This historical fiction is set in San Francisco, in 1954, when Chinese Americans and immigrants had to live under increased paranoia, racism, and suspicion for having Communist ideas. Lily is interested in discovering what’s outside her Chinatown home. Her parents warned her not to leave their immediate neighborhood, but Lily ventures forth to various places, such as the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar. This is where she slowly discovers herself and a relationship with her first white friend, Kathleen. All of this means that Lily may end up in dangerous situations and more than she bargained for.

The lives of two very different teens intersect on an Oakland, California bus in November, 2013 in this absorbing narrative non-fictional portrait that recounts their lives leading up to and following that fateful day, touching upon race, class, gender identity and the juvenile justice system. Told in short, engrossing chapters and incorporating original poetry that underscores identity issues, both racial and gender, as complex and fluid.

New Yorker, Carson Speier is forced to spend the summer in Montana so his mother can tend to Carson’s estranged, sick father. Once there, he meets Aisha, who has been kicked out of her home after coming out as a lesbian to her conservative father. The two of them soon embark on a road trip after Carson discovers secret letters his grandfather sent to Carson’s dad, who was under the impression he’d been abandoned as a child long ago. 

Gabe is in the latter stages of embracing himself as a transgender man after coming to the realization that he's Gabe and not the Liz his family and schoolmates thought him to be. Gabe discovers an outlet for his love of music when his next door neighbor arranges a radio show for him on the local community radio station, an outlet that gives him the strength to be more public but also challenges him to believe in himself when a radio caller turns into a bully.