MCDL is proud to introduce One Community, Many Stories: Family History. Featured are ten titles centered around a theme of family history. It’s our hope that through the power of story, we can reflect on the meaning of family history in our own lives—how it shapes who we are and how we move forward into the future.
Recognizing the diversity of Medina County and celebrating MCDL’s new Virginia Wheeler Martin Family History & Learning Center, we’ve made changes to our community reading event. Even with the challenges of our current COVID-19 environment, we want to offer children, teens, and adults a variety of good books with a shared theme to read and discuss.
View the Readers’ Guide complete with the featured titles, additional reads, events, and family activities. Or pick one up at your library!
Virtual Events
Enrich your reading by attending a virtual author visit with Margaret Peterson Haddix or Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Keep your little ones entertained at the virtual storytime with Todd Parr. To complement the theme, there are also a variety of virtual family history events taught by MCDL's own Genealogy Team. Pictured L-R: Margaret Peterson Haddix, Todd Parr, Jarrett J. Krosoczka (photo credit: Derek Fowles)
View and register for Virtual Events.
Adult Books
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Coming of age combines with psychological suspense in this compelling novel, which moves back and forth in time as siblings piece together the events that destroyed their family twenty-five years ago.
Discussion Questions
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
A poignant and inspiring memoir of a period in the author’s life when she discovered, through DNA kit testing, that the father who loved and raised her was not her biological parent.
Discussion Questions
Also Try
- The Stranger in My Genes: A Memoir by Bill Griffeths
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls
- The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Furnishing Eternity: A Father, A Son, A Coffin, and A Measure of Life by David Giffels
- Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Teen Books
Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
A story about adoption, foster care, and legacy. Joaquin, Grace, and Maya–three half-siblings each given by their mother for adoption–meet for the first time at a critical point in their lives, discovering how their shared family history will shape their relationships and their paths forward.
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Raised by his grandparents because of his mother’s addiction, the author as a young man excelled in art, struggled socially, and tried to understand how and why his family was so different from others’. A powerful and positive story told in graphic novel format.
Also Try
- You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar
- Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
- Dig by A.S. King
- We Walked the Sky by Lisa Fiedler
- Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson
Middle Grade Books
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Two sisters learn there are ghosts in their new town–a town where people honor their ancestors every year during Dia de los Muertos. A colorful graphic novel that celebrates those that came before us and the courage it takes to start over somewhere new.
Remarkables by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A magically realistic tale about Marin and Charley, neighbors and friends who seek the truth about a mysterious group of kids who appear and disappear in the woods behind their homes. Do they hold the key to unlocking the secrets of Charley’s family’s past?
Also Try
- The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
- The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
- Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm
- The Marvels by Brian Selznick
- The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander
War Stories by Gordon Korman
Picture Books
Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela is a little girl with a very long name. In this sweet story, she learns about the special people she is named after, and how her first name is unique to her.
The Family Book by Todd Parr
A vibrant, colorful classic featuring all kinds of families–families who may look different but all love to hug, spend special times together, and help one another.
Love and the Rocking Chair by Leo & Diane Dillon
A white rocking chair brings together three generations of family to share bedtimes, middle-of-the-night wake-ups, and morning sunrises–but most of all, love.
Love by Matt de la Pena
Love is all around us, even when things aren’t easy. This poetic story shows families in good times, hard times, and in nature, always giving and receiving love which carries them forward.