Calling all readers!

[Marnie Sullivan]

Okay, so for those who don't know, I work in a bookstore. This time every year we run a book drive where people can donate books to a charity that distributes them to kids in my city. I'm able to influence what people donate to a degree, so I try to lean them towards certain types of books. Here's where you come in - I'm always looking for new books to expand my display, so if you guys have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. I try to favor books that:

-are frequently challenged or banned in schools and libraries
-prominently feature characters who are LGBT, people of color, people with disabilities, you get the picture
-realistically depict major life problems like death in the family, mental illness, etc.
-manage to avoid falling prey to tropes and stereotypes like "if there are two female characters they're going to be catty at each other" 

Although not necessarily all at the same time. A lot of the books I push are just really fun, enjoyable fantasy stories, for example. But I like to look for books where while you read them, either you think, "Oh wow, I never thought about x" because it's not an aspect of life that gets a lot of attention or consideration, or you think, "Oh wow, this is the first time I've ever read a character that shares y similarity with me" because, well, same. But the main thing I'm looking for is books you really connect with, books that are very special to you for one reason or another that you would want to share with someone if you had the chance.

So let's hear it, Hammel! What books do you think would be a good fit?

[Rhea Hartman]

Is there a target age range?

Either way, I'll throw out Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted). Wonderful retelling of Snow White that deals deftly with appearance, self-esteem and how you perceive yourself.

[Deleted]

Lol, Ellie. The first book that came to mind was Ella Enchanted. So Etch, consider that suggested. :3

Another one is actually a graphic novel series, With The Light: Raising an autistic child by Keiko Tobe. It's about the difficulties that a young mother and father have in raising an autistic child and how they overcome them, getting their friends, neighbors, families, and the child's teachers to understand the special needs that their child has. I love it a lot, especially since it's set in a culture that, at the time(I'm not sure how much has changed since it's writing though) was not very flexible when it came to special education and made little effort to understand those kind of disorders, usually chalking it up to bad parenting.

[Captain Omega*]

Okay, I'll try this.

~ Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things - by Lenore Look. This is the first book of a series of four aimed at kids in grades 2-4. They're about a nervous young man, Alvin Ho, a Chinese American living in Boston with his family. Not only does the book have an American-born Asian as a main char, but Alvin also suffers from Selective Mutism, an anxiety disorder that keeps him from speaking in school.

~ A Single Shard - by Linda Sue Park. A story of an orphan in 12th-century Korea who wants very much to learn the traditional art of Korean celadon pottery. The book is a lot more engaging than this description would make it sound.

~ Saga, vol. 1 - by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. A graphic novel that collects the first six issues of the Saga comic. A sci-fi/fantasy type story narrated by the two leads as a letter to their future daughter. Excellent female chars, but not for children.

~ One Night in Sixes - by Arianne "Tex" Thompson. Full disclosure - I know the author. But the story is an alternate-Western type with POCs kicking butt, a mixed race lead, and fishpeople. Something off the beaten path.

[Salem Hirch]

um....I can throw some stuff in here I guess...I tend to stick to horror and modern fantasy..sooo...but I may have a few suggestions.

by Frank Beddor -  The Looking Glass Wars books (The Looking Glass Wars, TLGW: Seeing Red, TLGW: Archenemy, TLGW: Millinery Academy) The Hatter M. series : (Far From Wonder, Mad With Wonder, The Nature Of Wonder, Zen of Wonder)

by Tony DiTerlizzi: The Search for Wondla, A Hero for Wondla, and The Battle For Wondla

by Betty Brock: No Flying In The House

by Ray Bradbury: The Halloween Tree (yes out of season, but it's a fantastic book)

by Jennifer Bosworth: Struck (I randomly picked this up at a dollar store and it is AMAZING)

and this book...has been a favorite of mine for a year or two now...its about a gay teen superhero...

by Perry Moore: Hero

[Marnie Sullivan]

Thanks you guys, these sound like great suggestions so far. To answer your question, Nory, our targeted age range is kids 5-17. I try to focus on 8-17 because every year the most popular donations are the ones for kids 5-8 because they're the cheapest, and I'm trying to balance it out a bit.

Cap, I actually got someone to donate A Single Shard yesterday! And a couple copies last year. It's a great choice.

[Captain Omega*]

Awesome! Linda Sue Park is a great author, I love her. Another book by her for older kids (5th-6th grade and up?) is called When My Name was Keoko. It's a wonderful (if somewhat slow, for kids) book that tells of a time very rarely even spoken of, Korea during the Japanese occupation of WWII. It's in no way anti-Japan, but it does mention the culturally-destroying things the Japanese government did to the Koreans during that time, such as making Koreans discard their Korean names and take Japanese ones, hence the title.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon - I don't know if this is still in print, but it takes place at a pray the gay away cam and focuses on complex themes including prejudice and suicide. It stars gay characters.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - This is a frequently banned book telling the story of a Native American growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation who then goes to an all-white rural school.

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord - This is about a girl, who is an immigrant from China, moving to Brooklyn, trying to adapt to the U.S. as a Chinese immigrant, while also dealing with the parallels of race in the U.S. because, in the background, Jackie Robinson is breaking the color barrier in major league baseball.

Anything by Octavia E. Butler - she writes science fiction and afro-futurism, starring many POC characters, many WOC in particular.

[Jade Parrish]

Luna by Julie Anne Peters -- It's a book told from the point of view of a sister of a transgender who goes from Liam to Luna, who yearns for acceptance and strives for identity. It's a really good book for teens that introduces them to the transgender community and shows how they just want to be accepted like everyone else.

The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger -- A novel that tells the story of the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance at a high school and how those who are hiding their sexualities are dealing with it.

MORE TO COME I'M SURE~

[Michelle Reed]

I remember reading a book called Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo about children who are slaves at a carpet factory in Pakistan. It's told from the p.o.v of a girl name Fatima and I forget the plotline of the story but it's based on a true story and I remember being really moved by it.

If I have any others I'll update!