HPL Recommends

collage of book covers with trans pride flag

List curated by Ari
In honor of Transgender Day of Visibility (3/31), we are sharing some of our favorite teen books by trans authors, featuring trans characters, or exploring gender. We hope you'll read, celebrate, and support these books all year long. 
 
Fiction
 
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
 
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.
 
When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore 
As their deep friendship turns to love, Latina teenager Miel, who grows roses from her wrist, and Italian-Pakistani Samir, a transgender boy, fear their secrets will be exposed by the beautiful Bonner girls, four sisters rumored to be witches.
 
Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith
Told in two voices, Pony, who is concealing his transgender identity at his new Texas high school, and Georgia, a cisgender cheerleader counting the days until she graduates, develop a complicated relationship.
 
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
After coming out as nonbinary, Ben must leave home and goes to live with a sister and her husband to finish the last year of high school.
 
The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde
Lambasted in the tabloids after a night of reckless partying, bisexual teen drummer Emmy King turns to her friends for support and evaluates the wisdom of getting romantically involved with her bandmate Alfie, which may trigger another scandal.
 
Spellhacker by M.K. England 
Diz and her friends are in the business of stealing magic, or maz, but when their plan for one more heist blows up in their faces, they find themselves trying to unravel a conspiracy at the very center of the spellplague.
 
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.
 
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
In an alternate wild West, five girls escape from the welcome house that owns them and embark on a dangerous journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge.
 
The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
After an ancient prophecy is betrayed, a world ruled by a long line of goddesses is split in two--one half in perpetual day, and the other in an endless night--and two young twin goddesses set out on separate and equally dangerous journeys to the Breach that divides them, hoping to save their broken world.
 
Non-Fiction
The author reccounts how her public experiences have influenced her attitude towards the transgender community, as she works to educate others about transgender experiences while navigating the challenges of being a teenager.
 
Before I Had the Words by Skylar Kergil
The transgender activist and YouTube personality discusses his life, his relationship with his family members, and how he finally found self-acceptance.
 
Trans Mission by Alex Bertie
A brave firsthand account of author Alex Bertie's life, struggles, and victories as a transgender teen, and a guide for transitioning teens
 
Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
Poet, artist, and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate Alok Vaid-Menon deconstructs, demystifies, and reimagines the gender binary.
 
All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
A first book by the prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist shares personal essays that chronicle their childhood, adolescence and college years as a Black queer youth, exploring subjects ranging from gender identity and toxic masculinity to structural marginalization and Black joy.
 
Visit the library's online catalog to request a book for HPL to Go (curbside pick-up), or check out our online resources to learn more about ebooks or audiobooks!

collage of book covers with trans pride flag

 
List curated by Kavita
 
In honor of Transgender Day of Visibility (3/31), we are sharing some of our favorite children's books by trans authors, featuring trans characters, or exploring gender. We hope you'll read, celebrate, and support these books all year long. 
 
Picture books
 
Aidan, a transgender boy, experiences complicated emotions as he and his parents prepare for the arrival of a new baby.
 
A young child magically transforms into different animal guises as their mother reassures them of her love, but when they get to school, their classmates are not as accepting of the child's fluid identity.
 
It Feels Good to be Yourself: a Book about Gender Identity   by Theresa Thorn and  illustrated by Noah Grigni 
Provides a sensitive vocabulary for initiating discussions and exploration of gender identity.
 
Middle Grade Fiction
 
George by Alex Gino
Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
 
Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass
Twelve-year-old figure skater Ana strives to win competitions while learning about gender identity--Ana's own and that of a new friend--and how to navigate the best path forward.
 
The Moon Within by Aida Salazar
Eleven-year-old (nearly twelve) Celi Rivera, who is a mix of Black-Puerto Rican-Indigenous Mexican is secretive about her approaching period, and the changes that are happening to her body; she is horrified that her mother wants to hold a traditional public moon ceremony to celebrate the occasion; she must choose loyalty to her life-long best friend who is contemplating an even more profound change of life or the boy she likes.  ****features a character that is genderfluid
 
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. But being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy especially when you're in the eighth-grade. Norbert Dorfman, nicknamed Dunkin Dorfman, is bipolar and has just moved from the New Jersey townhe's called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse. One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change.
 
Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
Grayson Sender has been holding onto a secret for what seems like forever: "he" is a girl on the inside, stuck in the wrong gender's body. The weight of this secret is crushing, but sharing it would mean facing ridicule, scorn, rejection, or worse. Despite the risks, Grayson's true self itches to break free. Will new strength from an unexpected friendship and a caring teacher's wisdom be enough to help Grayson step into the spotlight she was born to inhabit?
 
Birdie and Me by J.M.M. Nuanez
Ever since their free-spirited mama died ten months ago, twelve-year-old Jack and her gender creative nine-year-old brother, Birdie, have been living with their fun-loving Uncle Carl, but now their conservative Uncle Patrick insists on being their guardian which forces all four of them to confront grief, prejudice, and loss, all while exploring what 'home' really means.
 
Non Fiction
 
I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings
The story of a transgender child based on the real-life experience of Jazz Jennings, who has become a spokesperson for transkids everywhere.
 
Sylvia and Marsha are closer than sisters. They are kind and brave and not afraid to speak their truth, even when it makes other people angry. This illustrated book introduces children to the story of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, the two transgender women of colour who helped kickstart the Stonewall Riots and dedicated their lives to fighting for LGBTQ+ equality. It introduces children to issues surrounding gender identity and diversity, accompanied by a reading guide and teaching materials to further the conversation.
 
Visit the library's online catalog to request a book for HPL to Go (curbside pick-up), or check out our online resources to learn more about ebooks or audiobooks!
Lista seleccionada por Héctor
 
La casa en Mango Street  por Sandra Cisneros  
Una novela sobre una niña que crece en la sección latina de Chicago, un vecindario de duras realidades y duras belleza.  
 
Desde Chicago a México, los lugares en los que Sandra Cisneros ha vivido han servido de inspiración para sus trabajos ya clásicos de ficción y poesía. Sin embargo, una casa propia, un lugar en el que realmente pueda echar raíces, la ha eludido. En esta autobiografía rompecabezas, formada de ensayos e imágenes a través de tres décadas (algunas nunca antes publicadas) Cisneros ha llegado por fin a casa. Escrito con su muy conocido lirismo, la autora de La casa en Mango Street comparte los recuerdos que la han transformado y revela sus influencias artísticas e intelectuales.  
 
Este libro reúne, en una versión más ampliada, las biografías de mujeres que publiqué en el suplemento dominical de El País. No sé bien dónde encuadrar estos trabajos: aunque están muy documentados, no son ni biografías académicas ni artículos periodísticos, sino unos textos muy apasionados, muy personales. Son historias de mujeres singulares a las que intenté entender. Las hay generosas y las hay malvadas, cobardes o valientes, turbulentas o tímidas; todas son, eso sí, muy originales y algunas resultan pasmosas por lo extraordinario de sus peripecias. Pero creo que, por muy raras que parezcan, siempre podemos reconocernos en ellas. Y es que cada uno de nosotros encierra dentro de sí todas las vidas.  
 
Mi mundo adorado por Sonia Sotomayor 
La primera latina y tan sólo la tercera mujer designada a la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos, Sonia Sotomayor se ha convertido en un icono americano contemporáneo. Ahora, con un candor e intimidad nunca antes asumidos por un juez en activo, Sonia nos narra el viaje de su vida -- desde los proyectos del Bronx hasta la corte federal -- en una inspiradora celebración de su extraordinaria determinación y del poder de creer en uno mismo.  
 
María Hinojosa es una periodista galardonada que ha colaborado con las cadenas más respetadas y se ha distinguido por realizar reportajes con un toque humano. En estas memorias escritas con gran belleza, nos relata la historia de la política de inmigración de los EE.UU. que nos ha llevado al punto en que estamos hoy, al mismo tiempo que nos comparte su historia profundamente personal. Durante treinta años, María Hinojosa ha informado sobre historias y comunidades en los Estados Unidos que a menudo son ignoradas por los principales medios de comunicación. La autora de bestsellers Julia Álvarez la ha llamado "una de las líderes culturales más importantes, respetadas y queridas de la comunidad Latinx". En Una vez fui tú, María nos comparte su experiencia personal de haber crecido como mexicanoamericana en el sur de Chicago y documentar el yermo existencial de los campos de detención de inmigrantes para los medios de comunicación que a menudo cuestionaban su trabajo.  
 
El libro de Eva por Carmen Boullosa Boullosa 
Y si todo lo que se nos ha contado sobre el Paraíso fuera al revés? Frente a lo que pareciera un manuscrito apócrifo que contiene diez libros y 91 pasajes, Eva decide contar su versión: ni fue creada a partir de la costilla de Adán, ni es exacto que fuera expulsada por la manzana y la serpiente, ni la historia de Abel y Caín es la que cuentan, ni la del Diluvio, ni la de la Torre de Babel... Con una brillante prosa, Carmen Boullosa le da una vuelta de tuerca al libro del Génesis para desmontar la figura masculina y reconstruir el mundo, el origen de la gastronomía, la domesticación de los animales, el cultivo de la tierra y el placer, a través de la mirada femenina.  
 
All of Me directed by Arturo González Villaseñor  
México y Estados Unidos comparten la mayor frontera entre el primer y tercer mundo. Miles de migrantes se exponen a todos los peligros mientras viajan hacia el norte en un tren llamado La Bestia. Ahí es donde conocen a las Patronas, un grupo de mujeres mexicanas que, todos los días desde 1995, preparan comida y la arrojan a los indefensos mientras pasa el tren.  
 
Todas las mujeres conocen su propio poder: cuando el bienestar de sus seres queridos está en juego, son capaces de mover montanãs por ellos. En cambio, experimentan grandes dificultades a la hora de ejercer ese mismo poder para sí mismas. Dudan, se comparan, no se sienten a la altura. Siguen encadenadas a estańdares, creencias e ideales que no les pertenecen. Este libro ofrece a las mujeres las herramientas que necesitan para dejar de lado expectativas ajenas y poner el foco en su propia realidad interna. Siguiendo la estela de Castanẽda y Miguel Ruiz, HeatherAsh Amara presenta un camino de iniciacioń chamańica centrado en la energiá de la diosa: pasioń, creatividad, intuicioń y amor incondicional. Ha llegado el momento de reivindicar al ser perfecto que cada mujer lleva dentro.  
 
El libro de los americanos desconocidos por Cristina Henríquez  
Dos familias cuyas esperanzas chocan con el destino. Y una extraordinaria novela que nos ofrece una poderosa y nueva definición de lo que significa ser americano. Arturo y Alma Rivera han vivido toda la vida en México. Un día, Maribel, la hija a la que tanto quieren, sufre un grave accidente y la probabilidad de que se recupere completamente es poca. Dejando todo atrás, los Rivera emigran a los Estados Unidos con un solo sueño: que en este país de tantos recursos y oportunidades, Maribel se recupere. Cuando Mayor Toro, cuya familia es de Panamá, ve a Maribel en un Dollar Tree, es amor a primera vista. También es el principio de una amistad entre las familias Rivera y Toro, y de una red de culpa, amor y responsabilidad que es el núcleo de esta novela. 
 
La lucha por los derechos de las mujeres ha tomado el mundo por asalto, pero ¿por qué muchas de sus simpatizantes caen en tantas contradicciones? ¿Por qué parece haber tantas malas feministas? Roxane Gay, profesora universitaria, colaboradora de The New York Times, ensayista y novelista con más de un millón de visitas en su charla TED sobre feminismo, tiene algunas respuestas a esas preguntas. La pluma de Gay, filosa como una catana, explora la cultura pop para extraer verdades incómodas acerca de cómo somos representados en el cine, la televisión y la literatura. 
 
Lucy Lara explora el arte sutil de hacerte dueña de tu poder a través de tu actitud, tu estilo y tu aplomo. ¿Recuerdas el momento esta mañana cuando elegiste lo que te ibas a poner? ¿Fue un acto consciente o uno rutinario? ¿Lo resolviste como una ecuación o esquivaste la avalancha de opciones que se lanzaban sobre ti eligiendo lo primero, lo obvio, lo de siempre? Si supieras que una decisión sobre tu persona se toma, en gran medida, con base en tu aspecto, ¿le dedicarías más tiempo? De la misma forma, en el día a día, también influyen la actitud que tienes y tus reacciones ante lo inesperado. Utilizando como modelo su vasta experiencia como editora de revistas, Lucy te ofrece los mejores consejos para que tengas una presencia impactante, desde cómo dominar las emociones, hasta cómo sortear el infame techo de cristal al que nos enfrentamos las mujeres en nuestras carreras profesionales  
 
Frida Kahlo por Marcela Altamirano  
Una biografía detallada de Frida Kahlo retrata su vida y momentos dolorosos debido a enfermedades y accidentes. 
 
Sin salud emocional, no hay salud fisica. Bajo esta premisa, la doctora Northrup nos habla en este libro de la anatomía femenina y de las funciones naturales del cuerpo; de los problemas de salud más comunes, de cómo prevenirlos y de cómo sanar y mantenerse sana; de los criterios a tener en cuenta para elegir el tratamiento adecuado, provenga éste de la medicina convencional o de la alternativa. 
 
El tren pasa primero por Elena Poniatowska 
La vida de Trinidad Pineda Chiñas cambió cuando vio pasar frente a él por primera vez un tren. En adelante, nada resultaría más real para Trinidad que el silbato de un ferrocarril, el ajetreo en los andenes, los empujones, el olor del chapopote. Esta es la historia de una existencia combativa y llena de pasión que llevará a su protagonista a convertir una gesta personal en una batalla infatigable por la justicia social.  
 
Grandes mujeres por Varios autores  
Proporciona una introducción a las vidas de Cleopatra, Leonor de Aquitania, la reina Isabel, Santa Teresa, Catalina la Grande, las hermanas Bronte y Florence Nightingale.  
 
Esta colección de historias presenta a doce prominentes escritores latinos que revelan cómo las amistades les han ayudado a superar los momentos más difíciles de sus vidas.  
 
La edición en español de las premiadas memorias de Margarita Engle, Enchanted Air. 
 
Un retrato íntimo e investigativo del asesinato de la querida reina de la música tejana, Selena Quintanilla Pérez, escrito por la galardonada periodista María Celeste Arrarás. Ahora, una serie en Telemundo. No hay duda de que Yolanda Saldívar disparó la bala que mató a Selena el 31 de marzo de 1995, pero ¿alguien sabe lo que realmente sucedió en la habitación 158 del hotel Days Inn, momentos antes de que el crimen se llevara a cabo? María Celeste Arrarás tiene muchas respuestas. Su cobertura de la muerte, el juicio y el drama detrás de la tragedia la convirtió en la experta indiscutible del caso de Selena. Arrarás comparte detalles de primera mano sobre el crimen y las personas involucradas, incluyendo la polémica entrevista en la cárcel con Yolanda, que en repetidas ocasiones habló sobre zel secreto de Selenay, una insólita información que Saldívar mantuvo oculta durante y después del juicio pero que sí le reveló a Arrarás.  
 
Becoming: mi historia por Michelle Obama  
Un íntimo, poderoso e inspirador libro de memorias de la ex primera dama de Estados Unidos.  
 
Memorias por Helena Paz Garro  
Helena Paz Garro, escritora e hija de dos destacadas figuras de la literatura mexicana, Elena Garro y Octavio Paz, comparte aquí el relato detallado de su vida familiar y cultural, marcada por episodios tan definitivos como polémicos.  
 
Una hija diferente por Maria Toorpakai con la colaboración de Katharine Holstein  
El coraje, la fuerza de espíritu y la pasión de una mujer que dijo NO a una sociedad opresiva y enfrentó a la furia de los talibanes en Pakistán para vencer y ser libre. 

 

Images of 3 book coversIn honor of Women's History Month, we're sharing book recommendations for all ages! Be sure to check out these books, and to read women authors all year long, not just in March. 
 
List curated by Kavita
 
Little Gods by Meng Jin 
On the night of June Fourth, a woman gives birth in a Beijing hospital alone. Thus begins the unraveling of Su Lan, a brilliant physicist who until this moment has successfully erased her past, fighting what she calls the mind's arrow of time. When Su Lan dies unexpectedly seventeen years later, it is her daughter Liya who inherits the silences and contradictions of her life. A story of migrations literal and emotional, spanning time, space and class, Little Gods is a sharp yet expansive exploration of the aftermath of unfulfilled dreams, an immigrant story in negative that grapples with our tenuous connections to memory, history, and self. 
 
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich 
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich's grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman. 
 
A riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, after-hours room salons catering to wealthy men, ruthless social hierarchies, and K-pop mania. 
 
A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women's lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls. 
 
Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier 
Eighteen years old, pregnant, and working as a pizza delivery girl in suburban Los Angeles, our charmingly dysfunctional heroine is deeply lost and in complete denial about it all. She's grieving the death of her father (who she has more in common with than she'd like to admit), avoiding her supportive mom and loving boyfriend, and flagrantly ignoring her future. Her world is further upended when she becomes obsessed with Jenny, a stay-at-home mother new to the neighborhood, who comes to depend on weekly deliveries of pickled covered pizzas for her son's happiness. As one woman looks toward motherhood and the other towards middle age, the relationship between the two begins to blur in strange, complicated, and ultimately heartbreaking ways. 
 
A Burning by Megha Majumdar 
After a fiery attack on a train leaves 104 people dead, the fates of three people become inextricably entangled. Jivan, a bright, striving woman from the slums looking for a way out of poverty, is wrongly accused of planning the attack because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir, a slippery gym teacher from Jivan's former high school, has hitched his aspirations to a rising right wing party, and his own ascent becomes increasingly linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely, a spirited, impoverished, relentlessly optimistic hijra, who harbors dreams of becoming a Bollywood star, can provide the alibi that would set Jivan free--but her appearance in court will have unexpected consequences that will change the course of all of their lives 
 
Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford 
Crooked Hallelujah tells the stories of Justine-a mixed-blood Cherokee woman-and her daughter, Reney, as they move from Eastern Oklahoma's Indian Country in the hopes of starting a new, more stable life in Texas amid the oil bust of the 1980s. 
 
Luster by Raven Leilani 
Sharp, comic, disruptive, tender, Raven Leilani's debut novel, Luster, sees a young Black woman fall into art and someone else's open marriage. 
 
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams 
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she's constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places . . . including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, 'What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?' -- all of the questions today's woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her. 
 
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 
Three generations of Palestinian-American women in contemporary Brooklyn are torn by individual desire, educational ambitions, a devastating tragedy, and the strict mores of traditional Arab culture. 
 
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn 
At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman. As they face the impending destruction of their community, each woman--fighting to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves--must confront long-hidden scars. 
 
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo 
A vivacious dance-hall girl in 1930s colonial Malaysia is drawn into unexpected danger by the discovery of a severed finger that is being sought by a young houseboy in order to protect his late master's soul. 
 
The Farm by Joanne Ramos 
Ensconced within a Hudson Valley retreat where expectant birth mothers are given luxurious accommodations and lucrative rewards to produce perfect babies, a Filipino immigrant is forced to choose between a life-changing payment and the outside world. 
 
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid 
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other. 
 
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole 
Finding unexpected support from a new friend while collecting stories from her rapidly vanishing Brooklyn community, Sydney uncovers sinister truths about a regional gentrification project and why her neighbors are moving away. 
Book CoversIn honor of Women's History Month, we're sharing book recommendations for all ages! Be sure to check out these books, and to read women authors all year long, not just in March. 
List curated by Ari
 
Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson & Ellen Hagan 
Frustrated by the way women are treated--even at their progressive New York City high school--two best friends start a Women's Rights Club, post their essays and poems online, and watch it go viral, attracting positive support as well as trolls. 
 
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu 
In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv, sixteen, starts a feminist revolution using anonymously-written zines. 
 
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed 
Three misfit girls come together to avenge the rape of a girl none of them knew and in the process start a movement that transforms the lives of everyone around them. 
 
Rebel Girls by Elizabeth Keenan 
When a rumor starts in her Catholic high school that her pro-life sister Helen had an abortion over the summer, pro-choice Athena and her friends must try to convince the student body and the administration that it doesn't matter what Helen did or didn't do. 
 
In her last few weeks at Northern Virginia's elite Chawton School, eighteen-year-old Jemima Kincaid works to up-end its patriarchal traditions and, in the process, finds the freedom she has always sought. 
 
Slay by Brittney Morris 
An honors student at Jefferson Academy, seventeen-year-old Keira enjoys developing and playing Slay, a secret, multiplayer online role-playing game celebrating black culture, until the two worlds collide. 
 
Running by Natalia Sylvester 
When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Mariana Ruiz's father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. A novel about waking up and standing up, and what happens when you stop seeing your dad as your hero-while the whole country is watching. 
 
This is My America by Kim Johnson 
While writing letters to Innocence X, a justice-seeking project, asking them to help her father, an innocent black man on death row, teenaged Tracy takes on another case when her brother is accused of killing his white girlfriend. 
 
Most Likely by Sarah Watson 
Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha have been friends since kindergarten. In senior year they're facing their biggest fears about growing up and growing apart. They have one another's backs through every new love, breakup, stumble, and success. Fast forward to 2049, as the first woman president of the United States waits to be sworn in-- and reflects back on that senior year in which they vie for the attention of the same guy. 
 
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron 
Queer black girls team up to overthrow the patriarchy in the former kingdom of Cinderella. 
 
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia 
Dani must question everything she's worked for as she learns about the corruption of the Median government. 
 
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan 
When Lei, seventeen, is stolen from her home to become one of nine Paper Girls, the Demon King's concubines, she proves to be more fire than paper. 
 
Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke responds to the failure of her school's abstinence-only sexual education curriculum by handing out advice and contraceptives in the girls' bathroom, even as her own life gets complicated. 
 
Internment by Samira Ahmed 
A terrifying, futuristic United Sates where Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps, and seventeen-year-old Layla Amin must lead a revolution against complicit silence. 
 
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon 
Told in two voices, Ashish's friends Pinky and Samir pretend to date during a summer at Cape Cod to achieve their individual goals--especially to get their respective mothers off their backs. 
 
Working as a Wench—i.e. waitress—at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a Knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.Company policy allows only guys to be Knights. So when Kit takes her brother's place, clobbers the Green Knight, and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But this Girl Knight won't go down without a fight. As other Wenches and cast members join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they'll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval—if they don't get fired first. 
 
Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera  
Sixteen year old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City, but when she sets her sights on giving this life up for a prestigious home in Mega Towers, she must decide if she's willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. 
 
Rules for Being a Girl by Katie Cotugno & Candace Bushnell 
It starts before you can even remember: You learn the rules for being a girl. . . . 
 
Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin's future seems bright—and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her. But when "Bex" takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she's shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault? When Marin works up the courage to tell the administration what happened, no one believes her. She's forced to face Bex in class every day. Except now, he has an ax to grind. But Marin isn't about to back down. She uses the school newspaper to fight back and she starts a feminist book club at school. She finds allies—and even romance—in the most unexpected people, like Gray Kendall, who she'd always dismissed as just another lacrosse bro. As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and write her own rules. 
 
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Movie Covers
In honor of Women's History Month, we're sharing recommendations for all ages! Be sure to check out these books, and to read women authors all year long, not just in March. 
List curated by Kavita
 

Bessie directed by Dee Rees 

 
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night directed by Ana Lily Amirpour  


Girlfight directed by Karyn Kusama  


Monsoon Wedding directed by Mira Nair 

 

Middle of Nowhere directed by Ava DuVernay 


Real Women Have Curves directed by Patricia Cardozo 

 

Beyond the Lights directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood  

 

Whale Rider directed by Niki Caro 


Girlhood directed Céline Sciamma  

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God directed by Darnell Martin