or-treat for candy, and share spooky stories. Then, everyone in the town prepares food, drinks, and other gifts and decorates the cemetery with ofrendas so they can enjoy Día de los Muertos with the spirits of the people they love. Join Little Lobo and his friends as they celebrate, and learn some Spanish and traditions along the way!"--Back cover.
I love, love, love Raul's illustrations, and this is a great way to combine and explain the two holidays in both English and Spanish! -Mari
Black Sun
Rebecca Roanhorse
SCIENCE FICTION Roanhorse, Rebecca
Diverse Characters, Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQ+
"A god will return when the earth and sky converge under the black sun in the holy city of Tova... The winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man's mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade"--Provided by publisher.
"Between Earth and Sky" is an excellent series, and it just concluded with "Mirrored Heavens" this year. Roanhorse creates a detailed and intriguing wold inspired by Native American cultures. I love how messy the politics get in this series. The main characters are frequently at odds with one another and the tensions that creates are fascinating to explore. -Chelsea
Racialism and the media Black Jesus, Black Twitter, and the first Black American president
Venise T. Berry
Black Lives Matter, Black History, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Nonfiction, Political
"Racialism and Media: Black-ish, Black Jesus and the First Black American President is an exploration of how the nature of racial ideology has changed in our society. Yes, there are still ugly racists who push uglier racism, but there are also popular constructions of race routinely woven into mediated images and messages. This book examines selected exemplars of racialism moving beyond traditional racism. In the Twenty-First century, we need a more nuanced understanding of racial constructions. Denouncing anything and everything problematic as racist or racism simply does not work, especially if we want to move toward a real solution to America's race problems. Racialism involves images and messages that are produced, distributed, and consumed repetitively and intertextually based on stereotypes, biased framing, and historical myths about African American culture. These images and messages are eventually normalized through the media, ultimately shaping and influencing societal ideology and behavior. Through the lens of critical race theory chapters examine issues of intersectionality in Crash, changing Black identity in Black-ish, the balancing of stereotypes in prime-time black male and female roles, the power of Black images and messages in advertising, the cultural wealth offered through Black Twitter, biased media framing of the first Black American President, the satirical parody of Black Jesus, contemporary Zip Coon stereotypes in film, the problematic popularity of ghettofabulous black culture, and finally the evolution of black representation in science fiction"
Before watching the doc, read the book! How are negative depictions of race portrayed and what can be done about it? Curious how the film will take such a broad subject and capture it in a short doc! Racialism in the Media was written by Iowa professor Venice Berry. Her brother, also in Iowa City, Steve Toriano Berry made a documentary to accompany it. This event will take place at the Library as part of the 2024 Iowa City Book Festival: https://www.icpl.org/events/52476/icbf-24-film-screening-racialism-and-media -Katie
Gods of jade and shadow : a novel
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
SCIENCE FICTION Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Diverse Characters, Fiction, Fantasy
"The Mayan God of Death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore"--
Came for the fantasy adventure, tripped and broke my heart on the romance. -Chelsea
The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill introduces us to an incredible world filled with miniature dragons that, when loved and cared for properly, produce magical tea leaves. When these tea leaves are brewed and consumed, they have the power to share memories. Check out this trilogy for an incredibly heartwarming universe -- complete with a miniature tea dragon guide that I just adored! -Violette