7.11.2018

Own your voice with #ownvoices stories

#ownvoices started as a Twitter hashtag by Corrine Duyvis in 2015. It basically means that the main character and author share a marginalized identity in some way. We love it because there are so many authors out there with so many stories to share, and some authors don't get that opportunity because of race, sexual orientation, a disability, etc. We want these authors' books out there because they deserve their stories told, too.

And, we feel like everyone should be able to see someone they recognize in books, no matter who they're identifying with.


Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adebeyo
Seventeen-year-old ZĂ©lie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magic, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.






Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
Maya Aziz, seventeen, is caught between her India-born parents world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate, Phil, when a terrorist attack changes her life forever.


The Secret Side of Empty by Maria Andreu 
M.T. is a high-achieving high school student, who hiding the fact that she's an undocumented immigrant in the United States.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.


A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sixteen-year-old half-Hindu/half-Parsi Zarin Wadia is the class troublemaker and top subject for the school rumor blogs, regularly leaving class to smoke cigarettes in cars with boys, but she also desperately wants to grow up and move out of her aunt and uncle's house, perhaps realizing too late that Porus, another non-Muslim Indian who risks deportation but remains devoted to Zarin, could help her escape. When the two end up dead in a car on a highway in Jeddah, it becomes clear she was far more than a "girl like that."


Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
Priyanka Das has so many unanswered questions: Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? But Pri's mom avoids these questions and the topic of India is permanently closed. For Pri, her mother's homeland can only exist in her imagination. That is, until she find a mysterious pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase. When she wraps herself in it, she is transported to a place more vivid and colorful than any guidebook or Bollywood film.


American Panda by Gloria Chao
A freshman at MIT, seventeen-year-old Mei Lu tries to live up to her Taiwanese parents' expectations, but no amount of tradition, obligation, or guilt prevent her from hiding several truths--that she is a germaphobe who cannot become a doctor, she prefers dancing to biology, she decides to reconnect with her estranged older brother, and she is dating a Japanese boy.



The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
In a world where Beauty is a commodity only a few control, one Belle will learn the dark secrets behind her powers, and rise up to change the world.


Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
When Marvin Johnson's twin brother, Tyler, is shot and killed by a police officer, Marvin must fight injustice to learn the true meaning of freedom.


Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
Alex is a bruja and the most powerful witch in her family. But she's hated magic ever since it made her father disappear into thin air. When a curse she performs to rid herself of magic backfires and her family vanishes, she must travel to Los Lagos, a land in-between as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland, to get her family back.

Don't forget Labyrinth Lost's sequel, Bruja Born


On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2034, a comet is due to hit the Earth within the hour. Denise, who's sixteen years old and autistic, must try to find her missing sister and also help her neglectful, undependable mother safely aboard a spaceship.


The Way You Make Me Feel by Maureen Goo
Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad's business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?


When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
When Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel meet at a Stanford University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects," but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting an arranged marriage with him.
Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
One of only two out lesbians in her small town and standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona knows she's destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Mississippi where she is forced to be the adult of the family. The return of her childhood friend, Freddie, brings a welcome distraction--but her feelings for Freddie begin to shift, and she must figure out who she might become.


The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian
Daria Esfandyar is Iranian-American and proud of her heritage, unlike some of the "Nose Jobs" in the clique led by her former best friend, Heidi Javadi. Daria and her friends call themselves the Authentics, because they pride themselves on always keeping it real. But in the course of researching a school project, Daria learns something shocking about her past, which launches her on a journey of self-discovery.


Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago realizes that something strange is going on--then she discovers her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers and finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.



Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
Struggling with panic attacks and grief over his father's death, high school junior Moss, in the face of a racist school administration, decides to organize a protest that escalates into violence.


The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
After her mother's suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.


You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
Five girls. Three generations. From 1965 through the present, an Indian American family adjusts to life in New York City, alternately fending off and welcoming challenges to their own traditions


If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Amanda Hardy only wants to fit in at her new school, but she is keeping a big secret, so when she falls for Grant, guarded Amanda finds herself yearning to share with him everything about herself, including her previous life as Andrew.


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
When the sister who delighted their parents by her faithful embrace of Mexican culture dies in a tragic accident, Julia, who longs to go to college and move into a home of her own, discovers from mutual friends that her sister may not have been as perfect as believed.



Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
When the teen creator of "Monstrous Sea," a popular webcomic, is tempted by a school newcomer to pursue real-world relationships, everything she has worked so hard to build crumbles in the wake of their highly publicized romance.

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
When Fabiola's mother is detained upon their arrival to the United States, Fabiola must navigate her loud American cousins, the grittiness of Detroit's west side, a new school, and a surprising romance all on her own.




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