My Life as a Rhombus
10 best books like My Life as a Rhombus (Varian Johnson): Chanda's Wars, Kendra, Good Fortune, Border Crossing, Dancer, Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Imani All Mine, Like Sisters on the Homefront, When the Black Girl Sings, The Kayla Chronicles
| Author | Allan Stratton |
| ISBN | 0060872624 |
She promised her mama she'd keep them safe. It's been six months since Mama died, and Chanda is struggling to raise her little brother and sister. Determined to end a family feud, she takes them to her relatives' remote rural village. But across the nearby border, a brutal civil war is spreading. Rebels...
| Author | Coe Booth |
| ISBN | 0439925363 |
The acclaimed author of TYRELL returns to PUSH with a striking novel about a mother and daughter who are only fourteen years apart, but need to learn to understand each other before it's too late.
Kendra's mom, Renee, had her when she was only 14 years old. Renee and her mom made a deal -- Renee could...
| Author | Noni Carter |
| ISBN | 1416984801 |
Brutally kidnapped from her African village and shipped to America, Ayanna Bahati struggles to come to terms with her new life as a slave. Rising from the cotton fields to her master's house, Anna is threatened by the increasingly dangerous world of the plantation. Risking everything, she escapes...
| Author | Jessica Lee Anderson |
| ISBN | 1571316892 |
The mixed-race son of apple pickers, Manz lives with his hard-drinking mother and her truck-driver boyfriend in the hardscrabble world of dusty Rockhill, Texas. Forced to take a summer job rebuilding fence of a cattle ranch, Manz works alongside his friend Jed and meets a girl named Vanessa — but...
| Author | Lorri Hewett |
| ISBN | 0141310855 |
Ballet is the most important thing in Stephanie's life. But the reality of dance is tough, and Stephanie's parents fear that she doesn't realize how few opportunities there are for black ballerinas. Then, the remarkable Miss Winnie and her handsome and talented nephew, Vance, show up in ballet class...
| Author | Cynthia Leitich Smith |
| ISBN | 0688173977 |
It's been six months since her best friend died, and up until now Rain has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around her aunt Georgia's Indian Camp in their mostly white midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again—at least through...
| Author | Connie Rose Porter |
| ISBN | 0618056785 |
"With authority and grace" (Essence), Imani All Mine tells the story of Tasha, a fourteen-year-old unwed mother of a baby girl. In her ghettoized world where poverty, racism, and danger are daily struggles, Tasha uses her savvy and humor to uncover the good hidden around her. The name she gives her daughter,...
| Author | Rita Williams-Garcia |
| ISBN | 0140385614 |
When Gayle gets into trouble with her boyfriend, her mother sends the street-smart 14-year-old-and her baby, José, down to Georgia to live with Uncle Luther and his family. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one around except kneesock-wearing, Jesus-praising cousin Cookie. Then Gayle...
| Author | Bil Wright |
| ISBN | 1416939954 |
Lahni Schuler is the only black student at her private prep school. She's also the adopted child of two loving, but white, parents who are on the road to divorce. Struggling to comfort her mother and angry with her dad, Lahni feels more and more alone. But when Lahni and her mother attend a local church one...
| Author | Sherri Winston |
| ISBN | 0316114308 |
Kayla Dean, junior feminist and future journalist, is about the break the story of a lifetime. She is auditioning for the Lady Lions dance team to prove they discriminate against the not-so-well endowed. But when she makes the team, her best friend and fellow feminist, Rosalie, is not happy.
Now...
| Author | Rune Michaels |
| ISBN | 1416918868 |
Josh worships his older brother, Max. They look alike, they talk alike, and they both have the same interests, including their favorite massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Genesis Alpha. But Josh and Max have an even deeper connection. Because Josh was born for a reason. It was Josh's...
| Author | Lori Aurelia Williams |
| ISBN | 1416916180 |
I always did right by Amina even though it was sometimes major difficult to take care of a daughter that I loved with all my heart, but never wanted in the first place.
China Cup Cameron might miss school or fall asleep in class sometimes, but she's trying hard to be a good mother to Amina, her two-year-old...
| Author | Nikki Carter |
| ISBN | 0758234414 |
Keeping it real isn't always easy. . .
Gia Stokes can't wait for the debutante ball that will help celebrate the end of her junior year. She's been crushing hard on her best friend Ricky?and is hoping he'll ask her to the dance. But her friend Kevin has been looking hot too?and Gia isn't the only...
| Author | Brenda Woods |
| ISBN | 0142404187 |
Emako Blue was supposed to be a star. She was beautiful and good-hearted. She was Monterey's best friend. She was the only girl Jamal cared about, the one who saw through his player act. She was the one who understood the burden of Eddie's family. She was the best singer anyone had ever heard, with a voice...
| Author | Ebony Joy Wilkins |
| ISBN | 0545109280 |
It is a summer that will change everything . . . .
NaTasha has a wonderful life in affluent Park Adams. She fits in, she has friends, and she's a member of the all-white ballet troupe. Being nearly the only African American in her school doesn't bother NaTasha. But it bothers Tilly, NaTasha's spitfire...
Andre Anderson is an African American teenager with a bright future. He loves to play basketball. He loves to hang out with his friends. He loves to laugh. Andre has skills, brains, and heart. He also has a dream. Then he is viciously attacked. Now everything he ever believed about the world has been called...
FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK in 1950s, Tennessee. Tony Johnston draws on her own childhood memories to limn a portrait of a sensitive and compassionate boy fighting for a friendship his father forbids.David's daddy is determined that his son will grow up to be a doctor like himself. David studies...
| Author | Yxta Maya Murray |
| ISBN | 0802135641 |
Locas tells a violent and poignant story set in the heart of the rough L.A. neighborhood Echo Park. Lucia and Cecilia are the girlfriend and sister of the rising young loco whose gun trade is about to explode into the big business of drugs. When their world starts to split apart under the vicious pressure...
| Author | Tanita S. Davis |
| ISBN | 0375848150 |
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD LAINEY DREAMS of becoming a world famous chef one day and maybe even having her own cooking show. (Do you know how many African American female chefs there aren’t? And how many vegetarian chefs have their own shows? The field is wide open for stardom!) But when her best friend—and...
| Author | Kelly Parra |
| ISBN | 1416563377 |
Kara Martinez has been trying to be "normal" ever since the accident that took her father's life when she was eleven years old. She's buried the caliente side of her Mexican heritage with her father and tried to be the girl her rigid mother wants her to be -- compliant and dressed in pink, and certainly not...
| Author | Sonia Singh |
| ISBN | 0060890223 |
There's Scott Wilder: The founder of the firm, Scott has a head for business and a passion for the paranormal. His motto is: Ghosts don't kill people. Running away from ghosts, tripping and breaking your neck in the process, kills people.
There's Anjali Kumar: A reluctant psychic, Anjali can...
| Author | Julian Houston |
| ISBN | 0618432531 |
Fifteen-year-old Rob Garrett wants nothing more than to escape the segregated South and prove himself. But in late 1950s Virginia, opportunity doesn’t come easily to an African American. So Rob’s parents take the unusual step of enrolling their son in a Connecticut boarding school, where he...
| Author | Melissa de la Cruz |
| ISBN | 0060545402 |
Dear Peaches, America is perfect! Okay, so Vicenza isn't being totally honest with Peaches, her best friend back in Manila. But what fun is it being the new girl at snooty Grosvernor High? Or rooting through the Salvation Army for unholey cashmere sweaters? Or having culture-shocked, embarrassingly...
| Author | Lauren Baratz-Logsted |
| ISBN | 1416925244 |
All I remember is the sensation of things slipping away from me....
In one night Angel Hansen's life changes forever: She has sex for the first time. Not that she remembers the act itself -- not the pain or the pleasure. But she is left with something that will never let her forget it: an unplanned...
