Being Different

Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Sixteen stories by well-known writers tell about growing up gay or lesbian, or having gay or lesbian friends or parents.

Paul lives in a strange world of semi-blindness, natural disasters, and mystery about his disability.  

Nadira and her family leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family.

When Jane moves to the suburbs, she thinks her life is over, but she meets three friends who form a club P.L.A.I.N., but can art really save a group of misfits from high school?

In 1957, Sylvia  life is disrupted by the integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the first black students to attend the all white school.

Growing up in Saitter, Louisiana, Tiger Ann relies on Granny, because her parents are "slow."   

As she tries to escape her poor Chicago neighborhood by winning a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, shy and studious eighth-grader Patrice discovers that she has more options in life than she previously realized.

In 1911 China, upper-class families bound the feet of their young daughters to keep them small. Five-year-old Ailin won't allow this. 

Two-foot-tall Freak has a brilliant mind; learning-disabled Max is physically powerful. Together, they make an impressive team.  

Stanley Yelnats is sent to a horrible work camp in the desert for a crime he didn't commit.

Thirteen-year-old Xio and Frederick become friends, but when Xio starts thinking of Frederick as her boyfriend, he must confront his feelings of confusion and face the fear that he might be gay.

Kiyoi, a 13-year-old schoolboy living alone in Tokyo, seeks out a famous cartoonist as a teacher. Based on the author's life.

Odd and unusual stories based on people in the author's own family.  

When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out. His knowledge of Zen Buddhism provides the answer—and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master.

In Palmer's town, 10-year-old boys come of age by wringing the necks of wounded pigeons at the annual Pigeon day.

A quirky and utterly logical seventh-grade girl named Emma-Jean Lazarus discovers some interesting results when she gets involved in the messy everyday problems of her peers.

Fourteen-year-old Melanin Sun's familiar life is shattered when his mother reveals she has fallen in love with a woman.

Ruby Bridges tells the story of her involvement, at the age of six, in the integration of her school in 1960 New Orleans.

The author describes her battle with polio when she was twelve, and how it affected her life.