Publication year 1990
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Coming of Age, Childhood & Youth
Tags Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, Humor, Modern Classic Fiction
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.
Fudge-a-Mania
Full Cicada Moon
Full Measures
Full of Beans
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Funny Story
Furia
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
Game Changer
Game On
Games at Twilight
Games Untold
Geek Love
Gender Queer
Genesis Begins Again
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
George's Marvelous Medicine
Ghost
Ghosted
Ghosts
Publication year 1990
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Coming of Age, Childhood & Youth
Tags Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, Humor, Modern Classic Fiction
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race, Gender Identity, Coming of Age, Family
Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, World History, Arts & Culture
Winner of the APALA Literature Award, Marilyn C. Hilton’s Full Cicada Moon (2015) is a historical novel-in-verse that examines themes of racism and gender norms in 1969 New England. Composed of poems, the novel delves into the experiences of Mimi, a middle-school student of African American and Japanese descent who initially struggles with her identity but eventually learns to feel confident in herself. This study guide references the 2017 Puffin Books Reprint Edition, an imprint... Read Full Cicada Moon Summary
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Love, Memory, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Death, Future, Family, Fathers, Friendship, Mothers, Siblings, Self Discovery, Community, War, Fate, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Coming of Age, Friendship, Family, Truth & Lies, Guilt, Community
Tags Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, World History, Humor, Historical Fiction, Great Depression
Jennifer L. Holm’s Full of Beans is a 2016 middle-grade historical novel set in 1934. Main character and first-person protagonist Beans Curry is a 10-year-old boy born and raised in Key West, Florida. The Great Depression causes difficulties for the locals of the dilapidated town, including Beans’s family. “New Dealer” Mr. Julius Stone, Jr. arrives with the plan to boost Key West’s failing economy by recreating it as a tourist destination, but Beans decides that... Read Full of Beans Summary
Publication year 2006
Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction
Themes Sexual Identity, Gender Identity, Family, Fathers, Daughters & Sons, Literature, Truth & Lies, Femininity, Masculinity
Tags LGBTQ+, Life-Inspired Fiction, Relationships, Love & Sexuality, Parenting, Depression & Suicide, Mental Illness, Grief & Death, Gender & Feminism, Biography
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) is a graphic novel memoir written and illustrated by underground cartoonist Alison Bechdel. The book centers on Bechdel’s relationship with her late father Bruce Allen Bechdel, who died in what she believes was a death by suicide. Fun Home is a non-linear narrative that rehashes events from Alison Bechdel’s youth and adolescence. Her memories are presented in the comic panels, overlayed with her prosaic, retrospective musings in text boxes... Read Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Family, Mothers, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Humor
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Equality, Family, Femininity
Tags Romance, Sports, Race & Racism, Gender & Feminism, Social Class, Latin American Literature, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race, Sexual Identity, Family
Tags LGBTQ+, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces (2014) is a young adult fiction novel by Southern Californian writer Isabel Quintero. It is a bildungsroman following Gabi’s transition to adulthood, her evolution as a writer, and her growing acceptance of herself. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces is Quintero’s first novel and earned various awards for young adult readers, including the California Book Award (2015 Gold Medal) and the William C. Morris Award for YA Debut Novel. This summary... Read Gabi, a Girl in Pieces Summary
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Teamwork, Loyalty & Betrayal, Friendship, Community, Safety & Danger, Forgiveness, Guilt, Memory, Conflict, Hope, Mothers, Fathers, Childhood & Youth, Masculinity, Truth & Lies, Fear, Family
Tags Sports, Realistic Fiction, Disability, Children`s Literature, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1978
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Childhood & Youth, Perseverance, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Coming of Age, Death, Family, Siblings
Tags Indian Literature, Education, Education, Asian Literature, Classic Fiction
“Games at Twilight” is a short story written by Indian author Anita Desai. It was originally published in 1978 in a collection titled Games at Twilight and Other Stories, which contains several texts that explore different aspects of Indian life in urban settings. That same year, Desai was nominated for the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Fire on the Mountain. “Games at Twilight” focuses on a young boy who... Read Games at Twilight Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Coming of Age, Family
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Horror & Suspense
Publication year 1989
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Fate
Tags American Literature, Science Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy
Geek Love is a 1989 dystopian novel by Katherine Dunn. The novel is structured as a memoir written by Olympia “Oly” Binewski, an albino hunchback dwarf, as she chronicles the bizarre story of her family of carnival freaks. Her parents, Aloysius “Al” and Lillian “Lil, Lily, or Crystal Lil” Binewski, had sought to prop up their faltering traveling carnival by breeding their own children into freaks through the prenatal use of illicit drugs, poison, and radiation. The family believes that “norms,”... Read Geek Love Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction
Themes Gender Identity, Self Discovery, Sexual Identity, Family
Tags LGBTQ+, Gender & Feminism, Biography
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race, Social Class, Family
Tags Realistic Fiction, Race & Racism, Poverty, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Genesis Begins Again is a contemporary middle grade novel published in 2019 by Alicia Williams, a teacher and an author of children’s fiction and young adult books. Genesis Begins Again, Williams’s debut novel, was met with critical praise for exploring and adapting complex emotional themes such as colorism, addiction, and bullying for a younger audience. Genesis Begins Again was a finalist for the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature and the recipient of the... Read Genesis Begins Again Summary
Publication year 2004
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Family
Tags World History, Military & War, Chinese Literature, Biography
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a nonfiction book divided into three parts and dealing with the early life and rise to power of Temujin, the man who would become known as Genghis Khan. The text details his conquests and the establishment of the Mongol Empire, and the changes undergone by the empire after his death, and up until its collapse. Throughout, Weatherford makes the argument that the Mongol Empire played... Read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Summary
Publication year 1981
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Aging, Childhood & Youth, Animals, Family, Mothers, Fathers
Tags Fantasy, Humor, Children`s Literature, Magical Realism, British Literature
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Teamwork, Childhood & Youth, Family
Tags Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction
Ghost is a 2016 novel by American author Jason Reynolds. Reynolds began his writing career as a poet and published his first novel, When I Was the Greatest, in 2014. Reynolds has won several accolades, including a Kirkus Prize, an NAACP Image Award, a Schneider Family Book Award, a Newbery Medal, and a Carnegie Medal. From 2020 to 2022, he was the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and he won the... Read Ghost Summary
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Science & Technology, Family, Siblings
Tags Romance, Modern Classic Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense
Ghosted is British novelist Rosie Walsh’s first novel, published in 2018. After a career in television that included extensive travel, Walsh settled in the United Kingdom with her family, and Ghosted is set primarily in Gloucestershire and partially in other parts of England and Los Angeles, California. Released in the UK as The Man Who Didn’t Call and Ghosted in the United States, the novel addresses the phenomenon of “ghosting” in which a potential partner... Read Ghosted Summary
Publication year 1881
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Truth & Lies, Religion & Spirituality, Family, Regret, Guilt, Shame & Pride, Femininity
Tags Drama, Psychological Fiction, Scandinavian Literature, Realism, Victorian Period, Dramatic Literature, Health, Religion & Spirituality, Finance, Love & Sexuality, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction
The play Ghosts (1881) by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen chronicles the complicated relationship between Helen Alving and her son, Oswald. Ghosts documents a day in the life at the Alving estate as Helen prepares to open an orphanage in honor of her late husband. A three-act play, Ghosts explores the complex social issues of sexually transmitted infections, incest, and euthanasia—topics that made the play highly controversial when it was first produced.Ghosts followed the success of... Read Ghosts Summary