Grade 6 Social Studies: Identity

Presents twelve first-person accounts in which men and women share pivotal moments from their youth that shaped their lives.

Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style.

Twin brothers Jay and Ray Grayson learn about friendship, honesty, and themselves after taking advantage of a clerical oversight in which their new school thinks there is only one Grayson boy.

Mike, a fourteen-year-old boy with a math learning disability, is sent to rural Pennsylvania for the summer to work on an engineering project, and while his plans to impress his mathematician father fall flat when Mike discovers the project has nothing to do with engineering, he learns much more valuable lessons while working with his eccentric, elderly aunt, a homeless man, and a punk rock girl as part of a town-wide effort to adopt a Romanian orphan.

"When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part...because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte--but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all"--provided by publisher.

Middle schooler Natalie's year-long assignment to answer a question using the scientific process leads to truths about her mother's depression and her own cultural identity.

"Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US --and her new label of 'Middle Eastern,' an identity she's never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises--there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude just might try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is"--Provided by publisher.