As you may have seen, I have put together a list of Diverse YA & MG 2017 UK Releases to help readers in the UK find diverse books that are being published over here. To help you further, at the beginning of each month I'll be sharing the books that are being published that month - but do continue to check the list, as I may on occasion miss out a book I'm not aware of until later, and the list will continuously be updated.
Here are the diverse YA & MG books being published in March. (Here are the releases for past months.)
Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd, illustrated by Emma Shoard
Published 2nd March 2017 from The Bucket List.
Characters:
Cultural Background: Traveller.
Jim and his family have halted by Dundray and the education people have been round mouthing the law. In school the Traveller kids suffer at the hands of teachers and other pupils alike, called 'tinker-stinkers', 'dirty gyps' and worse. Then the punches start. The only friendly face is Kit, a settled girl who takes Jim under her wing and teaches him to read in the great cathedral chamber of the cave below the town. With Kit and the reading, Jim seems to have found a way to exist in Dundray, but everyday prejudice and a shocking act of violence see his life uprooted. From Goodreads.
Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Published 2nd March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Mental Illness: Anxiety.
Petula has avoided friendship and happiness ever since tragedy struck her family and took her beloved younger sister Maxine. Worse, Petula blames herself. If only she'd kept an eye on her sister, if only she'd sewn the button Maxine choked on better, if only...
Now her anxiety is getting out of control, she is forced to attend the world’s most hopeless art therapy class. But one day, in walks the Bionic Man: a charming, amazingly tall newcomer called Jacob, who is also an amputee. Petula's ready to freeze him out, just like she did with her former best friend, but when she’s paired with Jacob for a class project, there’s no denying they have brilliant ideas together – ideas like remaking Wuthering Heights with cats.
But Petula and Jacob each have desperately painful secrets in their pasts – and when the truth comes out, there’s no way Petula is ready for it. From Goodreads.
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
Published 2nd March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Class: Disadvantaged child.
A heartbreaking story, narrated by twelve-year-old Jack, whose family is caring for fourteen-year-old Joseph. Joseph is misunderstood. He was incarcerated for trying to kill a teacher. Or so the rumours say. But Jack and his family see something others in town don’t want to.
What's more, Joseph has a daughter he’s never seen. The two boys go on a journey through the bitter Maine winter to help Joseph find his baby - no matter the cost. From Goodreads.
See You In the Cosmos by Jack Cheng
Published 2nd March from Puffin.
Characters:
POC: Biracial; half-Filipino, half-American.
Author:
POC: Chinese.
A funny, luminous, utterly moving novel about a space-obsessed boy, his dog Carl Sagan, and a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe.
11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan-named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he'll uncover-from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.
For fans of Wonder and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Jack Cheng's debut is full of joy, optimism, determination, and unbelievable heart. To read the first page is to fall in love with Alex and his view of our big, beautiful, complicated world. To read the last is to know he and his story will stay with you a long, long time. From Goodreads.
The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig
Published 2nd March 2017 from Hot Key Books.
Characters:
POC: Hapa/Biracial; Half-American, Half-Chinese main character - #OwnVoices. Three other POC secondary characters.
Mental Illness: Bipolar secondary character.
Author:
POC:Hapa/Biracial; Half-American, Half-Chinese.
Mental Illness: Bipolar.
LGBTQ*: Pansexual, not-cis (see Twitter bio).
This is a sequel, so hiding Goodreads summary to avoid spoilers.
Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
Published 7th March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Mental Illness: Anxiety and panic attacks.
Can a text message destroy your life?
Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, there could be a criminal investigation into the deaths.
Then Blake’s grandmother asks Carver to remember her grandson with a ‘goodbye day’ together. Carver has his misgivings, but he starts to help the families of his lost friends grieve with their own memorial days, along with Eli’s bereaved girlfriend Jesmyn. But not everyone is willing to forgive. Carver’s own despair and guilt threatens to pull him under into panic and anxiety as he faces punishment for his terrible mistake. Can the goodbye days really help? From Goodreads.
Wishbones by Virginia MacGregor
Published 9th March from YA HQ.
Characters:
Chronic Illness: Secondary character with diabetes.
Feather Tucker has two wishes:
1)To get her mum healthy again
2) To win the Junior UK swimming championships
When Feather comes home on New Year’s Eve to find her mother – one of Britain’s most obese women- in a diabetic coma, she realises something has to be done to save her mum’s life. But when her Mum refuses to co-operate Feather realises that the problem run deeper than just her mum’s unhealthy appetite.
Over time, Feather’s mission to help her Mum becomes an investigation. With the help of friends old and new, and the hindrance of runaway pet goat Houdini, Feather’s starting to uncover when her mum’s life began to spiral out of control and why. But can Feather fix it in time for her mum to watch her swim to victory? And can she save her family for good? From Goodreads.
So they are our March releases! Do you know of any I've left out? Please either comment or let me know on Twitter, and I'll edit this post and the masterlist.
Here are the diverse YA & MG books being published in March. (Here are the releases for past months.)
Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd, illustrated by Emma ShoardPublished 2nd March 2017 from The Bucket List.
Characters:
Cultural Background: Traveller.
Jim and his family have halted by Dundray and the education people have been round mouthing the law. In school the Traveller kids suffer at the hands of teachers and other pupils alike, called 'tinker-stinkers', 'dirty gyps' and worse. Then the punches start. The only friendly face is Kit, a settled girl who takes Jim under her wing and teaches him to read in the great cathedral chamber of the cave below the town. With Kit and the reading, Jim seems to have found a way to exist in Dundray, but everyday prejudice and a shocking act of violence see his life uprooted. From Goodreads.
Optimists Die First by Susin NielsenPublished 2nd March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Mental Illness: Anxiety.
Petula has avoided friendship and happiness ever since tragedy struck her family and took her beloved younger sister Maxine. Worse, Petula blames herself. If only she'd kept an eye on her sister, if only she'd sewn the button Maxine choked on better, if only...
Now her anxiety is getting out of control, she is forced to attend the world’s most hopeless art therapy class. But one day, in walks the Bionic Man: a charming, amazingly tall newcomer called Jacob, who is also an amputee. Petula's ready to freeze him out, just like she did with her former best friend, but when she’s paired with Jacob for a class project, there’s no denying they have brilliant ideas together – ideas like remaking Wuthering Heights with cats.
But Petula and Jacob each have desperately painful secrets in their pasts – and when the truth comes out, there’s no way Petula is ready for it. From Goodreads.
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. SchmidtPublished 2nd March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Class: Disadvantaged child.
A heartbreaking story, narrated by twelve-year-old Jack, whose family is caring for fourteen-year-old Joseph. Joseph is misunderstood. He was incarcerated for trying to kill a teacher. Or so the rumours say. But Jack and his family see something others in town don’t want to.
What's more, Joseph has a daughter he’s never seen. The two boys go on a journey through the bitter Maine winter to help Joseph find his baby - no matter the cost. From Goodreads.
See You In the Cosmos by Jack ChengPublished 2nd March from Puffin.
Characters:
POC: Biracial; half-Filipino, half-American.
Author:
POC: Chinese.
A funny, luminous, utterly moving novel about a space-obsessed boy, his dog Carl Sagan, and a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe.
11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan-named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he'll uncover-from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.
For fans of Wonder and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Jack Cheng's debut is full of joy, optimism, determination, and unbelievable heart. To read the first page is to fall in love with Alex and his view of our big, beautiful, complicated world. To read the last is to know he and his story will stay with you a long, long time. From Goodreads.
The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi HeiligPublished 2nd March 2017 from Hot Key Books.
Characters:
POC: Hapa/Biracial; Half-American, Half-Chinese main character - #OwnVoices. Three other POC secondary characters.
Mental Illness: Bipolar secondary character.
Author:
POC:Hapa/Biracial; Half-American, Half-Chinese.
Mental Illness: Bipolar.
LGBTQ*: Pansexual, not-cis (see Twitter bio).
This is a sequel, so hiding Goodreads summary to avoid spoilers.
Goodbye Days by Jeff ZentnerPublished 7th March from Andersen Press.
Characters:
Mental Illness: Anxiety and panic attacks.
Can a text message destroy your life?
Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, there could be a criminal investigation into the deaths.
Then Blake’s grandmother asks Carver to remember her grandson with a ‘goodbye day’ together. Carver has his misgivings, but he starts to help the families of his lost friends grieve with their own memorial days, along with Eli’s bereaved girlfriend Jesmyn. But not everyone is willing to forgive. Carver’s own despair and guilt threatens to pull him under into panic and anxiety as he faces punishment for his terrible mistake. Can the goodbye days really help? From Goodreads.
Wishbones by Virginia MacGregorPublished 9th March from YA HQ.
Characters:
Chronic Illness: Secondary character with diabetes.
Feather Tucker has two wishes:
1)To get her mum healthy again
2) To win the Junior UK swimming championships
When Feather comes home on New Year’s Eve to find her mother – one of Britain’s most obese women- in a diabetic coma, she realises something has to be done to save her mum’s life. But when her Mum refuses to co-operate Feather realises that the problem run deeper than just her mum’s unhealthy appetite.
Over time, Feather’s mission to help her Mum becomes an investigation. With the help of friends old and new, and the hindrance of runaway pet goat Houdini, Feather’s starting to uncover when her mum’s life began to spiral out of control and why. But can Feather fix it in time for her mum to watch her swim to victory? And can she save her family for good? From Goodreads.
So they are our March releases! Do you know of any I've left out? Please either comment or let me know on Twitter, and I'll edit this post and the masterlist.
