The Henna Wars


Book Description

"Impossible to put down." - Kirkus, starred review Nishat doesn’t want to lose her family, but she also doesn’t want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush, especially since Flávia seems to like her back. As the competition heats up, Nishat has a decision to make: stay in the closet for her family, or put aside her differences with Flávia and give their relationship a chance.




Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating


Book Description

Everyone likes Humaira "Hani" Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship...with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita "Ishu" Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl. Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.




I Love You So Mochi


Book Description

Kimi Nakamura loves fashion, and designing clothes, jewelry, and accessories for her friends, but her mother, a professional graphic designer with a long list of clients, wants her to be a serious artist, and is furious when she discovers Kimi has dropped her fine arts class; so Kimi is relieved to be able to visit her normally estranged grandparents in Kyoto during spring break--but what begins as an escape becomes a way to learn about her mother and her Japanese heritage, and to figure out how to move forward with her own life.




You Truly Assumed


Book Description

"You Truly Assumed is a beautiful portrayal of the multitude of ways to be Black and Muslim while navigating our contemporary world. A must-read for everyone."—Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths. Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community. Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard. “I reached the ending with tears in my eyes—tears cued not by sadness but hope and elation.” —S. K. Ali, New York Times bestselling author of The Proudest Blue and Love from A to Z




Like a Love Song


Book Description

This debut romance follows a Latina teen pop star whose image takes a dive after a messy public breakup, until she's set up with a swoon-worthy fake boyfriend. Fake boyfriend. Real heartbreak? Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star... until she's dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating--it could end her career. Her PR team's desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy--not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William--and realizes that maybe she's the biggest fake of them all. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart? "The perfect ode to falling in love while you're still finding your voice."--Jennifer Dugan, author of Hot Dog Girl "All the fun and excitement of your favorite summer bop, and all the heart of a love ballad."--Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars "YA rom-com perfection."--Nina Moreno, author of Don't Date Rosa Santos




We Were Promised Spotlights


Book Description

The Miseducation of Cameron Post meets Everything Leads to You in this queer young adult novel. Hopuonk, Massachusetts, 1999 Taylor Garland's good looks have earned her the admiration of everyone in her small town. She's homecoming queen, the life of every party, and she's on every boy's most-wanted list. People think Taylor is living the dream, and assume she'll stay in town and have kids with the homecoming king--maybe even be a dental hygienist if she's super ambitious. But Taylor is actually desperate to leave home, and she hates the smell of dentists' offices. Also? She's completely in love with her best friend, Susan. Senior year is almost over, and everything seems perfect. Now Taylor just has to figure out how to throw it all away. Lindsay Sproul's debut is full of compelling introspection and painfully honest commentary on what it's like to be harnessed to a destiny you never wanted.




My Mechanical Romance


Book Description

Opposites attract in this nerdy YA romance from the NYT best-selling author of The Atlas Six! "It’s rom-com perfection."—Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars Bel doesn't want to think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. Joining a robotics club filled with boys who ignore her or--even worse--constantly ask if she needs help? Please, anything but that. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering in class, she has no choice. Enter Mateo Luna, the handsome captain of the club. Teo instantly recognizes Bel's talent. He needs her on the team. And not just because he can't stop thinking about the tiny dusting of freckles around her eyes, or how she got him hooked on Taylor Swift--it's because Bel sees him. She challenges him. But when they seriously start butting heads, Bel wonders: Is there really room for a girl like her in STEM? In her YA debut, Alexene Farol Follmuth, author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake), explores both the challenges girls of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty. Told from dual points of view, My Mechanical Romance is not only swoonworthy--it's downright empowering. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection A Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Nominee A Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award Nominee




How It All Blew Up


Book Description

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda goes to Italy in Arvin Ahmadi's newest incisive look at identity and what it means to find yourself by running away. Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy--he just didn't think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is his only option. Right? Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature... until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a US Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom. At turns uplifting and devastating, How It All Blew Up is Arvin Ahmadi's most powerful novel yet, a celebration of how life's most painful moments can live alongside the riotous, life-changing joys of discovering who you are.




American Betiya


Book Description

A luminous story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries and the complications of a cross-cultural relationship. Perfect for fans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson. Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in--his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art--make him her mother's worst nightmare. They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver's troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself--and what's really brewing beneath the surface of her first love. Winner of SCBWI's Emerging Voices award, Anuradha D. Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways cultures can clash in an interracial relationship. Braiding together themes of sexuality, artistic expression, and appropriation, she gives voice to a girl claiming ownership of her identity, one shattered stereotype at a time. "A brave, beautiful exploration of identity--those thrust upon us, and those we forge for ourselves." --Elana K. Arnold, award-winning author of What Girls Are Made Of




When Dimple Met Rishi


Book Description

The inspiration for the Netflix original series Mismatched! Everyone is talking about this New York Times bestselling rom-com that Mindy Kaling called “utterly charming!” Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.