Alaine Beauparlant has heard about Haiti all her life... ...but the stories were always passed down from her dad--and her mom, when she wasn't too busy with her high-profile newscaster gig. But when Alaine's life goes a bit sideways, it's time to finally visit Haiti herself. What she learns about Haiti's proud history as the world's first black republic (with its even prouder people) is one thing, but what she learns about her own family is another....

A child living in the Arctic learns that a mother's love is unconditional.

After her mother's suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother's family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.

Mani Semilla is determined not to go to Guatemala until she finds letters written between her mother and her journalist aunt who has disappeared, revealing both the beauty of the country and its history of violence against women, which slowly transforms her into a budding activist.

In 1967 Tanzania, when President Nyerere urges his people to work together as one extended family, the people of Litongo move to a new village which, to some, seems cursed, but where thirteen-year-old Shida, a healer, and her female cousins are allowed to attend school. Includes glossary and author's note.

Fourteen-year-old Sparrow Cooke struggles with emotional issues and suicidal feelings following the death of her school librarian, who was the only person who seemed to understand her

"A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her...