#OwnVoices

Wesley Wilder has big plans for this day. Her poem for Indigenous People’s Day will be printed in the school newspaper, and she looks forward to reading it aloud in class. She also plans to ask her crush, Ryan Thomas, to the TOLO dance. However, her day takes one unexpected turn after the next.

Each day Minnie and her family struggle to get by in the poorest part of Mumbai. They struggle to make ends meet, have enough to provide for a decent education, and always wonder if there will be enough of necessities, primarily water. When a series of unfortunate events forces Minnie to take over her mother’s job in a fancy high-rise building, Minnie learns about the inequity of water access.

Several years after Mary Lambert was treated as a “live specimen” and subjected to a cruel experiment, she receives a letter asking her to serve as a teacher of sorts for a young child in a wealthy household. The eight-year-old girl is deaf, like Mary, and needs a teacher to help her communicate.

Ahmed Aziz’s year starts out poorly when he learns that his father is sick. Things go from bad to worse when his Indian American Muslim family moves from Hawaii to Minnesota so his father can receive cutting-edge treatment and be closer to his family.

As Rea’s twelfth birthday approaches, she’s anything but excited. Her relationship with her twin brother, Rohan, has grown distant and her Amma and Bajai seem to favor him above all else. When Rea has an opportunity to spoil Rohan’s own secret birthday fun, she takes it and revels in her triumph. That is until Rohan goes missing.

Reha belongs to two worlds: one Indian and one American. She spends her weeks at school with her American best friend and her weekends “Indianing” with her Indian best friend. While Reha loves both worlds, she sometimes feels conflicted because of her parents’ expectations of who she should be.