belonging (social psychology)

Ming, the daughter of Chinese immigrants in 1930s California, wants to be like other children at school and celebrate Christmas with a tree, but after her father takes her to see a wise old friend, she discovers a better way to honor her heritage.

After learning that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan, Izumi travels to Tokyo, where she discovers that Japanese imperial life--complete with designer clothes, court intrigue, paparazzi scandals, and a forbidden romance with her handsome but stoic bodyguard--is a tough fit for the outspoken and irreverent eighteen-year-old from northern California.

After revealing her hybrid nature to Septimus beyond her pack, Manu hopes that superstition and suspicion do not prevent her and her friends from finding allies in their fight for a better future.

In a world where fairies are born from babies' first laughs and monsters are formed from humans' last sighs, a young half-fairy, half-monster is born after the Kavanagh family's grandfather and his granddaughter sigh and laugh at the same time. Born into the land of monsters, the curious new creature looks like a human and is taken under the wing of a group of gargoyles who use him to steal candy for them. When he happens upon the Kavanagh chocolate shop, the family thinks he has to be one of their own and invites him to live with them. However, the ogre King Thunderguts has his own nefarious plans for the boy and aims to get him back.

Calvin has lived in many houses that never felt like home, but Maggie, his new foster mother, helps him deal with his emotions when he misbehaves, and still offers hugs.

Leo grew up in the sea with a family of sea lions he loves. When he is reunited with his human parents, he finds that he loves them too.

Inheriting First Uncle's home after he dies tragically and unexpectedly, eleven-year-old Meixing and her family immigrate to the New Land, where it will take all of Meixing's resilience and bravery to finally find her place of belonging in this new world.

Illustrations and easy-to-read text reveal that there are strings connecting people all over the world, that become tangled sometimes but always help us be one big family.

"Found abandoned in a bear cave as a baby, and cursed with unusual size and strength, twelve-year-old Yanka the bear has never felt she belonged in the small village where she grew up; the Snow Forest seems to call to her and when she wakes up one day with her legs transformed into bear legs she flees the village, and embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover clues to her mysterious origin and identity"--OCLC.

"Reema runs to remember the life she left behind in Syria. Caylin runs to find what she's lost. Under the grey Glasgow skies, twelve-year-old refugee Reema is struggling to find her place in a new country, with a new language and without her brother. But she isn't the only one feeling lost. Her Glasgwegian neighbour Caylin is lonely and lashing out. When they discover an injured fox and her cubs hiding on their estate, the girls form a wary friendship. And they are more alike than they could have imagined: they both love to run. As Reema and Caylin learn to believe again, in themselves and in others, they find friendship, freedom and the discovery that home isn't a place, it's the people you love. Heartfelt and full of hope . . . an uplifting story about the power of friendship and belonging"--Publisher.