social problem fiction

"Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other"--Publisher.

Junior, a high school senior, is asked by his French teacher to write a biography of a personality who tried to change the world. In light of the death of George Floyd and the numerous anti-racist demonstrations that followed around the world, he chooses to tell the life of Tommie Smith, an African-American athlete who distinguished himself by his raised fist at the 1968 Olympic Games--Adapted from back cover.

Twelve-year-old Lotus Blossom, normally a peace-loving free spirit, must summon the courage to fight against a racist dress code and stand up for herself.

"Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good. Javari will learn a lot about science--and also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it's Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler--and blow his mind wide open"--Provided by publisher.

"After discovering the body of fourteen-year-old Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, seventeen-year-old journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating his murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school"--OCLC.

"Told in two voices, the budding romance between tenth-graders Uly Gates and Sallie Walls is tested when their sisters run against each other in a racially-charged campaign for student-body president"--OCLC.

Lily Xiao can't wait to go to Camp Rock Out this summer, where she'll finally be able to shed her "class robot" good girl reputation and start her journey to becoming the next Eddie Vedder! And she can't wait to do it with her best friend and cousin, Vivian, who's just moved from Taiwan to Lily's California hometown. But as the two cousins work their way through seventh grade, Vivian struggles more and more with her schoolwork, which is all taught in English. If Vivian can't get her grades up, her parents won't let her go to rock camp. Determined to help, Lily embarks on a mission to push their school to provide more support for English-as-a-Second-Language learners like Vivian. But her first-generation immigrant family is nervous about Lily challenging the status quo. We should be grateful to be here, they always say. With Camp Rock Out on the line, Lily will need to decide how far she'll push against her family's wishes in order to stand up and speak out.

When twelve-year-old Fern and her mother abruptly leave their isolated, off-the-grid community, Fern wants nothing more than to return, but things get murky as she slowly adjusts to her new life and discovers unsettling truths about her old one.

"Fourteen-year-old Eva Brown is coping with difficulties at home and at school, most significantly her mother's alcoholism. When Eva's nohkum (grandmother) is hospitalized, her mother struggles to care for Eva and her younger brother. After Eva's brother wanders away, he is sent to live with a foster family and Eva finds herself in a group home. Furious at her mother's weakness, Eva struggles to adjust to the group home--and reuniting with her family seems less and less likely. During a visit to the hospital, Nohkum gives Eva Shirley's diary. Can Eva find forgiveness for her mother in its pages?"--Provided by publisher.

"Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star's son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father's jailer. Under Pratt's harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines"--Amazon.