An intersectional look at the strength we draw from our communities, our families (both blood and found) and how we can work together to make our community a better place.
Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. As a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the "greater good" that Bayt-Sajji's military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in greater danger than she ever imagined.
After being hospitalized for depression, fourteen-year-old Kayla is sent from her home in Trinidad to live with her aunt in Canada, yearning to feel at home but feeling more adrift than ever.
Ri’s grandmother wants her to assimilate, discouraging her from learning Spanish, exchanging their Catholic church for a Whiter version of Christianity, and urging Ri to hang out with the White kids she deems good influences. Ri discovers a letter in Spanish from her estranged mother that changes everything . Ashamed that she had to use an online translation tool to understand the letter, Ri switches from French to Spanish class to connect with her heritage. There, she discovers that her Latinx classmates are not all fluent, she is not the only outsider, and that these kids whom her friends, guidance counselor, and grandmother had warned her against also hold complex relationships with their cultural identities.
Briseis is a Black teen with the ability to control plants which she thought only meant growing things until a dangerous accidental brush with water hemlock reveals that she is impervious to poisonous plants. Just as Bri and her two moms face the possibility of losing their flower shop to gentrification, Bri receives an inheritance from her late birth mother’s sister: a house and 40 acres in Upstate New York. Yet summer in Rhinebeck reveals that there’s more to Bri’s inheritance than a sprawling mansion: she soon encounters a fully stocked apothecary, a garden full of deadly vegetation and secrets about her birth family and her own powers.
For Pri, her mother's homeland can only exist in her imagination. That is, until she find a mysterious pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase. When she wraps herself in it, she is transported to a place more vivid and colorful than any guidebook or Bollywood film. But is this the real India? And what is that shadow lurking in the background?
When Malcolm has a terrifying run-in with the police, his mother sends him from their home in DC to his dad’s family farm in Mississippi. When Malcolm discovers a diary written by an ancestor, he's sent back in time to 1866 and stuffed into the body of Cedric Johnson, who worked for Black equality during the Reconstruction era. While walking in Cedric’s shoes, Malcolm meets several Black heroes who fought for change during the Reconstruction era. The experience is both astounding and crushing. After all, if the heroes Malcolm meets didn’t achieve lasting change, how can he ever make a difference?
Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend and her former best friend King, who is back in town after disappearing three years ago without a word. But when she gets a letter from her biological father--a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life--Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists. While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family's business comes under threat she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever.
Deka is already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, and an upcoming blood ceremony will either prove she belongs in her village or permanently label her as an outsider. On the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity. A mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. As she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises.
Avery's life is unexpectedly turned upside down when she learns that her estranged grandmother, Mama Letty is dying. Her family packs up their lives in D.C. and moves to small-town Bardell, Georgia, to help Mama Letty find comfort in her final days. In Bardell, Avery makes new friends, repairs hurting relationships, and digs into the racist history that has had a lasting impact on her family.
In the real world, Bugz a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen. In the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massive multiplayer video game universe. Feng was sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the reservation, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. They meet and immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. When a betrayal threatens their friendship and community, they have to find a way to come together or risk losing what they've built.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus's curse of seeing the future distracts him from being and doing his best, but when he sees his little brother Isaiah's imminent death, he races against time, death, and circumstances to save him.
In Ikhara, there are three castes: the chimera-like, demonic Moon; the part-human, part-demon Steel; and the fully human Paper. Lei's otherworldly golden eyes draw unwanted attention, and when she is picked to become a Paper Girl, he cannot say no. Lei trains with other Paper Girls, learning exactly how few freedoms she is allowed, and dreading the day the king summons her. As she navigates this new world of social graces and subterfuge, she grows close to Wren, a Paper Girl with a mysterious past. Loving a fellow Paper Girl is dangerous enough, but Wren is involved with deadlier plots, and Lei learns just how far she's willing to follow her heart.
Tié̂n enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tié̂n, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay?
When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago realizes that something strange is going on--then she discovers her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers and finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.
While enslaved on a Virginia plantation in 1722, Babylou and her siblings are devastated by their mother’s violent murder. After Babylou uses supernatural powers to kill the white boy responsible, the siblings escape to the Great Dismal Swamp, a living entity that allows them to create a new home for themselves. In preparation for a present-day celebration, Atlas returns to her home near the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina to celebrate her grandmother Grannylou’s birthday. When Grannylou disappears into the swamp, and Atlas discovers that she has the ability to guide others through the marsh, she and her cousins band together to unravel the family secrets embedded in the bog.
In 2020 Philadelphia, Enzo Maghabol’s anxiety makes him feel like his head is full of “murder hornets.” Their buzzing gets worse when he learns his estranged grandfather will be moving in with his family during the pandemic. Banned from playing football for his Denver school due to his strict father’s approach to education, Chris becomes absorbed by the sociopolitical struggles in 1983 Philippines when he begins researching his ancestry, something his father would rather forget. Emil struggles to support himself and his mother while his absent father fights for farm workers’ rights in 1965 Stockton, Calif. After emigrating from the Philippines to Watsonville, Calif., in 1929, Francisco finds his dreams of a fresh start waylaid by the hard labor and racial violence he endures in his daily life.
Sal is devastated when he learns that his beloved grandmother, Mima, is dying of cancer. He’s frightened by the violent impulses within him that have unexpectedly surfaced after one classmate calls his gay adoptive father a “faggot” and another calls Sal a “pinche gringo” (Sal punches both offenders). Then there’s the unopened letter from Sal’s late biological mother. Luckily, Sal has support from several loving individuals, including his adopted Mexican-American family, who welcomed him with open arms at age three, and two close friends: Sammy, who remains loyal even after suffering a tragedy of her own, and Fito, who has emerged a survivor despite an unstable family life
When her white mom gets the opportunity to tour as the star of an international dance show, Almudena must spend the summer in the city with Xavier, the Guatemalan father she’s never met. To make things more complicated, Almudena doesn’t speak Spanish, and Xavier speaks very little English. Xavier nonetheless expects her to help him renovate a dilapidated brownstone and turn it into housing for folks in the community who need an affordable rental. As father and daughter rehabilitate the house, floor by floor, she learns more about her father, including his beliefs, challenges, and life. Navigating the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood as an outsider, Almudena meets Latine people who inadvertently or purposefully question her Latine status. Almudena slowly discovers how she fits into her new community and pieces together a makeshift familia that’s imperfect but feels right.
When seventeen-year-old Star Fuentez reaches social media stardom, her polar-opposite twin, Moon, becomes "merch girl" on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and the grumpy but attractive Santiago Philips.
Ten years ago, Malik's life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost grandmother, a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik's mother attended.