Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Mar Julia

 

Imagine spending a whole summer with the father you've never met in a city you've never been to in a community where you don't speak the language. Almudena is 14 going on 15 and that's how she spends her summer. Her white mom leaves her with her Guatemalan dad in New York City. Her father, Xavier, is eager to get to know her, but he doesn't speak English and she doesn't speak Spanish. He is fixing up an old Brownstone building and expects her to demolish walls and put up sheetrock and learn construction skills. At the same time she meets his friends and neighbors and his girlfriend, and finds a vibrant community that she comes to know and want to join. This Printz Award winning graphic novel is a great example of Young Teen Lit. Recommended for middle and high school libraries. 

Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino

 

Sam and TJ are nonbinary kids with positive role models and strong friendships to help them navigate the world. When their history teacher announces a contest to propose the subject of the next statue in their home of Staten Island, New York, Sam and TJ discover a little-known photographer who lived for years with a female partner in Staten Island. Sam and TJ do research with the help of friends and neighbors, and discover that Alice Austen was successful, joyful, and fully lived her life with a partner and many friends. Their presentation is flawless, but will their history teacher choose their entry to be nominated for the top prize? This is a story about role models and found family and how love and support can make kids blossom. This book will teach kids about pronouns and gender issues, and will also make nonbinary kids feel seen and supported. And it's also a fun story about a historical figure that most people have never studied. 

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

This is the story of two young women who, unbeknownst to them, share the same father. When papi is killed in a tragic plane crash on his way to the Dominican Republic, the two young women's paths are destined to cross in the midst of their grief. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic and dreams of coming to the United States for college. The other is a former chess champion who lives in New York City. Elizabeth Acevedo has now written three books in verse for young adult readers, all of them wonderful and original and brimming with hope. I recommend that teens and adults read Acevedo's books and enjoy the poetry and the relationships you will form with the characters. 

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagen

Powerful, well-written, and inspiring, this story about New York teens at a social justice high school deserves a wide audience. A couple of high school girls start a Women's Rights Club and find that it's too much for even their progressive high school to handle. This book is brimming with poetry and activism, and also deals with racial microaggressions and interracial friendships. This book includes a poem about body image, with every word taken straight from a teen fashion magazine, that I will never forget. Highly recommended for grades 8-up.