Category Archives: Multicultural

Tales of an Inland Empire Girl

It’s the story of loving but dysfunctional parents, of being one of a pair of ‘Wonder Twins’ who use their superpowers to defeat the forces of disruption and poverty. Continue reading

Posted in Biography/Memoir, Family Problems, Grief, Humor, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Girlz ’n the Hood

Girlz ‘n the Hood: A Memoir of Mama in South Central Los Angeles by Mary Hill-Wagner Hill-Wagner is one of eleven children who grew up with an often single mother in South Central LA. Though her mother worked as a … Continue reading

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Time to Support the Local Literary Scene

Note: I have this up on my VictoriaWaddle.com blog, but am adding here because several of the books recommended below would be great for teen reads and in high school libraries. As shut down orders were put in place to … Continue reading

Posted in Biography/Memoir, Fiction, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Human Rights Issues, Mature Readers, Multicultural, Non-fiction, Short Stories | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Communist Rule in South Vietnam: Behind the Red Curtain

The Fall of Saigon Behind the Red Curtain by Hong-My Basrai details the life of a Vietnamese family during and after the 1975 fall of Saigon. As the book opens, Hong-My is a thirteen-year-old girl with typical concerns about puberty. … Continue reading

Posted in Adventure Stories, Biography/Memoir, Family Problems, Fiction, Grief, Human Rights Issues, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

  Being a Teen=Lack of Control Over Life Smack in the middle of his junior year of high school, Norris Kaplan has to move from Montreal, Canada to Austin, Texas when his mom secures a professorship at the University of … Continue reading

Posted in Family Problems, Fiction, Humor, Multicultural, Romance, Sports, Young Adult Literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Ballad of Huck and Miguel

A friend who has a daughter working with Friends of the LA River took a few of us on an LA River tour for our birthdays. It was odd to see the sections of the river that have a soil, … Continue reading

Posted in Adventure Stories, Classic Fiction, Family Problems, Fiction, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sports Books: “The Final Four”

The Final Four by Paul Volponi    The hoop action between the Michigan State Spartans and the (underdog) Trojans of Troy University is nonstop, heart-pounding excitement. While the semifinal NCAA championship game is played, the novel focuses on four players: … Continue reading

Posted in Family Problems, Fiction, Grief, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Multicultural, Read 180, Sports, Young Adult Literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adult Books for Teens: “Between the World and Me”

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates   “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” Often books have an opening sentence–or … Continue reading

Posted in Biography/Memoir, Grief, Human Rights Issues, Multicultural, Non-fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Adult Books for Teens: “The Meursault Investigation”

  The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud Many teens read Albert Camus’s The Stranger in high school. From what they tell me, it’s a book they like.  Algerian journalist Kamel Daoud  has given us Albert Camus’s The Stranger from the … Continue reading

Posted in Classic Fiction, Family Problems, Fiction, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Nonfiction: “The Warmth of Other Suns”

Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson   While I found The Warmth of Other Suns enlightening in many ways, I was truly astonished by the revelation that African Americans leaving the South during the early years of the Great … Continue reading

Posted in Family Problems, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Human Rights Issues, Multicultural, Non-fiction, Over 375 pages | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment