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I also do a "read in" during the summer for PD for teachers to come in and read and brainstorm how they can use it in their curriculum.

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I also do a "read in" during the summer for PD for teachers to come in and read and brainstorm how they can use it in their curriculum.

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I do a "breakfast and books" and invite them in to have a book tasting with breakfast.

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I do a "breakfast and books" and invite them in to have a book tasting with breakfast.

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I have a scope and sequence for all grade levels and deliver books to meet their need.

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I have a scope and sequence for all grade levels and deliver books to meet their need.

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Lack of funds. Trying to stay creative with coming up with ideas to keep collection current and modern with little to no budget. 

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Lack of funds. Trying to stay creative with coming up with ideas to keep collection current and modern with little to no budget. 

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Wowlit.org - Worlds of Words (WOW) Reviews - critical review

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Wowlit.org - Worlds of Words (WOW) Reviews - critical review

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Open a mind . . . Change the world!
Worlds of Words builds bridges across global cultures through children's and adolescent literature.

WOW News
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their variations influence K-12 curriculum, particularly in the teaching of literacy, across the U.S. and internationally. With funds from the Center for Educational Resources in Culture Language and Literacy (CERCLL), Worlds of Words (WOW) in the University of Arizona College of Education offers an alternative to the CCSS text exemplar list to assist educators searching for ways to globalize their classrooms and libraries. For more information on the project, read our press release.
See our complete listing of all WOW News announcements.
WOW Currents
This series of posts in May's WOW Currents challenges the assumptions that underlie the current emphasis on text complexity and provides suggestions for engaging students with books that reflect the lives of culturally diverse children/adolescents and the global society in which they live.
See our complete listing of all WOW Currents entries.
My Take/Your Take
This May we discuss books that present situations of pain and bravery as young people learn to negotiate the difficulties of life while still quite young. As part of their negotiations, they learn about love and the lengths people will go through to keep loved ones safe. Each book offers surprises and perhaps a bit of controversy. Each is thought-provoking and worthy of our reading time.
Take a look at our thematic index of books featured on My Take/Your Take. We also have an archive of My Take/Your Take books. ∞ WOW Stories and WOW Review are accepting submissions. Our two online journals are available to you without subscription, membership, or fee requirements. We are proud to offer these journals and want to hear from you. E-mail us with questions, feedback, and submissions.
WOW Review
WOW Review: Reading Across Cultures is a regular on-line publication of Worlds of Words containing reviews of selected books to be published quarterly. The reviews are careful examinations of the books, primarily focused on the cultural authenticity of the text and illustrations. If you would like to submit to WOW Review, please see our current call and guidelines. ISSN 2577-0527
See our complete listing of all WOW Review issues.
WOW Stories
WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom is a regular on-line publication of Worlds of WOrds containing vignettes written by educators about children's experiences reading and responding to literature. If you would like to submit to WOW Stories, please see our current call and guidelines. ISSN 2577-0551
See our complete listing of all WOW Stories issues. Open Reading Hours:
Mondays through Fridays - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays - 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Worlds of Words Brings Global Literature to Educators and Youth

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Open a mind . . . Change the world! Worlds of Words builds bridges across global cultures through children's and adolescent literature. WOW News The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their variations influence K-12 curriculum, particularly in the teaching of literacy, across the U.S. and internationally.

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What about resources/books that show disabilities?

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What about resources/books that show disabilities?

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You mentioned early on about types of diversity. Could you provide some examples? There are a few basic ones I can think of but I know I'm leaving some out. 

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You mentioned early on about types of diversity. Could you provide some examples? There are a few basic ones I can think of but I know I'm leaving some out. 

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Resource List for Collection Development Curated by Melissa Thom

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Resource List for Collection Development Curated by Melissa Thom

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Resources and Tools for Collection Development 4.29.19

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Diversity Book List Webliography--Curated by West Hartford Librarians

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Diversity Book List Webliography--Curated by West Hartford Librarians

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Diversity Book List Webliography Updated 4-1-19.docx

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Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide 

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Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide 

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Podcast

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Here we share conversations with librarians, educators, and readers about the children's books that can be bridges across our cultural divides... the books that can open minds and the books that can be the lifeline a child needs to remember they're not alone.

The hosts are Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi. Ann is a middle grade author, a community organizer, a former middle school teacher and a mother of two. Saadia is a Pakistani American author, an interfaith activist, cultural sensitivity trainer, and a mother of two.

Here we share conversations with librarians, educators, and readers about the children's books that can be bridges across our cultural divides... the books that can open minds and the books that can be the lifeline a child needs to remember they're not alone.

The hosts are Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi. Ann is a middle grade author, a community organizer, a former middle school teacher and a mother of two. Saadia is a Pakistani American author, an interfaith activist, cultural sensitivity trainer, and a mother of two.

One of the best kid lit podcasts!

As a manager of a children's bookstore (& an avid reader myself), I listen to a lot of book podcasts. This podcast is one to keep in your line up hands down. Saadia's section of books you probably didn't know about is phenomenal. Even as a bookseller, she often delightfully surprises me with books I didn't know about. Ann's section with interviews is fantastic as well. She has a wonderful rapport with participants, which leads to lovely conversations. Highly recommend to those looking for excellent literature from board books to chapter books.

Glad I Subscribed!

Having only listened to one episode (#3) I can assure you I'm glad I subscribed. I'm currently voraciously consuming verse novels and poetry, and I like to think I'm well-read in middle grade work. But I found myself trying to jot down titles while driving! The second part, during which Ann interviews a nationally recognized student poet, was wonderful as well! I too was struck by the poem she shared.
Looking forward to listening to back and future episodes. Thank you!

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children's authors ann braden and saadia faruqi

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‎Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide on Apple Podcasts

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‎Here we share conversations with librarians, educators, and readers about the children's books that can be bridges across our cultural divides... the books that can open minds and the books that can be the lifeline a child needs to remember they're not alone. The hosts are Ann Braden and Saadia Far...

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I recently read some books published by a company affiliated with the Chickasaw Nation. The majority of what I was reading was fitting for my elementary school library in Oklahoma, but they weren’t really on my radar before. Now to get that company added as a vendor so I can purchase with funds next year.

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Blog

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From the organization's press release:

The 24th International Latino Book Awards Ceremony showcased the flourishing talent of the fastest-growing group in the U.S., with four ceremonies held on August 19th and 20th at Los Angeles City College. These Awards are by far the largest Latino cultural distinction in the country, honoring 249 winners in 105 categories this year. The grand total of authors and publishers honored over the last two decades now stands at 3,719, proof that books by and about Latinos are in high demand in both English and Spanish. Gold, Silver, and Bronze-place winners in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's books, translation, and many more were announced over the two-day event.

Here are the winners-gold, silver, and bronze medals-in the children's books categories. Click on the book covers for more information:

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The Alma Flor Ada Best Latino Focused Children's Picture Book Award - English
GOLD MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh SILVER MEDAL Tía Fortuna's New Home, Ruth Behar, Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth BRONZE MEDAL Bisa's Carnaval, Joana Pastro, Illustrated by Carolina Coroa
The Alma Flor Ada Best Latino Focused Children's Picture Book Award - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL ¡Corre, pequeño Chaski! Una aventura en el camino Inka, Mariana Llanos, Illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson SILVER MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales
Best Children's Fiction Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Let's Be Friends / Seamos Amigos, René Colato Laínez; Illustrated by Nomar Perez SILVER MEDAL Isabel and Her Colores Go to School, Alexandra Alessandri, Illustrated by Courtney Dawson
Best Children's Fiction Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Abuelita and Me, Leonarda Carranza, illustrated by Rafael Mayani SILVER MEDAL Tía Fortuna's New Home, Ruth Behar, Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth BRONZE MEDAL May Your Life Be Deliciosa, Michael Genhart, Illustrated by Loris Lora
Mejor libro ilustrado de ficción para niños
GOLD MEDAL Pitu le Baila al Mar, Gama Valle; Illustrated by Yamel Figueroa SILVER MEDAL La Jirafa que no Cabía en su Cuento, Haydée Zayas Ramos BRONZE MEDAL El monstruo más feo del mundo, Luis Amavisca, Illustrated by Erica Salcedo
Best Children's Nonfiction Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL One Whole Me, Dia Mixon, Illustrated by Natalia Jiménez Osorio

SILVER MEDAL In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color, Aida Salazar, Illustrated by Alina Chau BRONZE MEDAL Alphabet & Affirmations with The Black Unicorn, Sandra Elaine Scott
Best Children's Nonfiction Picture Book - Spanish or Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales SILVER MEDAL Popol Vuh Stories for Children, Denis O'Leary BRONZE MEDAL Lala and the Pond by the Rock / Lala y el Charco de la Piedra, Susana Illera Martínez
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh SILVER MEDAL We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Illustrated by Eduardo Trejos
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL Morderse las uñas, Paula Merlán, Illustrated by Brenda Figueroa
Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales SILVER MEDAL The Last Butter!y / La última mariposa, Regina Moya & Carmen Tafolla
Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Courageous Camila: A story about finding your inner warrior, Naibe Reynoso & Giselle Carrillo; Illustrated by María Tuti SILVER MEDAL The Voices of the Trees, Elisa Guerra y Fernando Reimers; Illustrated by Ana RoGu

BRONZE MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL Tienes un color especial, Lorena Sierco Espino; Mr. Momo, Lantia Publishing Group

SILVER MEDAL Memoria de un abedul, Daniel Cañas, Illustrated by Blanca Millán BRONZE MEDAL Peque y yo, Alicia Acosta, Illustrated by Mercé Galí
Best Learn to Read Book
GOLD MEDAL The Awesome Reading Adventures of Super Sammy and Marvelous Megan, Vanessa Caraveo
Best Youth Latino Focused Chapter Book
GOLD MEDAL Falling Short, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Sofía Acosta Makes a Scene, Emma Otheguy
Best Youth Chapter Fiction Book
GOLD MEDAL Falling Short, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Catalina Incognito, Jennifer Torres BRONZE MEDAL Julia y el mar, Olvido Guzman Pons

Most Inspirational Youth Chapter Book
GOLD MEDAL Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, Alda P. Dobbs SILVER MEDAL Efren Divided, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona, Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford
Best Young Adult Latino Focused Book
GOLD MEDAL On the Hook, Francisco X. Stork SILVER MEDAL Lifetime Passes, Terry Blas, Illustrated by Claudia Aguirre
Best Young Adult Fiction Book
GOLD MEDAL The Immortal Boy / El Inmortal, Francisco Montaña Ibáñez SILVER MEDAL Encarnación Castro's Journey in the Anza Expedition
1775-1776, Linda Castro Martinez SILVER MEDAL Three, Brenda Nicole Peña BRONZE MEDAL Fat Angie: Homecoming, e.E. Charlton Trujillo
Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure - English
GOLD MEDAL The Grimrose Girls, Laura Pohl SILVER MEDAL The Ghost Tracks, Celso Hurtado
Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL El Último Dragón: Las espadas del legado, José del Real Antiquera SILVER MEDAL Catarina Freytas y el anillo perdido, Raymond Vollmond BRONZE MEDAL El Mundo del Olvido, Cristian Otárola Jiménez
Best Young Adult Romance Book
GOLD MEDAL Monstrua, NLa Contreras SILVER MEDAL La descendiente, Marie D.
Best Educational Young Adult Book
GOLD MEDAL No te creas todo lo que leas, Didi Whitefalcon, Illustrated by Verónica Rodríguez
SILVER MEDAL Voices of Diversity, Vanessa Caraveo
Most Inspirational Young Adult Book
GOLD MEDAL Harvesting Dreams, Erica Alfaro; Barker & Jules SILVER MEDAL Your Heart, My Sky, Margarita Engle; Simon & Schuster

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Exploring the world of Latinx YA, MG, & children's literature

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Diverse BookFinder | Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books

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Are you looking for multicultural children’s books? We’ve got you covered! You can search our circulating collection of picture books (2002-present), explore our quick lists, then borrow our books from your own library through interlibrary loan. We believe that too many children are left out of main…

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I'm a huge fan of books by authors of Asian descent - Asian middle-grade novels are no exception. This list has been on my mind for a while now. I already shared 21 YA novels by authors of Asian descent, so I figured it was officially time for Asian middle-grade books.

To the best of my ability, I tried to make sure all the authors on this list fit the criteria of being of Asian descent. I've also included a few graphic novels and chapter books for newer readers. Additionally, I took the liberty of including a few favorite Middle-Eastern and Indian authors. Although I do not read fantasy, I've included a few books in the genre for any who might be interested. Here are 50 Asian middle-grade books to add to your TBR.
Disclaimer: I use affiliate links for Amazon and will make a cent or two if you buy using these links. It's a great way to support a blog(ger) you love.
Front Desk

(Read and loved this one!)
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?

It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

A Place to Belong

World War II has ended, but while America has won the war, twelve-year-old Hanako feels lost. To her, the world, and her world, seems irrevocably broken.

America, the only home she's ever known, imprisoned then rejected her and her family-and thousands of other innocent Americans-because of their Japanese heritage, because Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Japan, the country they've been forced to move to, the country they hope will be the family's saving grace, where they were supposed to start new and better lives, is in shambles because America dropped bombs of their own-one on Hiroshima unlike any other in history. And Hanako's grandparents live in a small village just outside the ravaged city.

The country is starving, the black markets run rampant, and countless orphans beg for food on the streets, but how can Hanako help them when there is not even enough food for her own brother?

Hanako feels she could crack under the pressure, but just because something is broken doesn't mean it can't be fixed. Cracks can make room for gold, her grandfather explains when he tells her about the tradition of kintsukuroi-fixing broken objects with gold lacquer, making them stronger and more beautiful than ever. As she struggles to adjust to find her place in a new world, Hanako will find that the gold can come in many forms, and family may be hers.

Amal Unbound

Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal's Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she's busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when-as the eldest daughter-she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn't lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens-after an accidental run-in with the son of her village's corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family's servant to pay off her own family's debt.

Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal-especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal's growing awareness of the Khans' nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.

Amina's Voice

A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community in this sweet and moving middle grade novel from the award-winning author of It's Ramadan, Curious George and Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns.

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she's in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the "cool" girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more "American." Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized.

See You in the Cosmos

11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan-named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he'll uncover-from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.

Iris and the Tiger

Twelve-year-old Iris has been sent to Spain on a mission: to make sure her elderly and unusual aunt, Ursula, leaves her fortune-and her sprawling estate-to Iris's scheming parents.

But from the moment Iris arrives at Bosque de Nubes, she realises something isn't quite right. There is an odd feeling around the house, where time moves slowly and Iris's eyes play tricks on her. While outside, in the wild and untamed forest, a mysterious animal moves through the shadows.

Just what is Aunt Ursula hiding?

But when Iris discovers a painting named Iris and the Tiger, she sets out to uncover the animal's real identity-putting her life in terrible danger.

Other Words for Home

Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US-and her new label of "Middle Eastern," an identity she's never known before.

But this life also brings unexpected surprises-there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

Half a World Away

Eleven-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he's an "epic fail." That's why his family is traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby-to replace him, he's sure. And he gets it. He is incapable of stopping his stealing, hoarding, lighting fires, aggressive running, and obsession with electricity. He knows his parents love him, but he feels...nothing.

When they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they've traveled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn't pure blinding fury, and there's no way to control it, or its power.

Crystal Ribbon

In the village of Huanan, in medieval China, the deity that rules is the Great Huli Jing. Though twelve-year-old Li Jing's name is a different character entirely from the Huli Jing, the sound is close enough to provide constant teasing-but maybe is also a source of greater destiny and power. Jing's life isn't easy. Her father is a poor tea farmer, and her family has come to the conclusion that in order for everyone to survive, Jing must be sacrificed for the common good. She is sold as a bride to the Koh family, where she will be the wife and nursemaid to their three-year-old son, Ju'nan. It's not fair, and Jing feels this bitterly, especially when she is treated poorly by the Koh's, and sold yet again into a worse situation that leads Jing to believe her only option is to run away, and find home again. With the help of a spider who weaves Jing a means to escape, and a nightingale who helps her find her way, Jing embarks on a quest back to Huanan-and to herself.

The Land of Forgotten Girls

Soledad has always been able to escape into the stories she creates. Just like her mother always could. And Soledad has needed that escape more than ever in the five years since her mother and sister died, and her father moved Sol and her youngest sister from the Philippines to Louisiana. After her father leaves, all Sol and Ming have is their evil stepmother, Vea. Sol has protected Ming all this time, but then Ming begins to believe that Auntie Jove-their mythical, world-traveling aunt-is really going to come rescue them. Can Sol protect Ming from this impossible hope?

The Emperor's Riddle

Mia Chen is on what her mother calls a Grand Adventure. She's not sure what to make of this family trip to China, and didn't want to leave her friends for the summer, but she's excited about the prospect of exploring with her Aunt Lin, the only adult who truly understands her.

Then Aunt Lin disappears, right after her old nemesis, a man named Ying, comes to visit. Mia knows that years ago, when Aunt Lin and Ying were sent to the Fuzhou countryside to work as laborers, the two searched for an ancient treasure together-one that still hasn't been found. She's suspicious that their shared history might be linked to Aunt Lin's disappearance.

When Mia discovers an old map filled with riddles in Aunt Lin's room, she quickly pieces together her mission: find the treasure, find her aunt. Now, Mia, along with her big brother, Jake, must solve the clues to rescue the person she knows best in the world-and maybe unearth a treasure greater than her wildest dreams.

The Year of the Dog

When Pacy's mom tells her that this is a good year for friends, family, and "finding herself," Pacy begins searching right away. As the year goes on, she struggles to find her talent, deals with disappointment, makes a new best friend, and discovers just why the Year of the Dog is a lucky one for her after all.

This funny and profound book is a wonderful debut novel by award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator Grace Lin, and young readers will be sure to love and treasure it for years to come.

Listen, Slowly

A California girl born and raised, Mai can't wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War.

Mai's parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the language, she doesn't know the geography, the local customs, or even her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.

The Way Home Looks Now

Twelve-year-old Peter Lee and his family are baseball lovers, who bond over back lot games and talk of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But when tragedy strikes, the family flies apart and baseball no longer seems to matter. Is that true? Peter wonders if just maybe the game they love can pull them together and bring them back, safe at home.

Anyone's Game (Cross Ups Series)

What's up with Cali? Why does she keep changing her gamer tag?

It's summertime, and even though his good friend Cali moved to another city, Jaden can connect with her online almost every day to play their favorite game, Cross Ups. His mom has loosened her rules on how often he can play, and he has an amazing new controller that will make him even better at tournaments. But then he gets roped into a dorky summer camp with his buddy Hugh, and Cali starts acting really weird . . . So when a last-minute tournament spot opens up in Cali's city, Jaden jumps at the chance to go.

But things go badly from the start. Jaden loses his controller on the train, and his reunion with Cali is awkward. She's unhappy, and Jaden can't figure out why, especially when she's getting better and better at Cross Ups―and may even win the tournament.

With its sharp dialogue and relatable characters, Anyone's Game, the second book in the Cross Ups series, chronicles the ups and downs of middle school with a relevant, contemporary twist.

You Go First

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more than a thousand miles. On the surface, their lives seem vastly different-Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while Ben is in the small town of Lanester, Louisiana.

Charlotte wants to be a geologist and keeps a rock collection in her room. Ben is obsessed with Harry Potter, presidential history, and recycling. But the two have more in common than they think. They're both highly gifted. They're both experiencing family turmoil. And they both sit alone at lunch.

During the course of one week, Charlotte and Ben-friends connected only by an online Scrabble game-will intersect in unexpected ways as they struggle to navigate the turmoil of middle school. The New York Times-bestselling novel You Go First reminds us that no matter how hard it is to keep our heads above troubled water, we never struggle alone.

Check out this list of 50 Asian middle-grade novels -- all #OwnVoices -- and add a dozen (or more) to your TBR. Click To Tweet

The Way to Bea

Seventh grade isn't starting off so well for Beatrix Lee. Bea used to have friends...and now she doesn't. She was an only child...and now she's going to be a big sister. She used to fit in...and now she stands out for all the wrong reasons.

She takes solace in writing poems in ink that is as invisible as she feels, and hiding them in a secret spot. But then something incredible happens-someone starts writing back. Is it her former best friend? The editor of the school paper? The caring librarian who always offers the perfect book? Or the boy whose obsession with labyrinths is as intense as Bea's love for words? In solving the mystery, Bea just might discover where she belongs.

Spirit Hunters

A riveting ghost story and captivating adventure, this tale will have you guessing at every turn!

Harper doesn't trust her new home from the moment she steps inside, and the rumors are that the Raine family's new house is haunted. Harper isn't sure she believes those rumors, until her younger brother, Michael, starts acting strangely.

The whole atmosphere gives Harper a sense of déjà vu, but she can't remember why. She knows that the memories she's blocking will help make sense of her brother's behavior and the strange and threatening sensations she feels in this house, but will she be able to put the pieces together in time?

Book Uncle and Me

Every day, nine-year-old Yasmin borrows a book from Book Uncle, a retired teacher who has set up a free lending library next to her apartment building. But when the mayor tries to shut down the rickety bookstand, Yasmin has to take her nose out of her book and do something.

But what can she do? The local elections are coming up but she's just a kid. She can't even vote!

Still, Yasmin has friends - her best friend, Reeni, and Anil, who even has a black belt in karate. And she has grownup family and neighbors who, no matter how preoccupied they are, care about what goes on in their community.

Then Yasmin remembers a story that Book Uncle selected for her. It's an old folktale about a flock of doves trapped in a hunter's net. The birds realize that if they all flap their wings at the same time, they can lift the net and fly to safety, where they seek the help of a friendly mole who chews a hole in the net and sets them free.

And so the children get to work, launching a campaign to make sure the voices of the community are heard.

An energetic, funny and quirky story that explores the themes of community activism, friendship, and the love of books.

The Last Cherry Blossom

Yuriko was happy growing up in Hiroshima when it was just her and Papa. But her aunt Kimiko and her cousin Genji are living with them now, and the family is only getting bigger with talk of a double marriage! And while things are changing at home, the world beyond their doors is even more unpredictable. World War II is coming to an end, and since the Japanese newspapers don't report lost battles, the Japanese people are not entirely certain of where Japan stands. Yuriko is used to the sirens and the air-raid drills, but things start to feel more real when the neighbors who have left to fight stop coming home. When the bombs hit Hiroshima, it's through Yuriko's twelve-year-old eyes that we witness the devastation and horror.

Cilla Lee-Jenkins

Priscilla "Cilla" Lee-Jenkins is on a tight deadline. Her baby sister is about to be born, and Cilla needs to become a bestselling author before her family forgets all about her. So she writes about what she knows best-herself! Stories from her bestselling memoir, Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire, include:

- How she dealt with being bald until she was five
- How she overcame her struggles with reading
- How family traditions with her Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins and her Chinese grandparents, Nai Nai and Ye Ye, are so different

Project Mulberry

Julia Song and her friend Patrick would love to win a blue ribbon, maybe even two, at the state fair. They've always done projects together, and they work well as a team. This time, though, they're having trouble coming up with just the right project. Then Julia's mother offers a suggestion: They can raise silkworms, as she did when she was a girl in Korea.

Patrick thinks it's a great idea. Of course there are obstacles-for example, where will they get mulberry leaves, the only thing silkworms eat?-but nothing they can't handle.

Julia isn't so sure. The club where kids do their projects is all about traditional American stuff, and raising silkworms just doesn't fit in. Moreover, the author, Ms. Park, seems determined to make Julia's life as complicated as possible, no matter how hard Julia tries to talk her out of it.

In this contemporary novel, Linda Sue Park delivers a funny, lively story that illuminates both the process of writing a novel and the meaning of growing up American.

The House that Lou Built

Lou Bulosan-Nelson has the ultimate summer DIY project. She's going to build her own "tiny house," 100 square feet all her own. She shares a room with her mom in her grandmother's house, and longs for a place where she can escape her crazy but lovable extended Filipino family. Lou enjoys her woodshop class and creating projects, and she plans to build the house on land she inherited from her dad, who died before she was born. But then she finds out that the land may not be hers for much longer.

Lou discovers it's not easy to save her land, or to build a house. But she won't give up; with the help of friends and relatives, her dream begins to take shape, and she learns the deeper meaning of home and family.

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

Eleven-year old Dini loves movies-watching them, reading about them, trying to write her own-especially those oh-so-fabulous Bollywood movies where you don't need to know the language to get what's going on. But when her mother reveals some big news, it does not at all jibe with the script Dini had in mind. Her family is moving to India. And not even to Bombay, which is the "center of the filmi universe" (and home to Dini's all-time most favorite star, Dolly Singh). No, they're moving to a teeny, tiny town that she can't even find on a map: Swapnagiri. It means Dream Mountain, a sleepy little place where nothing interesting can happen....

Krista Kim-Bap

Krista and Jason have been best friends since preschool. It never mattered that he was a boy with reddish-brown hair and she was the "Korean girl" at school. Now in fifth grade, everyone in their class is preparing their Heritage Month projects. Jason has always loved Krista's Korean family, and particularly her mom's cooking, but Krista is conflicted about being her school's "Korean Ambassador". She's also worried about asking her intimidating grandma to teach the class how to make their traditional kim-bap. Combine that with her new friends pulling her away from Jason, and Krista has a lot to deal with this year!

The Science of Breakable Things

When Natalie's science teacher suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, Natalie thinks that this might be the perfect solution to all of her problems. There's prize money, and if she and her friends wins, then she can fly her botanist mother to see the miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchids-flowers that survive against impossible odds. Natalie's mother has been suffering from depression, and Natalie is sure that the flowers' magic will inspire her mom to love life again. Which means it's time for Natalie's friends to step up and show her that talking about a problem is like taking a plant out of a dark cupboard and giving it light. With their help, Natalie begins an uplifting journey to discover the science of hope, love, and miracles.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life. She's ready to rule the school as a sixth grader, go out for captain of the school basketball team, and take over the bedroom she has always shared with her sister. In an instant, though, her plans are shattered when she finds out that Yi Po, her beloved grandmother's sister, is coming to visit for several months - and is staying in Lucy's room.

Lucy's vision of a perfect year begins to crumble, and in its place come an unwelcome roommate, foiled birthday plans, a bully who tries to scare Lucy off the basketball team, and Chinese school with the annoying know-it-all Talent Chang. Lucy's year is ruined - or is it?

House Without Walls

Author is of Vietnamese descent
For most people, home is a place with four walls. It's a place to eat, sleep, rest, and live. For a refugee, the concept of home is ever-changing, ever-moving, ever-wavering. And often, it doesn't have any walls at all.

Eleven-year-old Lam escapes from Vietnam with Dee Dee during the Vietnamese Boat People Exodus in 1979, when people from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fled their homelands for safety. For a refugee, the trip is a long and perilous one, filled with dangerous encounters with pirates and greedy sailors, a lack of food and water, and even the
stench of a dead body onboard. When they finally arrive at a refugee camp, Lam befriends Dao, a girl her age who
becomes like a sister-a welcome glimmer of happiness after a terrifying journey.

More to the Story

When Jameela Mirza is picked to be feature editor of her middle school newspaper, she's one step closer to being an award-winning journalist like her late grandfather. The problem is her editor-in-chief keeps shooting down her article ideas. Jameela's assigned to write about the new boy in school, who has a cool British accent but doesn't share much, and wonders how she'll make his story gripping enough to enter into a national media contest.

Jameela, along with her three sisters, is devastated when their father needs to take a job overseas, away from their cozy Georgia home for six months. Missing him makes Jameela determined to write an epic article-one to make her dad extra proud. But when her younger sister gets seriously ill, Jameela's world turns upside down. And as her hunger for fame looks like it might cost her a blossoming friendship, Jameela questions what matters most, and whether she's cut out to be a journalist at all...

Under the Broken Sky

Twelve-year-old Natsu and her family live a quiet farm life in Manchuria, near the border of the Soviet Union. But the life they've known begins to unravel when her father is recruited to the Japanese army, and Natsu and her little sister, Asa, are left orphaned and destitute. In a desperate move to keep her sister alive, Natsu sells Asa to a Russian family following the 1945 Soviet occupation. The journey to redemption for Natsu's broken family is rife with struggles, but Natsu is tenacious and will stop at nothing to get her little sister back.

My Fate According to the Butterfly

When superstitious Sab sees a giant black butterfly, an omen of death, she knows that she's doomed! According to legend, she has one week before her fate catches up with her - on her 11th birthday. With her time running out, all she wants is to celebrate her birthday with her entire family. But her sister, Ate Nadine, stopped speaking to their father one year ago, and Sab doesn't even know why.

If Sab's going to get Ate Nadine and their father to reconcile, she'll have to overcome her fears - of her sister's anger, of leaving the bubble of her sheltered community, of her upcoming doom - and figure out the cause of their rift.

So Sab and her best friend Pepper start spying on Nadine and digging into their family's past to determine why, exactly, Nadine won't speak to their father. But Sab's adventures across Manila reveal truths about her family more difficult - and dangerous - than she ever anticipated.

Was the Butterfly right? Perhaps Sab is doomed after all!

Save Me a Seat

Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.

Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own.

Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in.

Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common - but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.

This list of 50 Asian middle-grade novels features work by @kellyyanghk, @henakhanbooks, @jasminewarga, @angelaahnbooks, @susanSMtan, @erinentrada and many more! Click To Tweet

Inside Out and Back Again

Inspired by the author's childhood experience as a refugee-fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama-this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.

Hà has only ever known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope-toward America.

This moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing received four starred reviews, including one from Kirkus which proclaimed it "enlightening, poignant, and unexpectedly funny."

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.

Paris Pan takes the Dare

So what if it?s a rite of passage for every seventhgrade girl in town to spend a night in the woods? Paris Pan only just moved here, the woods are supercreepy, and she has enough weirdness to deal with in her own family. Finding out a girl died mysteriously years ago while on the Dare?right near Paris?s new house, no less?is bad enough, but the unmistakably ghostlike noises coming out of the broken-down shed at the edge of the Pan?s property? Definite deal breaker.

All Paris wants is to make friends, try to fit in, and not have to deal with a dead girl. But everyone has to take the Dare, and the new girl?s turn is up. . . .

Everlasting Nora

After a family tragedy results in the loss of both father and home, 12-year-old Nora lives with her mother in Manila's North Cemetery, which is the largest shantytown of its kind in the Philippines today.

When her mother disappears mysteriously one day, Nora is left alone.

With help from her best friend Jojo and the support of his kindhearted grandmother, Nora embarks on a journey riddled with danger in order to find her mom. Along the way she also rediscovers the compassion of the human spirit, the resilience of her community, and everlasting hope in the most unexpected places.

Somewhere Among

Eleven-year-old Ema has always been of two worlds-her father's Japanese heritage and her mother's life in America. She's spent summers in California for as long as she can remember, but this year she and her mother are staying with her grandparents in Japan as they await the arrival of Ema's baby sibling. Her mother's pregnancy has been tricky, putting everyone on edge, but Ema's heart is singing-finally, there will be someone else who will understand what it's like to belong and not belong at the same time.

But Ema's good spirits are muffled by her grandmother who is cold, tightfisted, and quick to reprimand her for the slightest infraction. Then, when their stay is extended and Ema must go to a new school, her worries of not belonging grow. And when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes, Ema, her parents, and the world watch as the twin towers fall...

As her mother grieves for her country across the ocean-threatening the safety of her pregnancy-and her beloved grandfather falls ill, Ema feels more helpless and hopeless than ever. And yet, surrounded by tragedy, Ema sees for the first time the tender side of her grandmother, and the reason for the penny-pinching and sternness make sense-her grandmother has been preparing so they could all survive the worst.

Blackbird Fly

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. She and her mother moved to Louisiana from the Philippines when she was little, and her mother still cooks Filipino foods and chastises Apple for becoming "too American." When Apple's friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show her how special she really is.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius

Millicent Min is having a bad summer. Her fellow high school students hate her for setting the curve. Her fellow 11-year-olds hate her for going to high school. And her mother has arranged for her to tutor Stanford Wong, the poster boy for Chinese geekdom. But then Millie meets Emily. Emily doesn't know Millicent's IQ score. She actually thinks Millie is cool. And if Millie can hide her awards, ignore her grandmother's advice, swear her parents to silence, blackmail Stanford, and keep all her lies straight, she just might make her first friend.
What's it going to take? Sheer genius.

Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time

Stanford Wong is in big trouble-or as he would spell it, "trubble"-in this laugh-out-loud companion to the award-winning MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS and this season's SO TOTALLY EMILY EBERS.

Stanford Wong is having a bad summer. If he flunks his summer-school English class, he won't pass sixth grade. If that happens, he won't start on the A-team. If *that* happens, his friends will abandon him and Emily Ebers won't like him anymore. And if THAT happens, his life will be over. Soon his parents are fighting, his grandmother Yin-Yin hates her new nursing home, he's being "tutored" by the world's biggest nerdball Millicent Min-and he's not sure his ballpoint "Emily" tattoo is ever going to wash off.

It Ain't So Awful, Falafel

Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block . . . for the fourth time. California's Newport Beach is her family's latest perch, and she's determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name-Cindy. It's the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even mood rings and puka shell necklaces can't distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home.

Graphic Novels

American Born Chinese

A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he's the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny's life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.

Frazzled

Meet Abbie Wu. Abbie is in crisis-and not just because she's starting middle school or because she's stuck in a family that doesn't quite get her or because everyone seems to have a Thing except her. Abbie Wu is always in crisis.

From author and professional doodler Booki Vivat, Frazzled dives right into the mind of this hilariously neurotic middle school girl as she tries to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Akin to Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Frazzled is heavily illustrated, embarrassingly honest, and sure to appeal to anyone in the middle of figuring out how to survive the everyday disasters of growing up.

Pashmina

Priyanka Das has so many unanswered questions: Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? But Pri's mom avoids these questions-the topic of India is permanently closed.

For Pri, her mother's homeland can only exist in her imagination. That is, until she find a mysterious pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase. When she wraps herself in it, she is transported to a place more vivid and colorful than any guidebook or Bollywood film. But is this the real India? And what is that shadow lurking in the background? To learn the truth, Pri must travel farther than she's ever dared and find the family she never knew.

In this heartwarming graphic novel debut, Nidhi Chanani weaves a tale about the hardship and self-discovery that is born from juggling two cultures and two worlds.

Sam Wu

After the ghosts . . . come the sharks!

Sam Wu is not afraid of sharks. Except . . . he is. Can Sam conquer his fear before he misses out on his friends' beach party fun?

On a class trip to the aquarium, certified ghost hunter Sam Wu encounters something even scarier than ghosts: Crazy Charlie, a giant shark, who TOTALLY tries to eat him. Sam has no intentions of taking any more chances with these people-eating creatures. But then his classmates Regina and Ralph announce they're having a birthday bash . . . on the BEACH! Can Sam overcome his terror of becoming shark bait? This second book in the Sam Wu series is a funny, touching, and charming story of finding your courage when the moment comes-because bravery is something you have to prove again and again.

Chapter Books

Jasmine Toguchi

Eight-year-old Jasmine Toguchi is a flamingo fan, tree climber, and top-notch mess-maker!

She's also tired of her big sister, Sophie, always getting to do things first. For once, Jasmine wishes SHE could do something before Sophie-something special, something different. The New Year approaches, and as the Toguchi family gathers in Los Angeles to celebrate, Jasmine is jealous that her sister gets to help roll mochi balls by hand with the women. Her mom says that Jasmine is still too young to join in, so she hatches a plan to help the men pound the mochi rice instead. Surely her sister has never done THAT before.

But pounding mochi is traditionally reserved for boys. And the mochi hammer is heavier than it looks. Can Jasmine build her case and her mochi-making muscles in time for New Year's Day?

Anna Wang

Last year, Anna learned how to be a good friend. Now that her family has adopted a baby girl from China, she wants to learn how to be a good sister. But the new year proves challenging when the doctor warns that the baby isn't thriving. Can Anna and her best friends, Laura and Camille, create a science project that saves the day? In this heartwarming sequel to The Year of the Book, readers will be just as moved by Anna's devotion to her new sister as they will be inspired by her loving family and lasting friendships.

Chook Chook series

Since the death of Mei's father, her ma has refused to keep animals on the family farm. So when Mei finds two baby chickens, she shares her delightful discovery with no one but her older brother Guo. Mei does her best to keep her newfound friends a secret, but all does not go as planned. When Ma sells the chooks to the fearsome one - eyed butcher, their fates seem sealed. From a new voice in children's storytelling comes a heartfelt tale of love, loss and the power of kindness set against the backdrop of rural China.

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie

Meet Clara Lee.

Likes: her best friends, her grandpa, her little sister (when she's not being annoying, which is almost always), candy necklaces, and the Apple Blossom Festival.

Dislikes: her little sister (when she's being annoying, which is almost always), her mom's yucky fish soup, and bad dreams (even though Grandpa says they mean good luck).
Author is of Chinese descent
After a bad dream, Clara Lee has a whole day of good luck. But when her luck changes, she upsets her friends and family. Will Clara Lee have good luck again in time to try out for the Little Miss Apple Pie pageant?

Alvin Ho Series
Are you a fan of Asian literature? Which of these Asian middle-grade books have you read or will you be putting on your TBR? I'd love to know!
Alvin, an Asian American second grader, is afraid of everything-elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He's so afraid of school that, while he' s there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home he's a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, so he can be just like his dad.

From Lenore Look and New York Times bestselling illustrator LeUyen Pham comes a drop-dead-funny and touching series with a truly unforgettable character.

50 Asian middle-grade books including a few graphic novels and chapter books for beginning readers! Click To Tweet

- Afoma

More Book Lists

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50 Fantastic Asian Middle-Grade Books to Add to Your Reading List

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I'm a huge fan of books by authors of Asian descent - Asian middle-grade novels are no exception. This list has been on my mind for a while now. I already shared 21 YA novels by authors of Asian descent, so I figured it was officially time for Asian middle-grade books.

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Webcasts

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This is a easy-to-use and vital tool for both classroom and school libraries. It helps us look at all the possible forms of diversity we should have represented in ALL libraries!! Readers need windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors!

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Teachers, let's talk about a popular topic across education blogs and Pinterest: the classroom library. A quick search on the Internet results in numerous tips, tricks, and ideas for different ways to configure and organize your classroom library. It's an intensive and thoughtful process that involves thinking about genre, reading levels, interest levels, grade-level content, categories, and themes.

Unfortunately, we often see classroom libraries that group diverse books into categories that isolate or limit their use. Simply having a book bin labeled "cultures from around the world" or "black history month books" does not mean your library is culturally responsive. We need to think critically about how these books reflect the diversity of our students, their backgrounds, and the communities in which we live while exposing them to new ideas and concepts. Does your classroom library contain books that include main characters of color or with disabilities? Do your books featuring people of color only focus on issues of race, prejudice, or discrimination? Do they go beyond ethnic heritage months? Do they only focus on cultural traditions and foods?

To help you do so, LEE & LOW BOOKS has created a Classroom Library Questionnaire for you to use as a tool to analyze the books in your library and determine where there are strengths and gaps in diversity. It isn't enough just to have diverse and culturally responsive books, but we also need to think about how and when we use these books in the classroom.

Click here to download the free Classroom Library Questionnaire.
For more information about building a culturally responsive classroom library: Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she's not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking or hanging out with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.

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Classroom Library Assessment: How Culturally Responsive is Your Library?

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Teachers, let's talk about a popular topic across education blogs and Pinterest: the classroom library. A quick search on the Internet results in numerous tips, tricks, and ideas for different ways to configure and organize your classroom library. It's an intensive and thoughtful process that involves thinking about genre, reading levels, interest levels, grade-level content, categories, and themes.

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The Open Book: A Blog on race, diversity, education, and children’s books

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The Open Book: A Blog on race, diversity, education, and children’s books

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Register for a free webinar hosted by Share My Lesson on Wednesday, July 24th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET with Patty Cisneros Prevo, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, disability advocate, and author of Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes !

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Mirrors Windows and Doors: Celebrating Diversity in a Whole World of Children's and YA Literature

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Mirrors Windows and Doors: Celebrating Diversity in a Whole World of Children's and YA Literature

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Mirrors Windows Doors (MWD) is an online magazine whose aim is to draw attention to the riches of children’s and YA books from across the world that highlight cultural and multi-cultural diversity. MWD promotes authenticity of voice, and writing that increases empathy through reading about different experiences within different cultural contexts – maybe next door, maybe across the globe – whilst tapping into a common bond of humanity and shared emotional response.

MWD is a resource for librarians, teachers, parents and carers, as well as teens, who want to find out more about the kidlitosphere from a global perspective.

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What is Mirrors Windows Doors?

Mirrors Windows Doors (MWD) is an online magazine whose aim is to draw attention to the riches of children's and YA books from across the world that highlight cultural and multi-cultural diversity. MWD promotes authenticity of voice, and writing that increases empathy through reading about different experiences within different cultural contexts - maybe next door, maybe across the globe - whilst tapping into a common bond of humanity and shared emotional response.

MWD is a resource for librarians, teachers, parents and carers, as well as teens, who want to find out more about the kidlitosphere from a global perspective.

Why the name Mirrors Windows Doors?

'Mirrors, windows and doors' is a metaphor that can be used to refer to the need for children to find themselves reflected in books; for books to provide an opening onto worlds beyond their own experience (worlds real or imagined) - because children need to see children that look different in the books they read; and for reading to provide a conduit for children to journey into the world and experience all it has to offer.

Founding publisher of Groundwood Books in Canada and former International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) president Patsy Aldana has been a great purveyor of the metaphor and it was from her that I first heard it. It was originally coined, however by Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita of Education at Ohio State University, who specialised in African American children's literature. In a 1990 article re-published recently here by Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), she wrote:

'Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.'

I love this metaphor for so many reasons, and I'll try and give some of them here...

It takes, as its basis, objects that figure in most people's lives around the world, often without much heed being paid to them - but when you really look at them, they can provide a sense of place, of continuity, of history, art and culture. And when you bring together images of mirrors, windows or doors from around the world, they provide a rich resource for comparison, shared differences and similarities, and stories - all of which spirals of thought also feed the metaphor they encompass.

It highlights the transformative power of books.

Because mirrors, windows and doors are themselves already imbued with some sense of the figurative, by being brought together, they allow the metaphor to embrace the imaginary as well as the real - and, of course, imagination is so key to the creative process. By promoting the idea that children should find themselves in books, for example, we are not necessarily crying out for everything to be real (without getting started on a discourse of what 'real' is...).

Perhaps most saliently, as a metaphor, 'mirrors, windows and doors' rises above and beyond a temporal assignation of identity and labelling. What do I mean by that? Well, over the ten years that I have been critiquing children's literature, I have been saddened and angered by the politicisation of certain terms (most especially, for example, 'multicultural', certainly in the UK), so that they are bandied about as a dirty word in some contexts. However, when such words become jargon, it does make you dig deep to understand your affiliation to them. To me, multicultural literature is important because it encompasses respect, diversity, discovery, authenticity of voice and empathy. It does not exclude or promote the 'other' to the detriment of 'self'. Trying to get this across in a few words is difficult (and more is probably required here) - so that is where the compactness of the wording of the metaphor versus the explosion of meaning it encompasses/throws out into the world really comes into its own!

So Mirrors Windows Doors may sound like a glazier company, but it is actually absolutely the right name for this website!

Who is behind Mirrors Windows Doors?

My name is Marjorie Coughlan. I am the MWD editor and contributor of all content, unless otherwise stated. Before setting up MWD, I was Associate Editor (2005-2010) and then Editor (2010- 2013) of PaperTigers.org, now sadly no longer being updated. I have worked as a teacher, specialising in EFL and (European) languages; and I recently completed a PhD in Art History. I have addressed children's literature conferences in London, Singapore and Vancouver; and I run workshops on reviewing children's books. I was a member of the jury for the 2014 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA).

I was brought up not far from Beatrix Potter's Lake District home Hilltop. After some years living in Rome, Italy, I moved back to the north of England with my family in 2003; and I now live in the small town of Kirkbymoorside on the southern edge of the North York Moors. I love my window on the world through children's literature.

Contributor

From April 2016, MWD features a monthly review written by Debora Pearson, a children's librarian at North York Central Library, part of the Toronto Public Library system, where The IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities is located.

Debora works with Leigh Turina, the lead librarian for this collection, and helps to promote it through social media. She also conducts IBBY collection visits for school classes and youth groups, provides reference support, and assists with the compilation of the collection's biennial Selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities.

About the site

The font used in the banners is Painter Umesh - created as part of the HandpaintedType project set up by Hanif Kureshi to 'preserve the typographic practice of street painters around India'.

If you have any comments about the readability of the site, or notice any mistakes or broken links, please send feedback to marjorieATmirrorswindowsdoorsDOTorg.

Books for Review

If you are a publisher, author, illustrator or literacy advocate and would like to be featured on this site, or you have a book you would like MWD to review, please contact me: marjorieATmirrorswindowsdoorsDOTorg.

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Mirrors Windows Doors (MWD) is an online magazine whose aim is to draw attention to the riches of children's and YA books from across the world that highlight cultural and multi-cultural diversity.

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Girls of the Crescent: Empowering Muslim Girls Through Books

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Girls of the Crescent: Empowering Muslim Girls Through Books

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List of books on the site: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/944ecf_edab1f63a2f340faa536a22035456089.pdf

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 All The Wonders: The Children’s Book Podcast

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 All The Wonders: The Children’s Book Podcast

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Weekly interviews with Authors, Illustrators,
Award Winners, Up-And-Comers, and Everyone In Between
*Formerly the Let's Get Busy podcast. Archive of epsiodes 1-200 available here.
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS

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All The Wonders: The Children's Book Podcast

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Weekly interviews with Authors, Illustrators, Award Winners, Up-And-Comers, and Everyone In Between *Formerly the Let's Get Busy podcast. Archive of epsiodes 1-200 available here. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS

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Also check out the book, "Marley Davis Gets It Done." By Marley Davis

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This resource guide was created in direct response to the multiple requests made by educators, parents and students. Like Marley Dias, so many of you have asked for books with black girls as the main characters. And because of you, we have received thousands of books. Here we are sharing with you the first 700 book titles. We have not yet catalogued all the books. As a small organization with only two full-time staff, our resources are limited. Beginning in April, each month we will provide you with updates of new book titles.

This resource includes words of welcome from Marley Dias, Creator of the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign. It also includes comments from Dr. Lauren Wells, Chief Education Officer, City of Newark who offers us tips on how we can foster and promote reading and literacy among our children.

As the President and Co-Founder of GrassROOTS Community Foundation, I have added a few words and call to action to the guide. My charge to parents and caregivers is a simple one: listen to your children, encourage them as well as promote their reading and literacy skills. Reading is a pathway to freedom and liberty. As caregivers it is our responsibility to develop the imagination of children so that they can dream, create and structure opportunities for freedom and equity.

We have reviewed the titles and descriptions of books to ensure that they fit the criterion of having a black girl as the main characters. We have also catalogued the books by reading level. This time-consuming task would not be possible without your financial donation to hire some interim part-time staff. We could not do it without all of you who donated, our volunteers and the librarians from West Orange Public Library.

Each month we will update the list and continue to serve as an information repository for Black Girl Books.

If you know of a black girl book, not listed here, please send us a copy so we can add it to our collection. We would like to see this list grow. Our address is:

GrassROOTS Community Foundation
59 Main Street
Suite 323
West Orange, NJ 07052

Financial donations are always welcomed. All donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you.

Welcome to the #1000blackgirlbooks Resource Guide. I started this campaign because I wanted to read more books where black girls are the main characters. With your help we have collected over 11,000 books; many of them are have the same title, but we do have lots of unique ones as well. This guide includes 1000 of those books and more is coming.

Love,

Marley Dias
Founder
#1000BlackGirlBooks

Sadly, in today's society we often lack the imagination to deal with some of the most deeply rooted social issues. Family and work obligations as well as our biases can stunt our imaginations; however, as adults it is our charge to foster the imagination of our youth. Marley Dias has an active sociological imagination. She imagined a world where black girls are the main, not minor, characters in children's books. She thought she was dealing with a personal matter, but she quickly learned from the outpouring response from the public that her personal problem is in fact an engrained social issue. Children's literature in the United States and abroad is homogeneous and exclusionary. Black girls are underrepresented and in many cases missing. Girls of color are almost completely absent relative to the majority culture.

As caregivers of children we must nurture our children's imaginations and equip them with the resources so they can be emboldened to act. The GrassROOTS Community Foundation through Super Camp enhances girls' sociological imagination and teaches them confidence grounded in the knowledge of history and self-hood so that they feel confident enough to feel like they can create change in their communities. Each year GrassROOTS encourages girls to develop a social action project. We choose the words social and action carefully. We want our children to understand themselves as social actors, connected to the world. In addition, we teach our girls that to achieve justice they must ACT. The #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign is Marley's 2015 social action project. As Marley's mom and the President of GrassROOTS Community Foundation, I have learned first hand what can happen when we foster and promote children's love of reading, educate them about their community, and their desire to create social change as well as fan the flames of their sociological imaginations.

Dr. Janice Johnson Dias
President & Co-Founder
GrassROOTS Community Foundation
#investingirls

A love of reading is the most important legacy we can offer to our children and our students. Reading opens windows to new ideas, peoples, places, and experiences. Reading also provides mirrors for students to see themselves and their lives reflected in the characters they meet in books. Reading builds vocabulary and background knowledge, empowering children with the tools needed to express themselves and think about the world around them. Nurturing joyful reading in children primes their brains for lifelong learning and develops important social emotional skills like stamina, reflection, and empathy. As we build readers, we must make reading pleasurable and help children understand that reading is a skill that builds over time.

Here are a few tips for parents and educators to create environments that invite children to confidently embrace and fall in love with stories and books.

Tips for parents:

Model reading. Read, read, read to your child, with your child, or in front your child every day.

Immerse your child in books. Transform your entire home into a reading zone by placing books in every room.

Affirm your child's culture, language, and race by choosing books and stories with characters, places, and experiences that reflect their background.

Awaken your child to new ideas, places, people, or experiences in books and stories by asking them questions and always answering the question they have.

Empower your child by allowing them to choose books to read, whether based on what interests them or on book covers and titles.

Arm your child by always leaving home with books. When your child gets older ask them if they have a book before leaving for school, the doctor, or a long ride.

Cultivate your child's use of language and words. Talk with your child about what is happening in their lives and the world around them.

Build your child's ability to make connections. When you watch television or movies, make connections to characters or ideas in books you have read together.

Expand your child's reading beyond fiction. Children have great curiosity about events taking place in the world, plants, animals, and people. It's never too early to expose them to historical fiction or non-fiction books.

Advocate for curricula, partnerships, books, and resources for classrooms and schools that are culturally relevant and responsive.

Tips for educators:

Model reading. Read, read, read to your students, with your students, or in front your students every day.

Immerse school culture in talk about books. Book talks over the intercom, book clubs, social media chats, and school-wide read alouds are a few ways to do this.

Affirm your students' culture, language, and race by integrating books and stories with characters, places, and experiences that reflect their backgrounds into the curriculum.

Awaken students as participants in their own learning by having them create reading goals for themselves, for example, minutes of reading, chapters read, and reading new genres.

Empower students by allowing them to choose books based on what interests them or on book covers and titles.

Arm your students with the power of their own language and stories by providing them with multiple ways to make personal connections to the texts they read.

Cultivate independent reading by creating comfortable reading spaces throughout schools. Classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, and cozy nooks in hallways are all fair game.

Build classroom libraries of interesting, appropriate, and relevant fiction and non-fiction texts.

Expand your reading beyond fiction. Students have great curiosity about events taking place in the world, plants, animals, and people. Use historical fiction or non-fiction books as tools to capture this interest.

Advocate for curricula, partnerships, books, and resources for classrooms and schools that are culturally relevant and responsive.

Dr. Lauren Wells
Chief Education Officer
City of Newark

Donations are the heart of the campaign. Because we value reciprocity, we donate the books we receive to schools and community members who need them. Children deserve to have windows and mirrors to the world. Please complete the form below.

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This resource guide was created in direct response to the multiple requests made by educators, parents and students. Like Marley Dias, so many of you have asked for books with black girls as the main characters. And because of you, we have received thousands of books.

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The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. Our flagship initiative is 28 Days Later, a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by Black creators.

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About the Brown Bookshelf - The Brown Bookshelf

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The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. Our flagship initiative is 28 Days Later, a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by Black creators. You can read more abou…

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By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Thank you, Cynsational readers, contributors, reporters, webmaster, and most of all, Cynterns, for your support, generosity and enthusiasm for our ongoing conversations!

Thsi blog is now officially on summer hiatus. We will return in the fall with more inspiration, insights and information on children's-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing.

In the meantime, keep up on all those topics with me on Facebook,

Continue Reading Cynsational Summer Hiatus "

Posted in General

By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabukukk, Robin Galbraith and Stephani Eaton for Cynsations
Cover Reveal
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade (Roaring Brook, spring 2020). From the flap copy:

Water is the medicine. It affects and connects us all. When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison its people's water,

Continue Reading Cynsational News "

Posted in General

By Mary Quattlebaum

At a recent book event, a little boy was nonplussed to discover that humans are animals, too.

"You mean, me?" he asked incredulously. "I'm an animal?"

Yup, welcome to the family!

I loved doing the research for Brother, Sister, Me and You ( National Geographic, 2019), especially since this nonfiction picture book was inspired by my own tumble-bumble pack of three sisters and three brothers.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Mary Quattlebaum on Nonfiction, Connections & Environmental Change "

Posted in Tagged Guest Post
Luisa Uribe, Maria Gianferrari, Mary Quattlebaum, vcfa

By Traci Sorell

For those of us newer to the field of children's literature, the numerous writing rules for various age groups and in different genres can feel overwhelming.

As one who appreciates the guidelines but also creatively breaks them when necessary, I am thrilled to welcome a group of rulebreakers to Cynsations.

Members of the Notable 19s, all débuting their first picture books this year,

Continue Reading New Voices: Creative Rulebreakers Among the Notable 19s "

Posted in Tagged General, New Voices Brooke Boynton-Hughes, Cassandra Federman, Cathy Ballou Mealey, Hannah Stark, James Serafino, Jessica Lanan, Lisa Anchin, Marcie Flinchum Atkins, New Voices_2019, picture book, Richard Ho, Sara F. Shacter, Shauna LaVoy Reynolds, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic, Teresa Robeson

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Michelle Markel is a successful children's author with a long, distinguished career.

Reflecting on your personal journey, what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success?

Let's cut to the chase. There was a major turning point in my career-when I nearly quit writing for children.

A little background: My first book,

Continue Reading Survivors: Michelle Markel on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children's Author "

Posted in Tagged Survivors Series
biography, Michelle Markel, nonfiction, survivors

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Judith Kerr, beloved and inspirational author and illustrator, died May 22 at home after a brief illness. She was 95.

Obituary: Judith Kerr from BBC News. Peek:

"She was still producing stories and illustrations well into her 90s.

Best known for The Tiger Who Came to Tea and a series of picture books about Mog the cat,

Continue Reading In Memory: Judith Kerr "

Posted in Tagged In Memory
Benji Davies, BookTrust, British Book Awards, in memory, Judith Kerr, Katherine Rundell, Lauren Child, Malorie Blackman, Philip Pullman

By Traci Sorell

Today we're chatting with picture book authors Viviane Elbee and Hannah Holt, both members of the Epic Eighteen debut group.
Viviane Elbee
Viviane Elbee, debut picture book author of Teach Your Giraffe to Ski (Albert Whitman, 2018), crafts a story that according to Kirkus Reviews "conceals a how-to for conquering one's fears."

Illustrated by Danni Gowdy and told in second person,

Continue Reading New Voices: Vivian Elbee & Hannah Holt on Persistence "

Posted in Tagged General, New Voices 12 x 12, Annie Nybo, Danni Gowdy, Hannah Holt, Harold Underdown, Jay Fleck, Jennifer March Soloway, New Voice 2018, persistence, SCBWI, Viviane Elbee, writing journey

By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Robin Galbraith, Gayleen Rabukukk, and Stephani Eaton for Cynsations
Author/Illustrator Insights
The Art of Breaking Things: Q & A With Laura Sibson from Elisa Zied. Peek:

[ Libba Bray's] "talk focused on writing as an extreme sport and at the end of the talk she invited the audience to join her in a year of writing dangerously...

Continue Reading Cynsational News "

Posted in General

By Lisa Papademetriou

What are we to make of the knowledge that we share DNA with a banana?

No, I'm not kidding. All life on earth evolved from a single-celled common ancestor-our genes and banana genes are over 60 percent identical.

I love thinking about this because stories are the same. The cellular structure that underlies the vast majority of fiction is descended from an ancient ancestor,

Continue Reading Guest Post: Lisa Papademetriou on Writing Tools "

Posted in Tagged General, Guest Post Lisa Papademetriou, plot, story structure, vcfa, writing tools

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Writers spend a lot of time alone which is why it's so important that writers find communities and support. There are lots of ways to do that.

It just so happens that the debut authors we are celebrating today are writing partners and have shared with each other the struggles and joys of the writing life.

Meet Katy Loutzenhiser,

Continue Reading New Voices: Writing Partners Katy Loutzenhiser & Nicole Panteleakos Discuss Their Paths to Publication "

Posted in Tagged New Voices
BookCon, Chris Baron, Cindy Baldwin, Cory Leonardo, E. Lockhart, Eastern Connecticut State University, Ellie Terry, Gillian McDunn, Helen Hoang, Hollins University, J Kasper Kramer, Jenny Han, John Green, Joshua Levy, Katie Grimm, Katie Zhao, Katy Loutzenhiser, Kristina Forest, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, MSWL, Naomi Milliner, new_voice_2019, Nicole Panteleakos, Novel 19s, Pitch Wars, Rajani LaRocca, Rebecca Stead, Remy Lai, SCBWI, Susan Vizurraga, Yallwest

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By Cynthia Leitich Smith Thank you, Cynsational readers, contributors, reporters, webmaster, and most of all, Cynterns, for your support, generosity and enthusiasm for our ongoing conversations! Thsi blog is now officially on summer hiatus. We will return in the fall with more inspiration, insights and information on children's-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing.

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Portage & Main Press publishes a wide range of innovative and practical K–12 educational materials. We build dynamic learning communities by bringing together authors, educators, and students.

Founded in 1967 as Peguis Publishers, the company quickly established a reputation for publishing quality educational resources in addition to Indigenous literature and regional history. Portage & Main Press remains an independently owned Canadian company.

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YA and Children's books by Indigenous Authors 

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YA and Children's books by Indigenous Authors 

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June is Indigenous Book Club Month and National Indigenous History Month in Canada. Celebrate with younger readers by picking up one of these books by Indigenous creators.

In musician Susan Aglukark's first picture book, Ukpik loves her life at camp in the North with her family, friends and puppy. When a trader from the south arrives, Ukpik learns how to use forks, knives and spoons and is excited to teach other children as well. But then Ukpik wonders if the new tools will change her community's way of life and turns to her grandmother for guidance.

This board book teaches the youngest readers to count from one to 10 in both English and Mi'kmaw. Accompanied with vibrant illustrations of animals like the turtle, bear and beaver, Mi'kmaq artist Loretta Gould weaves in central concepts of her people's culture throughout the book.

When a young girl misplaces a batch of her Kôhkum's famous bannock, forest animals gather ingredients so she can replace what she lost. UBC professor Dallas Hunt includes a list of Cree words in the back of the book, as well as his own Kôhkum's bannock recipe. The book is illustrated by Michif filmmaker Amanda Strong.

Cousins Sam, Otter, Atim and Chickadee are known as the Mighty Muskrats of Windy Lake First Nation. When an archaeologist goes missing, they investigate his disappearance amidst increasingly heated environmental protests. The Case of Windy Lake, written for readers aged 9 to 12, is the first book by Michael Hutchinson, who is a member of Misipawistik Cree Nation.

After being trapped in a spirit world, a young shaman named Pitu returns to his life in the Arctic. When Pitu gets wind of a nearby community that is starving, he realizes he must travel to the depths of the ocean to meet with the sea goddess Nuliajuk. Those Who Dwell Below, written for readers 12 and up, is a sequel to Aviaq Johnston's debut novel, Those Who Run in the Sky, which was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature - text.

Following his sister's suicide, Shane, a gay Indigenous​ teenager in Northern Ontario, struggles to support his family. Shane is eventually forced to choose between his family's home and his own future. is an adaptation of Adam Garnet Jones's award-winning film.

This rap-song-turned-picture-book by Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew and Joe Morse celebrates Indigenous leaders in the U.S. and Canada. Some of the figures mentioned include Crazy Horse, Net-no-kwa, former NASA astronaut John Herrington and Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price. Go Show the World was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature - illustrated books.

Children's author Robert Munsch and illustrator Jay Odjick team up for a second picture book called Bear for Breakfast. In this tale, a boy named Donovan decides to catch a bear to eat for breakfast, just like his grandfather used to eat. When he goes hunting, Donovan discovers the bear might have other plans. The book is inspired by a visit with the Chippewan community in La Loche, Sask. in 1990, where Munsch met a boy named Donovan who said he loved to eat bear. Jay Odjick is a writer, artist and television producer from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg community.

is the third book in David A. Robertson's Reckoner series following an Indigenous teen named Cole Harper, who returns home after many years away. In Cole is dead and time is running out for Wounded Sky First Nation as Mihko Laboratories, which manufactured an illness that once afflicted the community, has reopened its research facilities.

In this traditional Inuit story, two rabbit sisters play on the open tundra in spite of their parents' warnings. When a hungry owl finds the sisters, a wild chase ensues and the rabbits must use their guile to escape. Nadia Sammurtok is an Inuit writer and educator now based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Marcus Cutler is a children's illustrator from Ontario.

High school students Miikwan, who is of Anishinaabe descent, and Dez, who is of Inninew descent, are best friends in Winnipeg. Both have experienced loss, as women in their lives have gone missing or been murdered. In Surviving the City, Miikwan and Dez lean on each other and their communities for support and strive to change the devastating trend of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Surviving the City is the first graphic novel by Spillett, a Nehiyaw and Trinidadian scholar based in Saskatchewan. Natasha Donovan is an award-winning Métis illustrator who lives in B.C.

Alan Syliboy introduces young readers to a variety of Canadian animals, like caribou, moose and whales, with his beautiful artwork. On each page, the English and Mi'kmaw word for the animal is present. Syliboy is a celebrated Mi'kmaq artist and author based in Nova Scotia.

In this picture book, a little girl gets lost in the woods while picking berries. A large grey wolf is able to tell where she is from by smelling her and helps her get home. In the meantime, the little girl realizes she had the skills to find her way back all along. Both Katherena Vermette and Julie Flett are Governor General's Literary Award-winning artists - Vermette for the poetry collection North End Love Songs and Flett for the children's book When We Were Alone.

In the second book of Katherena Vermette's A Girl Called Echo series, Echo Desjardins is settling into a new home, making new friends and going to class when she's once again yanked through time to an important moment in Indigenous history. It's the summer of 1869 and Echo is on the banks of the Red River where Canadian surveyors are taking land from Métis families and the young heroine gets caught up in the resistance movement.

This stunning board book showcases the majestic changing of the seasons on Canada's west coast, as illustrated by world-renowned First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers. Vibrant colours dance through the pages to illustrate the flora, fauna and weather of the Pacific Northwest, including grey winter rains, jewel red huckleberries and white ptarmigans.

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15 children's & YA books by Indigenous creators in Canada | CBC Books

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June is Indigenous Book Club Month and National Indigenous History Month in Canada. Celebrate with younger readers by picking up one of these books by Indigenous creators. In musician Susan Aglukark's first picture book, Ukpik loves her life at camp in the North with her family, friends and puppy.

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This summer, School Library Journal teamed up with Scholastic Book Fairs for the Scholastic Book Fairs Reading Summit in Chicago, IL and Austin, TX. Kiera Parrott, reviews director, and Mahnaz Dar, reference and professional reading editor, presented "Identifying and Evaluating Harmful Stereotypes & Tropes in Children's Literature," an abbreviated version of their typically full-day workshop, and also shared their "SLJ Recommends" collection of titles. In this guest post, Kathy Ishizuka, Executive Editor of SLJ, expands on the need for diverse books that span a wide range of cultures, characters, and themes, with recommended reading lists.

Books that explore, illuminate, and celebrate the full diversity of human experience are so needed-now, perhaps, more than ever.

And demand is high. Across the board, from K-12 schools to public libraries, in communities across the U.S., librarians are acquiring more diverse books (defined here as titles with protagonists and experiences that feature underrepresented ethnicities, disabilities, cultural or religious backgrounds, gender nonconformity, or LGBTQIA+ orientations).

That's according to a recent survey by School Library Journal, which found that 68 percent of librarians purchased an increased number of children's/YA (young adult) titles with diverse characters in the past year. Moreover, the vast majority of librarians, 81%, consider it "very important" to have a diverse book collection for kids and teens.

"This is very important to me," Nancy Snow, a school librarian at Bancroft Elementary School in Andover, MA, told . "Especially in our current political climate, I feel it is essential to educate my students so they do not see diversity as a problem, but rather as a strength of our country and community."

Finding quality titles in this area for children and teens, however, can be a challenge, even for librarians. "I welcome any new authors or books that I find, and it is getting better, but still has a long way to go," said Dawn Nelson, a librarian at Oak View Elementary School, Osseo Area Schools, in Maple Grove, MN.

We heard you, Dawn. Among the following recommendations curated by SLJ contributors and editors are our latest Great Books lists, created in response to specific needs cited by survey respondents, from Muslim representation to the LGBTQIA+ experience.

Below are 12 curated lists, with recommended reading for kids and teens, spanning a range of books that encompass diverse cultures, characters, and themes.
Pride for Tweens | Great Books By Alec Chunn
From mysteries to summer adventures to first loves, these 12 titles validate queer youth, and youth in queer families, who are navigating those ever-confusing years before young adulthood.
LGBTQIA+ Graphic Novels for Young Readers | Stellar Panels By Brigid Alverson
"Every LGBTQ kids' book that manages to make its way onto a bookstore or library shelf is a life raft," says Melanie Gillman, creator of the graphic novel As the Crow Flies. Columnist Brigid Alverson considers LGBTQIA+ themes in the graphic format, with recommended titles for young readers.
Muslims in YA | Great Books By Sara G. Ahmed, Mahasin Abuwi Aleem, Ariana Sani Hussain, & Hadeal Salamah
From romance to fantasy to memoir, these books represent a rich scope of experiences.
Woke Sci-Fi and Fantasy | Read Woke By Cicely Lewis
Books featuring people of color in outer space and alternative worlds.
12 Picture Books That Showcase Native Voices By Debbie Reese
Children's literature scholar Debbie Reese highlights recent picture books, fiction and nonfiction, that celebrate American Indian heritage.
Honoring African American Women and Girls, Past and Present By Daryl Grabarek
Recently published books celebrating African American women and girls highlight their important contributions to the arts, activism, literacy, politics, science, and other fields too numerous to name.
42 Poetry & Nonfiction Titles To Celebrate the Legacy of Black Creators & Historical Figures By Della Farrell
Add these selections about historical figures with big dreams, from board books to YA memoirs, to your collection and display year-round.
The Asian/Pacific American Experience | Great Books By Kristyn Dorfman
While no one book list can adequately explore all the variations in culture and traditions embodied within the broad category of the "Asian/Pacific American Experience," readers who identify as Asian American and/or Pacific American-especially as first-generation Americans-will find reflections of their own stories in these novels.
Diverse Novels in Verse for National Poetry Month By Terry Hong
Celebrate poetry with these 16 middle grade and YA #OwnVoices titles.
The Jewish Experience in America | Great Books By Rachel Kamin
Holidays (particularly Hanukkah) and the Holocaust are dominant themes in children's literature with Jewish content, but this does not represent the totality of the Jewish experience in America or around the world and should not be the only books with Jewish content that children are exposed to.
Presenting the 2019 Outstanding International Books List By Bindy Fleischman
2019 Outstanding International Books list, developed by the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), represents literature from every continent.
27 Middle Grade and YA Latinx Titles for National Hispanic Heritage Month and Beyond By Shelley Diaz
Top fictional works about Latinx experiences.

In addition, the following lists are recommended resources for further exploring diverse books:

For more resources from School Library Journal, visit:

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Diverse books for young readers? Here are 12 curated lists

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This summer, School Library Journal teamed up with Scholastic Book Fairs for the Scholastic Book Fairs Reading Summit in Chicago, IL and Austin, TX. Kiera Parrott, reviews director, and Mahnaz Dar, reference and professional reading editor, presented "Identifying and Evaluating Harmful Stereotypes & Tropes in Children's Literature," an abbreviated version of their typically full-day workshop, and also shared their "SLJ Recommends" collection of titles.

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Summer Children's Literature Institute at Simmons University: Make Way for Diverse Books | Knowledge Quest

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The Summer Children's Literature Institute is a four-day symposium with outstanding authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The institute is held at Simmons University. Esteemed faculty and enthusiastic students do an incredible job running this remarkable event.

This year, the theme of the institute was "Make Way." Some presenters shared how they made their way into book publishing; others described how they found their way to tell an important story.

What resonated with me was the idea that school librarians are literary influencers. We make way for relevant books by inviting authors and illustrators to our schools. We have great debates about diverse literature and think deeply about the best books for our readers. Social media elevates our power as we share news about children's literature.

Make way to contemplate your power. Read a few of my takeaways below to learn how diverse literature can impact readers.

Grace Lin and Alvina Ling

What are your thoughts about #Ownvoices? This social media conversation brings awareness to diverse books and their creators. Author/illustrator Grace Lin and editor-in-chief Alvina Ling talked about the hashtag. They shared their perspectives as Asian-Americans working in the book industry. Essential questions fueled a robust discussion. Who should write diverse books? What makes these books authentic? How do we define "authentic"? Here's what I gleaned from the conversation:
An Author/Illustrator's Perspective:

Grace Lin described her relentless efforts to find a job as an illustrator. She shared one story about an editor who dismissed her work. "We already have a guy that does Asian illustrations for us," he said. This statement gave her pause. Did the illustrator have a connection to Asian culture? Why was there only one person dedicated to this work?

Lin implored educators to invite authors and illustrators of color to their schools. She explained that learners need many opportunities to connect with and learn from diverse book creators.

An Editor-In-Chief's Perspective:
Alvina Ling explained her process for finding books as the editor-in-chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Ling does a first read without knowing who the author is. If she loves a submission, she inquires about the author's connection to the story. If there is no connection, she does not reject the draft. Ling feels that important stories should be the initial focus, not the authors.

Be on the lookout for the recorded version of this discussion on their podcast " Book Friends Forever podcast." Watch for episode 25.

Duncan Tonatiuh

Author/illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh expressed genuine gratitude to those who share his books. He explained that diverse books build empathy in children. Books have the power to change prejudiced ideas and humanize what we hear on the news. The resources below may build empathetic learners in your school.

Mitali Perkins

Author Mitali Perkins lived in six different countries. She spoke of her hope for readers to "love without boundaries." All attendees received a free copy of her book Rickshaw Girl. This enlightening story takes place in Bangladesh. We meet young Naima who is desperate to earn money for her poor family. Being a girl works against her. Only boys work for money in her village. Naima's determination helps her find the perfect job. Bangla words are introduced in the story and defined in a glossary. Look for the movie version of Rickshaw Girl this fall.

Linda Sue Park

Author Linda Sue Park explained how powerful educators are promoting important books. Park's book A Long Walk to Water made its way on "required reading" lists throughout the country. Her book compelled readers to take action.

Share books that explore worldly conditions with curriculum directors and classroom educators. You have the power to make a difference in the lives of your community just by promoting these treasures. To learn how A Long Walk to Water impacts learners, read "Books That Can Make A Difference," a Knowledge Quest blog post.

What kind of stories will make way to your school library? What books will you promote? Please share titles of impactful diverse books. Here is a list from the Seattle Public Library: #ownvoices YA Favorites

Categories: Blog Topics, Collection Development, Professional Development

Tags: A Long Walk to Water, Alvina Ling, books can make a difference., Dear Primo: A Letter to my Cousin, diverse books, Duncan Tonatiuh, empathy, Grace Lin, Linda Sue Park, Mitali Perkins, power of books, Rickshaw Girl

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Summer Children's Literature Institute at Simmons University: Make Way for Diverse Books | Knowledge Quest

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The Summer Children's Literature Institute is a four-day symposium with outstanding authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The institute is held at Simmons University. Esteemed faculty and enthusiastic students do an incredible job running this remarkable event. This year, the theme... Read More ›

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Native Stories: Books for Tweens and Teens

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Native Stories: Books for Tweens and Teens

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Native Stories: Books for tweens and teens by and about Indigenous peoples

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Twelve wonderful middle grade and young adult #OwnVoices titles that reflect Indigenous life and culture. They include historical and contemporary fiction as well as anthologies, graphic novels, and speculative science fiction. From This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm & others, center image illus. by Kyle Charles, Highwater Press 2019.

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A collective of women & non-binary (identifying on the female spectrum) Latinx MG & YA authors. Our mission is to spotlight the new contributions of Las Musas in the evolving canon of children's literature and celebrate the diversity of voice, experience, and power in our communities.

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A collective of women & non-binary (identifying on the female spectrum) Latinx MG & YA authors. Our mission is to spotlight the new contributions of Las Musas in the evolving canon of children's literature and celebrate the diversity of voice, experience, and power in our communities.

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We are a group of Florida Natives--Miccosukee, Seminole, Black, Latinix, queer and disabled--from the ages 12-20, who are passionate about kidlit and yalit.

We believe in the power of books to reflect, entertain and enrich our lives from the time we are young ones. We enjoy books in digital and bound copies, with texts and/or graphics.

We have experienced the bitter disappointment and danger of widespread Native misrepresentation, theft, cruelty and lies in books for all young readers.

This blog is dedicated to reviewing Native #ownvoices. To us, that means books written from an inside perspective by Native authors, with proper research, respect and authorization, first and foremost for young Native readers, but also to educate other young readers and their families.
We join our elders is calling to replace harmful, stereotypical texts in libraries, schools and homes.

This blog is named after our friend Indigo, a Q2S sixteen-year-old who took her own life in 2018
Her beauty, courag...

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Indigo's Bookshelf: Voices of Native Youth

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We are a group of Florida Natives--Miccosukee, Seminole, Black, Latinix, queer and disabled--from the ages 12-20, who are passionate about kidlit and yalit. We believe in the power of books to reflect, entertain and enrich our lives from the time we are young ones. We enjoy books in digital and bound copies, with texts and/or graphics.

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Way back when I started graduate school in the mid 1990s, I wanted to see so much more being published by Native writers... and here, in 2019, is the very best news that I could hope for...

Congratulations to Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) for making it happen!

Thank you, to Rosemary Brosnan and HarperCollins, for your commitment to Heartdrum, to Cyn, and to Native writers and illustrators.

And Rainey--the logo... perfect!

[This news was first published by Publishers Weekly.]

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Mark this day... there's a Native Imprint from a Major Publisher!

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Way back when I started graduate school in the mid 1990s, I wanted to see so much more being published by Native writers... and here, in 2019, is the very best news that I could hope for... Congratulations to Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) for making it happen!

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37 Kidlit and YA Titles in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month | School Library Journal.pdf

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Julián loves mermaids. With his vivid imagination, he sees them everywhere - in ladies at the community pool, in girls playing in an open hydrant. He likes to imagine he's one too, with beautiful flowing hair and a long glimmering tail. One day while his Abuela is in the bath, he takes down some curtains to make a tail and puts on a potted fern for long, flowing hair. He swishes through the rooms, when his Abuela suddenly comes out from her bath. "Come here," she says.

Is she angry? Is he in trouble? No. Smiling, his Abuela hands him an intricate necklace, completing his mermaid costume. In that simple gesture, we understand that Julián's individuality is celebrated; that he is loved and accepted.

A group of 50 kindergarteners also felt loved and accepted for what makes them different and special as they listened to the story Julián Is a Mermaid read aloud by NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

The February 28 reading event was at Ashlawn Elementary School in Arlington, Va. and was sponsored by NEA and the Welcoming Schools Program at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, to support and celebrate our nation's transgender and non-binary students.

It also marks the beginning of the 2019 Read Across America celebration and its focus on diversity in children's literature. Eskelsen García's book, Julián Is a Mermaid, is one of 36 diverse books highlighted in NEA's Read Across America calendar that reflect the wide range of races, cultures, and identities of public school students across the country.

"NEA believes diverse literature enables students to see themselves as the heroes of the story, while also showing them that all kinds of people can be the heroes too," said Eskelsen García. "It is important that we emphasize books that are telling children of color or of different gender identities that they belong in the world and the world belongs to them."

An estimated 45 million educators, parents, and students across the U.S. will participate in Read Across America events this year, which is the 22 nd year of NEA's Read Across America. Since 1997, when a NEA reading task force suggested a day of reading to emphasize the fun and adventure of reading, NEA has called on every community to enjoy the benefits of reading.
Video: NEA President Lily Eskelsen García on Why We Need Diverse Books
This year NEA launched the Read Across America digital calendar so educators, librarians, and families can plan ahead for special celebrations and observances throughout the school year. Each month lists suggested books for readers of all levels, plus activities and resources to help create learning experiences around them. All of the educator-recommended books feature diverse characters, settings, and plotlines.

"As a gay man, I know that had I been sitting in this classroom as a child, listening to a story about a boy who wants to be a mermaid, I would have felt understood and welcomed, even if my peers didn't share my experience," said Jaim Foster, who hosted the reading event in his kindergarten classroom at Ashlawn. "That is the power of books. When you see someone who looks like you or shares your experience, you feel less alone and that you belong in your classroom, in your community, and in the world."

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Read Across America's Diverse Books Celebration - NEA Today

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Julián loves mermaids. With his vivid imagination, he sees them everywhere - in ladies at the community pool, in girls playing in an open hydrant. He likes to imagine he's one too, with beautiful flowing hair and a long glimmering tail.

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37 YA titles in honor of Hispanic heritage month

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37 YA titles in honor of Hispanic heritage month

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http://www.slj.com/?detailStory=37-kidlit-and-ya-titles-in-honor-of-hispanic-heritage-month-latinx

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A Mighty Girl's top picks of girl-empowering books for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month!
"The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever." - Sonia Sotomayor, first United States Supreme Court Justice of Hispanic heritage
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Every year, from September 15 to October 15, Americans celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. To recognize this special month, we've put together a selection of our favorite books for children and teens starring Latina Mighty Girls!

In the first section of this blog post, we share books about real-life Latina role models throughout history, while in the second part, we feature fictional stories about Latina girls and women. For more reading recommendations for this month, you can also discover many bilingual Spanish/English books for young readers in our blog post, 25 Bilingual Spanish/English Picture Books Starring Mighty Girls. We hope these empowering titles will help all kids learn more about the diverse contributions and rich cultural traditions of Hispanic Mighty Girls!

For more books about diverse Mighty Girl from around the world, visit our extensive Multicultural Fiction Collection.

Books About Real-Life Latina role models

Fictional Stories About Hispanic Mighty Girls

Help keep A Mighty Girl growing in the years ahead!

If you discover books or other resources via this post that you would like to purchase, please use the "Buy at Amazon" and other links found on every A Mighty Girl product page. By doing so, at no added cost to you, you help to support the site and allow us to continue providing you with wonderful girl-empowering resources. We appreciate your support!

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60 Empowering Books Starring Latina Mighty Girls

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A Mighty Girl's top picks of girl-empowering books for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month!

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South Asia is a large and diverse region made of the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the region of Tibet. This area has a diverse array of languages and religions while remaining connected through art, dance, food, histories, and traditions.

Today's South Asian children's literature reflects this culture not only in folktale and historical stories but also in the modern day and into fantasy worlds as well.Check-out the South Asian Kidlit Round-Up posts for wonderful new books.

South Asian Illustrators
Download a .pdf file of South Asian Illustrators from around the world.

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South Asian Kidlit Resources : Children's Book Author Darshana Khiani

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South Asia is a large and diverse region made of the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the region of Tibet. This area has a diverse array of languages and religions while remaining connected through art, dance, food, histories, and traditions.

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A Mighty Girl's top picks of books about the Holocaust for children and teens in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Silence helps the oppressors." - Leslie Meisels, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

Each year on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we take time to remember those who died - and those who survived - during the infamous Nazi regime. It is a difficult topic for any of us, but particularly difficult to discuss with children. How do you talk about something so beyond most children's contemplation in a way that respects the experience of those who lived it?

Here at A Mighty Girl, we are marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day with two blog posts. This post will introduce you to books for all ages that talk about the Holocaust from a variety of perspectives. These books range from picture books to novels, memoirs to fiction, but all of them treat this challenging subject with care and dignity. Our follow-up post, Hope in a Hidden Room: A Mighty Girl Salutes Anne Frank, focuses on Anne Frank, whose diary chronicling the emotional life of a girl in the midst of the Holocaust puts a personal face on what can otherwise seem like distant history to a child growing up today.

What Was The Holocaust?

How do you explain the Holocaust - the deliberate attempt to dehumanize and exterminate a whole race of people on such a vast scale - to children, especially young children? It's certainly not an easy task, but there are some books out there to help you tackle it.

Acts of Bravery: Rescue and Escape

When faced with horrors they know are wrong, not all people turn a blind eye. Even under threat of arrest or death, brave, compassionate people would not stand by and watch others be sent to camps. And, of course, many courageous people facing death hid and even escaped, and were often able to help others do the same.

Living Through The Holocaust

It would do disservice to the topic to avoid discussing the reality of life in the concentration camps and ghettos. The confiscation of personal property and police violence in Jewish ghettos; to the "processing" of the camps - including number tattoos, stripping, and shaving - the forced labor; the deprivation of food and medical care; and at last the Final Solution: these books refuse to shy away from the experiences of those who lived and died in this horrible time. Due to the subject matter, these books are mainly for tweens and teens.

The Aftermath

Of course, an experience like the Holocaust does not end in the moment of liberation. The aftermath of separated families, seized property and traumatized people still resonates today. Still, some tales about the time after the Holocaust was over help to remind us all that, as long as there is life to be lived, good can be found in the world again.

We Remember

"I believe in the sun / even when it is not shining...." - Anonymous poem written on the wall of a cellar in the Cologne concentration camp

Historical periods like the Holocaust shine a harsh light on the best and the worst of humanity. The easy course is to decide that these topics are too complicated, too frightening, too uncomfortable to share with children. But those who lived and died in that horrible time - those who ran, those who hid, those who protected others - deserve more from us than that. They deserve to know that we will remember.

Further Resources

To view more books about the Holocaust for young readers, visit our World War II & Holocaust section.

To read more about Irena Sendler, one of the Holocaust rescuers featured above, visit our Irena Sendler collection.

For more Anne Frank-related book, visit our Anne Frank collection.

For an excellent film about German anti-Nazi resistance leader Sophie Scholl, visit Sophie Scholl - The Final Days.

For more books about religious intolerance of all types, visit our Religious Discrimination book section.

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Holocaust Remembrance Day: 50 Mighty Girl Books About the Holocaust

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A Mighty Girl's top picks of books about the Holocaust for children and teens in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day. "Silence helps the oppressors." - Leslie Meisels, Hungarian Holocaust survivor Each year on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we take time to remember those who died - and those who survived - during the infamous Nazi regime.

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FREE Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit 2020: Understand and Celebrate our Differences

Our FREE Classroom Kit contains:
~ Classroom Books that will help Readers Understand Physical and Developmental Challenges for ages 4 -12 ~ Classroom or Home Activities ~ "Physical and Developmental Challenges" Classroom Poster thanks to the talents of award-winning illustrator, SKlakina ~HelpfulPhysical and Developmental Challenge Talking Points for Teachers ~Links, resources and services available to families facing the challenges of coping with Physical and Developmental Challenges in the U.S.A
From the MCBD Team: As our seventh Multicultural Children's Book Day holiday approaches on January 31, 2020, we are thrilled to have you as part of our amazing community of supporters! With enthusiasm, optimism, and hope, we prepare for MCBD 2020 and would be honored if you join our celebration of diversity through children's books.

Thank you for cultivating understanding, kindness, inclusion, and exploration of this beautiful world in your classroom.

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FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit - Multicultural Children's Book Day

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Sign up HERE FREE Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit 2020: Understand and Celebrate our Differences Our FREE Classroom Kit contains: ~ Classroom Books that will help Readers Understand Physical and Developmental Challenges for ages 4 -12 ~ Classroom or Home Activities ~ "Physical and Developmental Challenges" Classroom Poster thanks to the talents of award-winning ...

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The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was created by Lee & Low Books with co-authors Laura M. Jiménez, PhD, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Betsy Beckert, graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Lee & Low Books released the first Diversity Baseline Survey ( DBS 1.0) in 2015. Before the DBS, people suspected publishing had a diversity problem, but without hard numbers, the extent of that problem was anyone's guess. Our goal was to survey publishing houses and review journals regarding the racial, gender, sexual orientation, and ability makeup of their employees; establish concrete statistics about the diversity of the publishing workforce; and then build on this information by reissuing the survey every four years. Through these long-term efforts, we would be able to track what progress our industry shows over time in improving representation and inclusion.

Why does diversity in publishing matter? The book industry has the power to shape culture in big and small ways. The people behind the books serve as gatekeepers, who can make a huge difference in determining which stories are amplified and which are shut out. If the people who work in publishing are not a diverse group, how can diverse voices truly be represented in its books?

The results of DBS 1.0 were stark. 79 percent of respondents identified as White. 78 percent were women. 88 percent were straight. 92 percent were non-disabled. At a time when readers of all backgrounds were demanding to see themselves in books, the publishing industry came nowhere near to reflecting the rich diversity of the United States.

The Last Four Years

The numbers provided by DBS 1.0 contributed to a sense of urgency that has resulted in more diverse books being published in the marketplace today-at least on the children's book side. It is now 2020, and many powerful cultural events, changes, and movements have taken place in the four years since the first survey.
● Donald Trump was elected President.
● The#MeToo movement spread virally after sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
● Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, both featuring POC leads and majority-POC casts, broke major box office records.

Within our industry, too, important conversations have changed the landscape:
● Corinne Duyvis coined the term #ownvoices to highlight books where the creator and main character share some form of marginalization.
● Beth Phelan created#DVpit to help diverse creators pitch their work to agents and editors.
● Four educators of color founded#DisruptTexts to question the books commonly taught in high schools.
● Problematic books were canceled, re-illustrated, or rewritten, while The Hate U Give and other diverse titles became New York Times bestsellers.
● Authors of color became more vocal about their place in the industry and their exhaustion with the diversity conversation
● Drag Queen Story Hour started in San Francisco.
● The Romance Writers Association was forced to reckon with its own biases.

After all this . . . has the publishing workforce actually become more inclusive?

Diversity Baseline Survey 2019 Results

Methodology and Response Rate
We expanded the DBS 2.0 to include a larger sample set than the original survey, including members of the Association of University Presses (AUP) as well as literary agents. In 2015, there were 3,706 responses to the survey. In 2019, we received 7,893 responses, showing a 112 percent increase in responses from DBS 1.0 to DBS 2.0.

Like the first survey, DBS 2.0 took a year to complete, beginning in January 2019. Reaching out to companies and trying to connect with decision-makers took the most time. Some companies took a lot of convincing; others agreed to participate and then dropped out for myriad reasons. Ultimately, 153 companies participated, including all of the Big Five publishers, eight review journals, forty-seven trade publishers, thirty-five university presses, and sixty-three literary agencies of all sizes from across North America. You can see the full list of participants here.

The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was sent to 2,609 reviewer employees, 17,100 trade publishing employees, 1,528 university press employees, and 516 literary agents for a total of 21,753 surveys deployed. DBS 2.0 had a response rate of 36.2 percent. The survey was sent to both children's and adult divisions of each company.

The DBS was sent out directly from each participating company's internal contact person. To ensure the integrity of the data, we worked with a professional survey company called Toluna that administrated and deployed the survey for us. The surveys were completely anonymous, and companies did not have direct access to the results.

All data was analyzed and aggregated by a small team at Boston University consisting of Laura M. Jiménez, PhD (Lead) and Betsy Beckert, a graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. The team at Boston University ensured the anonymity of individual respondents, and they were the only ones with access to the raw data. Excerpts from Laura Jiménez about the statistics have been included below and are indicated by " ".

Note: DBS 1.0 was deployed in 2015 and released in January 2016. DBS 2.0 followed a similar pattern and was deployed in 2019 and released to the public in January 2020.

Notes and Analysis: What the Numbers Tell Us

The Industry Overall

Race: According to the survey, 76 percent of publishing staff, review journal staff, and literary agents are White. The rest are comprised of people who self-report as Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (7 percent); Hispanic/Latino/Mexican (6 percent); Black/African American (5 percent); and biracial/multiracial (3 percent). Native Americans and Middle Easterners each comprise less than 1 percent of publishing staff.

The 2015 survey reported that overall, 79 percent of people who work in publishing self-report as White. Given the sample size difference, this 3 percent change in White employees does not meet the bar for statistically significant change. There is no discernible change to any of the other racial categories. In other words, the field is just as White today as it was four years ago. "

Creating the list of ethnicities for a survey such as this is challenging. We received feedback from DBS 1.0 that some of the race categories were too broad or that subcategories should be separated out, e.g. Asian Pacific Islanders within the Asian American category. But we wanted to be able to compare data as well as to avoid any chance of compromising any individual's personal identifiable information (PII), so we stuck with the racial breakdowns we offered in the first survey, which was based on the US census, with a few adjustments.

Gender: The survey reveals that publishing is about 74 percent cis women and 23 percent cis men. " The 2015 survey reported that overall, 78 percent of people who work in publishing self-report as cis women. The current survey has 74 percent of the respondents self-reporting as cis women. Given the sample size difference, this 4 percent change in cis women does meet the bar for statistically significant change. These numbers may help explain why some feel that book publishing caters more to female readers. Among executive and board member positions this disparity evened out somewhat, with approximately 38 percent of executives and board members identifying as cis men. This reflects the reality that males still ascend to positions of power more easily, even in female-dominated industries.

Concerning our gender question, we had significant input from various experts (listed in credits on the last slide) who helped us vet the choices for this question. Even so, the gender question reveals that about 97 percent of publishing staff identify as cis men or women, meaning that they identify with the genders they were assigned at birth. How does this compare with the general population? We don't really know. That being said, the small number of genderfluid, non-binary, genderqueer, trans man, trans woman, and intersex people in publishing points to the need for publishers to make sure that books on these topics are examined for cultural and scientific accuracy by experts before they are published. We have a separate article on the need for targeted expert readers that relates to this issue. (Note: After receiving feedback regarding the wording of "woman/cis woman" and "man/cis man" in the survey, the terminology has been corrected to "cis woman" and "cis man" respectively in the infographic.)

Sexual Orientation: According to the survey, about 81 percent of publishing staff identify as straight or heterosexual. This category saw the most change over the course of the study. In the initial survey, 88 percent of the respondents self-reported as straight. This survey saw a statistically significant negative change in the number of respondents that self-reported straight at 81 percent. The change can be largely attributed to the number that identified as bi and pansexual, 10 percent. Not surprisingly, most of these are White women, but that again is most likely attributed to the fact that the field is overwhelmingly White women. There was a slight drop in gay representation to 4 percent, and lesbian to 2 percent, with asexual holding at 1 percent.

During the planning of DBS 1.0, we debated internally whether to include a survey question on sexual orientation, since it is a question that human resources departments cannot ask their employees. We ultimately decided that if we did not acknowledge this aspect of diversity, this segment of the workforce would remain uncounted and invisible. Four years later, as the current administration calls for the removal of LGBTQ data collection in the next census, including LGBTQ representation in our survey seems more critical than ever.

Disability : We received good input from disability advocate Ace Ratcliff on the wording choices for this question. This input may have led more people to self-identify as having a disability in DBS 2.0. " There is a statistically significant change from 4 percent self-reporting a disability in 2015 to 11 percent reporting a disability in 2019. The clear majority of disabilities are mental illness (45 percent), physical disability (22 percent), and chronic illness (20 percent). There is a high co-morbidity within this data of mental illness and chronic illness co-occurring. We did some initial investigation into this phenomenon, and these findings are consistent with mental health and medical findings. Although this is not the focus of this survey, we took this to signify that this data is falling into line with other, more established research strands.

One hypothesis for this growth is that it is not growth at all, but a change in the way the field, and our society in general, views mental-health issues. In other words, the field of survey respondents may have experienced an uptick in mental health-issues, but this data is also consistent with national surveys that find more people are seeking out and identifying as experiencing mental-health issues. " In a subsequent blog post, we will share more detailed data related to the disability question.

Departmental Observations

The DBS 2.0 results offer the opportunity to filter responses by department, giving us a better picture of how inclusive (or homogenous) various publishing departments are in relation to each other. Space constraints prevent us from discussing every department, but we wanted to highlight the data for some of the departments that play a significant role in shaping which books are published and how they get into the world: executive positions, editorial, sales, marketing and publicity, reviewers, and literary agents. We also included interns, to provide a glimpse at what our industry's future workforce may look like.

Data for these departments can be found in the slideshow above, and data from the previous study (for comparison) can be found here. A few interesting observations:
● More diversity at the top: The Executive Level saw some fairly significant changes in its numbers, with the percentage of people identifying as White dropping from 86 percent in 2015 to 78 percent today. In addition, the percentage of people identifying as straight dropped from 89 percent to 82 percent and the percentage of people with a disability increased from 4 percent to 10 percent. This is good news, since true change in company culture almost always requires buy-in from the very top.
● Editorial is even more White than before: The percentage of people in Editorial who self-identified as White increased from 82 percent to 85 percent. So, even though more diverse books are being published now, it's fair to assume that the large majority of them are still being acquired and edited by White people.
● Marketing & Publicity is more racially diverse than other departments: Of the departments we address in the slideshow above, Marketing & Publicity is the area with the lowest percentage of White employees (74 percent), although it is less diverse than other departments in the other areas we surveyed.
● More people identify as disabled in book reviewing than in other areas of the publishing industry: Nineteen percent of book reviewers identify as having a disability, while in most other areas of the publishing industry, the number is closer to 10 percent. This trend is in line with data from DBS 1.0. Perhaps this is because reviewers are able to work freelance or remotely, without the constrictions of a 9-5 desk job in New York, which is notoriously inaccessible for those with disabilities.
● Literary agent demographics are in line with the rest of publishing: We did not include literary agents in the first DBS, but their inclusion has not really impacted the numbers because their demographics match the rest of the industry: mostly White, straight cis women who are not disabled.
● Interns are significantly more diverse than the industry as a whole: Of the interns surveyed in 2019, 49 percent identify as BIPOC; 49 percent are on the LGBTQIA spectrum; and 22 percent identify as having a disability. These numbers are a dramatic departure from the overall industry numbers and signal a new, more representative generation of entry-level publishing staff. The question is whether many of these interns will be retained and promoted, or whether they will burn out or leave publishing for other reasons before their presence can truly change the industry.
● Comparing apples to apples, there's still no change: For those who wonder how much the inclusion of literary agents and university presses may have skewed the data, our last data slide removes these segments for a true apples-to-apples comparison to DBS 1.0. The largest change is in the sexual orientation category, which dropped from 88 percent straight/heterosexual to 82 percent. No other category changed by more than 4 percent.

What's next?

Although our baseline numbers have not shown a compelling change, in all cases there was change. As in other industries, increasing diversity in the publishing workforce is a challenge, and change has been slow in coming. But DBS 2.0 did have some positive takeaways. Only three of the Big Five publishers took part in DBS 1.0, so it is a sign of solidarity that all five participated this time. The addition of literary agents and university presses contributed to a bigger pool of participants and gave us a clearer picture of who makes up the industry.

The efforts to make the book community a more inclusive one is an ongoing-oftentimes herculean-struggle, conducted predominately by people of color. The encouraging numbers in the intern section indicate that publishing is trying to reach out to diverse populations. But keeping diverse employees engaged and believing they have a home in this industry is another matter. Without a clear career path and the promise of opportunities for a bright future, retention will continue to be a serious problem, and the needle will not move.

The world has changed a great deal from just four years ago. With so many diverse causes that run parallel to one another that sometimes it can be hard to keep in mind common goals. But until we all start to care about equity, we will not make progress, and any gains the industry makes will continue to be not statistically significant. So, the same questions that we asked four years ago bear repeating: How can company cultures be more welcoming for diverse staff? Do diverse staff members feel comfortable voicing their opinions? Are systems in place to make sure all staff are trained and well versed in diversity issues? And some newer questions to ponder: Have recent conversations on bias and privilege changed your perspective on the systemic problems that exist in society today? Has your empathy grown or receded toward diverse causes in the last four years?

The world is a diverse one. Publishing needs to accurately reflect the world as it is, from the books we publish to the people working in every facet of this business. A lot has happened in four years, and not all of it for the better. Four years from now, what will the next baseline survey show us? And what will those numbers tell us about ourselves?
For permission to reprint or press inquiries, please contact Hannah Ehrlich at dbs [AT] leeandlow [DOT] com

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Where Is the Diversity in Publishing? The 2019 Diversity Baseline Survey Results

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The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was created by Lee & Low Books with co-authors Laura M. Jiménez, PhD, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Betsy Beckert, graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development Lee & Low Books released the first Diversity Baseline Survey ( DBS 1.0) in 2015.

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2020 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List | Rise

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Representation for marginalized communities is vital in raising awareness about injustice.

It is also an important way of documenting every fragment of a community's history. Literature, theatre, television, music are all proof of living breathing, culture. Here are a few novels that are actually doing it right:

The Silence Between Us allows you to hear the aspirations, hopes, and dreams of a young deaf girl who is forced to transfer to a hearing school because of her mother's job relocation. Alison Gervais provides powerful insight into the deaf culture and teenage romance. This book is a must-read for those looking for diversity in young adult novels and romance.

Favorite quote: "Just because my world looks a little different than yours suddenly means it's not as important?"

The enchanting aspect of A Curse So Dark and Lonely is that it does not boil identity down to one thing. It focuses on a young woman with cerebral palsy who gets pulled into a magical world when she tries helping a stranger. Her cerebral palsy is just one facet of her identity. This book is a unique, daring rendition of Beauty and the Beast.

Favorite Quote: "I am always surprised to discover that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light."

Get it from Amazon for $14.65, your local bookstore through Indiebound, or your local library.

The Running Dream is a fast-paced novel about a young track member who loses her legs in a car accident and believes she can never run again. However, she perseveres, begins believing in herself again and starts to understand that her world didn't end because she lost her legs. It is a beautifully written, poignant novel.

Favorite quote: "I feel like I'm flying."

Favorite Quote: "That's what you had to do for Julius. You had to spell it out for him. And then you had to spell it out for everyone else, so they would understand why you were spelling it out for Julius."

Favorite quote: "Six stencils and it's gone. Okay, the tag vanished by Stencil Number Two, but I have a point to prove. I'm not covering up your scribbled slur with just anything. I'm making art here. I'm creating. I'm on fire."

Additionally, the boy who hurt her in eighth-grade re-enters her life, all while she's struggling through the death of her father. She is unapologetic, a bit of a mess, and imperfect. That's what makes her character authentic.

Favorite quote: "He still looks at you like he used to, even before you got together like you're the most important thing in the world."

Favorite quote: "And these are they. My final moments. They say a warrior must always be mindful of death, but I never imagined that it would find me like this..."

Favorite quote: "I want the world, I think. Even if it scares me."

She Is Not Invisible is about a blind girl who goes searching for her father after he goes missing while conducting research for his new book. This book is cleverly written, intriguing, and will leave you wanting more.

Favorite quote:"... and you don't have to understand everything about something to love it, do you? In fact, sometimes that can make you love something more."

All until she kisses her best friend's boyfriend, a memory that prompts her to set off to find him. This book will remain entrenched in your memories and you will grow to love Flora as she navigates her illness.

Favorite quote: "Whether someone is useful only matters if you value people by their use."

11. On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis is a novel about an autistic, biracial, part-Dutch part-Surinamese Black girl. It is a brilliantly written, YA sci-fi about how Denise tries to get her gamily safely off-planet after a a massive comet strikes Earth and obliterates everything.

Favorite quote: "Yes, I always tell the truth."

Love really knows no limitations in Love and First Sight. It is a story is about a young teenager who falls in love with a girl who is not deemed beautiful by society's standards. And he can't see. It is a deeply touching story about how love is more than skin deep.

Favorite quote: "Yeah, independence and self-reliance sound nice in theory, but in reality, they are just synonyms for loneliness. And before I met Cecily I was so tired, without even realizing it, so tired of being lonely."

Favorite quote: "I'd spent my entire life as a teacup with a jagged crack running down the side, an imperfect vessel threatening to spill my contents onto the table at any random moment. Tolerated but not adored. It didn't seem like it would be even possible to love me. Probabilistically unlikely at best. But for Abelard, the jagged crack was the interesting thing about me."

Get it from Amazon for $6.99, your local bookstore through Indiebound, or your local library.

Say What You Will is about a girl with cerebral palsy who decides to hire a student aide to help her in her final year of high school. The student aide happens to have OCD. It is another classic story about two people dubbed misfits by society, who help each other feel less lonely. This is an evocative read that you will obsess over.

Favorite quote: "Let's don't wait forever for our lives to start."

Favorite quote: "The money's yours for whatever. I know you'll do something beautiful with it."

This book is about a half-Japanese girl with cerebral palsy who is often her mother's inspiration for sculptures. She dreams of becoming a manga artist and meeting her father. She realizes there is more to life than being her mother's muse. This is a fun, quirky book about taking control of your own life.

Favorite quote: "Yeah, I could tell them how I hated physical therapy as a child, how I once flailed so badly while trying to get away that I broke my therapist's glasses. Or how I always got picked last for the teams and how my classmates called me names and made fun of my walking. But who wants to hear all these sad stories? Isn't it way more fun to read about fire-breathing dragons and magic elixirs? Boomerang bottle openers and wind-powered whisks? I'd rather stick to Gadget Girl."

Favorite quote: "Everyone calls me brave. Is this what bravery feels like?"

Silent Days, Silent Dreams is an autobiographical picture book (perfect for all ages!) about the renowned artist: James Charles. James Charles was born deaf, mute, and autistic and his work hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This book challenges ableist views.

Favorite quote: "He is known for his technical skill and varied style."

Favorite quote: "My name is Prudence Penderhaus. I've never done anything remarkable. Never even bothered to look up. Until the day I found out I was dying."

Favorite quote: "Wait, how do most people make friends? I've only done it once. There has to be an easier way of going about it than getting thrown around and bleeding all over the place."

Favorite quote: "All we are, all we can be, are the stories we tell," he says, and he is talking as if he is talking only to me. "Long after we are gone, our words will be all that is left, and who is to say what really happened or even what reality is? Our stories, our fiction, our words will be as close to the truth as can be. And no one can take that away from you."

How often do you find books about women with autism?!

The Kiss Quotient is about an economist with autism who desires a relationship. However, she feels she is bad at sex. So she hires an escort. This is a fun, touching read about a budding relationship.

Favorite quote: "All the things that make you different make you perfect."

Counting to D is about a young girl with dyslexia who is often bullied in school- she's the smartest kid in her school but she's also illiterate. Eventually, her mom gets a job in a different city and Sam thinks it's the perfect time to start over- she hides her dyslexia. This is a witty novel about learning to love yourself.

Favorite quote: "Every advancement in human history, every scientific discovery, every artistic masterpiece, every new idea has come from an individual looking at the world in a new way. Thinking outside the box. So tell me, Samantha, why are you trying so hard to put yourself inside the box?"
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https://thetempest.co/?p=123205

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23 book characters with disabilities that will make you feel seen

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Representation for marginalized communities is vital in raising awareness about injustice. It is also an important way of documenting every fragment of a community's history. Literature, theatre, television, music are all proof of living breathing, culture.

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Books for Children with Hearing Differences

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Books for Children with Hearing Differences

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WHERE IS THE DIVERSITY IN PUBLISHING? THE 2019 DIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY RESULTS

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WHERE IS THE DIVERSITY IN PUBLISHING? THE 2019 DIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY RESULTS

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The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was created by Lee & Low Books with co-authors Laura M. Jiménez, PhD, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Betsy Beckert, graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Lee & Low Books released the first Diversity Baseline Survey ( DBS 1.0) in 2015. Before the DBS, people suspected publishing had a diversity problem, but without hard numbers, the extent of that problem was anyone's guess. Our goal was to survey publishing houses and review journals regarding the racial, gender, sexual orientation, and ability makeup of their employees; establish concrete statistics about the diversity of the publishing workforce; and then build on this information by reissuing the survey every four years. Through these long-term efforts, we would be able to track what progress our industry shows over time in improving representation and inclusion.

Why does diversity in publishing matter? The book industry has the power to shape culture in big and small ways. The people behind the books serve as gatekeepers, who can make a huge difference in determining which stories are amplified and which are shut out. If the people who work in publishing are not a diverse group, how can diverse voices truly be represented in its books?

The results of DBS 1.0 were stark. 79 percent of respondents identified as White. 78 percent were women. 88 percent were straight. 92 percent were non-disabled. At a time when readers of all backgrounds were demanding to see themselves in books, the publishing industry came nowhere near to reflecting the rich diversity of the United States.

The Last Four Years

The numbers provided by DBS 1.0 contributed to a sense of urgency that has resulted in more diverse books being published in the marketplace today-at least on the children's book side. It is now 2020, and many powerful cultural events, changes, and movements have taken place in the four years since the first survey.
● Donald Trump was elected President.
● The#MeToo movement spread virally after sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
● Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, both featuring POC leads and majority-POC casts, broke major box office records.

Within our industry, too, important conversations have changed the landscape:
● Corinne Duyvis coined the term #ownvoices to highlight books where the creator and main character share some form of marginalization.
● Beth Phelan created#DVpit to help diverse creators pitch their work to agents and editors.
● Four educators of color founded#DisruptTexts to question the books commonly taught in high schools.
● Problematic books were canceled, re-illustrated, or rewritten, while The Hate U Give and other diverse titles became New York Times bestsellers.
● Authors of color became more vocal about their place in the industry and their exhaustion with the diversity conversation
● Drag Queen Story Hour started in San Francisco.
● The Romance Writers Association was forced to reckon with its own biases.

After all this . . . has the publishing workforce actually become more inclusive?

Diversity Baseline Survey 2019 Results

Methodology and Response Rate
We expanded the DBS 2.0 to include a larger sample set than the original survey, including members of the Association of University Presses (AUP) as well as literary agents. In 2015, there were 3,706 responses to the survey. In 2019, we received 7,893 responses, showing a 112 percent increase in responses from DBS 1.0 to DBS 2.0.

Like the first survey, DBS 2.0 took a year to complete, beginning in January 2019. Reaching out to companies and trying to connect with decision-makers took the most time. Some companies took a lot of convincing; others agreed to participate and then dropped out for myriad reasons. Ultimately, 153 companies participated, including all of the Big Five publishers, eight review journals, forty-seven trade publishers, thirty-five university presses, and sixty-three literary agencies of all sizes from across North America. You can see the full list of participants here.

The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was sent to 2,609 reviewer employees, 17,100 trade publishing employees, 1,528 university press employees, and 516 literary agents for a total of 21,753 surveys deployed. DBS 2.0 had a response rate of 36.2 percent. The survey was sent to both children's and adult divisions of each company.

The DBS was sent out directly from each participating company's internal contact person. To ensure the integrity of the data, we worked with a professional survey company called Toluna that administrated and deployed the survey for us. The surveys were completely anonymous, and companies did not have direct access to the results.

All data was analyzed and aggregated by a small team at Boston University consisting of Laura M. Jiménez, PhD (Lead) and Betsy Beckert, a graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. The team at Boston University ensured the anonymity of individual respondents, and they were the only ones with access to the raw data. Excerpts from Laura Jiménez about the statistics have been included below and are indicated by " ".

Note: DBS 1.0 was deployed in 2015 and released in January 2016. DBS 2.0 followed a similar pattern and was deployed in 2019 and released to the public in January 2020.

Notes and Analysis: What the Numbers Tell Us

The Industry Overall

Race: According to the survey, 76 percent of publishing staff, review journal staff, and literary agents are White. The rest are comprised of people who self-report as Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (7 percent); Hispanic/Latino/Mexican (6 percent); Black/African American (5 percent); and biracial/multiracial (3 percent). Native Americans and Middle Easterners each comprise less than 1 percent of publishing staff.

The 2015 survey reported that overall, 79 percent of people who work in publishing self-report as White. Given the sample size difference, this 3 percent change in White employees does not meet the bar for statistically significant change. There is no discernible change to any of the other racial categories. In other words, the field is just as White today as it was four years ago. "

Creating the list of ethnicities for a survey such as this is challenging. We received feedback from DBS 1.0 that some of the race categories were too broad or that subcategories should be separated out, e.g. Asian Pacific Islanders within the Asian American category. But we wanted to be able to compare data as well as to avoid any chance of compromising any individual's personal identifiable information (PII), so we stuck with the racial breakdowns we offered in the first survey, which was based on the US census, with a few adjustments.

Gender: The survey reveals that publishing is about 74 percent cis women and 23 percent cis men. " The 2015 survey reported that overall, 78 percent of people who work in publishing self-report as cis women. The current survey has 74 percent of the respondents self-reporting as cis women. Given the sample size difference, this 4 percent change in cis women does meet the bar for statistically significant change. These numbers may help explain why some feel that book publishing caters more to female readers. Among executive and board member positions this disparity evened out somewhat, with approximately 38 percent of executives and board members identifying as cis men. This reflects the reality that males still ascend to positions of power more easily, even in female-dominated industries.

Concerning our gender question, we had significant input from various experts (listed in credits on the last slide) who helped us vet the choices for this question. Even so, the gender question reveals that about 97 percent of publishing staff identify as cis men or women, meaning that they identify with the genders they were assigned at birth. How does this compare with the general population? We don't really know. That being said, the small number of genderfluid, non-binary, genderqueer, trans man, trans woman, and intersex people in publishing points to the need for publishers to make sure that books on these topics are examined for cultural and scientific accuracy by experts before they are published. We have a separate article on the need for targeted expert readers that relates to this issue. (Note: After receiving feedback regarding the wording of "woman/cis woman" and "man/cis man" in the survey, the terminology has been corrected to "cis woman" and "cis man" respectively in the infographic.)

Sexual Orientation: According to the survey, about 81 percent of publishing staff identify as straight or heterosexual. This category saw the most change over the course of the study. In the initial survey, 88 percent of the respondents self-reported as straight. This survey saw a statistically significant negative change in the number of respondents that self-reported straight at 81 percent. The change can be largely attributed to the number that identified as bi and pansexual, 10 percent. Not surprisingly, most of these are White women, but that again is most likely attributed to the fact that the field is overwhelmingly White women. There was a slight drop in gay representation to 4 percent, and lesbian to 2 percent, with asexual holding at 1 percent.

During the planning of DBS 1.0, we debated internally whether to include a survey question on sexual orientation, since it is a question that human resources departments cannot ask their employees. We ultimately decided that if we did not acknowledge this aspect of diversity, this segment of the workforce would remain uncounted and invisible. Four years later, as the current administration calls for the removal of LGBTQ data collection in the next census, including LGBTQ representation in our survey seems more critical than ever.

Disability : We received good input from disability advocate Ace Ratcliff on the wording choices for this question. This input may have led more people to self-identify as having a disability in DBS 2.0. " There is a statistically significant change from 4 percent self-reporting a disability in 2015 to 11 percent reporting a disability in 2019. The clear majority of disabilities are mental illness (45 percent), physical disability (22 percent), and chronic illness (20 percent). There is a high co-morbidity within this data of mental illness and chronic illness co-occurring. We did some initial investigation into this phenomenon, and these findings are consistent with mental health and medical findings. Although this is not the focus of this survey, we took this to signify that this data is falling into line with other, more established research strands.

One hypothesis for this growth is that it is not growth at all, but a change in the way the field, and our society in general, views mental-health issues. In other words, the field of survey respondents may have experienced an uptick in mental health-issues, but this data is also consistent with national surveys that find more people are seeking out and identifying as experiencing mental-health issues. " In a subsequent blog post, we will share more detailed data related to the disability question.

Departmental Observations

The DBS 2.0 results offer the opportunity to filter responses by department, giving us a better picture of how inclusive (or homogenous) various publishing departments are in relation to each other. Space constraints prevent us from discussing every department, but we wanted to highlight the data for some of the departments that play a significant role in shaping which books are published and how they get into the world: executive positions, editorial, sales, marketing and publicity, reviewers, and literary agents. We also included interns, to provide a glimpse at what our industry's future workforce may look like.

Data for these departments can be found in the slideshow above, and data from the previous study (for comparison) can be found here. A few interesting observations:
● More diversity at the top: The Executive Level saw some fairly significant changes in its numbers, with the percentage of people identifying as White dropping from 86 percent in 2015 to 78 percent today. In addition, the percentage of people identifying as straight dropped from 89 percent to 82 percent and the percentage of people with a disability increased from 4 percent to 10 percent. This is good news, since true change in company culture almost always requires buy-in from the very top.
● Editorial is even more White than before: The percentage of people in Editorial who self-identified as White increased from 82 percent to 85 percent. So, even though more diverse books are being published now, it's fair to assume that the large majority of them are still being acquired and edited by White people.
● Marketing & Publicity is more racially diverse than other departments: Of the departments we address in the slideshow above, Marketing & Publicity is the area with the lowest percentage of White employees (74 percent), although it is less diverse than other departments in the other areas we surveyed.
● More people identify as disabled in book reviewing than in other areas of the publishing industry: Nineteen percent of book reviewers identify as having a disability, while in most other areas of the publishing industry, the number is closer to 10 percent. This trend is in line with data from DBS 1.0. Perhaps this is because reviewers are able to work freelance or remotely, without the constrictions of a 9-5 desk job in New York, which is notoriously inaccessible for those with disabilities.
● Literary agent demographics are in line with the rest of publishing: We did not include literary agents in the first DBS, but their inclusion has not really impacted the numbers because their demographics match the rest of the industry: mostly White, straight cis women who are not disabled.
● Interns are significantly more diverse than the industry as a whole: Of the interns surveyed in 2019, 49 percent identify as BIPOC; 49 percent are on the LGBTQIA spectrum; and 22 percent identify as having a disability. These numbers are a dramatic departure from the overall industry numbers and signal a new, more representative generation of entry-level publishing staff. The question is whether many of these interns will be retained and promoted, or whether they will burn out or leave publishing for other reasons before their presence can truly change the industry.
● Comparing apples to apples, there's still no change: For those who wonder how much the inclusion of literary agents and university presses may have skewed the data, our last data slide removes these segments for a true apples-to-apples comparison to DBS 1.0. The largest change is in the sexual orientation category, which dropped from 88 percent straight/heterosexual to 82 percent. No other category changed by more than 4 percent.

What's next?

Although our baseline numbers have not shown a compelling change, in all cases there was change. As in other industries, increasing diversity in the publishing workforce is a challenge, and change has been slow in coming. But DBS 2.0 did have some positive takeaways. Only three of the Big Five publishers took part in DBS 1.0, so it is a sign of solidarity that all five participated this time. The addition of literary agents and university presses contributed to a bigger pool of participants and gave us a clearer picture of who makes up the industry.

The efforts to make the book community a more inclusive one is an ongoing-oftentimes herculean-struggle, conducted predominately by people of color. The encouraging numbers in the intern section indicate that publishing is trying to reach out to diverse populations. But keeping diverse employees engaged and believing they have a home in this industry is another matter. Without a clear career path and the promise of opportunities for a bright future, retention will continue to be a serious problem, and the needle will not move.

The world has changed a great deal from just four years ago. With so many diverse causes that run parallel to one another that sometimes it can be hard to keep in mind common goals. But until we all start to care about equity, we will not make progress, and any gains the industry makes will continue to be not statistically significant. So, the same questions that we asked four years ago bear repeating: How can company cultures be more welcoming for diverse staff? Do diverse staff members feel comfortable voicing their opinions? Are systems in place to make sure all staff are trained and well versed in diversity issues? And some newer questions to ponder: Have recent conversations on bias and privilege changed your perspective on the systemic problems that exist in society today? Has your empathy grown or receded toward diverse causes in the last four years?

The world is a diverse one. Publishing needs to accurately reflect the world as it is, from the books we publish to the people working in every facet of this business. A lot has happened in four years, and not all of it for the better. Four years from now, what will the next baseline survey show us? And what will those numbers tell us about ourselves?
For permission to reprint or press inquiries, please contact Hannah Ehrlich at dbs [AT] leeandlow [DOT] com

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Where Is the Diversity in Publishing? The 2019 Diversity Baseline Survey Results

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The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS 2.0) was created by Lee & Low Books with co-authors Laura M. Jiménez, PhD, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Betsy Beckert, graduate student in the Language and Literacy Department of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development Lee & Low Books released the first Diversity Baseline Survey ( DBS 1.0) in 2015.

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Read the Signs_ Middle Grade Fiction Centering the Deaf Experience _ School Library Journal

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18 Wonderful Ramadan Books for Kids of All Ages – Pragmatic Mom

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Celebrate the Muslim faith with these Ramadan books for kids! These Islamic children's storybooks for toddlers through big kids are sure to inspire your child.
We are celebrating Ramadan over at Multicultural Children's Book Day for the month of June. This is my contribution. Join us at our blog with guest posts from authors on how they are celebrating Ramadan, and book giveaways.

I wanted to make a list of Ramadan books to learn more about this holiday. Here's what I learned after reading a dozen books:

Ramadan is the ninth month in the calendar used for Muslim holidays. When it is near, they watch for a new crescent moon. (Now I understand why many Ramadan books reference the moon in the title!)

The calendar for Muslim holidays follows the moon which means Ramadan starts on a different day every year and can happen in any season. This year Ramadan falls during summer which is the most challenging season to fast during. The days are very long and hot.

Caring for the poor is important to Muslims which is one reason why they fast. Fasting helps them understand how people feel when they go hungry.

The festival of Girgian which comes in the middle of Ramadan reminds me of Halloween. Kids get dressed in traditional costumes and collect treats from their neighbors.

The new crescent moon marks the end of Ramadan and that day is called Eid al-Fitr. Muslims clean and decorate their homes and they have a big feast.

Ramadan has some similarities to Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement for Jewish people. Both holidays involve fasting, forgiveness, multiple prayer times, and is based on a lunar calendar.

p.s. More resources for Ramadan Books for Kids:
30 Days of Ramadan: Understanding Our Friends #30DaysRamadan #OwnVoices Children's Books for Ramadan
I've organized these wonderful Ramadan books by:

Ramadan Picture Books Set in Present Day United States

Ramadan Picture Books Set in Present Day Middle East

Books to Introduce Ramadan to Very Young Readers

An Eid Folktale

Two Lovely Picture Books About the Muslim Faith

If you need Ramadan books by genre, this collection has picture books, advanced picture books, easy readers, board books, and early chapter books. I hope you find what you need to learn about Ramadan.

Ramadan books for kids set in present-day United States

A Party in Ramadan by Asma Mobin-Uddin, illustrated by Laura Jacobson

I really loved this picture book that shows a typical conflict between someone living within two cultures. This would be a good picture book for anyone learning about Ramadan as well as celebrating it.

Leena's friend Julia is having a birthday party with pony rides but it falls on the first Friday of Ramadan. She can squeeze it in before their Ramadan iftar dinner but it's her first year of fasting. It's hard to fast when all the other kids are having cake and lemonade.

Leena enjoys her iftar dinner with her relatives and has an unexpected guest. Julia and her family bring by some of Julia's cake that they saved for her. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

Lailah's Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story of Reem Faruqi, illustrated by Lea Lyon

Lailah is celebrating her first Ramadan doing the month-long fast but she misses her friends in Abu Dubai. Living in Georgia means that no one in her class is fasting. Will they understand if she has trouble explaining to them?

The cafeteria is hard for her to stay in with all the smells of food. Lailah's refuge is the library and the kind librarian who lends an ear and has suggestions to help her. This is a great picture book to read at school, especially if any students are fasting. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

The Best Eid Ever by Asma Mobin-Uddin, illustrated by Laura Jacobsen

Aneesa is a little down in the dumps because her parents are away in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage. She's celebrating Ramadan with her grandmother, who works hard to make it special for her. She has a basket of gifts for Aneesa - three beautiful outfits for each of the three days of Eid.

She's also making a lamb korma. At the prayer hall, Aneesa notices two girls on the outskirts with shabby hajibs. She learns that they were forced to leave their home in another country because of war or another bad problem and lost everything they had. Aneesa decides to leave them a surprise for Eid.

On this Eid, she and her grandmother will eat vegetarian takeout and she will wear her one beautiful outfit three times. This is a wonderful picture book that captures the importance of charity and helping others less fortunate during Ramadan. It's actually a pillar of the Muslim faith. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

Ramadan books set in present-day Middle East

My Grandma and Me by Mina Havaherbin, illustrated by Lindsey Yankey

This gentle story of Mina and her grandmother takes the reader through their celebration of Ramadan at a mosque in Iran. It's a celebration of an intergenerational family and their loving bonds told in a very personal way, like a gift from Mina Havaberbin to us, the reader.

Beautiful illustrations by Lindsey Yankey convey Mina's imagination as well as the beauty of Islamic art motifs. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi, illustrated by Ned Gannon

Noor celebrates Girgian, a festival during the middle of Ramadan with her family. This is a celebration where children dress up in traditional clothes and go house to house collecting candy from their neighbors. This holiday begins on the full moon rising.

Her family makes the candy they give out; it's a nut brittle with pistachios that they wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbons. Noor and her brothers decorate the bags they use for collecting their treats. After the kids return with their bags stuffed full of candy, they help deliver baskets of food for the poor.

Helping others is also an important part of Ramadan. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

Time to Pray by Maha Addasi, translated by Nuha Albitar, illustrated by Ned Gannon

Yasmin is visiting her grandmother (Teta) in the Middle East who teaches her about Ramadan. They pick out fabric for special prayer clothes and a small rug as well. Teta, her grandmother, sews her the clothes, practices the prayers with her and takes her to the mosque.

Yasmin is worried that she doesn't have a mosque near her home in the United States, so she won't know when it's time to pray. Her grandmother has a solution that she sends home with Yasmin in her suitcase.

This is a great bilingual Arabic picture book! It's especially suited for grandmothers to read to granddaughters. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

Ramadan by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi, illustrated by Omar Rayyan

For kids who want a more in-depth look into Islam and Ramadan, this advanced picture book tells the story of Hakeem and his family as they celebrate.

For example, while most books on Ramadan talk about fasting for the holy month, this book also explains that those observing Ramadan are not allowed to put anything into their mouths during the fast period including chewing gum or cigarettes.

I also like how this book shows the Muslims from all over the word in Hakeem's community who come from Pakistan, Palestine, Spain, Somalia, Australia, Algeria, Norway, Nigeria and beyond. And, as one large group, they celebrate Eid together. [advanced picture book, ages 8 and up]

Magrid Fasts for Ramadan by Mary Matthews, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

I've included this book because it's the only Early Chapter Book that I found on Ramadan and it also shows the difficult rule of Ramadan that siblings must get along! Set in present-day Egypt, Magrid is too young to fast all day like his sister, but he wants to do it anyway.

He figures out how to skip meals without getting noticed, but his sister notices and tells on him. Being honest is a tenant of being a good Muslim and his parents guide him on what is truly important during Ramadan. [early chapter book, ages 6 and up]

Zachariah's Perfect Day by Farrah Qazi, illustrated by Durre Waseem

This picture book brings many elements of Ramadan together. It shows passages related to Ramadan from the Quran in Arabic and with an English translation. Zachariah introduces popular food cooked for Ramadan and the author provides a recipe for Parathas in the back of the book. [picture book, ages 6 and up]

Books to introduce Ramadan to very young readers

Ramadan Moon by Na'ima B. Robert and Shirin Adl

Need a beautifully illustrated free-verse picture book to introduce kids to Ramadan? This is my pick! Follow the cycle of the moon as it marks the month-long celebration of Ramadan. With simple but beautiful free verse, the Month of Mercy is explained and celebrated. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

My First Ramadan by Karen Katz

I'd use this simple book with appealing illustrations to teach preschoolers about Ramadan. It shows how a young boy celebrates his first Ramadan with his family. [picture book, ages 2 and up]

It's Ramadan, Curious George! by H. A. Rey

This board book with tabs teaches kids, and Curious George, about Ramadan. He helps his friend Kareem and his family celebrate Ramadan from eating the special foods, making gift baskets for the needy, and watching for the full moon to celebrate Eid. [board book, ages 2 and up]

Max Celebrates Ramadan by Adria F. Worsham, illustrated by Mernie Gallagher-Cole

Max and Omar are good friends. Max gets invited to Omar's house for a big feast to celebrate the end of Ramadan called Eid-al-Fitr. This simple story covers the Islam religion in a way that a young child can understand. [easy reader, ages 6 and up]

Rashad's Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr by Lisa Bullard, illustrated by Holli Conger

This picture book chapter book reads like a story but also has sidebars on each page with additional information about Ramadan. You can read it on both levels depending on your child's interest and age level. It's a book that can grow with a child as well.

The colorful illustrations are appealing, especially the depictions of people. [picture book with chapters, ages 4 and up]

Amal's Ramadan by Amy Maranville, illustrated by Josh Stevens

It's Amal's first Ramadan to participate in the fast, and he's excited. He goes to a secular summer camp where no one else is fasting so he does the usual activities including the running games. All of a sudden, he feels sick and dizzy.

His counselor gives him a small glass of cranberry juice which makes him feel better, but he's also upset that he broke fast. That night, his grandmother comforts him. She broke her first fast too. Tomorrow, he gets to try again.

Children don't fast during Ramadan until they are twelve years old and it's extra hard if they are around others who are not fasting. I'd use this picture book to teach kids about world religions, especially if they have a friend or classmate who is Muslim. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

An Eid Folktale

Nabeel's New Pants: An Eid Tale retold by Fawzia Gilani-Williams, illustrated by Proiti Roy

The celebration of Eid is tomorrow and Nabeel decides to buy presents for his family. He buys his wife a burka, a dupatta for his mother, and bangles for his daughter. He also buys new pants for himself but they are a little too long.

He gives the gifts to his family and asks each of them to shorten his pants but they are too busy getting ready for Eid. In a comedy of caring and miscommunication, Nabeel's pants get shortened, to hilarious results. This is an Eid tale to read after the feast is over and everyone is ready to laugh! [picture book, ages 4 and up]

Amal's Eid by Amy Maranville, illustrated by Joshua Stevens

Amal's favorite holiday is Eid, which is at the end of the month of Ramadan. Eid is a celebration, marked by new clothes, stories, gifts, music, resolutions, and a big feast. This is a simple story to describe how a family celebrates Eid in modern times. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

Two lovely picture books about the Muslim faith

Going to Mecca by Na'ima B. Robert, illustrated by Valentina Cavallini

Pair this book with The Best Eid Ever which references the Hajj pilgrimage.

Told in free verse, this is a charming picture book about "the journey of a lifetime" and the different milestones that the pilgrims experience including the Black Stone, praying on Mount Arafat, and following the path of the prophets Abraham and Ishmael. [picture book, ages 5 and up]

The Camel in the Sun by Griffin Ondaatje, illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber

A hardhearted merchant overworks his camel who carries his spices, dates, and goods across the steep dunes of the desert. While the merchant rests in the shade, the camel is tied to a tree in the harsh sun where it has to wait for hours. After many, many years of this hard life, the camel is sad.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 18 Wonderful Picture Books about the Arab World 27 Books for Kids About the Arab World Top 10: Middle Eastern American Children's Books Middle East Outreach Council Award How To: Teach Your Children About Islam (and tolerance in the process!) Life in Afghanistan for Girls The Pharoah's Secret at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts
One day, a prophet notices the camel and treats it with compassion. The prophet is able to transfer the camel's feelings to the owner while he sleeps. This experience of understanding the camel's feelings changes the merchant forever. [picture book, ages 5 and up]

My books:

Join us for 30 Days of Ramadan: Understanding Our Muslim Friends linky. We are giving away books at Multicultural Children's Book Day! Please link up your posts on Ramadan!

To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.

For more multicultural, diverse, and inclusive books for kids, please check out our collaborative Multicultural Children's Book Day Pinterest board:

p.s. Arab American Book Lists for Kids

This is my collection of the best picture books I've read so far about the Arab world.

In the wake of the conflicts in the Middle East, I thought it especially important for kids to learn about Islam and the people of the Middle East which might also teach them tolerance in the process. There is so much negative stereotyping during a war that can color a child's perspective.

Deborah Ellis's Parvana series shows a realistic view of what life is like in Afghanistan for girls today. It's heartbreaking but also so important.

Chapter book The Pharoah's Secret by Marissa Moss discovered in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Did I find Senenmut, Hatshepsut's love there?!

BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN'S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.

My books:

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18 Wonderful Ramadan Books for Kids of All Ages

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Celebrate the Muslim faith with these Ramadan books for kids! These Islamic children's storybooks for toddlers through big kids are sure to inspire your child. We are celebrating Ramadan over at Multicultural Children's Book Day for the month of June. This is my contribution.

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Black Boy Joy: 30 Picture Books Featuring Black Male Protagonists | Brightly

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When searching for books that serve as mirrors for my two children, I'm always mindful of exactly which books we choose to read. While we don't discriminate when it comes to literature, I do make it a point to select books that reflect my children and our family. Why? Because I know if I don't expose my kids to these books, they might not see them otherwise.

Let's face it, finding good, quality books featuring people of color is hard! It's a lot easier today than it used to be years back, but the struggle is real. This is especially true when it comes to books that feature Black boys as the main character.

As a parent, my goal is to present my children with a full spectrum of Brown and Black characters in a variety of books. I want their experiences of story and representations of the world to include people of color, people they can imagine being like - people like Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Misty Copeland, Michelle Obama, and Michael Jordan - or fictional characters with whom they can identify.

Of course, I believe all children should be exposed to a wide range of people, experiences, and cultures. We still need greater diversity in children's books to make this happen. But we also need people to buy and read the great books that are out there so publishers will continue to publish them.

Here are 30 picture books featuring Black males as the main protagonist to enjoy with the little ones in your life.

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30 Picture Books Featuring Black Male Protagonists

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When searching for books that serve as mirrors for my two children, I'm always mindful of exactly which books we choose to read. While we don't discriminate when it comes to literature, I do make it a point to select books that reflect my children and our family. Why?

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30 YA Books By Latinx Authors We Can't Wait To Read In 2020

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30 YA Books By Latinx Authors We Can't Wait To Read In 2020

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You want to talk about range? These Latinx authors have it.

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Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith

With tremendous appreciation of all the teachers and child-caregivers who're navigating this difficult time, I have assembled a list of Native children's and young adult (teen) books along with supplemental educational and/or entertaining resources.

It reflects only a few highlights from the quickly growing, engaging body of literature for young readers, created by Native creators.

The books were selected in part due to their curriculum tie-in potential and in part due to the tie-in activities, lesson plans, interviews, articles, etc. readily available for each.

Please support brick-and-mortar bookstores, including Native-owned bookstores.

On a budget? You may be able to check out ebooks and audio books online via your local public library. Please also support public and school libraries.
Early Elementary
At Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Kokila, 2019)

Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child, illustrated by Jonathan Thunder, translated by Gordon Jourdain (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018)

The Cloud Artist: A Choctaw Tale by Sherri Maret, illustrated by Merisha Sequoia Clark (Roadrunner, 2017)

Fall in Line, Holden! by Daniel W. Vandever (Salina Bookshelf, 2017)

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Tradition by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (Roaring Brook, 2019)

I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland (Second Story, 2016)

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000)

The Powwow Mystery Series 1: The Powwow Thief by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Dale Deforest (Reycraft, 2019)

Powwow Summer: A Family Celebrates the Circle of Life by Marcie R. Rendon, illustrated by Cheryl Walsh Bellville (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003).

Spotted Tail by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, illustrated by Jim Yellowhawk and Pat Kinsella (Reycraft, 2019)

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac (Charlesbridge, 2018)

The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson (Second Story, 2017).

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade (Roaring Brook, 2020)

When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson, illustrated by Julie Flett (Highwater Press, 2016)
Upper Elementary
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Hyperion, 1999).

How I Became A Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (Roadrunner, 2015)

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day (HarperChildren's, 2019)

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell (Lee & Low, 2019)

Indian Shoes by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Jim Madsen (HaperChildren's, 2002)

A Kid's Guide to Native American History: More than 50 Activities by Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hischfelder (Chicago Review Press, 2009)

Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story by Andrea L. Rogers, illustrated by Matt Forsyth (Capstone, 2020).

Sioux Code Talkers of World War II by Andrea Page (Pelican, 2017).

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith (Orca, 2017)

Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army by Art Coulson, illustrated by Nick Hardcastle (Capstone, 2018)

When a Ghost Talks, Listen: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (Roadrunner, 2018)
Middle School/Junior High
Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley (North Dakota State University Press, 2018)

Chula the Fox by Anthony Perry (White Dog Press, 2018)

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2013)

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza (Beacon, 2019)

Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2018)
High School
Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale (Annick, 2014)

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, 2018 hardcover, April 2020 paperback)

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (DCB, 2017).

Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers by Arigon Starr (Native Realities, 2016)

Note: "The graphic novel also features a history of the Code Talkers and a lesson plan for teachers who wish to use the book to teach students about the struggle and accomplishments of these Native American heroes."
More Teaching Resources
Native Knowledge 360° from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

First Voices for Kids: words, phrases, songs and stories, and games in more than 50 Indigenous languages from the First Peoples' Cultural Council. Via Monique Gray Smith; sign up for her newsletter.

Publisher Guidelines on Fair Use for Online Storytimes & Read-Alouds during COVID-19 School Closures from Kate Messner. Note: School Library Journal also is keeping an updated list.

Teaching Respect for Native Peoples from Oyate.

American Indian Youth Literature Award Winners & Honorees from the American Indian Library Association. Note: Several of the books listed above are among the AIYLA winners and honorees.

COVID-19 Resources from We Need Diverse Books. Note: Scroll to Resources for Parents and Educators.
Native-owned & Independent Bookstores
Please also consider supporting my local independent bookstore, BookPeople of Austin via Bookshop. Or buy from of my fave brick-and-mortar indies, Blue Willow Bookshop of Houston, which is shipping directly from the store. You can support more local bookstores at Bookshop and, to do the same for audio books, try Libro.fm.

Links above include additional purchase opportunities for ebooks that may not be available through indie outlets. Regarding the above books that are available in an electronic edition, those ebooks are likely for sale via multiple retailers.

Reminder: You may be able to check out ebooks and audio books online via your local public library. Please support public and school libraries.

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Home & Classroom Teaching: Native American Children's-Teens' Books & Resources - Cynthia Leitich Smith

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Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith With tremendous appreciation of all the teachers and child-caregivers who're navigating this difficult time, I have assembled a list of Native children's and young adult (teen) books along with supplemental educational and/or entertaining resources. It reflects only a few highlights from the quickly growing, engaging body of literature for young readers, created by Native creators.

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Nonbinary YA Authors You NEED to Read – Quinn's Reads

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Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race - Books For Littles

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[Image description: Illustration from All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman. Children of various races and faiths pointing to locations on a world map.] If you're nervous about talking about race with your kids, these books about racial diversity will give you an easy place to start destigmatizing difference & celebrating racial diversity. Bold and *marked books are written or illustrated by #OwnVoices makers of color. Raising Luminaries is free and accessible for readers who can't afford a paywall. Donate or shop using an affiliate link via| Paypal | Venmo | Ko-fi | Buy a t-shirt | Buy a book Anti-Racism For Beginners: Part 1 Acknowledging & Celebrating Racial Diversity Posts may contain affiliate links, which allow me to earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Check out the full affiliate disclosure along with my statement of accountability. If you're into supporting libraries (please do!) more than consumerism, you can also support my work directly:

...

" How do I teach my kids to be anti-racist when I'm still learning myself?"
- Anonymous, Books For Littles Facebook Group (archived)

...

It's normal to get flustered when when our children talk about race. But if we let nervousness keep us silent and still, our fear becomes a weapon.

Growing up, I was told that discrimination would magically disappear if we stop acknowledging racial difference. All people are the same. Skin color doesn't matter. Only bad people are racist. If we are all nice and well-behaved, racism will go away.

This is the fallacy of colorblind ideology. It's a tool to keep us complicit in white supremacy. Don't be a tool.

We must talk about race with young kids. Racism thrives in silence.

When we refuse to talk about race at an early age, children absorb our silence as shame. We're taught that if we have nothing nice to say - say nothing at all. Well - white folks are aggressively silent when it comes to race! Does that mean that being Brown or Black is something to be ashamed of?

Kids pick up when we refuse to acknowledge racial difference - and how we treat people of color. Why are we surprised then, to see nice, well-behaved children reflect unconscious bias against people of color, then grow into adults who blame people of color for violence and harm against them?
(It's your job to be that adult.)
Your child needs at least one adult to speak truth to BS about racial assumptions.

My White mother who openly talked about race from birth - and how society would perceive and treat me because of my multiracial heritage. She raised me to understand that discrimination against me was not my fault. Violence would happen to me because of my race, my gender, my class but it wasn't caused by me - it was caused by white supremacy.

The Mominator refused to let me internalize the idea that I deserved racism. To do that, she first needed to acknowledge my race and the fact that I would have obstacles in life that white kids didn't.

We can help our children understand racism - and empower them to work toward racial equality.

Raise kids of color to feel proud of their culture and their right to self-advocate.

Raise white kids to recognize their duty to stand up against injustice.

But first, you've gotta acknowledge that racial differences - even though they are an imaginary, human-imagined construct, exist as a real thing in our society, with real-life impact on real-life people.

Start by telling our kids that yes - we do see skin color and racial identities.

For folks who were never given space to talk about racism and discrimination as kids (or even racial diversity), it's scary to start. We don't want to say the wrong thing and mess it up.

No worries, we are going to start very gently with non-controversial, easygoing books that just show kids that racial diversity exists. In future collections, we'll get into more emotionally loaded topics - like racial discrimination, racial privilege, colorism, and the subtle tools that uphold white supremacy, such as white fragility and respectability politics.

And this diversity is glorious.

Acknowledge & Celebrating Racial Diversity

From two anonymous BFL members:

"My daughter came home saying she didn't like her brown skin and wanted white skin and 'bright' hair instead. I'm looking for books that reinforce pride in who she is."

"My white daughter said to me the other day, 'I don't like dark skin. ' I ran to the internet to research books like these."

Yikes.

Use these comments as learning opportunities. Read these books to discuss biases they've absorbed during a quiet time home together (story time!) Encourage kids to speak bias aloud so they can hear how ridiculous it sounds, think about where it comes from, and realize how it develops.

When children point out that they like particular skin tones, body shapes, or hair textures more than others - don't shout at them or insist they are wrong. Kids this age can't untangle feelings from fact. Shaming them for a gut reaction is just going to get them to clam up.

Instead, help them untangle bias from fact on their own. Ask why they feel this way. Use in an open, non-judgemental tone. Keep asking questions to unpack these assumptions. We're not here to tell them what to think, we're here to model critical thinking about racial bias moving forward.

Discuss how all bodies are good bodies - how we differ, and what we have in common.

All Are Welcome, *Lovely, We're Different, We're The Same

Acknowledge & Celebrate Cultural Diversity

When we over-simplify racism, we tell kids that racism is simply bias against people based on skin color - it's not.
How do we counter the entrenched dominant narrative's focus on whiteness?
(That's colorism, another problem we can tackle later.)

Racism expands beyond skin color - it's assumptions and discrimination against individuals and groups of people, based on racial identity. This includes not just skin color, but also cultural norms and behavior, language, and other markers of racial and ethnic identity.
*On The Day You Begin, *Where Are You From?, *Alma And How She Got Her Name
White supremacy is assuming that racism would be over if people of color just assimilated and acted more like white people, that assimilation is even a goal for people of color, and that non-white culture is deviant or inferior to whiteness.

Read stories that show how people of color are not monolithic - we're complex individuals who can't be reduced to the caricatures of mainstream media. Our ethnic heritage is something valuable worth exploring, and our ancestors traditions, achievements, and challenges have an impact on who we are today.

But our race and ethnicity is not the only thing that defines us. Show kids how we all have a right to pride in our heritage - just not at the expense of punching down another culture.

Not pictured: *Islandborn is another lovely book, which I recommend with reservations. In 2018, several survivors came forth about Junot Díaz's problematic behavior toward women. One of these reports has been shown to have been overblown - but I'm not comfortable with the way we're dismissing all survivors of his actions because of this. The book itself is great - so I'll let you decide how to move forward with all that on your own.

Explain How Diversity Makes Us Stronger

Having a broad range of experiences to draw from, mindsets to brainstorm, and abilities to solve the problems facing humanity is a very good thing. Human diversity is good for all of humanity and evolution and stuff. I am pretty sure this is SCIENCE.

The idea that winnowing humanity into one make-believe-super-race, or segregating us all into silos based on our racial identity sounds ABSURD. Right? RIGHT?!

Obviously some families are not absorbing the fact that genetic diversity is good for society and the fate of humanity, so we have to make this clear. That whole 'melting pot' assimilation thing our teachers celebrated 20 years ago turned out to be a bad idea.

What we need is more of a chunky stew, with folks proudly retaining and celebrating our individual racial and cultural identities while cognizant of the challenges and discrimination many groups face. These books help kids see how diversity makes us stronger.

Stay Curious, Stand Brave & Talk About Race

Don't stop here. Now that your kids understand that human skin, hair, and all of that stuff comes in a broad change of colors, shapes, and textures - help them see how all people deserve basic human rights, respect, and kindness.

Click here for part 2 of raising Anti-Racist Kids - Children's Books That Teach Kids About Social Power & Paternalism

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Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race - Books For Littles by Raising Luminaries

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Books to help kids to unpack racial bias so they can hear how ridiculous it sounds, think about where it comes from, and realize how it develops.

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AAPI Heritage Month Post 14 | DEBtastic Reads!

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Because summer reading should be for ALL the people.

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Centering Black Lives: A Reading List for All Ages

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The Black Lives Matter movement is working to create a more just and equitable society by pushing for systemic reforms and raising awareness of violence and racism against African Americans and other Black people worldwide. The name of the movement, Black Lives Matter, is simple and direct, yet radical in asserting that Black people, and their history and lived experiences past and present, be seen, heard and known. One way to learn more is to read broadly about Black lives. This list brings together a varied group of memoirs by African American and Black authors, each of which shares their unique journey and perspectives, and illustrates some of the diversity of the Black experience. Although many of the authors describe experiences with personal or systemic racism, it is important to note that all of the authors also touch upon their full range of human experiences, including joy, humor and fun.

, by Jennifer Baszile.
, by Jacqueline Woodson.
, by Michael Twitty.
, by J. Drew Lanham.
Ages 14 and up., by Saeed Jones.
March Trilogy , by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.
Ages 12 and up., by Jamaica Kincaid.
Ages 15 and up. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom , by Lynda Blackmon Lowery.
Ages 11 and up. Ages 16 and up. Ages 14 and up. Ages 10 and up. Ages 14 and up.
The Black Girl Next Door is an engaging and authentic memoir focusing on Jennifer Baszile's childhood and adolescence as the daughter of a Black middle class family in a predominantly white California suburb in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Although the community was "integrated," she recounts several episodes of everyday racism that she experienced, including from white classmates and teachers. During her childhood and adolescence, Jennifer struggled to define herself as "the black girl next door" while living out her parents' dreams for Black excellence and high academic achievement. Although her family was often likened to the Huxtables of The Cosby Show, eventually the struggle to be the perfect Black family became an unbearable burden, and her parents' marriage faltered. However, along the way, Jennifer developed resilient strategies that enabled her to successfully navigate her school and neighborhood, despite its lack of inclusivity. Her story provides insight into the challenges that even economically privileged Blacks encounter due to racism.

In this acclaimed memoir, Jacquelyn Woodson shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South. She recalls what it was like to grow up in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow, and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights Movement. Woodson's eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. This engaging book is wonderful to read and discuss with family members or friends. Check out our Remote Book Club guide for tips on planning and conducting a book discussion.

In this wide-ranging memoir of Southern cuisine, Twitty explores his ancestry through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom. He touches on the culture wars of who "owns" Southern food, and celebrates the myriad ways food can bring people together across race, class, religion and geography. In it, he states "I dare to believe all Southerners are a family. We are not merely Native, European, and African. We are Middle Eastern and South Asian and East Asian and Latin American, now. We are a dysfunctional family, but we are family." Michael W. Twitty is a noted culinary and cultural historian and the creator of Afroculinaria , a blog exploring the culinary traditions of Africa, African America, and the African diaspora.

In Home Place, ornithologist, ecologist and Clemson University professor J. Drew Lanham writes expansively about his life and, in particular, his "love affair with nature." He writes about the influence of his family and community members in Edgefield, South Carolina, and the insights he gleaned about the natural environment by keenly observing it from a young age. A candid and revelatory window on the complicated relationship many African Americans have with the "land" that their ancestors were enslaved upon; Lanham's story reveals the many avenues of joy and connectedness to the earth, and the creatures on it, that sustain him. Check out this video featuring J. Drew Lanham, Bird-Watching While Black .

In this coming-of-age memoir, award winning poet Saeed Jones reflects on his struggle to accept his identity as a young, Black, gay man. Through a series of lyrically crafted vignettes, Jones charts the course of his young life from his birthplace in Memphis to his boyhood home in Texas, and then his pursuit of higher education in Kentucky and New Jersey. He draws the reader into his childhood and adolescence, talks about his calling as a writer, and shares his joys and struggles on the journey to embracing his identity as a Black gay man. Listen to Saeed Jones reflect on identity and acceptance in this NPR interview.

Congressman John Lewis was an American icon, and one of the key figures of the Civil Rights Movement. His commitment to justice took him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers on the Selma March to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president. He created March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and award winning artist Nate Powell to inspire a new generation of young activists. March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, his participation in the Selma March, and his deep commitment to non-violence, as well as a reflection on how much has and has not changed since the days of Jim Crow. To learn more, watch " Bridge to Freedom ," the episode of Eyes on the Prize focusing on the Selma to Montgomery march.

Jamaica Kincaid's book, My Brother, is both a memoir and a frank recounting of the life and death of her brother, Devon Drew, who died of AIDS in 1996 at the age of thirty-three. Although written in the 1990's, it takes on renewed relevance during the current dual public health crises of COVID-19 and systemic racism. It is also a story of Kincaid's family on the island of Antigua, led by the powerful, sometimes intimidating figure of the writer's mother. Her poetic perceptions of the lives of her brother and family comprise an unvarnished account of a life that ended too early, and a reflection about the complex feelings that linger after someone is gone.

In this gripping memoir, author Lynda Lowery shares her experiences of participating in the voting rights march of 1965 from Selma to Montgomery as a young teen. Younger by a decade than John Lewis, her voice is one that is not often heard: that of a young high school student involved in the movement. She describes the intimidation and use of racial epithets against protesters during the march, but also the significant role that students played in organizing and carrying out the student protests, often missing school in order to participate. The book includes archival photos and illustrations, and is a great book for a family to read and discuss together as a historical connection to the current student-led Black Lives Matter protests. To hear Lynda describe her experience on the march, check out this video. Consider reading alongside the March Trilogy (referenced above) and compare the perspectives and experiences of John Lewis and Lynda Lowery during the Selma March. Facing History often brings together students with changemakers. A couple of years ago, Facing History student leaders in Memphis were fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with Ms. Lowery about current voting rights activism.

--

Facing History invites educators to use our Teaching Idea, "Reflecting on George Floyd's Death and Police Violence Towards Black Americans," in the classroom.

PHOTO: A portion of the cover of the audiobook version of Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin Random House Audio).

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Centering Black Lives: A Reading List for All Ages

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The Black Lives Matter movement is working to create a more just and equitable society by pushing for systemic reforms and raising awareness of violence and racism against African Americans and other Black people worldwide.

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Children's and Adult's Books on Diversity

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Children's and Adult's Books on Diversity

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How do I get my name to show above? I'm in my Drive. Mary Ellen

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Resources for Diverse Learning in Schools

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) released the Recently, the Michigan Association for Media in Education ( MAME 2020 MISelf in Books List. MAME is an affiliate of AASL and works with librarians across the state of Michigan. The MISelf in Books List is an annual list of diverse books that were selected by a committee of certified school librarians who are members of MAME. For those who do not know MI is the abbreviation for the state of Michigan. The books included are all published in the last two years and written by #ownvoice authors. This list includes books for all grade levels: PreK-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

When you open the list. It is divided by grade level and then in alphabetical order by title. There is a short description of each book as well as a link to more information. When possible the titles were linked to the author or publisher's website.

Here ae six more things you might want to know:

The Committee

This list was created by a committee of fourteen MAME members. There were seven members who reviewed books for preschool through fifth grade. Then seven members reviewed books geared at sixth through twelfth grade. These members represented a variety of library types and worked with a range of student demographics. I had the opportunity to serve as a co-chair along with another amazing MAME member, Kerry Guiliano.

The Goals

We as librarians see the need to allow all of our students to see themselves in books. We also see the benefit of our students seeing those who are different from themselves represented. It can be a challenge to find titles that include authentic voices that are reflective of all. It can also be difficult to make sure the books that are purchased do not include stereotypes and bias, especially when you are not a member of the group being represented. You want to make sure you are providing high-quality literature at all levels. MAME saw a need to help school librarians achieve this task.

The goals set for this committee were:

Find books that have been published in the last 2 years

Each book had to be read by a committee member

All books were written by #ownvoices authors

Each book would be reviewed for bias and stereotypes

Lay the foundation for this list to continue into the future

The Vocabulary

As a committee, we started by defining what was meant by diversity. We decided to use the definition found on the We Need Diverse Books website. Additionally, we spent time discussing what was meant by #ownvoices. From there, we focused on the identities that we planned to look for and what each of those identities represented.

The Rubric

We recognized that we, as a committee, were not members of many of the identities we would be reading about. The committee wanted to make sure that we could look at each title individually while using the same criteria to evaluate it. We did not want to trust our own best intentions but instead have something concrete to use to help in our work. It was decided that using a rubric would allow us to be more objective.

We started by looking at the rubric from Teaching Tolerance called the Reading Diversity Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts. This rubric is geared toward evaluating classroom libraries but gave us a framework to start.

From there, we developed the MISelf in Books Rubric. This rubric was created through discussion by the committee members. It was how each book was reviewed. Since multiple people read and reviewed many of the titles this rubric allowed us to compare our thoughts easily.

Then this was converted into a Google Form. The reviews from the form were collected into a Google Sheet. This made analyzing and discussion much easier. One small change that we would recommend would be to create a list of genres for reviewers to choose from. It will provide more consistent responses when looking at the data in this area.

This rubric could be used in your library as well. I used it so many times as a part of this committee that now I continue to go through it in my head when I am making purchases for my school's collection.

The App

With the help of one of the amazing committee members, Kelly Boston, we were able to develop an app. The MISelf in Books App allows you to explore the list by grade level, title, and identity. If you click on the title you can see a short description and what identities are represented in the book. You can also find additional resources such as book trailers, teacher's guides, and author interviews. This app can be updated to include new titles in the future. Make sure to check it out!

The Screen-Reader Friendly Version

Since this list is reflective of all, the committee felt it needed to be accessible by all. The original list is organized in a table to allow for it to be visually easy to read. However, screen-readers and tables do not work well together so a screen-reader friendly version was also created.

I am excited about the work that was completed. Although I was helping to lead this committee, I felt like I learned more than I led. A new group of MAME members is already forming to create the 2021 list, and I am sure it will continue to be a great resource for librarians moving forward.

Sources:

Teaching Tolerance. 2016. "Reading Diversity: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts." https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/Reading-Diversity-v2-Redesign-WEB-Nov2017.pdf

We Need Diverse Books. 2021. About WNDB. https://diversebooks.org/about-wndb/

Author: Kelly Hincks

I am the librarian at Detroit Country Day Lower School in Bloomfield Hills, MI. I have worked as a librarian for the past nine years. I was a classroom teacher for four years prior to that. I have worked in charter, public, and private schools. My favorite thing about being a librarian is the opportunities I have to work both with students and teachers. I love the co-teaching opportunities and connections I have been able to make! I have served on AASL committees as a member and chair. I was most recently a member of ALA's Ready to Code (RtC) Task Force.

Categories: Advocacy/Leadership, Blog Topics, Collection Development, Professional Development

Tags: advocacy, books, collection development, diverse books, diversity, leadership, ownvoices, professional development, school librarians

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MISelf in Books: A Diverse Book List for All | Knowledge Quest

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released the Recently, the Michigan Association for Media in Education ( MAME 2020 MISelf in Books List. MAME is an affiliate of AASL and works with librarians across the state of Michigan. The MISelf in Books List is an annual list of diverse books that were selected by a committee of certified school librarians who are members of MAME.

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Notable Books for a Global Society: A K-12 List by the ILA

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Notable Books for a Global Society: A K-12 List by the ILA

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​Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello
By Monica Brown Illus. Elisa Chavarri
Lee & Low Books/Children's Book Press

Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice
By Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood Illus. Theodore Taylor III
Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press

Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women who Fought for the Right to Vote
By Veronica Chambers and the staff of The New York Times
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Versify

By Tami Charles Illus. Bryan Collier
Scholastic/Orchard Books

By Traci Chee
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/HMH Books

By Ernesto Cisneros
HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books

The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne
By Lesa Cline-Ransome Illus. John Parra
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read
By Rita Lorraine Hubbard Illus. Oge Mora
Penguin Random House/ Random House/Schwartz & Wade Books

The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth
By Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (Eds.)
Penguin Random House/ Random House/Crown

When Stars are Scattered
By Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed Illus. Victoria Jamieson; Color by Iman Geddy
Penguin Random House/Penguin for Young Readers/Dial Books

By Kim Johnson
Penguin Random House/Random House

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person
By Frederick Joseph
Candlewick Press

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story
By Aya Khalil
Illus. Anait Semirdzhyan Tilbury House

The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America
By Kathleen Krull Illus. Alexandra Bye
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books

Show Me a Sign
By Ann Clare LeZotte Scholastic/Scholastic Press

We are Water Protectors
By Carole Lindstrom Illus. Michaela Goade
Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press

By Trung Le Nguyen
Penguin Random House/RH Graphic

The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl who Soared beyond Expectations
By Aisholpan Nurgiav with Liz Welch Hachette
Book Group/Little/Brown

Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It
By Andrea Davis Pinkney Illus. Brian Pinkney
Hachette Book Group/Little, Brown

She was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm
By Katheryn Russell-Brown Illus. Eric Velasquez
Lee & Low Books

By Aida Salazar
Scholastic/ Scholastic Press

By Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham Illus. Yuko Shimizu
Penguin Random House/Penguin for Young Readers/G. P. Putnam's Sons

Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon
By Simran Jeet Singh Illus. Baljinder Kaur
Penguin Random House/Penguin for Young Readers/Kokila

The Teachers March!: How Selma's Teachers Changed History
By Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace Illus. Charly Palmer
Boyds Mill & Kane/Calkins Creek

By Gene Luen Yang
​Macmillan/First Second

With the Fire on High
By Elizabeth Acevedo
Harper Collins/Harper Teen

The Undefeated
By Kwame Alexander
Illus. by Kadir Nelson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Orange for the Sunsets
By Tina Athaide
Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books

Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson
By Jen Bryant
Illus. Cannaday Chapman
Abrams/Abrams Books for Young Readers

Martin & Anne, The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank
By Nancy Churnin
Illus. by Yevgenia Nayberg
Creston Books

New Kid
By Jerry Craft
Harper Collins/Harper

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
By Anika Aldamuy Denise
Illus. by Paola Escobar
Harper Collins/Harper

Dreams from Many Rivers
By Margarita Engle
Illus. Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez
Macmillan/Henry Holt/ Godwin Books

Todos Iquales / All Equal: Un corridor de Lemon Grove/ A Ballad of Lemon Grove
By Christy Hale
Lee & Low Books/Children's Books Press

Downstairs Girl
By Stacey Lee
Penguin Random House/Penguin/G.P. Putnam's Sons

Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist
By Julie Leung
Illus. Chris Sasaki
Penguin Random House/Random House/Schwartz & Wade

The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come
By Sue Macy
Illus. Stacy Innerst
Simon & Schuster/A Paula Wiseman Book

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
By Kevin Noble Maillard
Illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal
Roaring Brook Press

Indian No More
By Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell
Lee & Low Books/Tu Books

Lubna and Pebble
By Wendy Meddour
Illus. by Daniel Egenėus
Penguin Random House/Random House/Dial Books

Under the Broken Sky
By Mariko Nagai
Henry Holt/Christy Ottaviano Books

Thanku: Poems of Gratitude
By Miranda Paul (Ed.)
Illus. by Marlena Myles
Lerner/Millbrook Press

Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet
By Elizabeth Rusch
Illus. by Teresa Martinez
Charlesbridge

The Moon Within
By Aida Salazar
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books

At the Mountain's Base
By Traci Sorell
Illus. Weshoyot Alvitre
Penguin Random House/Penguin/Kokila WESHOYOT ALVITRE

Room on Our Rock
By Kate and Jol Temple
Illus. by Terri Rose Baynton
Kane Miller

Soldier for Equality: Josė de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War
By Duncan Tonatiuh
Abrams/Abrams Books for Young Readers

The Bridge Home
By Padma Venkatraman
Penguin Random House/Nancy Paulsen Books

The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen
Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border
By Juan Pablo Villalobos
Macmillan/Farrar Straus Giroux

Other Words for Home
By Jasmine Warga
Harper Collins/Balzer + Bray

What Do You Do With A Voice Like That?
By Chris Barton
Illus. by Ekua Holmes
Beach Lane Books

Counting on Katherine
By Helene Becker
Illus. by Dow Phumiruk
Henry Holt/Christy Ottaviano

Finding Langston
By Lesa Cline-Ransome
Holiday House

The Day War Came
By Nicola Davies
Illus. by Rebecca Cobb
Candlewick Press

Love
By Matt de la Peña
Illus. by Loren Long
Penguin Random House/
G.P. Putnam's Sons

The Crossroads
By Alexandra Diaz
Simon Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

The War Outside
By Monica Hesse
Little, Brown

The Night Diary
By Veera HIranandani
Penguin Group/Dial

Write On, Irving Berlin!
By Leslie Kimmelman
Illus. by David C. Gardner
Sleeping Bear Press

Saffron Ice Cream
By Rashin Kheiriyeh
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books

Drawn Together
By Minh Lê
Illus. by Dan Santat
Disney/Hyperion

Alma and How She Got Her Name
By Juana Martinez-Neal
Candlewick Press

La Frontera: El v iaje con papá-My Journey with Papa
By Deborah Mills and Alfredo Alva
Illus. by Claudia Navarro
Barefoot Books

Dreamers
By Yuyi Morales
Neal Porter Books

All Are Welcome
By Alexandra Penfold
Illus. by Suzanne Kaufman
Random House/Alfred A. Knopf Books

Ghost Boys
By Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown

Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein
By Jennifer Roy
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Amal Unbound
By Aisha Saeed
Penguin Random House/
Nancy Paulsen Books

Too Young to Escape: A Vietnamese Girl Waits to be Reunited with Her Family
By Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
and Van Ho
Pajama Press

The Cardboard Kingdom
By Chad Sell
Random House/Alfred A. Knopf/
Borzoi Books

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
By Traci Sorell
Illus. by Frané Lessac
Charlesbridge

Mommy's Khimar
By Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Illus. by Ebony Glenn
Simon & Schuster/Salaam Reads

The Prince and the Dressmaker
By Jen Wang
Roaring Brook Press/First Second

The Day You Begin
By Jacqueline Woodson
Illus. by Rafael López
Penguin Random House/
Nancy Paulsen Books

OUT OF WONDER: POEMS CELEBRATING POETS
Edited by Kwame Alexander
Illus. by Ekua Holmes
Candlewick

WHY AM I ME?
By Paige Britt, Sean Qualls, and Selina Alko
Scholastic

WISHTREE
By Katherine Applegate
Illus. by Charles Santoso
Feiwel & Friends

WALKING WITH MISS MILLIE
By Tamara Bundy
Penguin Group /Nancy Paulsen Books

LUCKY BROKEN GIRL
By Ruth Beha
Penguin Group/Nancy Paulsen Books

#NOT YOUR PRINCESS: Voices of Native American Women
Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
Annick Press

STOLEN WORDS
By Melanie Florence
Illus. by Gabrielle Grimard
Second Story Press

I LOVE MY PURSE
By Belle DeMont
Illus. by Sonja Wimmer
Annick Press

AN UNINTERRUPTED VIEW OF THE SKY
By Melanie Crowder
Penguin Group/Philomel

MY BEAUTIFUL BIRDS
By Suzanne Del Rizzo
Pajama Press

LETTERS TO A PRISONER
By Jacques Goldskyn
Owlkids Books

HER RIGHT FOOT
By Dave Eggers
Illus. by Shawn Harris
Chronicle Books

YO SOY MUSLIM: A FATHER'S LETTER TO HIS DAUGHTER
By Mark Gonzalez
Illus. by Mehrdokht Amini
Simon & Schuster Books

STORMY SEAS: STORIES OF YOUNG BOAT REFUGEES
By Mary Beth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare
Annick Press

ONE LAST WORD
By Nikki Grimes
Bloomsbury

TRELL
By Dick Lehr
Candlewick Press

DREAMLAND BURNING
By Jennifer Latham
Little Brown

WHERE WILL I LIVE?
By Rosemary McCarney
Second Story Press

FLYING LESSONS
Edited by Ellen Oh
Crown

SILENT DAYS, SILENT DREAMS
By Allen Say

LONG WAY DOWN
By Jason Reynolds
Simon & Schuster

THE 57 BUS
By Dashka Slater
Farrar, Strauss, Giroux

MAYA LIN: THINKING WITH HER HANDS
By Susan Goldman Rubin
Chronicle Books

PIECING ME TOGETHER
by Renee Watson
Bloomsbury​

Balcony on the Moon
By Ibtisam Barakat
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan
Talking Leaves
By Joseph Bruchac
Dial Books
Freedom Over Me
by Don Brown
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Watched: Someone Is Always Watching
By Marina Budhos
Wendy Lamb Books
Missing Nimama
By Melanie Florence
Illus. by Francois Thisdale
Clockwise Press
The Bone Sparrow
By Zana Fraillon
Disney Hyperion
The Tree in the Courtyard
By Jeff Gottesfeld
Illus. by Peter McCarty
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Vietnam: A History of the War
By Russell Freedman
Holiday House
Garvey's Choice
By Nikki Grimes
WordSong
Girl in the Blue Coat
By Monica Hesse
Little, Brown
Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
By Susan Hood
Illus. by Sally Wern
Comport Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

By Jung Jin-Ho
Holiday House
Every Falling Star
By Sungju Lee
Harry N. Abrams
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
By Debbie Levy
Illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley
Simon & Schuster
A Long Pitch Home
By Natalie Dias Lorenzi
Charlesbridge
Juana & Lucas
By Juana Medina
Candlewick Press
This Land Is Our Land: A History of America
By Linda Barrett Osborne
Abrams
A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy Day
By Andrea Davis Pinkney
Illus. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Viking Books for Young Readers
Towers Falling
By Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey
By Margriet Ruurs
Illus. by Nizar Badr
Orca Press
Salt to the Sea
By Ruda Sepatis
Philomel Books
Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story
By Caren Stelson
Lerner/Carolrhoda
The Sound of All Things
By Myron Uhlberg
Illus. by Ted Papoulas
Peachtree Publishers
Freedom in Congo Square
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illus. by R. Gregory Christie
Little bee books
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
by Susan Wood
Illus. by Duncan Tonatiuh
Charlesbrid

AUDACITY
by Melanie Crowder
Penguin Random House
BREAKTHROUGH: HOW THREE PEOPLE SAVED "BLUE BABIES" AND CHANGED MEDICINE FOREVER
by Jim Murphy
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
DROWNED CITY: HURRICANE KATRINA & NEW ORLEANS
by Don Brown
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ORBITING JUPITER
by Gary B. Schmidt
Clarion Books
RED
by Jan De Kinder; Translated by Laura Watkinson
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
DRUM DREAM GIRL: HOW ONE GIRL'S COURAGE CHANGED MUSIC
by Margarita Engle; illus. by Rafael López
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
MY STORY, MY DANCE: ROBERT BATTLE'S JOURNEY TO ALVIN AILEY
by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illus. by James E. Ransome
Simon & Schuster
ECHO
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Scholastic Press
FUNNY BONES: POSADA AND HIS DAY OF THE DEAD CALAVERAS
by Duncan Tonatiuh
Harry N. Abrams
GAME CHANGER: JOHN McCLENDON AND THE SECRET GAME
by John Coy; illus. by Randy DuBurke
Carolrhoda Books
GEORGE
by Alex Gino
Scholastic
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CRAZY HORSE
By Joseph Marshall III, illustrated by Jim Yellowhawk
Abrams: Amulet
JUNA'S JAR
by Jane Bahk; Illlus. By Felicia Hoshino.
Lee & Low
LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET
by Matt De La Peña
Penguin/G.P. Putnam
MAYA'S BLANKET/LE MANTA DE MAYA
by Monica Brown; Illus. by David Diaz
Lee & Low
RUBY ON THE OUTSIDE
by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Simon & Schuster
SITTING BULL: LAKOTA WARRIOR AND DEFENDER OF HIS PEOPLE
by S. D. Nelson
Abrams
STELLA BY STARLIGHT
by Sharon Draper
Simon & Schuster
STONE ANGEL
by Jane Yolen; illus. by Katie May Green
Philomel
THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS
Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong, Eds.
Pomelo Books
TIGER BOY
by Mitali Perkins
Charlesbridge
TWO WHITE RABBITS
by Jairo Buitrago, illus. by Rafael Yockteng; trans. by Elisa Amado
Groundwood
TUCKY JO AND LITTLE HEART
by Patricia Polacco
Simon & Schuster
WANGARI MAATHAI: THE WOMAN WHO PLANTED MILLIONS OF TREES
by Franck Prévot; illus. by Aurélia Fronty
Charlesbridge
VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER: THE SPIRIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
by Carol Boston Weatherford; Illus. by Ekua Holmes
Candlewick

I Lived on Butterfly Hill
by Marjorie Agosín
Trans. by E.M. O'Connor; illus. by Lee White
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum
El Deafo
by Cece Bell
Harry N. Abrams
Strike!: The Farm Workers Fight for Their Rights
by Larry Dane Brimner
Boyds Mills/Calkins Creek
Caminar
by Skila Brown
Candlewick
Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal
by Margarita Engle
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain
by Russell Freedman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Clarion
Grandfather Gandhi
by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus
Illus. by Evan Turk
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out
by Susan Kuklin
Candlewick
Harlem Hellfighters
by J. Patrick Lewis
Illus. by Gary Kelley
Creative Editions
Voices from the March on Washington
by J. Patrick Lewis & George Ella Lyon
Boyds Mills/WordSong
How It Went Down
by Kekla Magoon
Henry Holt
Migrant
by José Manuel Mateo
Illus. by Javier Martínez Pedro
Harry N. Abrams
The Turtle of Oman
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Harper Collins/Greenwillow
The Red Pencil
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Illus. by Shane W. Evans
Little, Brown
This Day in June
by Gayle E. Pittman
Illus. by Kristyna Litten
APA/Magination
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
by Katheryn Russell-Brown
Illus. by Frank Morrison
Lee & Low
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & her family's fight for desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh
Harry N. Abrams
House of Purple Cedar
by Tim Tingle
Cinco Puntos
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin
by Chieri Uegaki
Illus. by Qin Leng
Kids Can Press
A Time to Dance
by Padma Venkatraman
Penguin/Nancy Paulsen
Like Water ON Stone
by Dana Walrath
Random House/Delacorte
Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
Penguin/Nancy Paulsen
Arcady's Goal
by Eugene Yelchin
Henry Holt
Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank
by Paula Yoo
Illus. by Jamel Akib
Lee & Low

Fiction: Realistic & Fantasy
If I Ever Get Out of Here
by Gansworth Eric
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books

The Vine Basket
by La Valley Josanne
Houghton Mif[lin Harcourt/Clarion Books

The Language Inside
by Thompson Holly
Random House/Delacorte

The Servant
by Sharafeddine Fatima
House of Anansi Press/Groundwood Books

The Milk of Birds
by Whitman Sylvia
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum

Historical Fiction
The Lightning Dreamer
by Engle Margarita
Houghton Mif[lin Harcourt/Harcourt

Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War
by Frost Helen
Farrar Straus Giroux/Frances Foster Books

Nonfiction
Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids
by Ellis Deborah
House of Anansi Press/Groundwood

Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music that Changed the World
by Robertson Robbie, Guerinot Jim, Robertson Sebastian, and Levine Jared
Tundra Books

Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People
by Rubin Susan Goldman
Abrams

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers
by Stone Tanya Lee
Candlewick Press

Why Do We Fight? ConWlict, War, and Peace
by Walker Niki
Owlkids

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
by Hill Laban Carrick
Illus. Theodore Taylor III.
Roaring Brook

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale
by Tonatiuh Duncan
Abrams

When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders
by Lewis J. Patrick
Illus. Jim Burke, R. Gregory Christie, Tonya Engel, John Parra, and Meilo So.
Chronicle Books

Graphic Novels
A game for swallows: To die, to leave, to return
by Zeina Abirached
Trans. Edward Gauvin
Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Group

Darkroom: A memoir in black and white
by Lila Quintero Weaver
Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press

Fiction: Realistic & Fantasy
My book of life by Angel
by Martine Leavitt
New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/MacMillan

Starry river of the sky
by Grace Lin
New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company

Red thread sisters
by Carol Antoinette Peacock
New York, NY: Viking/Penguin Young Readers

Historical Fiction
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano
by Sonia Manzano
New York, NY: Scholastic

No crystal stair: A documentary novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem bookseller
by Vaunda Michaux Nelson
Illus. by Christie R. Gregory
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner

Shadow on the mountain: A novel inspired by the true adventures of a wartime spy
by Margi Preus
New York, NY: Amulet

The lynching of Louie Sam
by Elizabeth Stewart
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Annick Press

Hope and tears: Ellis Island voices
by Gwenyth Swain
Honesdale, PA: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills Press

Nonfiction
Kids of Kabul: Living bravely through a never-ending war
by Deborah Ellis
Toronto: Groundwood

We've got a job: The 1963 Birmingham children's march
by Cynthia Levinson
Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers

Hand in hand: Ten black men who changed America
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
New York, NY: Jump at the Sun Books/Disney

That mad game. Growing up in a war zone: An anthology of essays from around the globe
by J.L.Powers (Ed.)
El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press

Picturebooks
Ganesha's sweet tooth
by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes
Illus. by Sanjay Patel
San Francisco, CA: Chronicle

The stamp collector
by Jennifer Lanthier
Illus. by François Thisdale
Toronto, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Hands around the library: Protecting Egypt's treasured books
by Susan L. Roth and Karen Leggett Abouraya
Illus. by Susan L. Roth
New York, NY: Dial/The Penguin Group

Monsieur Marceau
by Linda Schubert
Illus. by Gerard Dubois
New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press/MacMillan

I lay my stitches down: Poems of American slavery
by Cynthia Grady
Illus. by Michele Wood
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
​

While You Are Sleeping
Author & Illustrator: Durga Burnhard
Charlesbridge

Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina
Author: Carmine T. Bernier-Grand
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Marshall Cavendish

Five Thousand Years of Slavery
Author: Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen
Tundra

Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan
Author: Rafal Gerszak with Dawn Hunter
Annick Press

Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts about Peace
Author: Anna Grossnickle Hines
Henry Holt

Which Side Are You On?
Author: George Ella Lyon
Illustrator: Christopher Cardinale
Cinco Puntos Press

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families
Author: Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore
Illustrator: Susan L. Roth
Lee and Low

PICTURE BOOKS
Saltypie; A Choctaw journey from darkness into light
by Tim Tingle.
Illus. by Karen Clarkson.
Cinco Puntos Press

Seeds of Change: planting a path to peace
by Jen Cullerton Johnson
Lee and Low Books

Black Jack; the ballad of Jack Johnson
by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Illus. by Shane W. Evans,
Roaring Brook Press

Fiction
8th Grade Super Zero
by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich.
Arthur A. Levine Books

Heart of a Samurai; based on the true story of Nakahama Manjiro.
by Margi Preus.
Amulet Books

Lost Boy, Lost Girl; escaping civil war in Sudan
by John Bul Dau.
National Geographic

They Called Themselves the KKK
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
Houghton Mifflin

Sugar Changed the World
by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos.
Clarion Books

PICTURE BOOKS
14 Cows for America.
Carmen Agra Deedy in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah.
Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez.
Atlanta: Peachtree

NON-FICTION
After Gandhi; one hundred years of nonviolent resistance.
Anne Sibley O'Brien and Perry Edmond O'Brien
Charlesbridge

Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life; a story of sustainable farming.
Jan Reynolds
NY: Lee & Low

Denied, Detained Deported; the dark side of American immigration.
Ann Bausum.
National Geographic

Every Human Has Rights. A Photographic Declaration for Kids.
National Geographic

Truce; the day the soldiers stopped fighting.
Jim Murphy
NY: Scholastic

Bad News for Outlaws; the remarkable life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal.
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.
Illus. by R. Gregory Christie
Minneapolis: Carolghoda

Claudette Colvin; twice toward justice.
Phillip Hoose
NY: Melanie Kroupa ​

Poetry
Alarcon, Francisco X. (2008).
Animal poems of the Iguazu/Animalario del Iguazu.
Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez.
San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press.

Greenberg, Jan. (2008).
Side by side: New poems inspired by art from around the world.
New York: Abrams.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. (2008).
The boy who dared.
New York: Scholastic.

Realistic Fiction
Carter, Anne Laurel. (2008).
The shepherd's granddaughter.
Toronto: Groundwood Books.

Zenatti, Valerie. (2008).
A bottle in the Gaza Sea.
New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books.

Picturebooks

Fox, Mem. (2008).
Ten little fingers and ten little toes.
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.
New York: Harcourt.

Nonfiction (Includes Biography)
Bellward, Stacy. (2008).
Ethiopian voices: Tsion's life.
Photographs by Erlend Berge.
Brooklyn Park, MN: Amharic Kids.

Bolden, Tonya. (2008).
George Washington Carver.
Published in association with the Field Museum, Chicago. New York: Abrams.

D'Aluisio, Faith. (2008).
What the World Eats.
Photographs by Peter Menzel.
Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.

Kuklin, Susan. (2008).
No choirboy: Murder, violence, and teenagers on death row.
New York: Henry Holt.
Milway, Katie Smith (2008).

One hen: How one small loan made a big difference.
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.
Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press.

Nelson, Kadir. (2008).
We are the ship: The story of Negro League baseball.
New York: Jump- at-the-Sun/Hyperion Books for Children.

Nivola, Claire A. (2008).
Planting the trees of Kenya: The story of Wangari Maathai.
New York: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ​

​Alexie, Sherman.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Art by Ellen Forney.
Boston: Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007.

Beah, Ishmael.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007.

Compestine, Ying Chang.
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party.
New York: Henry Holt, 2007.

Fleischman, Paul.
Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella.
Illustrated by Julie Paschkis.
New York: Henry Holt, 2007.

Sis, Peter.
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.
New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2007.

Stanton, Karen.
Papi's Gift.
Illustrated by Rene King Moreno.
Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2007.

Strauss, Rochelle.
One Well: The Story of Water on Earth.
Illustrated by Rosemary Woods.
Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2007.

Thompson, Lauren.
Ballerina Dreams: A True Story.
Photographs by James Estrin.
New York: Holtzbrink, 2007.

Williams, Karen Lynn & Mohammed, Khadra.
Four Feet, Two Sandals.
Illustrated by Doug Chayka.
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Wise, Bill.
Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer.
Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth.
New York: Lee & Low, 2007.

Boyne, John.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
New York: David Fickling, 2006.

Campoy, F. Isabel. & Ada, Alma F.
Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection.
Illustrated by Felipe Davalos, Viva Escriva, Susan Guevara, Leyla Torres.
New York: Atheneum, 2006.

Diakite, Penda.
I Lost My Tooth in Africa.
Illustrated by Bab Wague Diakite.
New York: Scholastic, 2006.

Draper, Sharon. Copper Sun. New York: Atheneum, 2006.

Freedman, Russell.
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
New York: Holiday House, 2006.

Greenfield, Eloise.
When the Horses Ride By.
Illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.
New York: Lee & Low, 2006.

Hopkinson, Deborah.
Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America.
New York: Scholastic, 2006.

Kessler, Cristina.
Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa.
Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins.
New York: Holiday House, 2006.

Lee-Tai, Amy.
A Place Where Sunflowers Grow.
Illustrated by Felicia Hoshino.
San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press, 2006.

McCutcheon, John.
Christmas in the Trenches.
Illustrated by Henri Sorensen.
Atlanta, GA: Peachtree, 2006.

McKissack, Patricia.
Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters.
Illustrated by Andre Carrilho.
New York: Schwartz & Wade, 2006.

Rubin, Susan Goldman. with Ela Weissberger.
The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin.
New York: Holiday House, 2006.

Shoveller, Herb.
Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together.
Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can Press, 2006.

Tingle, Tom.
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom.
Illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges.
El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2006.

Weatherford, Carol Boston.
Dear Mr. Rosenwald.
Illustrated by Gregory R. Christie.
New York: Scholastic, 2006.

Weatherford, Carol Boston.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
New York: Jump at the Sun, 2006.

Ahmadi, Farah.
The story of my life: An Afghan girl on the other side of the sky.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell.
Hitler youth: Growing up in Hitler's shadow.
New York: Scholastic, 2005.

Carling, Amelia Lau.
Sawdust carpets.
Toronto: Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre, 2005.

Chamberlin, Mary and Chamberlin, Rich.
Mama Panya's pancakes: A village tale from Kenya.
Illustrated by Julia Cairns.
Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books, 2005.

Hillman, Laura.
I will plant you a lilac tree: A Memoir of a Schindler's list survivor.
New York: Atheneum, 2005.

Johnson-Davis, Denys.
Goha the wise fool.
Illustrated by Hag Handy and Hany.
New York: Philomel, 2005.

Jurmain, Suzanne.
The forbidden schoolhouse: The true and dramatic story of Prudence Crandall and her students.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Krinitz, Esther Nisenthal and Steinhardt, Bernice.
Memories of survival.
New York: Hyperion, 2005.

Nelson, Marilyn.
A wreath for Emmett Till.
Illustrated by Philippe Lardy.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Rappaport, Doreen.
The school is not white! A true story of the Civil Rights Movement.
Illustrated by Curtis James.
New York: Hyperion, 2005.

Reich, Susanna.
José!: Born to dance: The story of José Limon.
Illustrated by Raul Colón.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Ruurs, Martriet.
My librarian is a camel: How books are brought to children around the world.
Honsdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2005.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher.
Under the persimmon tree.
New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2005.

Weatherford, Carole Boston.
A Negro league scrapbook.
Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2005.

Williams, Mary.
Brothers in hope: The story of the lost boys of Sudan.
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.
New York: Lee & Low Books, 2005.

Yoo, Paula.
Sixteen years in sixteen seconds.
Illustrated by Don Lee.
New York: Lee & Low Books, 2005. ​

MacDonald, Margaret Read.
Three minute tales: Stories from around the world to tell or read when time is short.
August House, 2004.

Myers, Walter Dean.
Here in Harlem: Poems in many voices.
Holiday House, 2004.

Picture Books (Realistic Fiction)
Kyuchukov, Hristo.
My name was Hussein.
Illustrated by Allan Eitzen.
Boyds Mills, 2004.

Raven, Margot Theis.
Circle unbroken.
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis.
Melanie Kroupa/Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2004.

Picture Books (Historical Fiction)
Hall, Bruce Edward.
Henry and the kite dragon.
Illustrated by William Low.
Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004.

Woodson, Jacqueline.
Coming on home soon.
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis.
Putnam/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004.

Realistic Fiction

Kessler, Cristina.
Our secret, Siri Aang.
Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004.

Singer, Marilyn (Ed.).
Face relations: 11 stories about seeing beyond color.
Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Historical Fiction
Chotjewitz, David.
Daniel half human and the good Nazi.
Trans. by Doris Orgel.
Richard Jackson/Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Nonfiction: Informational Books & Biographies
Freedman, Russell.
The voice that challenged a nation: Marian Anderson and the struggle for equal rights.
Clarion, 2004.

Hill, Laban Carrick.
Harlem stomp!: A cultural history of the Harlem Renaissance.
Megan Tingley/Little, Brown, 2004.

Turner, Pamela S.
Hachiko: The true story of a loyal dog.
Illus. by Yan Nascimbene.
Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Warren, Andrea.
Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War orphan became an American boy.
Melanie Koupa/Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2004.

Weber, Ednah New Rider.
Rattlesnake Mesa: Stories from a Native American childhood.
Photos. by Richela Renkun.
Lee & Low Books, 2004

Cave, K. (2003).
One child, one seed: A South African counting book.
Illustrated by Gisèle Wulfsohn.
New York: Henry Holt.

Dennis, Y. W., & Hirschfelder, A. (2003).
Children of Native America today.
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishers.

Edwardson, D. D. (2003).
Whale snow.
Illustrated by Annie Patterson.
Watertown, MA: Talewinds/Charlesbridge.

Fleming, C. (2003).
Boxes for Katje.
Illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen.
NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Krull, K. (2003).
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez.
Illustrated by Yuyi Morales.
New York: Harcourt.

Jung, R, (1996 published in German /2003 published in English).
Dreaming in black & white.
Translated by Anthea Bell.
New York: Phyllis Fogelman Books.

Mankell, H. (2003).
Secrets in the fire.
Translated by Anne Connie Struksrud.
Buffalo, NY: Annick Press.

Morales, Y. (2003).
Just a minute: A trickster tale and counting book.
San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Morpurgo, M. (1999 published in Great Britain; 2003 published in U.S.)
Kensuke's kingdom.
New York: Scholastic Press.

Naidoo, B.
Out of bounds: Seven stories of conflict and hope.
New York: HarperCollins.

Philip, N. (2003).
Horses hooves and chicken feet: Mexican folktales.
Illustrated by Jacqueline Mair.
New York: Clarion Books.

Sacre, A. (2003).
The barking mouse.
Illustrated by Alfredo Aguirre. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Co.

Shea, P. D., & Weill, C. (2003).
Ten mice for Tet.
Illustrated by To Ngox Trang.
Embroidery by Pham Viet Dinh.
San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Smothers, E. F. (2003).
The hard-times jar.
Illustrated by John Holyfield.
New York: Frances Foster Books/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Tingle, T. (2003).
Walking the Choctaw Road: Stories from Red People Memory.
El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Tryszynska, L. as told to Michelle R. McCann. (2003).
Luba: Angel of Bergen-Belsen.
Illustrated by Ann Marshall.
Berkeley CA: Tricycle Press.
​

Bial, R. (2002).
Tenement: Immigrant life on the lower east side.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Crowe, C. (2002).
Mississippi trial, 1955.
New York: Phyllis Fogelman/Penguin Putnam.

Freedman, R. (2002).
Confucius: The golden rule.
Illustrated by Frederic Clement.
New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

Hoffman, M. (2002).
The color of home.
Illustrated by Karin Littlewood.
New York: Phyllis Fogelman Putnam.

Nye, N. S. (2002).
19 varieties of gazelle: Poems of the Middle East.
New York: Greenwillow.

Orozco, J. L. (2002).
Fiestas: A year of Latin American songs and celebration.
Illustrated by Elisa Kleven.
New York: Dutton.

Park, F., & Park, G. (2002).
Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong.
Illustrated by Yangsook Choi.
Washington, DC: National Geographic.

UNICEF. (2002).
A life like mine: How children live around the world.
New York: DK Publishing.

Wong, J. S. (2002).
Apple pie 4th of July.
Illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine.
San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

Chen, D. (2001).
China's son: Growing up in the Cultural Revolution.
New York: Delacorte Press.

Cooper, M. L. (2001).
Slave spirituals and the Jubilee Singers.
New York: Clarion Books.

Garland, S. (2001).
Children of the dragon: Selected tales from Vietnam.
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.
San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

Hoyt-Goldsmith, D. (2001).
Celebrating Ramadan.
Photographs by Lawrence Migdale.
New York: Holiday House.

Johnston, T. (2001).
Any small goodness: A novel of the barrio.
Illustrated by Raúl Colón.
New York: Blue Sky/Scholastic.

Johnston, T. (2001).
Uncle rain cloud.
Illustrated by.Fabricio VandenBroeck.
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Lipp, F. (2001).
The caged birds of Phnom Penh.
Illustrated by Ronald Himler.
New York: Holiday House.

Mckissack, P. C. (2001).
Goin' someplace special.
Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.
New York City: Atheneum.

Tunnell, M. O. (2001).
Brothers in valor: A story of resistance.
New York: Holiday House.

Deedy, C. A. (2000).
The yellow star: The legend of King Christian X of Denmark.
Illustrated by Henri Sørensen.
Atlanta: Peachtree Publications.

Gold, A. L. (2000).
A special fate : Chiume Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust.
New York: Scholastic Books.

Govenar, A, (Ed.). (2000).
Osceola: Memories of a sharecropper's daughter.
Illustrated by Shane W. Evans.
New York: Hyperion.

Herrera, J. F. (2000).
The upside down boy, El niño de cabeza.
llustrated by Elizabeth Gomez.
San Francisco: Children's Book Press.

Herschler, M. B. (2000).
The darkest corner.
Asheville, North Carolina: Front Street.

Rubin, S. G. (2000).
Fireflies in the dark: The story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the children of Terezin.
New York: Holiday House.

Hamanaka, S., & Ayano O. (1999).
In search of the spirit: The living national treasures of Japan.
Illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka.
Calligraphy by Ayano Ohmi.
New York: Morrow Junior Books.

Harrell, B. O. (1999).
Longwalker's journey: A novel of the Choctaw Trail of Tears.
New York: Dial.

Hopkinson, D. (1999).
A band of angels: A story inspired by the Jubilee Singers.
Illustrated by Raúl Colón.
New York: Atheneum.

Left Hand Bull, J., & Haldane, S. (1999).
Lakota hoop dancer.
Photographs by Suzanne Haldane.
New York: Dutton.

Myers, W. D. (1999).
At her majesty's request: An African princess in Victorian England.
New York: Scholastic.

Silverman, E. (1999).
Raisel's riddle.
Illustrated by Susan Gaber.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Wells, R. (1999).
Streets of gold.
Illustrated by Dan Andreasen.
New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

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​Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello By Monica Brown Illus. Elisa ChavarriLee & Low Books/Children's Book Press Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice By Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood Illus.

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Thematic Booklists! - Penguin Classroom Portal

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To help you discover, curate, and plan, we've created thematic booklists for readers gradres PreK-12. These interactive booklists allow you to download the PDF, click the book covers to find out more about each book along with any available educator and library resources.

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In Michigan, our school library association has created a committee that will select some of the best diverse books each year (by grade level).  Our 2020 list can be found at: https://bit.ly/MISelfinBooks2020  There is an accompanying app: https://miselfinbooks.glideapp.io/  [Presentation with resources: http://bit.ly/MAMEdiversep ]  Our 2021 list will be announced this Fall.  If you need support finding diverse books -- reach out to your school librarian. --Kathy Lester

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In Michigan, our school library association has created a committee that will select some of the best diverse books each year (by grade level).  Our 2020 list can be found at: https://bit.ly/MISelfinBooks2020  There is an accompanying app: https://miselfinbooks.glideapp.io/  [Presentation with resources: http://bit.ly/MAMEdiversep ]  Our 2021 list will be announced this Fall.  If you need support finding diverse books -- reach out to your school librarian. --Kathy Lester

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http://bit.ly/MAMEdiversep