Books like The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle

A verse novel that follows a ten‑year‑old Vietnamese girl’s first year in the United States in 1975, as she navigates language, culture, bullying, and family change while yearning for home.

Mexican farm workers must adjust to life in California during the Great Depression.

A classic poem about Santa Claus coming to life on Christmas Eve.

In the dystopian land of Opium, a young clone of the powerful drug lord Matteo Alacrán must navigate life in the "Big House," uncover his origins, and decide his destiny amid a society that mistreats those who differ.

Newbery Honor Book National Book Award Finalist

Twin siblings Ohkwa'ri and his sister navigate the challenges of Mohawk village life in the late 1400s, learning to respect older boys and finding peace amid conflict.

In this verse collection, God learns human ways—getting a dog, writing letters, cooking spaghetti—offering teens a witty, reflective look at faith and everyday life.

A courageous boy named Elijah embarks on a perilous journey to help a former slave buy his family free, facing violence, betrayal, and the harsh realities of the past.

Thirteen‑year‑old Maria Peterson lives in New York and dreams of responsibility while attending abolitionist meetings. When her family home and new friend face danger, she must decide if she can protect both.

A thirteen‑year‑old African‑American boy recounts how his family confronts anger, hope, abandonment, and fear when his father, who had temporarily left, returns home.

A young student of archaeology receives an offer she can't refuse, the chance to live among the Pume, a South American hunting-and-gathering people who call the tropical Venezuelan savannah home. During their time in the village of Doro Ana, the author and the principal researcher study a vanishing way of life in which cash money, the written word, automobiles, and airplanes are rare and frightening intrusions. Yu, adopted into a Pume family, provides an informal personal account of her two years' stay, describing the daily cycles of birth, growth, romance, sickness, healing, and death among the villagers. Yu's journal entries seek to present, through a young American's eyes, a sketch of her Pume family, their heroic struggle to survive in a changing world, and the power, humor, and mystery of the Pume way of life.

A renowned soccer journalist dives into the mystery of a vanished 18‑year‑old star while a slave in colonial San Juan rises as a powerful voodoo priest.

A girl on a slave ship in Istanbul, discovering life as a palace harem slave in the Tulip Period of 1720s Turkey

A Chinese girl arrives in Brooklyn in 1947 and, through her new school, apartment community, and passion for baseball, learns what it means to become American.

A beloved Christmas poem about St. Nicholas and the night before Christmas Eve.

In 1849, Chinese American girl Samantha seeks to escape tragedy, disguising herself with runaway slave Annamae as male adventurers on the Oregon Trail toward California’s gold rush.