Diverse Characters
Fire song
Adam Garnet Jones
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Jones Adam
Young Adult, Diverse Characters
"How can Shane reconcile his feelings for David with his desire for a better life? Shane is still reeling from the suicide of his kid sister, Destiny. How could he have missed the fact that she was so sad? He tries to share his grief with his girlfriend, Tara, but she's too concerned with her own needs to offer him much comfort. What he really wants is to be able to turn to the one person on the rez whom he loves--his friend, David. Things go from bad to worse as Shane's dream of going to university is shattered and his grieving mother withdraws from the world. Worst of all, he and David have to hide their relationship from everyone. Shane feels that his only chance of a better life is moving to Toronto, but David refuses to join him. When yet another tragedy strikes, the two boys have to make difficult choices about their future together. With deep insight into the life of Indigenous people on the reserve, this book masterfully portrays how a community looks to the past for guidance and comfort while fearing a future of poverty and shame"--
Give me some truth : a novel with paintings
Eric L. Gansworth
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Ganswort Eric
Young Adult, Diverse Characters
In 1980 life is hard on the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New York, and most of the teenagers feel like they are going nowhere: Carson Mastick dreams of forming a rock band, and Maggi Bokoni longs to create her own conceptual artwork instead of the traditional beadwork that her family sells to tourists--but tensions are rising between the reservation and the surrounding communities, and somehow in the confusion of politics and growing up Carson and Maggi have to make a place for themselves.
Added by Anne W
How I became a ghost : a Choctaw Trail of Tears story
Tim Tingle
jFICTION Tingle Tim
Kids, Diverse Characters
Added by Anne W
Hearts unbroken
Cynthia Leitich Smith
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Smith Cynthia
Young Adult, Diverse Characters
When Louise Wolfe's boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. She'd rather spend her senior year with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, an ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper's staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director's inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey. But 'dating while Native' can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey's? -- adapted from jacket
Added by Anne W
Apple in the middle
Dawn Quigley
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Quigley Dawn
Young Adult, Diverse Characters
"Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesn't accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance. Apple's name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, but also the negative connotation a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white on the inside. After her wealthy father gives her the boot one summer, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northern North Dakota for the first time. Apple learns to deal with the culture shock of Indian customs and the Native Michif language, while she tries to find a connection to her dead mother. She also has to deal with a vengeful Indian man who loved her mother in high school but now hates Apple because her mom married a white man. Bouncing in the middle of two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, shatters Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color." --
Added by Anne W
The birchbark house
Louise Erdrich
jFICTION Erdrich, Louise
Kids, Diverse Characters
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.
Added by Anne W
I can make this promise
Christine Day
jFICTION Day Christin
Kids, Diverse Characters
"When twelve-year-old Edie finds letters and photographs in her attic that change everything she thought she knew about her Native American mother's adoption, she realizes she has a lot to learn about her family's history and her own identity"--
Added by Anne W
Dragons in a bag
Zetta Elliott
eAUDIO
Read Woke, Fantasy, Adventure, Diverse Characters
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
I love this book! We have yet to read The Dragon Thief as a family and I'm feeling a little behind. Time to reread the first installment so we can catch up! -Casey
Inside out & back again
Thanhha Lai
eAUDIO
Read Woke, Poetry, Diverse Characters, Historical Fiction
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.
Achingly beautiful poetry combined with a powerful immigration story make this a Middle Grade novel not to miss. Great for reading aloud as a family as well. -Casey
Laura dean keeps breaking up with me
Mariko Tamaki
eBOOK
Read Woke, LGBTQ+, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Diverse Characters
Touching and beautifully rendered in grayscale with occasional splashes of pink, this is a love story for everyone. If you have yet to be kicked to the curb by Laura Dean, it might be time to get dumped. -Casey
Added by Anne W