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Diverse Youth Titles: June Releases 2023

  • Ashley S.
  • Wednesday, May 31

Check out these diverse titles releasing in June!

Covers of June 2023 youth titles

Here at Richland Library we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that celebrates and respects our differences and unique learning styles. Each month a blog post will go live that showcases forthcoming diverse youth titles that have been purchased by the library. From differences in race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability and more, these titles are great reads for the entire family.

Be sure to check out the 5 titles that I'm most excited for in the slideshow below as well as the curated list of releases at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy!

Cover of The Dos and Donuts of Love

Shireen Malik is still reeling from the breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Chris, when she receives news that she’s been accepted as a contestant on a new televised baking competition show. This is Shireen’s dream come true! Because winning will not only mean prize money, but it will also bring some much-needed attention to You Drive Me Glazy, her parents’ beloved donut shop. Things get complicated, though, because Chris is also a contestant on the show. Then there’s the very outgoing Niamh, a fellow contestant who is becoming fast friends with Shireen. Things are heating up between them, and not just in the kitchen. As the competition intensifies , Shireen will have to ignore all these factors and more― including potential sabotage―if she wants a sweet victory!

Cover of Going Bicoastal

Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she's been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?) How's a girl supposed to choose? She can't, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines - one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she's always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.

Cover of The Braid Girls

Maggie's world is turned upside down when she learns that her father, whom she admires, has a second daughter, Callie, whom no one knew existed. But she won't let a new family member get in the way of her summer plans with best friend Daija. They're determined to make tons of money braiding hair for kids around the neighborhood. Daija's always felt like she had a sister in Maggie. So she can't let new half-sister Callie take her place! And she can't let her interfere with their new Braid Girls business, either. She needs the money to pay for extra ballet lessons so she can go en pointe and earn a spot in the fall dance showcase, making her distant father proud at last—if she pulls this off, he'll have to pay attention to her. Callie's still grieving her late mom. Now she's leaving her old home in the Bahamas behind, including her old school and friends to move in with the father she's never met, plus his family. When she hears of Maggie's and Daija's business, she sees a chance to prove her skills and a way to be accepted. With three very different girls on board, the Braid Girls arrive to a summer camp full of kids with locs begging to be braided. Business is booming, until rival Angela shows up with her friends and starts a new braiding business—the Sistahs Who Braid. With competition heating up, the Braid Girls are sure to have an unforgettable summer.

Cover of Lei and the Fire Goddess

12-year-old Lei is forced to spend summers in Hawaiʻi with her grandma who is determined to make sure she knows all her family's moʻolelo—stories the kids back home donʻt care about or believe. But after insulting Pele, the Goddess of Fire, she learns just how real these legends are when the goddess takes her best friend and places a curse on her family—one that only Lei can lift.

Cover of The Many Masks of Andy Zhou

Andy Zhou is used to being what people need him to the good kid for his parents and now grandparents visiting from Shanghai, or the helpful sidekick to his best friend Cindy’s rebellious plans and schemes. So when Cindy decides they should try out for Movement at school on the first day of sixth grade, how can Andy say no? But between feeling out of place with the dancers, being hassled by his new science partner Jameel, and sensing tension between his dad and grandfather, Andy feels all kinds of weird. Then, over anime, Hi-Chews, and Andy’s lizard-inspired artwork, things shift between him and Jameel, opening up new doors—and also new complications. No matter how much Andy cares about his friends and family, it’s hard not to feel pulled between all the ways he's meant to be, all the different faces he wears, and harder still to figure out if any of these masks is the real him.

Going Bicoastal

Going Bicoastal

Adler, Dahlia, author.
Published in 2023
Told in alternating timelines, Jewish seventeen-year-old Natalya spends one summer in New York with her dad, trying to muster the courage to talk to her girl crush, and the other in Los Angeles with her estranged mom, going for a guy she never saw coming.
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Book
 
Nightmare Island

Nightmare Island

Bourne, Shakirah, author.
Published in 2023
Twelve-year-old Serenity has a recurring nightmare, but things get real when her parents take her brother, Peace, to Duppy Island for "treatment" and Serenity is confronted by the creepy Dr. Whisper and the faceless douen children who are trapped betweenthe living and the dead.
Hold
Book
 
The Many Masks of Andy Zhou

The Many Masks of Andy Zhou

Cheng, Jack, author.
Published in 2023
"Sixth grader Andy Zhou grapples with fitting in, befriends a bully, drifts apart from his childhood best friend, and gets to know grandparents who have just moved from Shanghai to live with his family"-- Provided by publisher.
Hold
Book
 
Garvey's Choice

Garvey's Choice

The Graphic Novel
Grimes, Nikki, author.
Published in 2023
"Award-winning author Nikki Grimes's beloved novel in verse Garvey's Choice is now a graphic novel, imaginatively and dramatically illustrated by Little Shaq artist Theodore Taylor III"-- Provided by publisher.
Hold
Book
 
This Town is on Fire

This Town is on Fire

Harris, Pamela N., author.
Published in 2023
"A page-turning YA contemporary novel about a Black teenager whose life is turned upside down when her white best friend becomes the latest "Becky" on the internet, and their town is left reeling from the publicity"-- Provided by publisher.
Hold
Book
 
And Break the Pretty Kings

And Break the Pretty Kings

Jeong, Lena, author.
Published in 2023
Sixteen-year-old Mirae, crown princess of her kingdom and fated to destroy an enemy of the gods, must embark on a dark journey to save her brother when her coronation ceremony goes terribly wrong.
Hold
Book
 
The Library of Broken Worlds

The Library of Broken Worlds

Johnson, Alaya Dawn, 1982- author.
Published in 2023
Born in the Library, daughter of a Library god, Freida has spent her whole life exploring its ever-changing tunnels, and communing with its gods--but then she meets Joshua, a Tierran boy desperate to save his people, and Nergüi, disciple of a persecutedminority, and to help them she will risk everything.
Hold
Book
 
Invisible Son

Invisible Son

Johnson, Kim, author.
Published in 2023
After spending two months in a juvenile detention center for a crime he did not commit, seventeen-year-old Andre Jackson returns home and tries to adapt to a Covid-19 world and find his missing best friend.
Hold
Book
 
A Crooked Mark

A Crooked Mark

Kao, Linda, author.
Published in 2023
Tasked with hunting down those whose soul the Devil has marked, seventeen-year-old Matthew begins to question everything when his first solo mission is sixteen-year-old Rae Winters, the girl he has fallen for.
Hold
Book
 
The Last Fallen Realm

The Last Fallen Realm

Kim, Graci, author.
Published in 2023
Thirteen year-old Riley was not born to be a leader, but the magical community thinks she and her adopted brother, Dahl, are meant to lead the world into the Age of the Final Eclipse, so now the one thing Riley must do is believe in herself.
Hold
Book
 
Starlings

Starlings

Linsmeier, Amanda, author.
Published in 2023
When seventeen-year-old Kit visits her father's hometown for the first time following his death, she not only discovers that her family is strangely revered among the locals, but that she also has an important role in the town's future.
Hold
Book
 
The Kingdom over the Sea

The Kingdom over the Sea

Nabi, Zohra, author.
Published in 2023
When twelve-year-old Yara finds a strange set of instructions left behind by her deceased mother, she starts on a journey to discover the truth about her mother's past and her true identity.
Hold
Book
 
Gender Identity for Kids

Gender Identity for Kids

A Book About Finding Yourself, Understanding Others, and Respecting Everybody!
Passchier, Andy, author.
Published in 2023
"This book introduces different terms for gender identity and expression, while also teaching children how to accept and respect others"-- Provided by publisher.
Hold
Book
 
The Queens of New York

The Queens of New York

Shen, E. L., author.
Published in 2023
Seventeen-year-old inseparable best friends Jia, Ariel, and Everett navigate first love, grief, racism, and Asian American consciousness during one life-changing summer apart.
Hold
Book
 
Theo Tan and the Iron Fan

Theo Tan and the Iron Fan

Sutanto, Jesse Q., author.
Published in 2023
After learning that his brother's spirit is trapped in Diyu, twelve-year-old Theo and his snarky fox spirit, Kai, encounter demons, Kings of Hell, and Princess Iron Fan as they try to reach Jamie's spirit before it faces judgement on the solstice.
Hold
Book
 
The Braid Girls

The Braid Girls

Winston, Sherri, author.
Published in 2023
"Three girls start a hair-braiding business at their summer camp to make money, while competing against a rival business that threatens their plans"-- Provided by publisher.
Hold
Book
 
Author

Ashley S.

Collection Strategist - Youth
Series
Diverse Youth Titles
Tags
Book Recommendations
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Audience
Parents
Families
Young children (0-5 years)
Preschoolers (3-5)
School age children (6-12 years)
6-8 years
9-12 years
Teens (12-18 years)

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