Central Kansas Library System

Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.

"Very short for her age, Julia grows into her sense of self while playing a munchkin in a summer regional theater production of The Wizard of Oz"--

In a land where beauty and singing are valued above all else, Aza eventually comes to reconcile her unconventional appearance and her magical voice, and learns to accept herself for who she truly is.

Fourteen-year-old Mike, whose father is a brilliant mathematician but who has no math aptitude himself, spends the summer in rural Pennsylvania with his elderly and eccentric relatives Moo and Poppy, helping the townspeople raise money to adopt a Romanian orphan.

Derek thinks he might be falling in love. The problem is, he hasn't been entirely honest with his on-line boyfriend. Derek sent Ethan a photo taken before he got depressed and gained eighty pounds. Derek hasn't been honest with his employer either. When he lied about his age and experience to get a job with disabled adults, the last thing he expected was to meet a woman like Aaliyah. Smart, prickly and often difficult, Aaliyah challenges Derek's ideas...

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn...

Told in multiple voices, seventh-grader Libby sets off a chain of events that brings hope and encouragement to four different individuals across the country who are dealing with bullies, acceptance, homelessness, and grief.

After a bewildering encounter at her small town's annual summer festival, seventeen-year-old biracial, queer Nima plunges into the world of drag, where she has the chance to explore questions of identity, acceptance, self-expression, and love.

Leading a double life as Sabrina, a funny-girl alter-ego that frees her to explore who she really is and what she really wants, teen stand-up comic Gretchen is torn between two boys as she learns to be her truest self. Gretchen feels as if she's living out every trope from her favorite rom-coms. The Best Friend Crush: it is suddenly hard to act normal around her childhood BFF, Samuel. Makeover: Black leather pants and some red lipstick are apparently...

"These stories are an extra peek at Auggie, a boy born with extreme facial abnormalities, before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie's oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie's new friend at school"--