Fiction
Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi
FICTION Gyasi Yaa
Fiction
"A novel about faith, science, religion, and family that tells the deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief, narrated by a fifth year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford school of medicine studying the neural circuits of reward seeking behavior in mice"--
How to make friends with the sea
Tanya Guerrero
jFICTION Guerrero Tanya
Fiction
Moving to the Philippines with his zoologist mother, twelve-year-old Pablo struggles with anxiety while his mother fosters an orphaned child with a facial anomaly.
Added by Anne W
Sara and the search for normal
Wesley King
jFICTION King Wesley
Fiction
Seventh-grader Sara wants to be normal but her panic attacks and other episodes cause her to isolate herself until, in group therapy, she meets talkative and outgoing Erin, her first friend.
Added by Anne W
As brave as you
Jason Reynolds
jFICTION Reynolds Jason
Fiction
"When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires--literally"--
Added by Anne W
Song for a whale
Lynne Kelly
jFICTION Kelly Lynne
Fiction
Twelve-year-old Iris and her grandmother, both deaf, drive from Texas to Alaska armed with Iris's plan to help Blue-55, a whale unable to communicate with other whales.
Added by Anne W
The year we fell from space
A. S. (Amy Sarig) King
jFICTION King A. S.
Fiction
Middle schooler Liberty likes to make her own maps of the stars, in fact she is obsessed with them, especially since her family is falling apart; her parents are getting divorced, her nine-year-old sister will barely leave the house and carries a stuffed tiger at all times, her father is suffering from depression, but will not talk about it, and the brothers down the street, once friends, have turned into bullies--so when a tiny meteorite literally falls in her lap it is like a sign, but a sign of what?
Added by Anne W
Each tiny spark
Pablo Cartaya
jFICTION Cartaya Pablo
Fiction
Sixth-grader Emilia Torres struggles with ADHD, her controlling abuela, her mother's work commitments, her father's distance after returning from deployment, evolving friendships, and a conflict over school redistricting.
Added by Anne W
Get a grip, Vivy Cohen
Sarah Kapit
jFICTION Kapit Sarah
Fiction
Eleven-year-old knuckleball pitcher Vivy Cohen, who has autism, becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class.
Added by Anne W
Can you see me?
Libby Scott
jFICTION Scott Libby
Fiction
Eleven-year-old Tally is starting sixth grade at Kingswood Academy and she really wants to fit in, which means somehow hiding her autism, hypersensitivity to touch, and true self, and trying to act "normal" like her former best friend, Layla, who is distancing herself from Tally and her fourteen-year-old sister, Nell, who is always angry with Tally for being different; but as she records her thoughts and anxieties in her coping diary, Tally begins to wonder--what is "normal" anyway?
Added by Anne W
Gyasi weaves a poignant story of Gifty; a child of an Ghanaian immigrant growing up in the US. Facing loss, dealing with familial addiction and mental illness and the pursuit of excellence, Gyasi adeptly describes a main character who constantly straddles the duality of country and culture. A tender book about deep and difficult subjects. If you're waiting for this book, check out Gyasi's previous novel; Homegoing-an excellent and intrepid historical-fiction work following different Asante descendants and their generational fate. Also check out Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue. -Victoria