YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Diversity & Multicultural
Showing results 1-10 of 10
Filter Results OPEN +
Rural Voices
15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America
Price: $11.99
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
Format: Paperback
“From laughing out loud to holding back tears, readers who enjoy emotionally resonant books will not be disappointed” —School Library Journal
Gracie sees a chance of fitting in at her South Carolina private school, until a “white trash”–themed Halloween party has her steering clear of the rich kids. Samuel’s Tejano family has both stood up to oppression and been a source of it, but now he’s ready to own his true sexual identity. A Puerto Rican teen in Utah discovers that being a rodeo queen means embracing her heritage, not shedding it. . . .
For most of America’s history, rural people and culture have been casually mocked, stereotyped, and deeply misunderstood. Now an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors’ real lives, dives deep into the complexity and diversity of rural America and the people who call it home. Fifteen extraordinary authors—diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status—explore the challenges, beauty, and nuances of growing up in rural America. From a mountain town in New Mexico to the gorges of New York to the arctic tundra of Alaska, you’ll find yourself visiting parts of this country you might not know existed—and meet characters whose lives might be surprisingly similar to your own.
With contributions by:
David Bowles
Joseph Bruchac
Veeda Bybee
Nora Shalaway Carpenter
Shae Carys
S. A. Cosby
Rob Costello
Randy DuBurke
David Macinnis Gill
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
Estelle Laure
Yamile Saied Méndez
Ashley Hope Pérez
Tirzah Price
Monica Roe
Between Two Skies
Price: $7.99
Pub Date: April 24, 2019
Format: Paperback
“A delicate, captivating story; her descriptions of Katrina and its monstrous damage are vivid and heart-wrenching.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)
Bayou Perdu, a tiny fishing town way, way down in Louisiana, is home to sixteen-year-old Evangeline Riley. She has her best friends, her wise Mamere, and, dearest to her heart, she has the peace that only comes when she takes her skiff out to where there is nothing but sky and air and water and wings. It’s a small life, but it is Evangeline’s. And then the storm comes, and everything changes. With a strong, steady voice, a keen sense of place, and a vivid cast of characters, here is a novel that asks compelling questions about class and politics, exile and belonging, and the pain of being cast out of your home. But above all, this remarkable debut tells a gently woven love story, difficult to put down, impossible to forget.
The Stars at Oktober Bend
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: May 8, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Beautiful, lyrical prose, told in two voices, lifts up a poignant story of two traumatized teens who find each other in a small riverside town.
i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.
Hell and High Water
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: June 13, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Mystery turns to mortal danger as one young man’s quest to clear his father’s name ensnares him in a net of deceit, conspiracy, and intrigue in 1750s England.
Caleb has spent his life roaming southern England with his Pa, little to their names but his father’s signet ring and a puppet theater for popular, raunchy Punch and Judy shows — until the day Pa is convicted of a theft he didn’t commit and sentenced to transportation to the colonies in America. From prison, Caleb’s father sends him to the coast to find an aunt Caleb never knew he had. His aunt welcomes him into her home, but her neighbors see only Caleb’s dark skin. Still, Caleb slowly falls into a strange rhythm in his new life . . . until one morning he finds a body washed up on the shore. The face is unrecognizable after its time at sea, but the signet ring is unmistakable: it can only be Caleb’s father. Mystery piles on mystery as both church and state deny what Caleb knows. From award-winning British author Tanya Landman comes a heart-stopping story of race, class, family, and corruption so deep it can kill.
The Foretelling of Georgie Spider
The Tribe, Book 3
Series: The Tribe
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: May 9, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Past, present, and future come to a head for Ashala and her friends in a heart-stopping, deeply satisfying conclusion to the Tribe series.
Georgie Spider has foretold the end of the world, and the only one who can stop it is Ashala Wolf. But Georgie has also foreseen Ashala’s death. As the world shifts around the Tribe, Ashala fights to protect those she loves from old enemies and new threats. And Georgie fights to save Ashala. Georgie Spider can see the future — but can she change it? In the third and final book of the thrilling Tribe trilogy, author Ambelin Kwaymullina draws inspiration from the people, lands, and history of her native Australia to deliver a powerful saga about respect for others and the earth.
Darkness Hidden: The Name of the Blade, Book Two
Series: The Name of the Blade
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: November 10, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Zoë Marriott’s inventive, Japanese-inflected urban fantasy raises the stakes in a sweeping second installment.
Against all odds, Mio has defeated the evil Nekomata and seen her love, Shinobu, restored to life. But in the wake of the battle, Mio’s unsettling connection to the katana—an ancient sword her family has been compelled to guard for generations—has grown more frightening. And now the Underworld has sent the Shikome—foul women whose feathers carry death—to spread a supernatural plague through London. With her best friend in the hospital, Shinobu’s very existence at risk, and the city in chaos, Mio realizes there is no way she can keep everyone she loves alive. What terrible sacrifice must she make to save the world?
The Name of the Blade
Series: The Name of the Blade
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: November 11, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Ancient Japanese gods and monsters are unleashed on modern-day London in this first book of an epic trilogy from acclaimed fantasy writer Zoë Marriott.
When Mio sneaks the family’s katana — a priceless ancestral sword —from her parents’ attic, she just wants to spice up a costume. But the katana is much more than a dusty antique. Awakening the power within the sword unleashes a terrible, ancient evil onto the streets of unsuspecting London. But it also releases Shinobu, a fearless warrior boy, from the depths of time. He helps to protect Mio — and steals her heart. With creatures straight out of Japanese myths stalking her and her friends, Mio realizes that if she cannot keep the sword safe and learn to control its legendary powers, she will lose not only her own life . . . but the love of a lifetime.
Sister Mischief
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: August 6, 2013
Format: Paperback
“Full of big ideas, big heart, and big poetry, with a positive, activist message.” — Booklist (starred review)
Listen up: You’re about to get rocked by the fiercest, baddest all-girl hip-hop crew in the Twin Cities — or at least in the wealthy, white, Bible-thumping suburb of Holyhill, Minnesota. Our heroine, Jewish lesbian lyricist Esme Rockett (aka MC Ferocious), freaks out her Christian high school — and falls in love — in this righteously funny and totally tender YA debut. Exciting talent Laura Goode lays down a snappy, provocative, and heartfelt novel about discovering the rhythm of your own truth.
Pick-Up Game
A Full Day of Full Court
Price: $7.99
Pub Date: October 9, 2012
Format: Paperback
"Nine all-stars in the field of YA lit contribute stories. . . . An anthology of stand-alone stories that invite — no, demand — a straight read-through." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previous one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game of street basketball. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems and photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.
Shadows on the Moon
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: April 24, 2012
Format: E-Book
A powerful tale of magic, love, and revenge set in fairy-tale Japan.
Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to re-create herself in any form — a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? Or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or is she Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to use her skills to steal the heart of a prince in a revenge plot to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even the one true aspect of her life- her love for a fellow shadow-weaver.

Rural Voices
15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America
Price: $11.99
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
Format: Paperback
“From laughing out loud to holding back tears, readers who enjoy emotionally resonant books will not be disappointed” —School Library Journal
Gracie sees a chance of fitting in at her South Carolina private school, until a “white trash”–themed Halloween party has her steering clear of the rich kids. Samuel’s Tejano family has both stood up to oppression and been a source of it, but now he’s ready to own his true sexual identity. A Puerto Rican teen in Utah discovers that being a rodeo queen means embracing her heritage, not shedding it. . . .
For most of America’s history, rural people and culture have been casually mocked, stereotyped, and deeply misunderstood. Now an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors’ real lives, dives deep into the complexity and diversity of rural America and the people who call it home. Fifteen extraordinary authors—diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status—explore the challenges, beauty, and nuances of growing up in rural America. From a mountain town in New Mexico to the gorges of New York to the arctic tundra of Alaska, you’ll find yourself visiting parts of this country you might not know existed—and meet characters whose lives might be surprisingly similar to your own.
With contributions by:
David Bowles
Joseph Bruchac
Veeda Bybee
Nora Shalaway Carpenter
Shae Carys
S. A. Cosby
Rob Costello
Randy DuBurke
David Macinnis Gill
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
Estelle Laure
Yamile Saied Méndez
Ashley Hope Pérez
Tirzah Price
Monica Roe
Between Two Skies
Price: $7.99
Pub Date: April 24, 2019
Format: Paperback
“A delicate, captivating story; her descriptions of Katrina and its monstrous damage are vivid and heart-wrenching.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)
Bayou Perdu, a tiny fishing town way, way down in Louisiana, is home to sixteen-year-old Evangeline Riley. She has her best friends, her wise Mamere, and, dearest to her heart, she has the peace that only comes when she takes her skiff out to where there is nothing but sky and air and water and wings. It’s a small life, but it is Evangeline’s. And then the storm comes, and everything changes. With a strong, steady voice, a keen sense of place, and a vivid cast of characters, here is a novel that asks compelling questions about class and politics, exile and belonging, and the pain of being cast out of your home. But above all, this remarkable debut tells a gently woven love story, difficult to put down, impossible to forget.
The Stars at Oktober Bend
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: May 8, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Beautiful, lyrical prose, told in two voices, lifts up a poignant story of two traumatized teens who find each other in a small riverside town.
i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.
Hell and High Water
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: June 13, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Mystery turns to mortal danger as one young man’s quest to clear his father’s name ensnares him in a net of deceit, conspiracy, and intrigue in 1750s England.
Caleb has spent his life roaming southern England with his Pa, little to their names but his father’s signet ring and a puppet theater for popular, raunchy Punch and Judy shows — until the day Pa is convicted of a theft he didn’t commit and sentenced to transportation to the colonies in America. From prison, Caleb’s father sends him to the coast to find an aunt Caleb never knew he had. His aunt welcomes him into her home, but her neighbors see only Caleb’s dark skin. Still, Caleb slowly falls into a strange rhythm in his new life . . . until one morning he finds a body washed up on the shore. The face is unrecognizable after its time at sea, but the signet ring is unmistakable: it can only be Caleb’s father. Mystery piles on mystery as both church and state deny what Caleb knows. From award-winning British author Tanya Landman comes a heart-stopping story of race, class, family, and corruption so deep it can kill.
The Foretelling of Georgie Spider
The Tribe, Book 3
Series: The Tribe
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: May 9, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Past, present, and future come to a head for Ashala and her friends in a heart-stopping, deeply satisfying conclusion to the Tribe series.
Georgie Spider has foretold the end of the world, and the only one who can stop it is Ashala Wolf. But Georgie has also foreseen Ashala’s death. As the world shifts around the Tribe, Ashala fights to protect those she loves from old enemies and new threats. And Georgie fights to save Ashala. Georgie Spider can see the future — but can she change it? In the third and final book of the thrilling Tribe trilogy, author Ambelin Kwaymullina draws inspiration from the people, lands, and history of her native Australia to deliver a powerful saga about respect for others and the earth.
Darkness Hidden: The Name of the Blade, Book Two
Series: The Name of the Blade
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: November 10, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Zoë Marriott’s inventive, Japanese-inflected urban fantasy raises the stakes in a sweeping second installment.
Against all odds, Mio has defeated the evil Nekomata and seen her love, Shinobu, restored to life. But in the wake of the battle, Mio’s unsettling connection to the katana—an ancient sword her family has been compelled to guard for generations—has grown more frightening. And now the Underworld has sent the Shikome—foul women whose feathers carry death—to spread a supernatural plague through London. With her best friend in the hospital, Shinobu’s very existence at risk, and the city in chaos, Mio realizes there is no way she can keep everyone she loves alive. What terrible sacrifice must she make to save the world?
The Name of the Blade
Series: The Name of the Blade
Price: $16.99
Pub Date: November 11, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Ancient Japanese gods and monsters are unleashed on modern-day London in this first book of an epic trilogy from acclaimed fantasy writer Zoë Marriott.
When Mio sneaks the family’s katana — a priceless ancestral sword —from her parents’ attic, she just wants to spice up a costume. But the katana is much more than a dusty antique. Awakening the power within the sword unleashes a terrible, ancient evil onto the streets of unsuspecting London. But it also releases Shinobu, a fearless warrior boy, from the depths of time. He helps to protect Mio — and steals her heart. With creatures straight out of Japanese myths stalking her and her friends, Mio realizes that if she cannot keep the sword safe and learn to control its legendary powers, she will lose not only her own life . . . but the love of a lifetime.
Sister Mischief
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: August 6, 2013
Format: Paperback
“Full of big ideas, big heart, and big poetry, with a positive, activist message.” — Booklist (starred review)
Listen up: You’re about to get rocked by the fiercest, baddest all-girl hip-hop crew in the Twin Cities — or at least in the wealthy, white, Bible-thumping suburb of Holyhill, Minnesota. Our heroine, Jewish lesbian lyricist Esme Rockett (aka MC Ferocious), freaks out her Christian high school — and falls in love — in this righteously funny and totally tender YA debut. Exciting talent Laura Goode lays down a snappy, provocative, and heartfelt novel about discovering the rhythm of your own truth.
Pick-Up Game
A Full Day of Full Court
Price: $7.99
Pub Date: October 9, 2012
Format: Paperback
"Nine all-stars in the field of YA lit contribute stories. . . . An anthology of stand-alone stories that invite — no, demand — a straight read-through." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previous one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game of street basketball. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems and photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.
Shadows on the Moon
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: April 24, 2012
Format: E-Book
A powerful tale of magic, love, and revenge set in fairy-tale Japan.
Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to re-create herself in any form — a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? Or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or is she Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to use her skills to steal the heart of a prince in a revenge plot to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even the one true aspect of her life- her love for a fellow shadow-weaver.