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Here are our favorite books about everyday diversity for teens. These titles are classified as Teen Middle School (TM) and can be found in the Teen section of the library.
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Finding Junie Kim
by Ellen Oh
Motivated by an act of racism at her school, Junie Kim learns about her ancestral heritage and her grandparent's experiences as lost children during the Korean War
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Turning Point
by Paula Chase
Told from alternating perspectives, a standalone companion to So Done and Dough Boys follows the experiences of two African American best friends who navigate changing perspectives when their careful practice of the rules does not shield them from racism.
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Omar Rising
by Aisha Saeed
While attending an elite boarding school on scholarship, Omar, the son of a servant, discovers the school makes it nearly impossible for scholarship students to graduate and sets out to do the impossible change a rigged system.
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Fast Pitch
by Nic Stone
"Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way. Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat. Strike two: Shenice's focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending--and family-name-ruining--crime may have been a setup. Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice's teammates are beginning to wonder if she's captain-qualified. It's up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family's past--and fast--before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever"
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King and the Dragonflies
by Kacen Callender
A 12-year-old boy spends days in the mystical Louisiana bayou to come to terms with a sibling’s sudden death, his grief-stricken family and the disappearance of his former best friend amid whispers about the latter’s sexual orientation.
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What Lane? by Torrey MaldonadoBiracial sixth grader Stephen questions the limitations society puts on him after he notices the way strangers treat him when he hangs out with his white friends and tries to navigate his life in a racially split world.
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Recipe for Disaster by Aimee LucidoAfter her best friend has an awesome Bat Mitzvah, Hannah goes behind her parents’ backs to throw her own and as the lies mount and secrets are revealed, she learns what being Jewish is all about.
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Ahmed Aziz's Epic Year by Nina HamzaMoving from Hawaii to Minnesota, Ahmed Aziz is having the worst year. He surprises himself by actually reading the assigned books for his English class: Holes, Bridge to Terabithia, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Shockingly, he doesn’t hate them. He deals with bullies, makes new friends, and uncovers details about his family’s past. Maybe this year won't be so bad after all...
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The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba HigueraThere lived a girl named Petra Peña who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller like her abuelita, but Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children--among them Petra and her family--have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet--and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth.
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Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia FaruqiWith the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks putting his family on edge, Yusuf Azeem-- who wants to participate in the regional robotics competition-- must stand up to the bullies with understanding, justice, and love.
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Parked
by
Danielle Svetcov
Living in an old orange van when her mother is unable to find work, 12-year-old Jeanne Ann befriends the son of a successful restaurant owner and a remarkable group of homeless fellow misfits whose perspectives shape her hardscrabble existence.
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Roll with It
by
Jamie Sumner
Twelve-year-old Ellie, who has cerebral palsy, finds her life transformed when she moves with her mother to small-town Oklahoma to help care for her grandfather who has Alzheimer's Disease.
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The Best at It
by
Maulik Pancholy
Advised by his grandfather to find and master his purpose in life, an Indian American youth living in a small Indiana town struggles to identify his purpose while dodging a bully and learning about his sexual identity.
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The Prettiest
by
Brigit Young
When a list appears online ranking the top fifty prettiest girls in the eighth grade, everything turns upside down. Eve Hoffman, ranked number one, can't ignore how everyone is suddenly talking about her looks. Sophie, the most popular girl in school, feels lower than ever when she's bullied for being ranked number two. Nessa Flores-Brady didn't even make the list, but she doesn't care -- or does she? The three girls ban together to find out who made the list but their journey doesn't lead them where they expect.
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The Water Bears by Kimberly Baker Discovering an unusual bear statue a year after surviving a bear attack, a skeptical Latinx student is surprised when his friend and other neighbors make wishes on the statue that come true before he considers making a wish about his own difficult circumstances.
This book can be found in the Juvenile section of the library.
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Pashmina
by Nidhi Chanani
When Priyanka finds a mysterious pashmina in her house, she is transported to an India which may or may not be real. The pashmina takes her in search of the reason why her mother left her homeland and the father she has never met.
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Charlie Hernández & The League of Shadows
by Ryan Calejo
Inspired by Latin-American folklore, this debut novel follows the story of a pragmatic boy who disregards his abuela's stories about Iberian Peninsula monsters before he undergoes an astonishing transformation and discovers his heritage as a protector of the Land of the Living.
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A Good Kind of Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramée
Strictly following the rules to pursue her junior-high ambitions, 12-year-old Shayla is forced to choose between her education and her identity when her sister joins the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of a powerful protest.
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All of Me
by Chris Baron
Thirteen-year-old Ari faces what it is to be a man while dealing with a cross-country move, his parents' separation, being bullied for his weight, and belatedly starting bar mitzvah preparations.
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Amina's Voice by Hena KhanAmina, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl, struggles to stay true to her family's culture while dealing with the vandalism of the local Islamic Center and her best friend's new pal, their former nemesis.
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