Alamosa Public Library

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders...

Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

"It’s 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down. She's too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots. Shadi is named for joy, but she’s haunted by...

In 1893 New York, thirteen-year-old Maks, a newsboy, teams up with Willa, a homeless girl, to clear his older sister, Emma, from charges that she stole from the brand new Waldorf Hotel, where she works. Includes historical notes.

"A dangerous journey. A distant dream. Based on a true story. It is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna's mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will take care of her abuelita, her little sister, Amelia, and her baby brother, Luisito, until they can be reunited. They flee north as their town burns, searching for safe harbor in a world that offers none. Each night,...

In 1960s New York, fifth-grader Ruthie, a Cuban-Jewish immigrant, must rely on books, art, her family, and friends in her multicultural neighborhood when an accident puts her in a body cast.

When Laila's father, king of an unnamed Middle Eastern country, is killed, she and her mother and brother flee to America to live a life of exile. Only now does Laila learn that her father was not the rightful king, but was seen as a dictator in the American newspapers. She cannot believe it, but she questions the life of ease she enjoyed as a princess--it may have been ill-gotten. When her mother works with the CIA to regain the throne, Laila wonders...

A novel in verse inspired by the author's experience follows Hà and her family, refugees from the Vietnam War, as they move to Texas for a new job, and despite not wanting to start over again, Hà discovers unwanted change can bring a good opportunity.