Multicultural Stories

Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl could want: fancy dresses; a beautiful home filled with servants in the bountiful region of Aguascalientes...

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice....

When the Watson family—ten-year-old Kenny, Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron—sets out on a trip south to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, they don’t realize that they’re heading toward one of the darkest moments in America’s history.

Hit the road with Bud in this Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy on a journey to find his father....

Island of the Blue Dolphins is the remarkable story of a strange and beautiful Indian girl who lives a serene and courageous life as the solitary survivor on a rocky island off the California coast...

It all started with a birthday present that Omri didn't want: a small plastic Indian that was no use to him at all. But an old wooden cupboard and a special key brought his unusual toy to life...

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good....

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space....

She was named Omakakiins, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop. Omakakiins and her family live on an island in Lake Superior. Though there are growing numbers of white people encroaching on their land, life continues much as it always has....

Elaine Harlowe has manipulated her way into becoming prime minister, using her mind control ability to force the Bureau to take up her vicious grudge against magiciankind.

Two boys - one white, one Indian American - gain strength from each other from afar as they struggle to navigate middle school, family, and friendships....

The bestselling Vanderbeeker family finds love and hope in hard times as they face the challenge of a serious illness with the support of their Harlem community....

After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’ t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest....

Mia Tang is at the top of her game! She's spending winter break with Mom, Lupe, Jason, and Hank in San Francisco's Chinatown! Rich with history and hilarious aunties and uncles, it's the place to find a great story-one she hopes to publish while attending journalism camp at the Tribune.

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed....

Under the cover of night, 12-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back....

Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to America with a heart full of dreams. Her new home is Brooklyn, New York. America is indeed a land full of wonders, but Shirley doesn't know any English, so it's hard to make friends....

But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip's head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy....

When Amos Fortune was only 15 years old, he was captured by slave traders and brought to Massachusetts, where he was sold at auction....

At first, beautiful, hardworking Tiana is not impressed when she meets spoiled Prince Naveen. But when the two of them are transformed into frogs, they quickly realize that they will have to learn to like each other, warts and all, if they hope to get out of the Louisiana bayou alive....

When ten-year-old Lina Gao steps off the plane in Los Angeles, it’s her first time in America and the first time seeing her parents and her little sister in five years! She’s been waiting for this moment every day while she lived with her grandmother in Beijing....

A Mexican "Grapes of Wrath," based on a family story, from the award-winning author Pam Muñoz Ryan....

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods....

Francisco Jiménez writes of his childhood growing up in an immigrant Mexican family...

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings listeners a powerful story that delves deeply into life’s burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future....

Every morning, young Tabitha wakes up and greets the sun. She loves how it brings everyone JOY. But one day she wakes up and the sun is missing! So Tab hops on her strawberry shortcake bike with her puppy in tow and makes it her business to find the sun. Can she do it? Or will Tabitha find out that sometimes the shine we're looking for is inside of us?

For Moses, Harlem couldn’t be any more different than the Texas he moved away from, and his only friends are his dog, Lotus-May, and his bird, JoJo. But, when Moses is asked to help his new neighbor Laila deliver jars of honey to the people of Harlem, he finally gets the chance to make new friends and see the places and feel the magic of this bustling neighborhood.

All John Lewis wanted was a library card, but in 1956, libraries were only for white people. That didn't seem fair to John, and so he spent a lifetime advocating for change and fighting against unfair laws until the laws changed. Finally, black people could eat at restaurants, see movies, vote in elections, and even get library cards.

Three Black boys spend one special summer exploring the Mississippi woods and woulds and coulds of sharing the kind of freeing friendship that is love. Watched over and given space to discover by Grandmama and Mama Lara, New York, Country, and little C find camaraderie in their contrasts and all the unspoken things between them while playing games of marco polo in the thick garden and sledding on cardboard by the underpass.

Twelve-year-old Lance Lo dreams becoming part of the Dragon Force, a team of heart-bonded humans and dragons dedicated to protecting the world from dangerous magical creatures. So he can’t wait to attend Camp Claw with his younger sister, Zoe, and begin learning about dragon training. But Lance quickly finds himself falling behind in the lessons and activities. He’s the only camper who’s failed to achieve a heart-bond with a dragon, and with Zoe impressing everyone with her natural ability, Lance struggles with jealousy.

When Eddie’s parents drive from the Black Hills to the Dakota plains to drop him off with Grandpa and Grandma High Elk, Eddie aches all over at the thought of being away from Mom and Dad for the first time. But quickly, Eddie’s stay on the Rosebud Reservation becomes a summer that he’ll never forget as he spends his days riding horses, fishing, helping Grandma in her garden, and playing with the toy bone horses that his grandfather gave him. When his grandfather is hurt and needs medical attention, Eddie steps up and helps him get the care he needs.

Bree Boyd loves knowing what's going to happen next. It's why she likes reading the same books over and over; it's why she's the school's reigning spelling bee champ; and, most importantly, it's why she's never minded the high expectations her father has always had for her and her sisters. After all, if you're always the best, life can't throw many surprises at you. But for the first time, Bree has no idea what the future holds. Because when a huge storm delivers a bolt of lightning straight into Bree, it leaves behind something she never prepared for: the power to move things with her mind.

Joy and her peers are eager to visit a nearby forest for a class trip. But Joy's excitement quickly turns into anxiety when she is asked to choose one thing in the area for a school assignment. Seeing her classmates connecting with the natural environment, Joy discovers how each of their choices reflect the ways they relate to and interact with the world. Together, a Forest begins as an exciting journey into nature and blossoms into a meditation on how our unique personalities and ways of being help create a more vibrant and beautiful world.

Agnes can hardly contain her excitement! She’s headed to the March on Washington. Sitting on her father’s shoulders, she’s awed by the sea of people—people of every color, gathered together to be a part of the fight for equal rights for Black people.

When a Sikh family moves from their village in India to a faraway city on the other side of the world, a girl yearns for her grandmother's hugs, her goat Ramu, and the lush fields filled with yellow flowers and wheat. How will they celebrate Vaisakhi in her new and unfamiliar surroundings? But the girl soon discovers soothing touchstones—a special outfit, a trip to gurdwara, delicious food, and new friends—that make gathering for Vaisakhi still the best day of all.