Children’s Books

Read the post that introduced this page here.

Whenever possible, the following information will be provided:

• Reading Level: what age group is this book intended for? (these numbers indicate reading skill level, not necessarily age-appropriateness; many of these books could be read aloud to younger children)
• Time Setting: is the story contemporary, historical (e.g. historical: 19th century, historical: Civil Rights movement), or myth/folktale/fantasy?
• Place Setting: what country (e.g. United States) or region (e.g. New England, Southwest) is the book set in? is the setting urban/suburban/small town/rural/ambiguous?
• Characters: are the main characters multiracial/multiethnic or predominantly one race/ethnicity?
• Theme: is race or racism a theme?
• Author(s)/Illustrator(s): what race or ethnicity are they?

Examples:

• Psalm Twenty-Three illustrated by Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, United States, urban. African American characters. Race is not a theme. Ladwig is white.
• Marc Just Couldn’t Sleep by Gabriela Keselman, illus. Noemi Villamuza. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous. African American characters. Race is not a theme. Keselman is Latina, Villamuza is Spanish.

All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous. Multiracial. Race is a theme. Hamanaka is Asian-American.

Bee-bim Bop by Linda Sue Park, illus. Ho Baek Lee. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous. Korean American characters. Race is not a theme. Park is Korean American, Lee is Korean. (Recipe included!)

Boundless Grace by Mary Hoffman. Ages 7-11. Contemporary: (most of story set in) Gambia. Characters are African and African American. Race is not a theme; divorce/remarriage is. From Nikki’s friend Sara: “Explicitly points out and discusses lack of ‘non-traditional’ families in most children’s stories.” Hoffman is white and has multi-racial children (her husband is half-Indian).

Buffalo Song by Joseph Bruchac, illus. Bill Farnsworth. Ages 4-8. Historical: 19th century, rural American West. Native American (Nez Perce, Salish). Race is not a theme. Bruchac is Native American (Abenaki), Farnsworth is white.

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban U.S. Latina characters. Race is not a theme. Williams is white. Caldecott Honor Book 1982.

Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera B. Williams. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban U.S. Multiracial, predominantly African American. Race is not a theme. Williams is white.

Corduroy by Don Freeman.  Ages 4-8.  Historical: 1968/Contemporary,  urban.  African American family.  Race is not a theme.  Freeman is white.

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz.  Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, urban.  Multiracial.  Race is a theme.  Katz is white.

Especially Heroes by Virginia Kroll, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 9-12. Historical: 1962, U.S. small town. Multiracial, predominantly white. Racism is a theme. Kroll and Ladwig are white.

Finding the Green Stone by Alice Walker, illus. Catherine Deeter. Ages 4-8. Fantasy/fable, small town. Multiracial, predominantly African American. Race is not a theme. Walker is African American, Deeter is white.

The Firekeeper’s Son by Linda Sue Park, illus. Julie Downing.  Ages 4-8.  Historical: early C19th, small rural village in Korea.  Korean characters.  Race is not a theme.  Park is Korean American, Downing is white.

Flossie & the Fox by Patricia C. McKissack, illus. Rachel Isadora. Ages 4-8. Folktale, rural U.S. African American characters. Race is not a theme. McKissack is African American, Isadora is white.

The Flying Fox Warriors by Percy Trezise & Dick Roughsey. Ages 4-8. Mythological, Australia. Aboriginal Australian characters. Trezise is white, Roughsey is Aboriginal Australian.

Gidja the Moon by Percy Trezise & Dick Roughsey. Ages 4-8. Mythological, Australia. Aboriginal Australian characters. Trezise is white, Roughsey is Aboriginal Australian.

Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett Smith, photos Donyell Kennedy-McCullough. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous. Multiracial. Race is not a theme. Pinkett-Smith is multiracial, Kennedy-McCullough is African American.

Grandma and Me at the Flea/Los Meros Meros Remateros by Juan Felipe Herrera, illus. Anita De Lucio-Brock. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, California’s San Joaqin Valley. Mexican-American. Race is not a theme. Herrera and De Lucio-Brock are Mexican-American.

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson.  Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous.  African American family.  Nelson is African American.

Jubilee by Ellen Yeomans, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, rural (supposed to be heaven). Multiracial. Race is not a theme. Yeomans and Ladwig are white.

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. Ages 9-12. Historical: 1950s, United States (Georgia).  Japanese American family.  Race is a theme.  Kadohata is Japanese American. This book won the Newbery Medal in 2005.

The Lord’s Prayer illus. by Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban U.S. African American characters. Race is not a theme. Ladwig is white.

A Man Called Raven by Richard Van Camp, illus. George Littlechild. Contemporary/fable, Canadian Northwest Territories. Native American characters. Race is not a theme. Van Camp (Dogrib) and Littlechild (Plains Cree) are Native American.

Mary’s First Christmas by Walter Wangerin, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Historical: 1st century, Israel. Multiracial, predominantly Middle Eastern. Race is not a theme. Wangerin and Ladwig are white.

Messenger Man by Robert Burleigh, illus. Barry Root. Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, urban.  Race is not a theme.  Multiracial characters, though main character is African American.  Burleigh and Root are white.

More More More Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, ambiguous. Multiracial. Race is not a theme. Williams is white.

Morning Has Broken by Eleanor Farjeon, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 9-12. Contemporary, urban/suburban. Arab American characters. Race is not a theme. Farjeon and Ladwig are white.

Not So Fast Songololo by Niki Daly. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, suburban/urban South Africa. African family. Race is not a theme.  Daly is white.

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, illus. E.B. Lewis. Ages 4-8. Historical: 1950s-60s, small town/rural U.S. Multiracial: black & white. Racism is a theme. Woodson and Lewis are African American.

Peter Claver, Patron Saint of Slaves/Pedro Claver, Santo Patrono de los Esclavos by Julia Durango, illus. Rebecca García-Franco. Ages 4-8. Historical: 17th century. Multiracial: black & white. Racism is a theme. Durango is white, García-Franco is Latina.

Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats. Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, urban.  African American family.  Race is not a theme.  Keats is white.

Peter’s First Easter by Walter Wangerin, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Historical: 1st century, Israel. Characters are predominantly Middle Eastern. Race is not a theme. Wangerin and Ladwig are white.

Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel by Walter Wangerin, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban. African American characters. Race is not a theme. Wangerin and Ladwig are white.

Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott. Ages 4-8. Mythological, U.S. Pacific Northwest. Native American characters. Race is not a theme. McDermott is white.

Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong, illus. by Grace Lin. Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, United States. Chinese American characters. Race is not a theme.  (The author and illustrator have also collaborated on the books One is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers and Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes.)

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, illus. Bryan Collier. Ages 9-12. Historical: Civil Rights movement, Alabama. Predominantly African American. Racism is a theme. Giovanni and Collier are African American. Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, 2006.

Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford, Cherokee trans. Anna Sixkiller Huckaby. Ages 4-8. Historical: 18-19th centuries, rural Southeastern U.S. Native American (Cherokee) characters. Race is not a theme. Rumford is white, Huckaby is Native American (Cherokee).

Shades of People by Shelley Rotner & Sheila M. Kelly. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, United States, urban/suburban. Multiracial. Race is a theme. Rotner is white.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Ages 9-12. Historical: C12th, Korea.  Korean characters.  Race is not a theme.  Park is Korean American. This book won the Newbery Medal in 2002.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, urban.  African American family.  Race is not a theme.  Keats is white.

So Much by Trish Cooke, illus. Helen Oxenbury. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban.  African British family. Race is not a theme. Cooke is African British, Oxenbury is white.

Something Special for Me by Vera B. Williams. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban U.S. Latina characters. Race is not a theme. Williams is white.

What Does the Sky Say? by Nancy White Carlstrom, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, rural. Multiracial family. Race is not a theme. Carlstrom and Ladwig are white.

When Daddy Prays by Nikki Grimes, illus. Tim Ladwig. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, urban/suburban U.S. African American family. Race is not a theme.  Grimes is African American, Ladwig is white.

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park.  Ages 9-12.  Historical: Japan-occupied Korea, 1940-45. Korean and Japanese families.  Nationality is a theme.  Park is Korean American.

Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame, illus. R. Gregory Christie.  Ages 4-8.  Contemporary, urban.  African American family.  Race is not a theme.  Frame is a woman and Christie is African American.