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.
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illus. Marla Frazee. Contemporary, U.S. Multiracial characters and families featured in rhyming verse; all races represented. Ages 4-8. Race is not a theme.
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!)
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. Ages 9 and up. Historical: 1847, Madeline Island, Lake Superior. Ojibwa characters. Race is not a theme. Erdrich is Ojibwa and white.
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.
Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, illus. Bryan Collier. Historical: life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., written for children, with modern and beautiful collage illustrations. Ages 4-8. Rappaport is white and Collier is African 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. black British family. Race is not a theme. Cooke is black 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.
One Hundred is a Family written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Benrei Huang. Ages 4-8. Contemporary, United States, multiple contexts/locations. Racially diverse characters and depictions of interracial families and communities. Race is not a theme. Author is Latina and illustrator is Asian American. Both are women.
[…] Children’s Books […]
[…] 5, 2009 curlykidz Leave a comment Go to comments OK, I’m responding to the request for Children’s Books via trackback because I don’t know how this table will post in a comment. If any of my blog […]
[…] Like how I told the ladies over at Irene’s Daughters that I’d compile a list of diverse children’s books. […]
Hey i am doing a research project on stereotypes in childrens books and this list is perfect. I am now going to focus it on the omission of ethnic experiences and how that can be as detrimental and blantantly racist illustrations.
Hey Nickie, thanks and welcome to the blog! FYI, some other posts we’ve written about literature, children’s and otherwise:
Just call me the children’s book sensor
Reading outside the box
The books your book club missed + “world literature”
How diverse is my bookshelf?
[…] Children’s Books […]
[…] Also here is a list of other children’s books for multi-ethnic families Share […]
[…] Children’s Books […]