Young Adult

Give me some truth : a novel with paintings book cover

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.

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Hearts unbroken book cover

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

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Apple in the middle book cover

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." --

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An indigenous peoples' history of the United States for young people book cover

An indigenous peoples' history of the United States for young people

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

970.1 /Dunbar-Ortiz
Young Adult, Nonfiction, History

"Going beyond the story of America as a country "discovered" by a few brave men in the "New World," Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity. The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history"--

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The ballad of songbirds and snakes book cover

The ballad of songbirds and snakes

Suzanne Collins

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Collins Suzanne
Young Adult

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined, every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute, and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

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Fans of the Hunger Games will not be disappointed with this intimate account of a teenage Coriolanus Snow, future president of Panem. -Becky

Laura dean keeps breaking up with me book cover

Laura dean keeps breaking up with me

Mariko Tamaki

eBOOK
Read Woke, LGBTQ+, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Diverse Characters

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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

Toil & trouble : 15 tales of women & witchcraft book cover

Toil & trouble : 15 tales of women & witchcraft

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Toil
Young Adult, Read Woke, Short Story, LGBTQ+, Fantasy

"History is filled with stories of women accused of witchcraft, of fearsome girls with arcane knowledge. Toil & Trouble features fifteen stories of girls embracing their power, reclaiming their destinies and using their magic to create, to curse, to cure--and to kill...This collection reveals a universal truth: there's nothing more powerful than a teenage girl who believes in herself"--Publisher.

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This collection of short stories , some by YA superstars, casts a charm firm and good. Look for culturally, and LGBTQIA+ diverse characters, strong women, and some worlds you won't want to leave. -Casey

Monday's not coming book cover

Monday's not coming

Tiffany D. Jackson

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Jackson Tiffany
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

When her friend Monday Charles goes missing and Monday's mother refuses to give her a straight answer, Claudia digs into her disappearance.

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I wanna be where you are book cover

I wanna be where you are

Kristina Forest

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Forest Kristina
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

When Chloe's mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles from Philadelphia to New York, the nearest audition. When annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, he threatens to tell Chloe's mom if she leaves without him and his smelly dog, Geezer. Now Chloe's chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast, with two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat. -- adapted from jacket

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