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The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child's Bookshelf | Grace Lin | TEDxNatick

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Missing Adventures: Diversity and Children's Literature | Brynn Welch | TEDxEHC

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NOTE: This post was originally published and written for Literacy Today, a publication of the International Literacy Association (ILA). Click on the image at the right to download or print a PDF of the original article (and click here browse the entire issue).

In May 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its Hate at School report. Using information gathered from teacher questionnaires and news media reports, the SPLC found an alarming uptick in the number of incidents of hate and bias occurring in U.S. schools. Teachers reported that the most common driver of these incidents was racial or ethnic bias, with anti-LGBTQ bias a close second. Furthermore, a majority of these incidents occurred in spaces where adults were present: 32% in classrooms and 37% in shared spaces such as hallways, bathrooms, or other parts of the building.
Think about what that means. The majority of incidents of hate and bias occur in the presence of adults.
As teachers, we do our best to make sure that all of our students are safe and seen in our schools. But the truth is that even the most well-intentioned teachers will miss things-harmful things- sometimes in our own classrooms. What might be the microaggressions, for example, against Indigenous students, students of color, and LGBTQ students occurring in our classrooms that teachers-who are overwhelmingly white in the United States-may not notice? What unexamined biases do we as educators bring into our classrooms that could have a potentially harmful impact on our kids?

As literacy teachers, we have one of the most powerful resources available to fight against hate and bias: We have stories. The stories-and, more important, the counter-stories, the counternarratives-that we choose to share with students are instrumental in helping all our students be seen and heard, appreciated and understood. This is especially critical for students from communities whose stories are too often oversimplified, misrepresented, or rendered invisible in the dominant culture and mainstream media. Thus, centering and amplifying minoritized perspectives can help to foster community and the type of solidarity that counteracts and perhaps even prevents incidents of hate and bias in our schools.

STEPS TO TAKE

I am heartened by the inclusion of more diverse voices in the curriculum, but the truth is that it's not enough. Although schools may bring more "diverse" texts into the curriculum, these "contributions" and "ethnic additive" approaches, in the words of researcher James A. Banks, do little to actually change the system of power that marginalized those voices in the first place. After all, efforts to "diversify" the curriculum have been going on for decades, yet we know that inequities persist. Furthermore, "diverse" curricula can often mask systemic problems, including the fact that black, Latinx, and Indigenous students continue to be underrepresented in higher level academic courses while also disproportionately disciplined.

To be clear, including more diverse voices in our curriculum is an important, necessary step. Our students deserve windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, to borrow language from scholar Rudine Sims Bishop, that represent the richness of their own lives and the lives of others. But our efforts cannot end there. We must interrogate not just what we teach but how and why. Some suggestions to think about:

Begin with the premise that public schools never intended to educate all children equally and look for the ways in which this holds true today. Likewise, the curriculum has never been neutral, but always ideological. In making decisions about what texts to include, look for the voices that are marginalized or missing and bring those voices into your text sets.

Consider the role that race and whiteness have played in your own socialization, particularly around your beliefs about schooling. How does your own racial socialization inform not only the types of texts you may value, but also the types of instructional choices you make?

Center the counternarratives. Although pairings of traditional canonical texts with voices of color offer rich possibilities for comparison, diverse texts can also stand on their own.

Include a diversity of voices within marginalized groups. To what extent are you perpetuating or challenging stereotypes based on your patterns of text selection?

Be mindful of the positionality of texts and the message this positionality sends. Are diverse voices centered in the curriculum as core and mentor texts, or are they optional? Does the entire class read The Great Gatsby while the books by authors of color are offered as summer reading, book clubs, or literature circles?

Know your purpose for adding or removing a text. Creating a more inclusive curriculum is not simply about replacing texts written by "dead, white males." It is about addressing the racism, sexism, homophobia, and other problematic issues reflected in these texts-and choosing better. Follow the discussions and participate in chats online like #DisruptTexts, #ClearTheAir, #THEBOOKCHAT, and #BreakRank.

Keep the issues facing people of color and Indigenous peoples current. Racism is not a problem of the past, solved by the Civil Rights era, but a continuing problem today. Create text sets that show the complexities of these issues in both historical and contemporary contexts. Colonization was not an event centered on 1492; Settler-colonialism continues today.

Resist color-avoidant* readings of texts. If a text includes any form of bigotry, be sure to address and unpack this with students. Otherwise, students might see silence as tacit acceptance of these attitudes.

Understand that not all oppression is the same. Anti-black racism manifests itself differently than sexism, and drawing a false equivalence among them can cause more harm.

Learn and relearn the history of Indigenous people, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. Because we often use literature to better understand people and time periods-and because our own understanding of history is often incomplete, if not inaccurate-bringing a more accurate understanding of history when we study a text is critical. Reading books like An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (Beacon Press) by Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz can be critical in this work (and don't miss the adaptation for young people).

DISRUPT THE SYSTEM

It's no doubt that equity work can feel overwhelming, especially as many of the problems in education are systemic. But as #DisruptTexts cofounder Kim Parker recently reminded me, people make up systems. And if we are people committed to equity, then we must understand our role in these systems and how we might disrupt them.

So diversify the curriculum, yes- but let's not stop there.

*NOTE: This language was changed from the originally published version to remove ableist language.

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NOTE: This post was originally published and written for Literacy Today, a publication of the International Literacy Association (ILA). Click on the image at the right to download or print a PDF of the original article (and click here browse the entire issue). In May 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its Hate...

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21 Free Resources for Teaching Social Justice

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21 Free Resources for Teaching Social Justice

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With no federal standards for the topic in place, teachers are left to their own devices for creating or finding social justice lesson plans. Our country's history is rich with resistance, organizing, and civil rights campaigning-but for many teachers, these movements seem new.

If you want to guide your students through conversations about inclusion, diversity, and equity, it's important to both teach the history and build upon the work of the countless people who contributed to social justice movements throughout the years.

From habeus corpus for Native Americans, to women's suffrage, to civil rights, none of these freedoms were granted without collective organizing. Unfortunately, many of these stories are invisible. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Make 2019 the year you stretch yourself. Here are 22 free resources for social justice lesson plans.

Take a deep dive with these curriculum planning resources:

We love this website from the Southern Poverty Law Center. It provides free lesson-building materials for teachers of kindergarten through high school. These award-winning resources include everything from a simple weekly newsletter, to magazine articles, to an in-depth lesson-plan builder. With the tool, you can share your learning plan with colleagues for collaborative projects and units. And it doesn't stop there. Teaching Tolerance also offers both self-guided and facilitated professional developments, in person and via webinars.

Okay, we'll stop gushing now and share how this teacher helped destigmatize menstruation at her school -just in time for Women's History Month! Consider building a lesson from staff writer Coshandra Dillard's amazing article.

You might not think about poetry when you think of social justice. But Poets.org has been assisting teachers in teaching historical & contemporary issues through poetry since 1960. Enjoy a monthly curriculum calendar, plus a database of poems filtered by issue and era, and lesson plans designed to teach students about social issues through poetry. BONUS: Sign up for the convenient poem-a-day newsletter for poems and commentary delivered to your inbox.

6 Lessons Plans We Love for Creating Inclusive Communities and Combatting Racism

We are so excited to share these free lesson plans from the Islamic Networks Group (ING) on addressing racism, creating inclusive communities, and building equity. What we love about this unit is how it centers on narratives. Students have the opportunity to look at the origins and history of narratives about people across ethnicities and racialized religious groups and consider their relationship to implicit bias and racism. It also offers young people powerful counter-narratives and ways they can act to counter racism.

These lessons are designed for middle and high school. They would be a great complement to your U.S. history, world history, current events, or ethnic studies course. And ING's work focuses on developing an understanding not just of Muslims, but of all marginalized groups.

These lesson plans are so good they won the 2018 Human and Civil Rights Award (sponsored by the National Education Association).

Created by various groups and individuals-including the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of present-day Idaho, DREAMer Daniel Rodriguez, and Writers in the Schools collaborator Susan Bartley-these K-12 lessons cover subjects related to English, art, and humanities. Links include handouts as well as Common Core equivalencies.

Hey all you data nerds! This three-part project plots open-source historical information into a timeline that looks at both freedom and confinement in the United States.

Use the online interactive experience, a free curriculum guide, and the website's media collection to help your students think critically about who has access to freedom and under which circumstances.

Stay current on evolving social justice issues and happenings. Add these social media influencers and hashtags to your feed:

Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit magazine and book publisher dedicated to strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. While their books are fab, follow them and the hashtag #SoJustEdu to stay in the loop when you don't have time for extra reading. Their feed helps teachers remember significant but underpublicized historical events and stay current on current events like the #Unite4OaklandKids teachers' strike.

If you are looking for monthly chats on language, culture, self-care, and equity, then be sure to follow this hashtag. Organized by a collective of activists of color, EduColor is here to promote intersectional diversity and provide expert resources that help teachers do their part in deconstructing the oppression that lives within the school system.

#DisruptTexts is a Twitter chat founded by Tricia Ebarvia , Lorena German , Dr. Kim Parker , and Julia Torres . The goal is to challenge the traditional language arts canon and create a more inclusive curriculum. Here's how to participate in #DisruptTexts .

This Instagram account discusses parenting and educating through a race-critical lens. You'll love this account for the book recommendations, social commentaries, and critical articles it shares. Click follow and prepare for an elevated consciousness! Be prepared to think twice when selecting books for your class library, but fear not because this influencer provides a variety of equitable alternatives.

Liz Kleinrock is a 2018 Teaching Tolerance Award Winner and TED Talk presenter. @teachandtransform is her anti-bias education platform, where she offers simple and practical shifts for teachers to make their classrooms more inclusive and equitable. Enjoy real-life snapshots of Liz's whiteboard and learn as she learns along the way!

Listen up! Stream these helpful podcasts on your morning commute:

You can find this St. Louis-based, grassroots, teacher-led podcast on iTunes, and it covers issues on race, gender, sexuality, language, and more. Its presence was short but sweet. Listen to the final episode about how to unconditionally support LGBTQ+ youth.

We'll be honest: We love all of the resources from Cult of Pedagogy! But the podcast is extra helpful for the self-proclaimed teacher nerds (like us) who want to hear about teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, and educational technology-many with a social justice lens. Listen to this recent episode with Pedro Noguera about 10 ways educators can take action in pursuit of equity.

Another resource for more than social justice, the Truth for Teachers podcast is a top-ten podcast for K-12 educators. In this episode, Angela Watson speaks with Dr. Travis Bristol, a former teacher now researching at UC Berkeley. Travis is also the principal investigator for the NYC Young Men's Initiative, which focuses on recruiting and supporting 1,000 male teachers of color. Listen to this episode about why most teachers are white women and how schools can support more diverse faculties. What do you think?

You can rely on these done-for-you activities to promote critical discussion:

This beautiful collection of multimedia includes films, essays, and photography highlighting the universal themes of humanity. Special collections include hot topics like climate change, migration, and endangered cultures. The artwork within all the collections is beautiful, but the bonus is that the webpage offers lesson plans for teachers! Help "bring the world to your classroom" and have a look today.

The Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media-literacy web resource for educators and students ages 8-21.

CMP provides relevant media clips and follow-up discussion questions based on Common Core Standards that engage with students' capacity to think critically about identity politics and advocate for social change. CMP is founded on the notion that media literacy and analysis are fundamental to all education, and in today's complex political landscape, we agree!

Use the power of gaming to teach your students about civics! This fun and interactive site provides full lesson plans and online games that put your students in the roles of lawmakers and civic servants.

BONUS: Follow @iCivics on Twitter to stay up to date on policy and legislation news, plus see how other teachers are using iCivics in their classrooms!

Explore survivor testimonies with this well-organized activity library for educators. Select your language preferences and choose from a database of powerful videos and Common Core lessons that help your students unpack hatred. BONUS: Check out their completely free professional development webinars.

This extensive searchable database is your one stop shop for accessing constitutions from governments all over the world. Have your students search, read, and compare the laws of cultures around the globe. Filter by country, topic, date adopted, and status. Though there are no lesson plans here, this site is sure to catalyze high-level classroom discussion for high school students.

Mobilize your students to bring about change that they believe in by using these programs as your guide:

Plan your next service project with DoSomething.org! Survey your students to learn what they are passionate about, then help them browse a big list of campaigns to conceptualize a project they can launch in your community. The class can then submit a photo or video of their completed campaign and enter to win prizes, including scholarships.

This Oakland-based organization amplifies the voices of young journalists and artists. Empower your high school students to become reporters, too! Watch videos by YR Media journalists and set your young broadcasters out to find the stories in their communities.

Transform your school culture with these administrative-level resources and professional development trainings:

This organization offers school-wide trainings, a partner school network, and professional development for teachers and administrators. From pedagogical theory to subject-specific content, Facing History tailors their programs to the needs of your school community. Here's how to bring them to your school.

22. The Zinn Education Project

This social justice resource list would not be complete without the Zinn Education Project. This group offers workshops for teachers and administrators on how to teach people's history. By last year, a total of 87,000 teachers had enrolled in Zinn Education trainings and learned about topics like climate change, Islamophobia, the labor movement, the New Deal, antiwar movements, and how to write curriculum and articles for publication.

Whew! What a list-and it barely scratches the surface. We'd love to hear from you-what have been your challenges and successes when planning social justice lessons? Come and share your experiences in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, Own Voices books to add to your classroom library.

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Here Are 22 Free Resources for Teaching Social Justice in the Classroom

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With no federal standards for the topic in place, teachers are left to their own devices for creating or finding social justice lesson plans. Our country's history is rich with resistance, organizing, and civil rights campaigning-but for many teachers, these movements seem new.

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Teaching Tolerance / Text Selection Tool

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Teaching Tolerance / Text Selection Tool

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A Framework for Anti-Bias Education

The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

Divided into four domains-identity, diversity, justice and action (IDJA)-the standards recognize that, in today's diverse classrooms, students need knowledge and skills related to both prejudice-reduction and collective action. Together, these domains represent a continuum of engagement in anti-bias, multicultural and social justice education. The IDJA domains are based on Louise Derman-Sparks' four goals for anti-bias education in early childhood.

Each of the IDJA domains has learning outcomes and school-based scenarios organized by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Download the Standards

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The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction, providing a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

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changing the world, one reader at a time.

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A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, WNDB aims to create a world where every reader can find themselves in the pages of a book. To reach this goal, we've created programs to mentor diverse writers and illustrators, support diverse publishing professionals, and provide books to classrooms nationwide.

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by John McKnight

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Individual Identity vs. Group Membership Activity If you have never felt unsafe while walking alone at night... Thank You ! References Power & Privilege Social Justice Defined Individual Identity Personality Physical Traits Values Beliefs Life Experiences Family Traditions

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My Book List of Lists by Category Each book list below is a list of lists. There are 300+ book lists for kids and teens that I’ve made, cross-categorized. Click on the blue text to see the list. Please let me know if you are having trouble finding a book or topic. I will either email you the list yo…

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Inside: Celebrate diversity and culture with this vast collection of multicultural books for children! Includes 60+ book lists, from toddlers through big kids.
I was dismayed to discover that the number of multicultural books for children that have been published hasn't increased during the last 18 years. All this is despite census data showing 37% of the US population consists of people of color.
This graphic is from Lee and Low publishers.
I have posted a large number of book lists focusing on multicultural books for children (some my own creations but others that I've happily discovered).

I am organizing them all here in hopes that more people will read multicultural children's books. Hopefully, this will spark an interest that will lead to more books depicting people of color being published. Moreover, if you are an essay writer who needs materials to write something on multi-culture topics, this list will be a great source.

If you want to deepen your kid's absorption of multicultural reading, then custom bookmarks and stickers would be a great choice as memory keepers and reminders. You can customize them aligned with any highlighted themes, events, and ideas in the books. Create more fun while reading. Furthermore, if you are a bookstore owner, go with some customized bookmarks and stickers with your store logo as promotional gifts, which is a great support to multiculturalism as well.

Also, anyone can create their own digital book and make it interactive by adding videos, images, and buttons with flipbook software. Children will have a great experience when flipping through the pages.

For all of my book lists, please see List of Lists: All My Book Lists (300+)

p.s. Here is another list of classic Best Books for Children from BestBooks.to website.

Multicultural books for children: 60+ Book Lists

I've broken down my multicultural lists by:

Multicultural Book Lists for Kids (a catch-all for those lists that don't fit the categories below)

Civil Rights Movement Books for Kids

Asian American Books for Kids with subcategories

Korean American Books for Kids

Japanese American Books for Kids

Chinese American Books for Kids

Southeast Asian Books for Kids

Native American Books for Kids

Hispanic American Books for Kids

Arab American Books for Kids

LGBTQ Books for Kids

Multicultural Book Lists for Kids
White Privilege Books for Kids A Unit on Skin Color: Children's Books & Videos Immigration and the Refugee Experience Books for Kids 50 Must Read Diversity Picture Books Homelessness in Children's Books Special Needs Books for Kids Chapter Book Series Starring Diverse Girl Characters Picture Books to Teach Gratitude Top 10 Diverse Superhero Books 10 Picture Books About Africa to Teach Empathy W Favorite Diversity Picture Books for 4th of July Great Diverse Books from Peachtree Publishing Top 1o Favorite Diversity Books For Kids By Kids Top 10 Multicultural Books for Kids ages 2-14 Books for Kids About Cambodia Children's Africana Book Award Top 10 Multicultural Board Books for Babies and Toddlers Top 10 Best Multicultural Easy Readers Best Multicultural Chapter Books 10 Amazing Multicultural Picture Books About Helping Others 17 Wonderful Multicultural Picture Books About Food 5 Amazing Diversity Read Alouds Multicultural Adoption Books for Kids 5 Feel-Good Picture Books About Africa Top 10 Multicultural Dance Picture Books for Kids Top 50: Best Multicultural Children's Books Top 10: Best World Religion Children's Books Chapter Books to Support 4th Grade or 5th Grade Immigration Unit Great Biographies from Author Paula Yoo Multicultural Soccer Books for Kids Best Multicultural YA Books A Unit to Learn About the Tokyo Olympics Best Multicultural YA Books for Teens 25 Diversity Authors and Illustrators for Kids Spotlighted Black History Month with Carole Boston Weatherford Civil Rights Movement Through Art and Books for Kids HARLEM: Found Ways art exhibit and Children's Books Reflecting Harlem Civil Rights Movement Books for 4th Grade Top 10: Best Children's Books On Civil Rights Movement Top 10: Best African-American Picture Books (ages 4-12) Ruby Bridges and Picture Book As Fast as Words Could Fly Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr with Three Books 5th Grade Social Studies And How to Make It Interesting 5th Grade Enslavement Unit Books 3 Amazing Wordless Picture Books Top 10: Best Asian American Books by CoolAsianKids Asian in America (Amy Chua, new Asian KidLit, dumpling recipe!) Exploring Vietnam: Culture and KitLit Sri Lanka with Kids Books, Recipe and Design Exploring Laos with Books for Kids, Culture and Art Bangladesh: Culture, Alpanas, Children's Books, Recipe and More! 15 Great Korean Folk Tales Top 10: Korean American Children's Books (ages 2-16) Discovering Korea for Kids with Kids' Books, Art and Food Korean-American Picture Book Teaches Multicultural Lesson Japanese Internment Books for Kids Learning About Japan Picture Books for Kids Connecting Science and Art: Hokusai's The Great Wave In Memory of Hiroshima Bombing Books and Crane Origami for Kids Top 10: Japanese American Children's Books (ages 2-16) Let's Go Fly a Kite! Best Bilingual Japanese Books for Kids Japan: Books for Kids on Shogun, Family Crests, Block Prints Japanese American Post Internment Story: Journey Home (ages 8-12) Chinese New Year Picture Books INSTEAD of Tiki Tiki Tembo Top 10: Chinese American Children's Books (ages 2-14) Top 10: Best Chinese New Year Books for Kids 4th of July Picture Books with an Asian Twist Asian American Chapter Book for Girls Percy Jackson + Chinese Mythology = The Monkey King's Daughter Top 10: Best Southeast Asian American Children's Books (ages 2-14) 4th Grade Skype Author Visit: Sheela Chari of Vanished Contemporary Native Americans in KidLit Plimoth Plantation: Learning About Native Americans Top 10: Native American Children's Books (ages 2-16) Top 10: Best Native American Middle School Books Top 10: Best Native American Picture Book Top 10: Best Native American Young Adult Books Notable Native American Children's Author: Joseph Bruchac The Navajo Code Talkers of WWII Best Bilingual Spanish Picture Books Top 10 Hispanic American Heritage Books for Kids Top 10 Bilingual Spanish Books for Kids Top 10: Best Latino American Children's Books (ages 2-16) The Américas Award Hispanic American Books for Kids: Link Round Up 18 Wonderful Picture Books about the Arab World 27 Books for Kids About the Arab World Top 10: Middle Eastern American Children's Books Five Muslim Girl Characters to Read Today 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 10 Groundbreaking LGBTQ Children's Books Understanding Transgender with LGBTQ Books for Kids To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

Junior Library Guild Gold selection

Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children's Book Fair

Starred review from School Library Journal

anting to Go To School Books: When School is a Privilege
Africa Access was founded in 1989 to help schools, public libraries, and parents improve the quality of their K-12 collections on Africa.

It was surprisingly hard to find board books with diversity and inclusive themes.

I searched my public library for the best diversity easy readers.

These books are from the 2015 Notable Books for a Global Society Award, for middle grade readers ages 8 and up.

I hope these picture books inspire readers about the power of one ... just one person can do amazing things!

My favorite way to learn about new cultures is through food. Explore with me as we read (and eat as recipes are linked) around the world!

These are some of my very favorite diversity chapter books that I hope can read with your kids too!

These five books show different perspectives from the story of a young Masaii girl who wants to touch the moon to visiting family in Tanzania and The Gambia.

May all dancers of color be inspired to reach for their dreams with this book list.

This covers many ethnicities and is categorized by genre.

We are "homeschooling" world religion.

Our elementary school does an immigration unit using these chapter books. I've also added a few newly published books as well.

I hope this list inspires children, parents, and teachers to visit their local libraries and explore the biography bookshelves! I've also included many biographies below featuring diverse historical characters.

View soccer as it's played around the world through the eyes of these picture books.

These are the Young Adult books from the 2015 Notable Books for a Global Society.

I'm new to YA so I was excited to discover this great list.

Civil Rights Movement Books for Kids

My kids study the Civil Rights Movement in the United States in 4th grade and I'm pleased to see a handful of important and often, award-winning, picture books, chapter books, and Young Adult books published each year.

This list covers picture books, chapter books, and young adult.

If you read these picture books in order, it gives an overview of the African-American experience historically starting from slavery to the present day.

Meeting Ruby Bridges was a thrill for me and further reinforced how important it is for kids to learn about the Civil Rights Movement.

Young Booker T. Washington: Fifty Cents and a Dream.

An advanced picture book that paints a portrait of Booker T. Washington as a determined young boy.

If you just want a snapshot of the Civil Rights Movement for young children, try these three books: two picture books and a chapter book.

I have a section in this post about the Civil Rights Movement.

Black History Month Books for Kids and Teens

Asian American Books for Kids

One of the most exciting things for me about blogging was discovering Asian American books for kids.

This genre was just starting to emerge a few years ago when I started blogging. Growing up, I read extensively but I never found books that were like me - an Asian American 2nd and 3rd generation girl living in the suburbs. I'm thrilled to find that this is no longer the case.

Recognizing Children's Books for AAPI Heritage Month (a huge list)

I love these wordless picture books by Asian and Asian American authors/illustrators so much that I made videos of them on my Instagram.

CoolAsianKids made a wonderful list of their favorite Asian American KidLit.

These recently published books show the new diversity of Asian American KidLit as well as the high quality of this genre.

APALA Awards for Best Asian American Children's Books 2013

The Asian Pacific American Libraries Association has announced their 2013 literature award winners.

I created a series of posts a while back that I called Teach Me Tuesday. I wanted to explore a country using children's books as well as different elements of their culture from art to food to artisans. This was the first post I did of this series on Vietnam (and my best one!). The Teach Me Tuesday series is here.

A friend from Sri Lanka gave me a recipe that he loved as a child and this sparked this post. Finding the books is always the toughest part for me.

The more I learned about Laos, the more I want to go to this mysterious, beautiful and tragic country.

Korean American Books for Kids

I'm half Chinese and Japanese and I married a Korean. My first lists of multicultural books for children were on these three ethnicities as a way to show my children their heritage. The Korean American culture is so strong in America that this first post went viral.

This is the first post of mine ever to go viral.

I wanted to learn more about my husband's family history so this is a very personal journey of discovery.

I don't often do individual book reviews but finding this great Asian American book at the library made me want to post on it.

Japanese American Books for Kids

For your young ninja, books to learn about Japan.

It's amazing how a single piece of art can have a ripple effect, inspiring others all around the world and for many generations.

WWII Internment seems to dominate Japanese American books for kids. I agree that it is an important lesson in history - my own mother was forced to relocate but I also hunger for books that explore other facets of being Japanese American.

Kite flying is an important ritual in Asia and I've rounded up every great kite flying book thanks to a little help from my friends and readers.

This was my response to a reader request.

I explore my own Japanese history in this post.

These older books explore the Japanese American internment experience during WWII, a shameful chapter in America's history.

Chinese American Books For Kids

There is such a diversity of Chinese American books for kids from philosophy, culture and contemporary times.

I wanted to show the breadth and depth of Chinese American books for kids. These were our favorites.

I never had a great Chinese New Year picture book despite always doing a Chinese New Year presentation for my children's preschool so I was determined to upgrade!

Fourth of July from a Chinese American immigrant's perspective via picture books. Yep, this is what I blog about!

Lisa Yee portrays the dilemmas of modern day Asian American kids caught between assimilation and Tiger parents.

A Chinese mythology action-adventure series.

Southeast Asian Books for Kids

Southeast Asian culture and books are foreign to me too so I wanted to learn more.

Sheela Chari's debut mystery chapter book is award winning!

Native American Books For Kids

My first list was criticized by Debbie Reese, the preeminent scholar on this topic, for including books that she did not feel accurately depicted the Native Americans. My response was to repost her great lists!

Do kids think that Native Americans are only the past? This list will hopefully change that!

What to read when preparing for a visit to Plimoth Plantation.

This is the list I made.

Debbie Reese's list for middle-grade chapter books.

Debbie Reese's list for picture books.

Debbie Reese's list of YA books is very popular.

I am a huge fan of Joseph Bruchac, a happy discovery from chatting with my librarian when creating my list.

The author of this advanced picture book lives one town over!

Hispanic American Books for Kids

My guest author Derek Taylor Kent comes up with his list for best bilingual Spanish picture books for kids.

I'm noticing some great Hispanic American KidLit lately across all children's book genres!

I'm doing a round-up of Hispanic books for kids of all ages, from picture books to young adult.

Arab American Books 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?!

LBGTQ Books for Kids

More lists and reviews of diverse, inclusive, and multicultural books for children from KidLit bloggers here on my Pinterest board:

Follow PragmaticMom's board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.

My books:

Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me

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.

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Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists

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Inside: Celebrate diversity and culture with this vast collection of multicultural books for children! Includes 60+ book lists, from toddlers through big kids. I was dismayed to discover that the number of multicultural books for children that have been published hasn't increased during the last 18 years.

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About Us

Lee & Low Books is the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the country. We are also one of the few minority-owned publishing companies in the United States.

Founded in 1991, we have always been family-owned and independent, which means we publish what we want and aren't afraid to take risks. Our books have won major awards including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the NAACP Image Award, and many more.

Lee & Low Books is committed to publishing diverse books that are about everyone, for everyone. We are dedicated to cultural authenticity, and we make a special effort to work with new authors and illustrators of color.

We publish multicultural children's books for every age, including leveled books for beginning readers, picture books, early chapter books, middle grade, and young adult books. We also publish a wide selection of bilingual and Spanish language books.

Visit our testimonials page to see some of the people and organizations who support our work!

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Lee & Low Books is the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the United States. We are your diversity source.

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In many situations, especially difficult ones, children's books share messages and teach lessons better than any parent or family member could.

This holds especially true when it comes to kids learning about differences ― different races, different religions, different abilities and more. We've rounded up 25 children's books that celebrate various differences in ways children can both understand and enjoy. Check them out below.

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25 Children's Books That Celebrate Differences

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In many situations, especially difficult ones, children's books share messages and teach lessons better than any parent or family member could. This holds especially true when it comes to kids learning about differences ― different races, different religions, different abilities and more.

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Here are some of my favorite comics that tell stories about politics, race, social change, activism, and justice - all the good and bad that goes with our world's history on those issues. The way my life is organized these days, it's tough for me to write reviews. So some of the books below have them, some do not, but I love them all. I hope you find something new and interesting to read here!

Before we jump in:

All comics here can be bought as graphic novels/collections, not only as single issues. Your library may own many of these!

Amazon links are affiliate links.

Any questions, corrections, recommendations? Let me know via my contact form.

"Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885.

Aware of the racial tumult in the years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Mei tries to remain blissfully focused on her job, her close friendship with the camp foreman's daughter, and telling stories about Paul Bunyan-reinvented as Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po), an elderly Chinese matriarch.

Anchoring herself with stories of Auntie Po, Mei navigates the difficulty and politics of lumber camp work and her growing romantic feelings for her friend Bee. The Legend of Auntie Po is about who gets to own a myth, and about immigrant families and communities holding on to rituals and traditions while staking out their own place in America."

Two traveling African-American blues musicians. White racism. This isn't going to end well. It's set in the early 20th century in Arkansas and it doesn't flinch from showing the ugly brutality of racist violence. But instead of relying on violence for shock value, Bluesman centers the human experience of Lem Taylor, one of the musicians. The story takes him on an epic journey which sadly has no happy ending. The illustrations are dark and somber, in keeping with the tragedy of the plot, and the woodcut / printing style helps set the time period. Vollmar and Callejo include some historical background notes, sparingly, not overwhelming the action or the emotion of the book. I appreciated it, since I wasn't very familiar with the specific setting for the story. I was impressed with the craftsmanship here, and I can forgive Vollmar and Callejo for kicking me right in the heart at the end. It had to be done.

Bluesman is available in a collected edition linked above, but it was previously published as three volumes.

Superheroes? Yes! Superhero comics that push back against stereotypes? Even more yes! I am not always a big fan of anthologies, but there were a number of short stories here that I would have bought immediately if they were ongoing series. This was a groundbreaking collection when it was published in 2018, and remains an important and entertaining work in the genre. It isn't preachy, it's action-packed, funny, satirical, and heartfelt. Shattered, the sequel, had a hard act to follow, but I found a good number of new-to-me creators to love there as well. Well worth your time if you're a superhero fan, or even if you're not.

Incognegro drew me back to comics after several years when nothing interested me. The story is intense beyond words. It's a mystery, a crime and detective story, and a reminder of the deep horror of how African-Americans have been treated throughout U.S. history. It's set in the 1930s. Zane Pinchback is an African-American reporter who has skin light enough to "pass" for white, working in New York. He travels to Mississippi when his brother is accused of murdering a white woman. Johnson was inspired by the real life stories of Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, who made similar trips to investigate lynchings.

For those interested in crime or mystery stories or American history, this is a must-read. It's violent, but not without purpose. Johnson is an award-winning writer and writing professor, and he handles this story beautifully. Pleece's art looks appropriate for the setting without appearing dated. They're both exceptionally talented, and I've enjoyed following their work on other projects after I read this.

Make sure you get the 10th anniversary edition, published in early 2018, for the best reading experience. A companion series, Incognegro: Renaissance, is being published as well, so I'm looking forward to that.

"Mira Jacob's touching, often humorous, and utterly unique graphic memoir takes readers on her journey as a first-generation American. At an increasingly fraught time for immigrants and their families, Good Talk delves into the difficult conversations about race, sex, love, and family that seem to be unavoidable these days.

Inspired by her popular BuzzFeed piece '37 Difficult Questions from My Mixed-Raced Son,' here are Jacob's responses to her six-year-old, Zakir, who asks if the new president hates brown boys like him; uncomfortable relationship advice from her parents, who came to the United States from India one month into their arranged marriage; and the imaginary therapy sessions she has with celebrities from Bill Murray to Madonna. Jacob also investigates her own past, from her memories of being the only non-white fifth grader to win a Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest to how it felt to be a brown-skinned New Yorker on 9/11. As earnest and moving as they are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, these are the stories that have formed one American life."

A dark Southern fantasy about race. A young girl, Lee Wagstaff, journeys into a parallel world to save her innocent father from being hanged for the murder of a white girl. Violence pervades this world of anthropomorphized animals and monsters, just as it does her reality, but she won't give up. Love is a gifted storyteller and a capable artist. His scenes are grotesque and menacing where they need to be, and sweet where Lee and her family connect with each other. I can tell I'm missing some of the layers while reading it, due to my own ignorance, because so much history and mythology is clearly wrapped up in Lee's journey. It's a compelling story, though, even if like me you don't know enough to fully process all the references.

The only problem: Bayou was never completed. The two printed volumes, and the Comixology run of issues #1-15, each collect all the material that seems to have been published, and it's been 5+ years since the last issue. I'm glad I read it anyway, but I know for some of y'all the lack of an ending would be understandably annoying.

Neal Barton has two problems. One, he's a fantasy-loving smart liberal kid trapped in a scary little Christian conservative town. Two, he he has a super-negative attitude towards life. The attitude may well be an effect of the town, but as various people around him gently point out, it's keeping him from enjoying the good things there are in his life.

In fairly quick succession, three things happen to change Neal's life. His gay best friend is sent to military school by his conservative parents. (Actually a relief for the friend, honestly, given the level of conflict at home.) He starts high school, which means meeting a bunch of kids who were in other middle schools. And town politics erupt over an attack on his favorite series, The Adventures of Apathea Ravenchilde, by conservative town citizens trying to save children from the evils of witchcraft by having it removed from the library. Neal has to find the strength to do two things simultaneously: make new friends, and stand up against censorship.

I love so many of the characters here, especially Neal's mom and the town's youth librarian who is SUCH a fangirl it's not even funny. In this book, young people aren't viewed as second class citizens by the good adults, and that's refreshing. The small town politics and conservative outrage are pitch perfect, especially in the City Council meetings, which echo a lot of the arguments I remember from my time growing up in the conservative Christian suburbs of Houston, Texas.

Bonus: a gay teen character who may not have the parents he'd choose, but who does not become tragic.

Americus is complete in one volume.

March is a trilogy covering the life and work of Representative John Lewis, a pioneer in the Civil Rights movement. This series has gotten a lot of attention, and sparked renewed interest in civil rights and activism. The book jacket for the first volume says it's "rooted in Lewis' personal story" and that's true. It starts with him, with his life and contributions, but it tells a much bigger story.

The first volume felt a little like background to me, but the storytelling in the second volume really started to pop. You wouldn't fully appreciate it without the lessons from the first volume, so props to Rep. Lewis and co-author Aydin for knowing how to bring the reader to that place. The story of the Civil Rights movement they share doesn't just recount historical events, but opens a window into how social change movements and personalities shape each other. Powell is such a talented artist that I had forgotten the art was black, white, and grayscale until I started flipping through again. That says a lot about how powerfully he depicted the events! A must-read.

"For the past fifty years, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld have been hunting Nazis all across the globe. But their story isn't just about justice. It's about love. Beate, a German journalist and activist born in Berlin as the War began; and Serge, a Romanian-born French-Jewish lawyer whose father was deported and killed by the Nazis: a couple brought together by-and tested by-dangerous endeavors. They started out by challenging Nazi propaganda in the 1960s and before they knew it, this vibrant couple had devoted their entire lives to investigating and documenting countless Nazi war criminals and bringing them to justice for their unacknowledged and incomprehensible hate crimes committed decades before."

"When Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family's restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined.

This was during South Korea's Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Scarlet Letter. Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in."

Three interconnected stories about being who you are, and how painfully hard that can be - especially when stereotypes chase you everywhere you go. This is the comic to read if you don't believe comics can be serious literature, because that's only one of the many stereotypes it blows away. Already very well known, but such an amazing book that I couldn't refrain from recommending it here.

American Born Chinese is complete in one volume.
That concludes today's roundup of comics about politics, race, and activism that I love and recommend!

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11 Fantastic Graphic Novels About Politics, Race, and Activism

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Here are some of my favorite comics that tell stories about politics, race, social change, activism, and justice - all the good and bad that goes with our world's history on those issues. The way my life is organized these days, it's tough for me to write reviews.