Gary Soto

It’s summer in East Los Angeles, and Hector and his best amigo Mando are bored. But when they spend the weekend in Fresno with Uncle Julio, a freelance photographer, things heat up. When the two dumb thugs and the two quick-witted boys meet up, the results are hilarious.

Marie Raphael

Set in 1901, this is the exciting story of Liam, a fourteen-year-old, half-Irish, half-English boy who triumphs over a bully and a cycle of hatred through friendship and the love of a horse.  

Gary Soto

Jessie De La Cruz is a role model for all– an ordinary person who became extraordinary by making change happen, not only for herself but for others.

Michael RunningWolf & Patricia Clark Smith

The Adventures of Glous’gap, embodiment of the Great Spirit, have been told by many Algonquin tribes. With their pipe smoking whales and irascible porcupines, the sixteen Micmac stories included here are wondrous and magical; they are also wise, as Glous’gap teaches his people what it means to be fully human in a fragile world. 

Meg Kearney

Fourteen-year-old Lizzie and her older brother and sister were adopted as infants, a fact of life in the McLane household. But dry facts rarely encompass feelings, and what it feels like to be adopted is something Lizzie never dares openly discuss with her loving parents—or with outsiders, including her boyfriend. In this vivid, heartfelt tale, told entirely through her own poetry, Lizzie finds the courage to speak the secret of her identity.

Anne Mazer