Diversity in children's books

[Jackie]

I was looking over my literature list and noted that the vast majority of the books feature characters that are white, middle class, neurotypical, physically abled... there's a bit of diversity in there, but not much. Much of the diversity comes from being set in a different time period, not in modern fiction. My daughter is 5.5 years old. She is a very advanced reader, but prefers that books she reads to herself be simple chapter books or picture books. The picture books can be simple or quite advanced/complex, just so long as there's still a picture on every page! We do read alouds for at least 30 minutes per day, and she has no need for pictures in those (recent ones include the Mary Poppins series, Owls in the Family, and The Secret Garden). She does not do well with scary or violent themes in general.

 

Any recommendations for the book list? Can either be for her to read to herself or for read aloud.

[Tanaqui]

Man, I live for this sort of thing. DO YOU MIND A VERY LONG LIST? I WILL GIVE YOU A VERY LONG LIST. HOLD ON.

[Rosie_0801]

Tan to Tamarind was my favourite poetry book from last year. (We read a poem each morning.)

[Rosie_0801]

Man, I live for this sort of thing. DO YOU MIND A VERY LONG LIST? I WILL GIVE YOU A VERY LONG LIST. HOLD ON.

 

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Don't be thinking, OP, that this will be a medium sized list or a kind of a long list. It will be a VERY LONG LIST for sure. :lol:

[Jackie]

Man, I live for this sort of thing. DO YOU MIND A VERY LONG LIST? I WILL GIVE YOU A VERY LONG LIST. HOLD ON.

 

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Don't be thinking, OP, that this will be a medium sized list or a kind of a long list. It will be a VERY LONG LIST for sure. :lol:

 

Oh, I've seen some of the lists. I'm totally game for a super-long list. I'll just spread it over multiple years in my gigantic literature spreadsheet. (Yes, I have one of those.) It would be super-awesome if the gigantic list included some basic categorization or information to help me get started sorting through it, but I'll take what I get.

[Jackie]

Tan to Tamarind was my favourite poetry book from last year. (We read a poem each morning.)

 

Ooh, bonus because I can add it to our books for Poetry Teas! I was running low on new poetry books.

[Rosie_0801]

Ooh, bonus because I can add it to our books for Poetry Teas! I was running low on new poetry books.

 

Rightio. I usually hesitate to recommend Aussie stuff because of postage, but I have found that I have to source most of my Aussie purchases from the UK or US anyway.  :glare: So, if you have an animal lover, look for Jill Morris' books. The poetry isn't all that good most of the time but the illustrations are *wonderful*

 

I'm also going to lay on a bet that Tanaqui won't have Jim Poulter on her VERY LONG LIST. The 80's slang is cringeworthy, but it's a goodly bit of diversity. No pictures, so they'd either need to wait a few years or have you read them aloud.

 

The Herb Fairies books have a little it of diversity. Nothing is made of it, but not all the fairies are Caucasian.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Rosie_0801

[Tanaqui]

No, Tanaqui is well aware that her list of Australian books largely begins and ends with John Marsden and also that one about the magic pudding. (Which I've never read, just heard about.)

 

I'm splitting my list in two, btw. Here's the first part, the picture books. I will likely add more picture books shortly - I've gone through my list of all the picture books we've ever owned and culled the ones that fit the criteria, but we haven't bought picture books in several years, sooooo I'm going to check my list of books I browse at the library as well. If something is italicized, that means it has some scary or more advanced content, or that you might wish to pre-read it for other reasons. This list omits folktales or the like that have virtually no humans in them. Corduroy is only included because it's a classic.

 

Picture books

 

Raising Dragons

Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm

The Apple-Pip Princess

Kid Blink Beats the World (historical non-fiction)

More, More, More Said the Baby

Yo! Yes? (very easy!)

The Balancing Girl

The Umbrella

Ben's Trumpet

Freedom Summer (the Civil Rights movement)

On My Way to Buy Eggs

Suki's Kimono

Down the Road

Wings by Christopher Myers  (don't remember why I put this in the "preread pile" and no longer have it!)

Lookin' for Bird in the Big City

Metal Man

The Escape of Oney Judge (slavery)

The Moon Over Star

My Cat Copies Me

Passage to Freedom (the Holocaust, gently)

The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County

Jabberwocky

Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe (biography)

Charlie Parker Played Be Bop

The Old Man and His Door

Too Many Tamales

Two Mrs. Gibsons

Bee-bim Bop!

Where On Earth Is My Bagel?

This Jazz Man

The Name Jar

Happy Birthday Jamela! (this is a series)

Elizabeti's Doll (this is a series)

No Dinner!

Superhero ABC

Mrs. Katz and Tush (many of Polacco's books have Jewish and/or black characters, and I cannot give a comprehensive list of them)

Do Like Kyla (some very ridiculous people criticize the grammar in this book for being non-standard. I wouldn't give them the time of day.)

Lon Pon Po (SCARY!)

The Hello, Goodbye Window (has a sequel)

Regina's Big Mistake

Talkin' About Bessie

Tar Beach

The Snowy Day (and just about the entire Keats opus)

Bigmama's (has a companion book)

Odd Boy Out (Einstein is, of course, Jewish)

I, Matthew Henson (pretty intense)

The Other Mozart

Baseball Saved Us (Japanese Internment)

Smelly Socks (many Munsch books feature characters based on his multiracial family, I cannot give a complete list)

Visiting Langston

Freedom on the Menu (the Civil Rights movement)

Dad, Jackie, and Me (autobiographical)

Wilma Unlimited

Umbrella

Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

Lily Brown's Paintings

The Quilt by Ann Jonas

A Coyote Columbus Story

Rough, Tough Charley (a stretch - it's not clear whether One Eyed Charley would identify as transgender today, or if they just found it easier to dress in men's clothes)

The Cats in Krasinski Square (the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII)

Zoom! (get this Munsch book used, it's out of print)

Sukey and the Mermaid

Not So Fast, Songololo

Little Night

Mirandy and Brother Wind

Pink Paper Swans

Flossie and the Fox (GET THIS)

The Rain Stomper

Jingle Dancer

Come On, Rain

The Talking Eggs (get this too)

Sam and the Tigers (and this one!)

The Story of Little Baba-ji

Sugar Cane

Just Us Women

The Fairytale books by Rachel Isadora

Pretty Salma

A Chair for My Mother (I believe the author wrote others focusing on this family)

Dancing in the Wings

Kele's Secret

Ten, Nine, Eight

Max Found Two Sticks

Cherries and Cherry Pits

Mama Zooms

Star of Fear, Star of Hope (the Holocaust. THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU CRY. DO NOT GET THIS YEAR, WAIT A YEAR OR THREE.)

How My Parents Learned to Eat

Corduroy

Jojo's Flying Sidekick

Jazz Baby

Aunt Flossie's Hats

The Wonderful Towers of Watts

Jordi's Star (I think?)

Jackie's Gift

The All I'll Ever Want for Christmas Doll

The Bat Boy and His Violin

Across the Alley

My Rows and Piles of Coins

Slow Down, Songololo

Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

Ellington Was Not a Street

Meet Danitra Brown

The Librarian of Basra

Just Like Josh Gibson
Waiting for the Biblioburro

The Ugly Vegetables (and anything by this author)

Firebird by Christopher Myers and Misty Copeland

Tallchief

Everybody Cooks Rice

Honey, I Love

Ruth and the Green Book (racism)

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Rosie_0801]

No, Tanaqui is well aware that her list of Australian books largely begins and ends with John Marsden and also that one about the magic pudding. (Which I've never read, just heard about.)

 

You know, you could download that from Librivox now, and in two hours time, you will have levelled up in the experience (and hopefully appreciation of) NONSENSE! :lol:

[Farrar]

I'm awaiting Tanaqui's second list before bothering to suggest anything.

 

But I will say it sounds like you do a lot of older books and classics as your read alouds, Jackie. Another way to get more diversity is be willing to look at newer books. :)

 

Okay, I can't help myself... for her to read to herself... Anna Hibiscus. We were at the bookstore today and ds was like, look Anna Hibiscus in the easy chapter books section. And we both smiled. Yeah... sweetest series ever.

[Rosie_0801]

There's a set of Princess books published by Ali-Gator your dd might like. My dd has Princess Latifa and Princess Aziza. There are others. I know I've left a few on the shelf for being too Muslim for our non-Muslim household, but I forget which one. I think Princess Aziza is about being nice to one's mum, so dd was definitely allowed to have that one  :D even though it is a little it corny.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Rosie_0801

[Jackie]

I'm awaiting Tanaqui's second list before bothering to suggest anything.

 

But I will say it sounds like you do a lot of older books and classics as your read alouds, Jackie. Another way to get more diversity is be willing to look at newer books. :)

 

Okay, I can't help myself... for her to read to herself... Anna Hibiscus. We were at the bookstore today and ds was like, look Anna Hibiscus in the easy chapter books section. And we both smiled. Yeah... sweetest series ever.

 

I'm very willing to do newer books, but honestly don't know where to start. I can vaguely remember books from my childhood, but those are 30 years old and that's assuming they were new then. There's so much out there that I can't possibly sort through it all! Therefore, I need recommendations :)

 

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Tanaqui]

But I will say it sounds like you do a lot of older books and classics as your read alouds, Jackie. Another way to get more diversity is be willing to look at newer books. :)

 

Yeah, unfortunately older books printed in the US and Europe tend to be heavy on white people (and often a lot of racism and sexism sneaks in as well.)

 

[Tanaqui]

Okay, onto my second list. Gosh, I hope I don't have to do a third list.

 

I'm splitting THIS list into easy reader chapter books, and the other sort, which you will probably have to read to her or else wait until she's older. Again, italics indicate a book with tougher themes.

 

As far as the easy readers go, they're not all equally easy. You still have to pre-read to guesstimate how much help she'll need. My focus here is on racial diversity - unfortunately, I have had some dismal experiences with books having to do with disability with kidlit, and am wary of recommending any on any disability I don't currently have. (Excepting Deaf Child Crossing, which is written by a Deaf woman and thus probably doesn't screw the whole subject up.) The disability I actually have is autism, and for that I say that you should aim to read books by autistics or their close relatives, and never ANY book about autism by Ann M. Martin, because she really fails every time she tries to write a book on that subject.

 

A note: You don't mention LGBT individuals on your list of "moar diversity! moar!" Is this because you don't want books in that area, or it didn't occur to you?

 

As always, it is important to pre-read. My ideas of what is appropriate for a five year old may not be the same as yours - especially as my youngest is now twice her age! Strange as it sounds, you start to forget these things.

 

Chapter Books - easy (many of these are series)

 

Zapato Power

Nikki and Deja

Keena Ford

Ruby Lu

Ruby and the Booker Boys

Clubhouse Mysteries

No. 1 Car Spotter

The Stories Julian Tells

Anna Hibiscus

Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same!

Calvin Coconut

Lulu and the Duck

Milo and Jazz Mysteries

Miami Jackson

EllRay Jakes

Katie Woo

Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear

 

Chapter Books - for older, or for read-alouds now. Most of these should be assumed to be series or have at least one sequel.

 

The Year of the Dog

The Year of the Book

President of the Whole Fifth Grade

Journey to America (fleeing the Holocaust)

Dash (the Japanese Internment)

The Thing About Luck

The Journey Home (and the whole series, does include the Internment)

Bobby vs. Girls

One Crazy Summer (I really recommend this... for when she's a little older. Deals with some heavy issues of maternal neglect and also the Civil Rights Movement)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Starry River of the Sky

Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School

Ambassador and Nomad (two books, but the first is incomplete without the second. Deals with alien war and also human deportation)

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer (as an epistolary novel, this might be tough to read aloud. However, it's so darn cute that I'm recommending it to everybody right now.)

El Deafo

The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (I think this is semi-autobiographical. Has a few passages that might have been written differently today)

The All-of-a-Kind Family (see the above note)

The Birchbark House (there is a smallpox epidemic in the first book. People die, people that we care about.)

The Great Greene Heist (short book, she might get the plot better in a few years)

The War That Saved My Life (serious child abuse and the repercussions thereof, also, the Battle of Britain. Better wait a few years.)

My Family For the War (ditto, but substitute "fleeing the Holocaust" for the child abuse)

Cat Girl's Day Off

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Millicent Min, Girl Genius (she might grasp this better in a few years)

Bud, Not Buddy and companion novel The Mighty Miss Malone (deals with the Depression, should be accessible to her though)

Celeste's Harlem Renaissance (neglectful mom, wait two or three years)

Dave at Night

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (omg I love this book)

The Way Home Looks Now

Lowji Discovers America

Bayou Magic (haven't read this one yet!)

Vanished

Indian Shoes

How Tia Lola Came to Stay

The Girl at the Window

Lowriders in Space

Astronaut Academy

The Hereville Books

Alvin Ho
Dragonwings (covers the San Francisco Earthquake. Part of a series, I think, though I'm pretty sure I only ever read that one)

Al Capone Does My Shirts (one of the few books with an autistic character I will firmly recommend, the other being The Real Boy. You should, however, make clear that we know much more about autism than we did back then)

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (hilarious!)

Prunella Bogthistle (I forget the entire title)

Gaby, Lost and Found (touches on some serious subjects, best to preread and probably shelve for later)

Becoming Naomi Leon (ditto)

The Monster in the Mudball

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Jackie]

 

 

As far as the easy readers go, they're not all equally easy. You still have to pre-read to guesstimate how much help she'll need. My focus here is on racial diversity - unfortunately, I have had some dismal experiences with books having to do with disability with kidlit, and am wary of recommending any on any disability I don't currently have. (Excepting Deaf Child Crossing, which is written by a Deaf woman and thus probably doesn't screw the whole subject up.) The disability I actually have is autism, and for that I say that you should aim to read books by autistics or their close relatives, and never ANY book about autism by Ann M. Martin, because she really fails every time she tries to write a book on that subject.

 

A note: You don't mention LGBT individuals on your list of "moar diversity! moar!" Is this because you don't want books in that area, or it didn't occur to you?

 

She won't need help. She tests at high school reading level. She just prefers elementary. Don't hold back!

 

Just didn't list LGBT. We're a very liberal family. Give it all to me!

 

And thank you so much! I've been cross-referencing your list with my own lists (80%+ of your stuff wasn't on my list) and my library's catalog (I love my library - they have nearly everything).

[Tanaqui]

Okay! I think I'm done (for now). The only book on that list with LGBT themes is Family Fletcher, but I can probably find a few more. I try to avoid the didactic ones, is all :) (Edit: Oh and btw I edited the second list. And also I think I forgot to include Precious and the Boo Hag on my first list, but darn is that scary!)

 

I may do one more list of books which are appropriate as she gets older but that I'm darn certain she's not ready for now (scary or too sad) and you'll likely agree with me about. And then I'm gonna bookmark this page, and every time I need to suggest books I'll just go back to it like a pigeon.

 

You know, you could download that from Librivox now, and in two hours time, you will have levelled up in the experience (and hopefully appreciation of) NONSENSE! :lol:

 

Do you know how long my tbr list is? IT IS LONG. And this is with my reading a book a day.

 

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Rosie_0801]

Do you know how long my tbr list is? IT IS LONG. And this is with my reading a book a day.

 

Oh, don't read the Magic Pudding. It is too stupid for that. Agonising.

[Jackie]

Thank you so much! I'll be spending my free time over the next couple of days adding these to my spreadsheet. All of a sudden my reading list went from "eh, enough, but kinda homogeneous" to overflowing :hurray:

 

Always happy to add more! She's a voracious reader and sometimes hard to keep up with!

[Jackie]

There's a set of Princess books published by Ali-Gator your dd might like. My dd has Princess Latifa and Princess Aziza. There are others. I know I've left a few on the shelf for being too Muslim for our non-Muslim household, but I forget which one. I think Princess Aziza is about being nice to one's mum, so dd was definitely allowed to have that one  :D even though it is a little it corny.

 

Really wishing my library had these. They're likely in my daughter's sweet spot - super girly (seriously, how am I raising a kid this girly?) and she generally loves anything incorporating culture that isn't ours. The girl acted out tons of stuff from our world religion studies for months.

[Jackie]

Jabberwocky

I've found so many Jabberwocky versions. Which one would you be recommending?

[desertflower]

I just bought Where the moon meets the Mountain by Grace Lin. It's a chapter book with no pictures.

 

There's also a picture book called Tikki Tikki Tembo.

 

What great lists Tanaqui provided. I'll have to print this out.

[Tanaqui]

I wasn't done. Okay, I'm making YET ANOTHER POST in which I collect the scraps I just now remembered I forgot (and also the ones that are definitely more appropriate for her as she gets older)

 

Read Now-ish

 

The Monkey-King's Daughter

George (I think? I haven't read this one myself yet)

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

Flying the Dragon

A Single Shard

The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond

Jinx

Out of Many Waters (maybe)

The Inquisitor's Apprentice (maybe)

Rickshaw Girl

Akata Witch (preread)

A Pickpocket's Tale

Listen, Slowly (maybe)

The Green Bicycle

Esperanza Rising (maybe)

The Toothpaste Millionaire

The Menagerie

When Life Gives You O.J.

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream

Sea Glass Summer

Nina and the Traveling Spice Shed

Dancing Home

Saving Kabul Corner (maybe)

Rain is Not My Indian Name

Earthsea

The Wig in the Window

See-Saw Girl

 

Wait a few years

 

Fatty Legs

The Last Kids on Earth (this is cheating. As near as I can tell, it has one non-white character. But it's really funny, so whatevs. Just put it off a year or two)

Letters From Rifka

Breadcrumbs

On Two Feet and Wings

Seraphina

Kiki Strike

So You Want to Be a Wizard (you may decide to read this sooner)

War Comes to Willy Freeman (and others by this author)

Salvage (wait until double digits)

Ruby Iyer (ditto)

The Jumbies (scary!)

The Lions of Little Rock

The Breadwinner (you may decide to read this sooner)

The Savage Fortress

Blackbird Fly

Brown Girl Dreaming

I Lived on Butterfly Hill

Red Scarf Girl

Book of a Thousand Days

The Unstoppable Octobia May

A Long Walk to Water

The Truth About Twinkie Pie

Kinda Like Brothers

The Zero Degree Zombie Zone

Roller Girl (another cheater - we only know the main character is Puerto Rican due to one line. Also put it off, not because it's scary or inappropriate, but because she'll probably relate to the main themes better as she approaches the MC's age)

Kizzy Ann Stamps

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It (probably appropriate now, but it might make more sense in a year or two)

Ninth Ward

Summer of the Mariposas (wait until she's double digits)

Zane and the Hurricane

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

Vodnik

Hammer of Witches

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Zahrah, the Windseeker (preread, you may put this earlier)

Sugar

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

 

Again, your ideas and mine of what's right for a five year old may differ, so you should do your own pre-reading.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Tanaqui]

I've found so many Jabberwocky versions. Which one would you be recommending?

 

This one.

 

There's also a picture book called Tikki Tikki Tembo.

 

I loved that book as a kid. Who doesn't like reciting a string of nonsense syllables? As an adult, I've read some criticism of how the younger sibling is treated and what message kids might pick up from this, and also some concerns that it may misrepresent itself as being a Chinese story when it's not.

 

Although it does appear to have some connection to a Japanese story...?

 

She won't need help. She tests at high school reading level. She just prefers elementary. Don't hold back!

 

It's good of you to let her read what she likes. Don't let anybody tell you to make her leisure reading all about being On Level, and definitely don't let people shame her for reading "easy books" as she gets older. Those people don't know what they're talking about, and yet they're EVERYWHERE.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Rosie_0801]

Really wishing my library had these. They're likely in my daughter's sweet spot - super girly (seriously, how am I raising a kid this girly?) and she generally loves anything incorporating culture that isn't ours. The girl acted out tons of stuff from our world religion studies for months.

 

I'm not surprised your library doesn't since Ali-gator is an Australian company. They are cheap though. I think dd has one or two of the colouring books too.

[Tanaqui]

Oh, and as for LGBT books... I've googled it!

 

So these booklists seem fairly comprehensive. I hope. The pickings are a little slim - we've got a handful of rather didactic picture books, not much in the way of middle grade fiction, and then YA teeters between issue books and romance. (I didn't google YA books this time around.) Hopefully we'll do better every year.

 

Edit: Added some more books to previous comment. I am now really really really done. REALLY.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Farrar]

For the LGBT,etc. books... ds really liked Better Nate Than Ever, which is on all the lists. Solidly MG, but also solidly about LGBT themes. And now there's George, which is about a trans character and also MG... I really want to read it and just haven't gotten to it. However, nearly all the books on those lists that I know (except the picture book list) are ones I wouldn't do for a younger kid... not inappropriate, just mature themes. Mature being fifth graders thinking about friendships and right and wrong kind of "mature" - just better appreciated in a couple of years by most kids.

 

Tanaqui's lists are great. I would also add that when you're reading nonfiction, you can also try to remember biographies of diverse figures - there are many great picture book biographies out there.

[Tanaqui]

However, nearly all the books on those lists that I know (except the picture book list) are ones I wouldn't do for a younger kid... not inappropriate, just mature themes. Mature being fifth graders thinking about friendships and right and wrong kind of "mature" - just better appreciated in a couple of years by most kids.

 

Yeah, the only one I know of that I'd say a 5 year old has much chance of getting is Misadventures of the Family Fletcher - and even then, there's a lot of stuff in there about just growing up.

 

[Jackie]

We've only done a few from the chapter books listed. She's read Katie Woo and Alvin Ho on her own, and we did The Stories Julian Tells and All-of-a-Kind Family as read alouds (she especially loved that last one!). A few I know are on my list for older, but most I haven't heard of.

[Tanaqui]

we did The Stories Julian Tells and All-of-a-Kind Family as read alouds (she especially loved that last one!)

 

Don't forget, it's a series! If she really loved All-of-a-Kind Family then she would probably like other "family" books - try Year of the Dog (the whole series), Tia Lola (also a series), or Family Fletcher to start with.

 

...you know, come to think of it, this list is short on books featuring Jewish protagonists. Would you like a sub-list? I could add a few :p

 

A few I know are on my list for older, but most I haven't heard of.

 

I'll tell you my secret. Well, my two secrets. The first is that I really have a lot of books, and really spend a lot of time reading kidlit and YA. I enjoy those sorts of books! The second is that, in my quest to continually add more diverse fiction to my shelves, I have several sites on my feedreader - We Need Diverse Books, Disability in Kidlit, Diversity in YA, Lee and Low's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature, Rich in Color. In this way, I'm informed about new books almost before they hit bookstores. This is actually how I heard about both Family Fletcher and Unusual Chickens - they were on the WNDB summer reading list! And I adore those two books, omg so much.

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Emerald Stoker]

There are lots of good possibilities published by Groundwood: http://groundwoodbooks.com/

[Aurelia]

She's too young for it right now, I think (DD would have been at 5, anyway), but The Death Defying Pepper Roux has a character (not the main one, but one of the core characters) who is a cross dresser and gay. (And not a caricature of a gay person, either.)

[Hilltopmom]

Mid grades chapter Books with characters with disabilities in them:

Wonder

Out of My Mind

Rules

[waa510]

Another place to look for a diversity of voices and experiences in books is the UUA bookstore. :)

[Tanaqui]

Mid grades chapter Books with characters with disabilities in them:

Wonder

Out of My Mind

Rules

 

I'm not a huge fan of Rules. As this review points out, the disabled characters in that book primarily serve as plot devices to promote character development in the protagonist, and not as fully realized human beings.

[Hilltopmom]

I'm not a huge fan of Rules. As this review points out, the disabled characters in that book primarily serve as plot devices to promote character development in the protagonist, and not as fully realized human beings.

My kids read that one, but I didn't. Good to know.

Out of MY Mind was incredible, I thought. I have a non verbal child who cannot use a communication device & has no method of communication with us at all. I cried through most of the book. But, it's not a sad book, it was just my viewpoint of it & our family's experience that upset me. Most of the middle school kids in our local group read it around the same time & loved it.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I may have skimmed to quickly but didn't notice books written by Allen Say like Grandfather's Journey or Tea with Milk. Say illustrated How My Parents Learned to Eat which I did see on the list.

 

There are some good books set in Hawaii that reflect Hawaii in characters and setting. If you're interested I'll pull some titles together.

[happybeachbum]

Not a book, but I did find this interesting https://www.academia.edu/2494445/_Black_in_Camelot_Race_and_Ethnicity_in_Arthurian_Legend_

http://www.historyextra.com/featuring/missing-tudors-black-people-16th-century-england

 

[Lb20inblue]

Thanks for the list.  It can be hard to find diverse picture books for my kids to enjoy.  I truly believe that representation matters, especially in literature. 

 

 

[FloridaLisa]

Give Your Child the World, by Jamie Martin (she's a homeschooler and has a site as well) is a curated book list. I just reviewed it and love it. It will be a spine for much of our reading this year. 

 

 

[Wabi Sabi]

Out of My Mind 
A Long Walk to Water 
El Deafo

One Crazy Summer and sequels 
Inside Out and Back Again 
Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry
Bud Not Buddy
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Wonder 
Fish in a Tree
March and sequels 
The Birchbark House and sequels 
Shooting Kabul
Why I Jump 
Chains and sequels 
My Name is Maria Isabel 
Esperanza Rising 
I am Malala 
 

[Julie Smith]

You know, you could download that from Librivox now, and in two hours time, you will have levelled up in the experience (and hopefully appreciation of) NONSENSE! :lol:

 

I tired the librivox audio recording on, "The Magic Pudding". My boys and Dh listened to about 5 minutes and said it was the most insane and crazy book they ever heard - and five minutes was more than enough for a lifetime. 

 

But if you liked that book you will like this series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._T._Anderson%27s_Thrilling_Tales

Edited September 13, 2016 by Julie Smith

[suenos]

Wow.  Just wow.  My books to read spreadsheet just got a lot longer.  And my trigger finger (evil "one-click" Amazon) is itchy.  Off to the library website now...

[Jackie]

I'm happy to see this bumped. We read quite a lot of the picture books over the last year+, and it's time to go back and make sure we hit the ones I decided to initially delay. Plus, her desire to read longer books has taken a big jump, so I need to look back through all those lists with a fresh eye.