National Network for Equitable Library Service

Rita Winkler is a young woman living with Down syndrome. My Art, My World shows us the world as she sees it: a place full of joy, color, and the delight of life with her family and friends. Approaching her daily life with enthusiasm and a dry sense of humor, Rita rides public transit to her job working at a university coffee shop. She takes yoga and folk dance classes and enjoys drama and music at a day program, and she continues to practice using sign language. Rita's great passion is making art. Here she shows her love for the world in fun and beautiful works of art.

A legendary YA debut. This dazzling sapphic fantasy inspired by Greek mythology will captivate fans of Circe and The Song of Achilles. Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope's twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago.But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.

A Black teen dancer with dreams of landing a spot in a prestigious ballet company must learn to dance on her own terms in this explosive debut about the healing power of art and friendship, perfect for fans of Heartbreaker and Tiny Pretty Things. Ballet is Aisha’s life. So when she’s denied yet another lead at her elite academy because she doesn’t “look” the part, she knows something has to change–the constant discrimination is harming her mental health. Switching to her best friend Neil’s art school seems like the perfect plan at first.

A young Indigenous girl searching for a sense of home finds strength and courage in her gifts, her deepening connection to the land, and her own cultural awakening in this moving coming-of-age story. The last thing that twelve-year-old Misko wants to do is to move away from the city to spend time on the rez with her grandmother. She feels strangely compelled to go to the place where her dreams have been tugging at her to come home. Maybe she can finally find out what happened to her mother, who mysteriously disappeared when she was four years old.

Ghosts aren't the only thing that can haunt a house. Trynne Delaney's debut novel explores the insidious legacies of violence and oppression--and how Black, queer love and resistance can disrupt them. With her dad's incarceration, escalating fights with her mom, and an overbearing step dad she's not sure she can trust, Asha is desperate for the fresh start promised by a move to the country. Her great aunt Aggie's crumbling, pest-ridden house isn't exactly what she had in mind, but the immediate connection she makes with her new neighbor Cole seems like a good sign.

Charlie Wolfe vanishes from Tony Shepherd's high school graduation, leaving only a cryptic message asking for help. On his own, Tony must summon all the skills he's learned over the years to find his friend. He'll leave the safety of home and family to face off against old foes and uncover the truth of Charlie's disappearance. But things are more complicated and dangerous than he realizes, and he'll have to choose just how far he's willing to go to save his friend.

Can Shinoni and Keena, two Ice Age teens separated from their tribes, overcome their differences to outwit their pursuer and survive the unforgiving wilds? The climate is changing, game is disappearing, and two peoples of the Ice Age compete for survival in a savage world. Keena, from a powerful band of Neanderthals, and Shinoni, daughter of a Cro-Magnon shaman, are torn from their families by Haken, a ruthless hunter. The girls dislike each other but soon discover they need each other to survive.

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes a thrilling young-adult outer-space adventure. When the old woman who raised him in a remote village is murdered, Kriss Lemarc finds himself alone on a planet where he'll always be an outsider. His only link to his long-dead, unknown parents is the touchlyre they bequeathed him, a strange instrument that not only plays music but pours his innermost feelings into the minds of his listeners. When Tevera, a girl of the space-going, nomadic Family, hears Kriss perform, she is drawn to him against her better judgment and the rules of her people.

Cosmopolitan and curious seventeen-year-old Chrysler Wong suffers from debilitating fear brought on by belief in a family curse, whereby she and her siblings will each die at age eighteen when they leave their small hometown. Three siblings have already died; the fourth, her favourite, has left town and is incommunicado. Through the course of a narrative that is offbeat, funny, and full of verve, we meet Chrysler's siblings, a lively bunch with a fun dynamic and interesting back-stories of their own.

Terrified of being targeted by bullies for being overweight, Lionel tries to go through grade 8 attracting as little notice as possible. But Lionel discovers something about himself: he's fast. And Lionel takes up running. That leads to joining a running group, and being recruited for the school track team. But being on the track team and getting more attention brings him closer to the bullies he's been avoiding - and makes him a target.