"An emotion-filled collection." —Kirkus Reviews 
Two teens take the stage and find their voice . . . 
A girl learns about her heritage and begins to find her community . . . 
A sister is haunted by the ghosts of loved ones lost . . . 
There is no universal adoption experience, and no two adoptees have the same story. This anthology for teens edited by Shannon Gibney and Nicole Chung contains a wide range of powerful, poignant, and evocative stories in a variety of genres. 
These tales from fifteen bestselling, acclaimed, and emerging adoptee authors genuinely and authentically reflect the complexity, breadth, and depth of adoptee experiences. 
This groundbreaking collection centers what it’s like growing up as an adoptee. These are stories by adoptees, for adoptees, reclaiming their own narratives. 
With stories by: Kelley Baker Nicole Chung Shannon Gibney Mark Oshiro MeMe Collier Susan Harness Meredith Ireland Mariama J. Lockington Lisa Nopachai Stefany Valentine Matthew Salesses Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom Eric Smith Jenny Heijun Wills Sun Yung Shin Foreword by Rebecca Carroll Afterword by JaeRan Kim, MSW, PhD

When We Become Ours: A YA Adoptee Anthology

Literature & Fiction

SMITH, Eric

Gibney, Shannon

Sjöblom, Lisa Wool-Rim

Salesses, Matthew

Shin, Sun Yung

Oshiro, Mark

Lockington, Mariama J.

Ireland, Meredith

Baker, Kelley

Chung, Nicole

Wills, Jenny Heijun

Valentine, Stefany

Collier, MeMe

Harness, Susan

Nopachai, Lisa

Short Stories & Anthologies

HarperTeen

Working Toward Racial Equity in First-Year Composition (Routledge Research in Higher Education)

This book presents the authors’ attempts to interrogate the ways that white institutional, pedagogical, and curricular heteronormativity affects equity in writing instruction at Two Year Colleges. Written from a wide range of subject and identity positions, this volume explores issues that arise among students inside historically white-dominant classrooms, among faculty as curriculum and hiring decisions are made, and among colleagues when they attempt to engage the wider institution in equity work. Aiming to significantly change how urban Community College writing instruction is delivered in this country, the book operates on the principle that equity is essential to successful writing pedagogy, curricular development, and student success.

Working Toward Racial Equity in First-Year Composition: Six Perspectives (Routledge Research in Higher Education)

Politics & Social Sciences

DeLong, Renee

Coleman, Taiyon J.

DeVore, Kathleen Sheerin

Kuhne, Michael C.

Déus, Valérie

Sociology

Routledge

Part memoir, part speculative fiction, this novel explores the often surreal experience of growing up as a mixed-Black transracial adoptee.\nDream Country author Shannon Gibney returns with a new book woven from her true story of growing up as the adopted Black daughter of white parents and the fictional story of Erin Powers, the name Shannon was given at birth by the white woman who gave her up for adoption.\nAt its core, the novel is a tale of two girls on two different timelines occasionally bridged by a mysterious portal and their shared search for a complete picture of their origins. Gibney surrounds that story with reproductions of her own adoption documents, letters, family photographs, interviews, medical records, and brief essays on the surreal absurdities of the adoptee experience.\nThe end result is a remarkable portrait of an American experience rarely depicted in any form.

The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption

Teen & Young Adult

Dutton Books for Young Readers

The heartbreaking story of five generations of young people from a single African-and-American family pursuing an elusive dream of freedom. "Gut wrenching and incredible.”— Sabaa Tahir #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes "This novel is a remarkable achievement."—Kelly Barnhill, New York Times bestselling author and Newbery medalist "Beautifully epic."—Ibi Zoboi, author American Street and National Book Award finalist Dream Country begins in suburban Minneapolis at the moment when seventeen-year-old Kollie Flomo begins to crack under the strain of his life as a Liberian refugee. He's exhausted by being at once too black and not black enough for his African American peers and worn down by the expectations of his own Liberian family and community. When his frustration finally spills into violence and his parents send him back to Monrovia to reform school, the story shifts. Like Kollie, readers travel back to Liberia, but also back in time, to the early twentieth century and the point of view of Togar Somah, an eighteen-year-old indigenous Liberian on the run from government militias that would force him to work the plantations of the Congo people, descendants of the African American slaves who colonized Liberia almost a century earlier. When Togar's section draws to a shocking close, the novel jumps again, back to America in 1827, to the children of Yasmine Wright, who leave a Virginia plantation with their mother for Liberia, where they're promised freedom and a chance at self-determination by the American Colonization Society. The Wrights begin their section by fleeing the whip and by its close, they are then the ones who wield it. With each new section, the novel uncovers fresh hope and resonating heartbreak, all based on historical fact. In Dream Country, Shannon Gibney spins a riveting tale of the nightmarish spiral of death and exile connecting America and Africa, and of how one determined young dreamer tries to break free and gain control of her destiny.

Dream Country

Historical Fiction

Penguin??Books

See No Color

Holiday House

"Transracial adoption is never oversimplified, airbrushed, or sentimentalized, but instead, it's portrayed with bracing honesty as the messy institution it is: rearranging families, blending cultural and biological DNA, loss and joy. An exceptionally accomplished debut." ― Kirkus, starred review For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge has known two things about herself: She's a stellar baseball player. She's adopted. Alex has had a comfortable childhood in Madison, Wisconsin. Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a wealthy white family hasn't been that big a deal. What mattered was that she was a star on the diamond, where her father, a former Major Leaguer, coached her hard and counted on her to make him proud. But now, things are changing: she meets Reggie, the first black guy who's wanted to get to know her; she discovers the letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her changing body starts to affect her game. Suddenly, Alex begins to question who she really is. She's always dreamed of playing pro baseball just like her father, but can she really do it? Does she truly fit in with her white family? Who were her biological parents? What does it mean to be black? If she's going to find answers, Alex has to come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her. • Winner of the Minnesota Book Award • A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen book of the Year • A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year

Carolrhoda Lab ®

<div> Six-year-old Sam, with his Liberian dad and African American mom, finds a way to bring everyone in his cross-cultural family together at the dinner table Rice and okra soup: Sam's auntie from Liberia made it, and it's Dad's favorite. Mom, homegrown in Minnesota, made spaghetti and meatballs. And Sam? He's just hungry, but no matter what he chooses to eat, someone will be disappointed. Caught in the middle of his family's African and American food fight, Sam gets a little help from his grumbling stomach--and readers of this seriously funny book by Shannon Gibney get a peek at cultures colliding in a family kitchen that work out in a very delicious way. Charly Palmer's vibrant and captivating illustrations make this gentle lesson in getting along a bright and colorful visual feast as well. Cassava leaf torbogee or homemade sausage pizza? Sam's family recipes bring Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight to an apt and happy ending--and readers can decide which dinner is best. But, really, why not both? </div>

Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight

Children's Books

Growing Up & Facts of Life

Univ. of Minnesota Press

In this unique collaboration, four authors lyrically explore where they each come from―literally and metaphorically―as well as what unites all of us as humans. 
Richly layered illustrations connect past and present, making for an accessible and visually striking look at history, family, and identity. 
We come from stardust / our bodies made of ancient elements. / We come from single cells / evolving over billions of years. / We come from place, language, and spirit. / And each of us comes from story.

Where We Come From

Wilson, Diane

Coy, John

Biographies

Carolrhoda Books ®

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