Twelve-year-old Orly is sent to live with his godmother in Brownsville, Texas, when he discovers that she is harboring an illegal immigrant in her backyard--Daniel, a twelve-year old boy bound for Chicago in search of his mother.
Arturo and Alma Rivera move from Mexico to Delaware in an effort to ensure the best education and opportunities for their teenage daughter, but they must confront the fear and alienation present behind the American Dream.
Former Chicago PD detective and private eye Cass Raines investigates when her friend and mentor, a community activist priest, is found dead in his church with the body of a teen sporting gang colors lying nearby. As she digs into the case, she discovers greater tensions gripping her Hyde Park neighborhood than she could have imagined, and a killer willing to silence her at any cost.
African American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is drawn into the tense racial relations of a rural East Texas town when the bodies of an African American lawyer and a woman with white supremacy ties are discovered in quick succession. First in the Highway 59 series.
Sequoyah, a 15 year old Cherokee boy, is housed with a foster family when his mother is jailed. Traumatized by past events, he keeps his feelings to himself--at least until he meets Rosemary, another Native American teen in the foster system.
John Okada's 1957 novel follows the postwar experiences of Ichiro Yamada, a Japanese-American who refused to swear loyalty to the United States and enlist in the military--responding 'no-no' on a government loyalty questionnaire. Imprisoned for his refusal, Yamada returns to a postwar life estranged from his parents, and struggling to reconcile his experiences with those Japanese-Americans who were interned or served in the military. Perceived as neither fully American nor Japanese, Yamada's experiences echo those of the author Okada, himself an internee an
The story of a young girl, Ezperanza, growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong, not to her run-down neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive surroundings.
