Family

Leo Tolstoy famously begins the novel Anna Karenina with the sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this thematic collection, we have gathered noteworthy texts that navigate the joyous and sorrowful emotional terrain of the family unit.

Publication year 2005

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Mothers, Immigration

Tags Politics & Government, Social Justice, US History, Immigration & Refugeeism, Education, Education, World History, Biography

Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother is a best-selling nonfiction book by Sonia Nazario, an American journalist best known for her work on social justice. Originally published in 2006, the book is based on Nazario’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Enrique’s Journey” series, which was written in six parts and published in The Los Angeles Times.The book, which has been published in eight languages and adapted for young adults in... Read Enrique's Journey Summary

Publication year 2000

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Immigration, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Realistic Fiction, World History, Arts & Culture, Poverty, Social Class

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the award-winning author of over 40 books for new readers, middle-grade students, and young adults. Esperanza Rising (2000) is one of her most popular works and was honored with the 2001 Southern California Judy Lopez Award and the 2001 Arizona Young Adult Book Award. It also became a 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. Other titles by the same author include Riding Freedom (1998), Becoming Naomi Léon (2004), Paint the... Read Esperanza Rising Summary

Publication year 2013

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Siblings, Mothers, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Politics & Government

Tags Biography, Trauma & Abuse, Inspirational, Poverty

Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island is a memoir written by Regina Calcaterra and originally published in 2013. Calcaterra wrote the memoir to call attention to the Failures of the Child Welfare System and emphasize the importance of Ending the Cycle of Abuse and Finding Purpose in Suffering. Etched in Sand focuses on Calcaterra and her siblings’ childhood in Long Island, New York and... Read Etched In Sand Summary

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Hate & Anger, Family, Friendship, War, Race, Loyalty & Betrayal, Fear, Food, Literature

Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, World War II, Military & War, Italian Literature, World History

Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, The Past, Nature Versus Nurture, Family

Tags Science & Nature, Gender & Feminism, Women`s Studies, Health, Anthropology, Anthropology, World History

Publication year 1904

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Memory, Grief, Love, Family, Colonialism

Tags Irish Literature, Modernism, Gender & Feminism, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction

“Eveline” is the fourth short story in James Joyce’s Dubliners collection, completed in 1907 and published in London in 1914. This story, like the others in Dubliners, reveals Joyce’s view of Ireland, then a British colony, as existing in a state of paralysis. Alongside this broader theme, “Eveline” also explores topics like duty versus freedom, English imperialism, and individual autonomy. Nearly a story of a young woman escaping the confines of her abusive and lonely... Read Eveline Summary

Publication year 2016

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family

Tags Korean Literature, Asian Literature, Children`s Literature, World History, Action & Adventure, Biography

Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea is a 2016 memoir by Sungju Lee and Susan McClelland. This first-person narrative nonfiction work recounts author Sungju Lee’s childhood in North Korea, surviving on the streets as a young boy after he was abandoned by his parents, as well as his harrowing escape at age 16. He is now a consultant and advocate for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula... Read Every Falling Star Summary

Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Race, Shame & Pride, Family

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Celeste Ng is an American writer whose parents emigrated to the United States from Hong Kong in the late 1960s. She was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her debut novel Everything I Never Told You achieved both commercial and critical success, becoming a New York Times best-seller as well as Amazon’s Best Book of the Year in 2014 and a New York Times Notable Book of 2014.In his New York Times review... Read Everything I Never Told You Summary

Publication year 2002

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Memory

Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Historical Fiction, Holocaust, Jewish Literature, World War II, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Magical Realism

Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer’s first book, was originally published by Houghton Mifflin in 2002. A portion of the book had been published previously in The New Yorker. The novel won several awards, including the National Jewish Book Award, the Guardian First Book Award, and the Young Lions Fiction Award. The book received rave reviews but also received some criticism for its fictional portrayal of historical events. In response to this criticism, Safran Foer... Read Everything Is Illuminated Summary

Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Hope, Joy, Loneliness, Daughters & Sons, Community, Family

Tags Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Humor

Renowned Canadian/American author Polly Horvath published the middle-grade novel Everything on a Waffle in 2001. Over two years, the book received numerous accolades, including Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, the ALSC Notable Children’s Book, a Newbery Honor Medal, and the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Written in the first person, 11-year-old narrator Primrose tells of her parents disappearing in a typhoon off the coast of British Columbia. Primrose discounts... Read Everything on a Waffle Summary

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Religion & Spirituality, Immigration, Place, Coming of Age, Siblings, Memory, Daughters & Sons, Mothers, Fathers, Childhood & Youth, Animals, The Past, Love, Shame & Pride, Education, Marriage, Perseverance, Politics & Government, Nation, Truth & Lies, Nostalgia, Hope, Loneliness, Grandparents

Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Immigration & Refugeeism, Middle Eastern History, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

Publication year 1965

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Family, Good & Evil, Social Class, Equality

Tags Race & Racism, Southern Gothic, American Literature, Southern Literature, World History, Classic Fiction

First published in New World Writing magazine in 1961, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is the title story from Flannery O’Connor’s final collection of short stories. Hailed as one of the United States’ greatest writers, O’Connor is best known for her award-winning short fiction and her contributions to the genre of Southern Gothic literature. The collection Everything That Rises Must Converge was published posthumously in 1965. It contains nine stories, seven of which appeared previously... Read Everything That Rises Must Converge Summary

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Community

Tags Sociology, Social Justice, Poverty, Race & Racism, Business & Economics, World History, Politics & Government

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, written by Matthew Desmond, a tenured sociology professor at Princeton University, was published in 2016 and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2017. In this influential work, Desmond highlights the interconnected issues of extreme poverty and affordable housing in the United States, themes he continues to explore in his more recent book, Poverty, by America. Through an ethnographic study, he follows the experiences of eight... Read Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Summary