Something Like Home
A quiet, powerful look at the immigrant experience that avoids trauma-porn and focuses on the daily work of building a new life.
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Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna
by Alda P. Dobbs
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 760L · 2021
A luminous, unsentimental portrait of a child caught between two worlds — beautifully written and genuinely teaches kids why migration is complicated, not a villain's choice or a fairy tale.
Blue Willow
by Doris Gates
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 730L · 1974
A Newbery Honor that has aged into something harder than it was meant to be—tender and historically important, but the economic desperation and marginalizing prejudice land differently for contemporary kids; worth reading aloud with space to talk.
Rainbow Jordan
by Alice Childress
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 750L · 1999
A quietly powerful debut about a girl waiting for her mother who never shows up—Childress writes with unflinching tenderness about what kids actually do when adults disappoint them.