NCW Libraries

In 1935, ten-year-old Alex Maki of Bainbridge Island, Washington, is horrified to discover that his new pen pal, Charlie L�evy of Paris, France, is a girl, but in spite of his initial reluctance, their letters continue over the years and they fight for their friendship even as Charlie endures the Nazi occupation and Alex leaves his family in an internment camp and joins the Army.

In 1937, there are recesses in Appalachia no outsiders have ever explored. Two government-sponsored documentarians from Cincinnati, Ohio - a writer and photographer - are dispatched to penetrate this wilderness and record what they find for President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. For photographer Clay Havens, the assignment is his last chance to reboot his flagging career. So when he and his journalist partner are warned away from the...

As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian. When a girl Lekha's age moves in across the street, Lakha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika and she's Desi...

Marley is comfortable with being gay in Winston-Salem, but he never had any real passions until he met Christopher, son of a bigoted television evangelist; the two become an inseparable couple until Christopher's parents send him to a religious program intended to "cure" him of being gay, and outraged Marley tells a very big lie--and then has to deal with the repercussions.

When Carey Parker, a genderqueer teen who dreams of being a diva like their hero Mariah Carey, is cast as the female lead in the school musical, they must fight against discrimination and injustice from their closed-minded school administration.

"Iris opens her eyes to hard truths and the power of her voice when her father dies of AIDS in 1987"-- 1987. Iris tries to act normal at school, going through the motions and joking around with her friends, but it feels like she'll never laugh again. How can she, when her dad is dying of a virus that is off-limits to talk about? When she knows that soon all she will have left of her kind, loving dad are memories, photos, and a binder full of the...

In this poignant, empowering picture book debut, a girl and her beloved abuelita lean on each other as they contend with racism while running errands in the city. Spending time at home with Abuelita means pancakes, puddle-jumping, and nail-painting. But venturing out into the city is not always as fun. On the bus and at the grocery store, people are impatient and suspicious-sometimes they even yell. Sad, angry, and scared, the story's young narrator...

As the Corn Flakes and other members of the Film Club work on a school project about Cuban refugees in the 1980s, a newcomer's prejudices hurt Maggie and challenge Sophie's ability to understand and practice Jesus' teachings.

"A dazzling story about love--for the stars, and for one another--between two young people. Every day, Yakov takes his sisters to the park. He's supposed to look after them, but their games are boring, so he reads about space and dreams of becoming an astronaut instead. His father, though, has other plans: he wants Yakov to take over his grocery store when he grows up. Yakov's world changes when at the park one day, he comes across a girl also reading...

"A nine-year-old Nez Perce Fancy Shawl pow wow dancer, Beth Louie, is killed on the reservation by a hit-and-run drunk driver while walking home from the bus stop with her younger brother. Tire marks and boot tracks on the remote gravel road suggest to a Colville tribal member Ben Moses and his grandson, Alex, who find the two children, that the driver of a pick-up truck tampered with the scene and evidence, and hid the body. Tribal law enforcement...