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 2014

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Conflict, Family, Friendship, Self Discovery, Trust & Doubt

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Christian

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014) is a book of memoir and apologetics, written by Pakistani American author Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017). It recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey from his Muslim childhood to an eventual embrace of Christian belief in his early adulthood. The book explores The Emotional and Relational Costs of Religious Conversion, The Balance of Intellectual Arguments and Spiritual Experience, Friendship as a Catalyst for Spiritual Transformation, and The... Read Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Truth & Lies, Space

Tags Chinese Literature, Asian Literature, Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Action & Adventure

See You in the Cosmos, a 2017 middle-grade contemporary novel by Jack Cheng, features 11-year-old Alex Petroski as its main character and narrator. Inspired by scientist Carl Sagan, Alex wants to use a hand-built rocket to send audio recordings about life on Earth to extraterrestrial creatures. Though his quest to communicate with alien life fails, Alex finds himself on a much larger journey toward self-identity and truth. The novel is a Golden Kite Award Winner... Read See You in the Cosmos Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Coming of Age, Good & Evil

Tags Fantasy, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Coming of Age, Animals, Children`s Literature, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure

Serafina and the Black Cloak is a middle-grade mystery/fantasy by Robert Beatty. First published in 2015, the novel is set in 1899 at the historic Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina. The story features 12-year-old Serafina, a girl of mysterious origins and many unusual skills who lives secretly in the mansion’s basement. When some of the Biltmore guests’ children go missing, Serafina discovers that an evil intruder—the Man in the Black Cloak—is responsible. Serafina sets... Read Serafina and the Black Cloak Summary

Publication year 467

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes War, Fate, Family, Siblings, Justice, Hate & Anger

Tags Classic Fiction, Ancient Greece, Tragedy, Classical Period, Dramatic Literature, Fantasy

Seven Against Thebes is a tragedy composed by Aeschylus and performed for the first time at the City Dionysia festival in 467 BCE. It was the final play of a connected trilogy based on the myths of Oedipus and his family, but the first two plays—Laius and Oedipus—are now lost, as is the satyr play Sphinx that would have been performed following the trilogy. This set of plays won first prize the year it was... Read Seven Against Thebes Summary

Publication year 1949

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Immigration

Tags Education, Education, Japanese Literature

“Seventeen Syllables,” originally published in 1949 by the Partisan Review, is Hisaye Yamamoto’s most anthologized short story. Yamamoto was one of the first Japanese American authors to achieve critical and commercial success after World War II due to her celebrated short stories about life in Southern California and the experiences of Japanese Americans. Her stories were eventually published together in 1988, in a collection titled Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories released by Kitchen Table Press... Read Seventeen Syllables Summary

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Immigration, Place, Language, Family, Safety & Danger, Mothers, Death, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Daughters & Sons, The Past, Guilt, Shame & Pride, Grief, Fathers, Nostalgia, Apathy, Loneliness, Self Discovery

Tags Satirical Literature, Science Fiction, Survival Fiction, Chinese Literature, Immigration & Refugeeism, Modern Classic Fiction

Publication year 1989

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Self Discovery, Family, Shame & Pride, Hate & Anger, War, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, American Civil War, Coming of Age, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, US History, Military & War, World History

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family

Tags Fantasy, Religion & Spirituality

Shadowshaper is an urban fantasy young adult novel written by Daniel José Older and originally published in 2015. The first book in the Shadowshaper Cypher series, Shadowshaper follows an Afro-Boricua teenager named Sierra who discovers she has a magical and spiritual family heritage. The book was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2015 and was shortlisted for the 2015 Kirkus Prize. This study guide refers the 2015 paperback Scholastic Inc. edition.   Plot SummaryAt... Read Shadowshaper Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Siblings, Fate, Race, Family, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Asian Literature, World History, Chinese Literature, Arts & Culture, Historical Fiction, Immigration & Refugeeism, Asian Literature

Shanghai Girls (May 2009) is a New York Times bestselling historical novel by Lisa See. It is the first of a two-book series that concludes with Dreams of Joy (2011). The author’s paternal great-grandfather emigrated from China, and many of See’s books examine the Chinese immigrant experience in America. Other titles that cover similar subject matter are Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), Peony in Love (2007), China Dolls (2014), The Tea Girl of... Read Shanghai Girls Summary

Publication year 2024

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Femininity, Indigenous Identity, The Past, Environment, Family, Colonialism, Politics & Government, Justice

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction

Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Coming of Age, Family, Power & Greed

Tags Coming of Age, Dramatic Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness

She’s Come Undone is a realistic fiction novel written by Wally Lamb and originally published in 1992. Lamb demonstrates his penchant for creating detailed psychological character portraits in his debut novel, which is a coming-of-age story about a woman named Dolores Price. As the novel traces Dolores’s life from childhood through middle age in the mid-20th century, Lamb examines imbalanced power dynamics within relationships, intergenerational trauma and healing, the loss of innocence, and body image... Read She's Come Undone Summary

Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Loyalty & Betrayal, Fate

Tags Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Fantasy

Paolo Bacigalupi’s young adult dystopian novel Ship Breaker (2010) was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the recipient of both the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book and the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult fiction. The story takes place in a postapocalyptic future in the United States, somewhere west of old New Orleans. The human race is facing economic and environmental devastation due to climate change... Read Ship Breaker Summary