Love, family, suspense, glamor and female friendship abound in the work of these authors, all of whom explore the inner and outer worlds of girls with sensitivity, humor, and their own unforgettable voices. In Aya de León’s Untraceable, the gripping prequel to her Undercover Latina , a young plus-size Black teen goes on the run with her mom and learns that her parents are spies. Grace K. Shim grew up as one of only two Korean students at school in her small Oklahoma town, and now she writes about the Korean girl protagonists she wishes she’d been exposed to as a kid. Like Riley Jo in Not Your Average Jo, a Korean American teenager from Arkansas, attends a prestigious boarding school in Los Angeles to pursue her indie rock dreams. And Dale Wells’ The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay, a Publishers Weekly best book of 2023, is a touching and joyous story of queer friendship and girlhood set in Houston. Moderated by diverse children’s literature expert and award-winning author Archaa Shriastav .