Lucky Luna

Fifth grader Luna Ramos has a great many cousins, mostly on her father’s side, but one of them, Claudia, is a source of constant annoyance; their current feud begins when Luna is punished for locking Claudia in the restroom at another cousin’s quinceanera but when there’s a bullying situation at school, Luna realizes that, despite their disagreements, cousins have to stand up for each other.

Girl of the Southern Sea

From the time she was a little girl, Nia has dreamed up adventures about the Javanese mythical princess, Dewi Kadita. Now fourteen, Nia would love nothing more than to continue her education and become a writer. But high school costs too much. Her father sells banana fritters at the train station, but too much of his earnings go toward his drinking habit. Too often Nia is left alone to take over the food cart as well as care for her brother and their home in the Jakarta slums.

The Beauty Of The Moment

Sixteen-year-old Susan is the new girl in her Canadian high school, striving to meet her parents’ academic expectations, missing the friends she left behind in Saudi Arabia, dreaming of pursuing her passion for art, and secretly meeting with troublemaker Malcolm.

La Frontera

Join a young boy and his father on a daring journey from Mexico to Texas to find a new life.

Darius The Great Is Not Okay

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian–half, his mom’s side–and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush–the original Persian version of his name–and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough–then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.

William C. Morris Debut Award

The Poet X

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, Xiomara Batista has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. She pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers–especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. Mami is determined to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, and Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.