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“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville.” Thus begins Rose Goode’s story of her growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. It’s a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle — a scholar of his nation’s language, culture, and spirituality — tells Rose’s story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.

Life for 14-year old Tomi Nakaji and other Japanese-Americans living on the Hawaiian island of Oahu has changed radically since the bombing of Pearl Harbor the previous year. He confronts violence, despair but ultimately finds hope in this gripping sequel to Under the Blood-Red Sun (1994).

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy—he just didn’t think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is his only option. Right? Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature… until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a US Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom. At turns uplifting and devastating, How It All Blew Up is Arvin Ahmadi’s most powerful novel yet, a celebration of how life’s most painful moments can live alongside the riotous, life-changing joys of discovering who you are. 

Sandra sees her mother and sister gunned down when she is ten. Surviving that massacre, she becomes a refugee struggling with no home and no money. Sandra escapes, comes to the United States, and faces many challenges while building a new life.

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white. In the aftermath of Tariq’s death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. 

Growing up is particularly difficult for Evie Green as she has no past. She lost it when her father testified against fellow police officers in a racially motivated murder. Each family member must learn to deal with their new lives and identities alone.

In a terrifying, futuristic United States where Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin must lead a revolution against complicit silence.

Subtle references and evocative language introduce Jesse Owens and what he faced as a Gold Medalist — an African American in Hitler’s 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. An endnote provides more information.

Readers first met young Yuki and her Japanese American family in Journey to Topaz, a story based on the author’s experience of having her own family uprooted and sent to the Relocation Center in Topaz, Utah. This novel continues their story after they are released into a society full of prejudice and fear.

Justice knows how it can go down for African American young men, and it isn’t always fair. Still, he’s pretty sure living on the straight and narrow will keep him safe. Pining over his crush Ebony, writing rap lyrics, and looking forward to chess games in the park, Justice never imagines he could be labeled a criminal. Then his teacher’s phone and wallet are stolen, and Justice finds himself at the center of the investigation. Can Justice prove he’s innocent, or will he be wrongly convicted of a crime he never committed?

At-risk teenagers congregate at a safe house, and we gradually learn what brought each of them there—an unplanned pregnancy, harassment about sexual orientation, and an unloving foster parent. A complicated poetic format (sestinas) doesn’t make for a complicated read — the plot is equal to the poetry.

Life could be better for twelve-year-old Jacques. His mother just died, his father is jobless, and his grandmother’s bridal store is on the verge of closing. At least he can look forward to the soccer season — after all, he’s a shoo-in for captain. But the arrival of Somali refugees shakes up nearly everything in his French-American Maine town, even soccer. Jacques isn’t the only star anymore. School, church, sports … everything suddenly seems different. So Jacques is surprised to find himself becoming friends with Kiki, a smart, kind, and strong-minded Somali Muslim girl with a mysterious scar. Can kids as seemingly different as Jacques and Kiki be friends as their town learns to embrace its changing face?

Two Japanese American sisters grow up in post World War II America in this Newbery winning book. Katie is the little sister to Lynn, and Lynn is her mentor and friend. When Lynn develops a terminal illness, Katie must try to keep her spirit alive and “kira-kira.” This is also a wonderful audiobook.

Lyndon B. Johnson was one of the most complex and compelling presidents in US history. Anne Quirk’s biography alternates between chapters that follow LBJ’s childhood in rural Texas learning politics from his parents, his time teaching Mexican American students at a small-town school, and his days in Congress as majority leader and as vice president; and chapters that cover his work alongside civil rights leaders and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. An epilogue discusses the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling that struck down key portions of the act. With engaging storytelling, Quirk paints a rich portrait of Johnson’s presidency, celebrating the accomplishments of his Great Society programs while refusing to shy away from his catastrophic decisions regarding Vietnam and the summer riots of 1967.

When Jefferson’s attorney states, “I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this,” disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help Jefferson gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution.

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. This Coretta Scott King Author Honor book tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement — when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle and they had to maintain their dignity—and safety—in a society that tried to keep them in its bottom ranks. 

A girl walks home from school. She’s tall for her age. She’s wearing her winter coat. Her headphones are in. She’s hurrying. She never makes it home. In the aftermath, while law enforcement tries to justify the response, one fact remains: a police officer has shot and killed a thirteen-year-old girl. The community is thrown into upheaval, leading to unrest, a growing movement to protest the senseless taking of Black lives, and the arrival of white supremacist counter demonstrators.

Through a class poetry assignment, fifth-grader Lonnie reveals the house fire that killed his parents, his separation from his sister, his life in foster care, and his community’s struggle with poverty and racism.

Fifteen-year-old Will’s big brother has been shot and killed. According to the rules that Will has been taught, it is now his job to kill the person responsible. He easily finds his brother’s gun and gets on the elevator to head down from his eighth-floor apartment. But it’s a long way down to the ground floor. At each floor, a different person gets on to tell a story. Each of these people is already dead. As they relate their tales, readers learn about the cycle of violence in which Will is caught up.

Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B. Little relate their Mississippi family’s struggles and triumphs from 1927 to 1968 while struggling as sharecroppers, living under Jim Crow, and fighting for Civil Rights.

Larger than life Maniac Magee is a modern folk hero, particularly in the small town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania where he brings together people from opposite sides of the track. Unforgettable characters deal poignantly, often humorously, with race, poverty, and more in this contemporary tall tale.

Discover the inside story of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures, the late Congressman John Lewis. March is the award-winning, #1 bestselling graphic novel trilogy recounting his life in the movement, co-written with Andrew Aydin and drawn by Nate Powell. This commemorative set contains all three volumes of March in one edition.

She was born free in New York City during slavery and turmoil in the United States and went on to graduate from an all-white high school. Maritcha Lyon’s story is drawn from her memoir, augmented by primary source material to bring a girl and the time in which she lived into focus for contemporary readers.