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Jenna Rappaport
Title: Two Dads

Author/Illustrator: written by: Carolyn Robertson, Illustrations by: Sophie Humphreys

Published 2014 by Sparklypoo Publications London UK

Children of gay couples

Focuses on the fact that same-sex parents are no different than any other parents, and although these families might not be traditional, they are still a family

Themes/topics: acceptance, types of families, sexuality

The illustrations are very vibrant and simplistic. I think the colorful pictures represent that same-sex couples are no less fun and exciting than any other couple. And the simplicity of the illustrations goes to show that there is normalcy in same-sex families

This book starts off by saying that the main character is different than other kids because most kids only have one mom or one dad, but she has two dads. She puts a positive spin on the fact that she’s different by saying all the reasons she is lucky to have two dads; for example if one dad isn’t around she has another dad to spend time with. She also explains that she is different because she was not birthed by her dads, rather she was adopted. She lists all the things she does with her dads, which are no different than the activities children do with their moms and dads.

It is important for children to be able to see themselves represented in the literature they read, that way they feel that they can relate to these characters. It isn’t common to find a children’s book in which gay-marriage is represented. It’s important to expose children to the fact of life that not all people or families are the same, and that that’s ok. This exposure at a young age is likely to promote a sense of normalcy surrounding the matter, and allow them to be more accepting in the future. I think the book Two Dads gets this point across really well. It’s a very simple and short book, and just goes to show that same-sex families aren’t so different than any other family after all.

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1 My Two Grannies

2. Floella Benjamin/Margaret Chamberlain

3. Frances Lincoln Children’s Books 2007

4. Kids of all ages

5. Children of all cultures/kids trying to figure out who they

6. Importance of family and compromise

7.The use of the color attracts the eye. The pictures help deliver a clear understanding of what the characters are doing.

8. The little girl Albian has two grandmas granny Vero and granny Rose. Both of her grandmas love spending time with her. They both wanted to keep her while her parents left. The grannies had an argument on who gets to keep her so Albian tells them that both of them can.

9.Granny Vero was from the Virgin Islands of Trinidad, and granny rose was from Yorkshire town of Barnsley (England). Because of being from two different places there cultures vary, in the book they wanted to do everything different with there granddaughter such as what they cook or what games they play. The author limited the cultural diversity, however I feel that children of all cultures of all races and cultures could relate to this book.

10.The first evidence based reading strategies to help a child comprehend this book would be to pre teach the concept before reading. Predicting what is going to happen next in the book would also be helpful. Vocabulary in the book could be explained by using different context of the word. Acting out the story is another strategy that would provide a visual explanation.

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Title: Same, Same but DifferentAuthor: Jenny Sue Kostecki-ShawPublisher: Henry Holt and CompanyAudience: Children around the worldDiversity focuses: People of different nationalities. Potential Curricular Themes:  The fact that although some of the specifics of life are different in other countries, global life is fairly similar.  Illustrations:  The illustrations in this book are drawings that two children send to each other.  One lives in America and one lives in India, and the pictures are of their respective worlds.Summary:  This book is about two pen pals.  One lives in America and the other lives in India.  They send each other pictures and letters about their world.  In the end, they find that although many aspects of their lives are different, many are very similar.  Analysis:  Same, Same but Different has many cultural implications in it.  It displays how similar lives are across the world, but also how different they are.  By recognizing similarities in the way of life of people across the world, people of other cultures are humanized, leading to greater cultural tolerance.  I think the goal of this book is to create cultural tolerance at an early age.  

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Title: Same, Same but DifferentAuthor: Jenny Sue Kostecki-ShawPublisher: Henry Holt and CompanyAudience: Children around the worldDiversity focuses: People of different nationalities. Potential Curricular Themes:  The fact that although some of the specifics of life are different in other countries, global life is fairly similar.  Illustrations:  The illustrations in this book are drawings that two children send to each other.  One lives in America and one lives in India, and the pictures are of their respective worlds.Summary:  This book is about two pen pals.  One lives in America and the other lives in India.  They send each other pictures and letters about their world.  In the end, they find that although many aspects of their lives are different, many are very similar.  Analysis:  Same, Same but Different has many cultural implications in it.  It displays how similar lives are across the world, but also how different they are.  By recognizing similarities in the way of life of people across the world, people of other cultures are humanized, leading to greater cultural tolerance.  I think the goal of this book is to create cultural tolerance at an early age.  

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Joshua Ciolkowski-Winters

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 A Bad Case of StripesAuthor: David ShannonPublished by Scholastic Inc. 1998The target audience is those who do not feel as if they fit in. Those constantly trying to change themselves to fit in when in the end all they need to do is be yourself. This could encompass any kids starting a new school or going somewhere new. Story: Camilla Cream loved lima beans but starting school she wanted to fit in with everyone so she pretended to hate them. This caused her to catch a strange disease where her skin would change to crazy colors. The kids all laughed at her and she had to stay home from school. This continued until she finally accepted herself and ate some lima beans. Diversity: In terms of diversity focus it centers around school and the experience of going to school and feeling like you need to conform to others standards, there are skin color differences in it but they are so absurd I don’t think that is the point of the book. Lessons: Feeling accepted is important for every kid, especially by his/her peers at school. This book is a PERFECT example of that showing a girl at school whom doesn’t fit in because of her color changing skin and who learns to be herself and his accepted because of it. If we were to read this book to kids of a young age and maybe have a simple discussion about it, they would absorb the lesson and learn to love themselves a bit more. Focus: The book is not so much on skin color or gender but being different all together. Even though Camilla’s skin changed color and the kids laughed at her, it was an issue of being different and weird instead of race (which may be some people’s perception of race). 

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 A Bad Case of StripesAuthor: David ShannonPublished by Scholastic Inc. 1998The target audience is those who do not feel as if they fit in. Those constantly trying to change themselves to fit in when in the end all they need to do is be yourself. This could encompass any kids starting a new school or going somewhere new. Story: Camilla Cream loved lima beans but starting school she wanted to fit in with everyone so she pretended to hate them. This caused her to catch a strange disease where her skin would change to crazy colors. The kids all laughed at her and she had to stay home from school. This continued until she finally accepted herself and ate some lima beans. Diversity: In terms of diversity focus it centers around school and the experience of going to school and feeling like you need to conform to others standards, there are skin color differences in it but they are so absurd I don’t think that is the point of the book. Lessons: Feeling accepted is important for every kid, especially by his/her peers at school. This book is a PERFECT example of that showing a girl at school whom doesn’t fit in because of her color changing skin and who learns to be herself and his accepted because of it. If we were to read this book to kids of a young age and maybe have a simple discussion about it, they would absorb the lesson and learn to love themselves a bit more. Focus: The book is not so much on skin color or gender but being different all together. Even though Camilla’s skin changed color and the kids laughed at her, it was an issue of being different and weird instead of race (which may be some people’s perception of race). 

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TJ Simpson

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Written by Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

The target audiences for this book are older children of all ages who feel different than their peers and need encouragement and inspiration. Miss Lena Horne battled stereotypes her whole life and became the first African American actress to be offered a studio contract.

This story tells the biography of Lena Horne, a civil rights activist who battled stereotypes to become the first African American actress offered a studio contract. Still, this was not enough because the majority of roles she was offered included maids and nannies, and she strived to break these norms and would be offered a main role. This story shows a glimpse of what life was like during segregation in a way that is appropriate for children yet very effective. It is an inspirational story of a strong woman who worked hard at her job while also being a strong member of the Civil Rights movement.

Megan Leffew

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Author: Adjoa W. Burrowes
Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Audience:
The target audience of this book is any young child who is struggling with the loss of a loved one. This book in particular focuses on the death of a grandmother, but the value of the book is good for any relative who might pass in a child’s life.

Diversity:
This book focuses mainly on two female characters. There is a wide range of age in the book, as a young girl around 10 interacts with her grandmother. Her grandmother is bakes in the book, and the young girl does up her grandmother’s hair. Usually, this is seen the other way around, with a maternal figure braiding or fixing the young child’s hair. The main characters of this book are people of color. This story focuses on a black family, and the relationships between the females of the family.

Theme:
The topics of this book focus on the relationship between the grandmother and grandchild, that can be important to any kids who are not raised in a typical nuclear family. In addition, this story is important for any children dealing with the death of a loved one.

Summary:
In this book, the young girl picks flowers in the spring for her grandmother. As the seasons go on, it is obvious that her grandmother is aging. After her grandmother had passed away, When spring comes back around, she feels more connected with her grandmother after picking flowers.

Laura Bailey

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Author/illustrator (if applicable); Lenore Look

LeUyen Pham

Publishing information (copyright publisher)

Yearling

Target audience:

The audience that this book caters to most is grades 1 through 4, or ages 6 to 9.  While the novel is fairly easy to read and doesn’t use many strong vocabulary words, it is a interesting take on overcoming anxiety in a classroom setting and somewhat long. In terms of exact reading level, the book was given a 600 in regards to its Lexile measure (a scale used nationally to determine reading levels of books) This book is great for shy students that have trouble contributing in the classroom.

Diversity focus(es) - see portrayal of characters (Willard Hall article, pg. 82)

The book is centered around Alvin, the main character. He is an asian student in a school in Concord, Massachusetts. While coping with already being a minority, Alvin struggles to fit in because he get extremely anxious about participating in class.

Potential curricular themes/topics addressed (consider how to naturally integrate these titles into the curriculum when appropriate).

Alvin deals with being different everyday, and in the classroom he copes to fit in when new material is introduced. From being nervous about performing his shakespeare dialogue (being it includes curse words) to in depth examinations of Gauguin and Frida Khalo, the book covers a lot of important history while detailing Alvin’s transition from shy to superhero.

For the picture books you need to provide a 1-2 sentence analysis of the illustrations.

The illustrations fill the book and always provide small contextual details that enhance the book. With quick strokes, Pham captures specific emotions of characters and helps to build their personalities.

Your own summary of the book (not a summary from the Internet) in 2-4 sentences.

Alvin is an Asian American second grader and is afraid of everything. From the elevators at school to girls to school, he detests it all. He does not speak in class to answer questions and he does not speak to his peers. Yet, at home, its a different story. Instead of shy and introverted, Alvin is loud and explosive, going by the alias named Firecracker Man, a superhero brother who wants to grow up to be just like his dad.

A critical and thoughtful analysis of the cultural perspective of the book in 50-75 words (4-8 sentences). The objective is to read “literature of ethnic diversity-by and about people of color” (Yokota, 2001). You may also explore gender.

While Look does provide important aspects of Chinese American heritage in the book, there is still room left to provide more. In the family setting, there is a lot of information given in regards to cantonese vocabulary. Also, Look employs a lot of food references in the backdrop. The book does address Alvin’s shyness in school, but provides no real solution to it besides his growth at home. All in all, the book seamlessly integrates a lot of Chinese-American themes but it fails in regards to spelling out the reasoning behind Alvin’s “mutism” in the classroom.

John Kevane

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Book Title and Author

Tic Talk: Living with Tourette Syndrome

(A 9-year-old boy’s story in his own words)

Author: Dylan Peters

Illustrated by: Zachary Wendland

Painted by: Kris Taft Miller

Publishing Information

Copyright © 2007, 2009 Dylan Peters

Little Five Star: A division of Five Star Publications, Inc.

PO Box 6698

Target Audience

The book is primarily targeted toward elementary school children. Dylan himself serves as the author and the main character in an attempt to explain Tourette Syndrome to his classmates and other youngsters. The official page says that it is geared towards children 8-12 years old in grades 3-7, but this book is very much targeting adults as well. It serves all ages as it can often be used by adults to explain or understand the complicated condition in its most basic form. Additionally, it can be especially helpful for teachers as there are a few pages in the back of the book that describe useful strategies for working with children who have Tourette Syndrome.

Diversity Focus

The book explicitly recognizes that everyone has unique differences, especially differences that are out of our control. The diversity theme seems to revolve around the general idea of acceptance and inclusivity of those with explicit differences that come from within, not external factors such as race/ethnicity. There is an emphasis on the fact that the condition described is not the defining factor of the author’s life. Rather, he simply wishes that everyone includes him as usual as he is still the same friend regardless of whatever motions or noises he makes. He concludes the story with a lesson to himself saying that he realized “it was just another day and nothing was different. Everyone else felt the same way, and I was very relieved”. It essentially carries a message of accepting everyone regardless of what we cannot control and helping to make each other comfortable with themselves in doing so.

Curricular Theme/Topic

The entire book is meant to describe how Tourette’s works and what it looks like, but more importantly that a child with this condition cannot control it. Therefore, the main curricular theme seems to revolve around building peer relationships as most of the book shares how peers and teachers alike can go about supporting those with a particular condition that affects them in a unique way. It also has a theme of self-love and teaches the importance of accepting yourself and embracing your differences, rather than living in fear of what others make think of you because of them. Through accepting himself and becoming comfortable after educating his peers Dylan becomes much happier and much less fearful while at school, which actually helps reduce his tics in the long run.

Illustrations Analysis

The illustrations are all drawn by a friend of Dylan’s, but painted by an adult artist. Each page has one side dedicated to text, while the other side is a picture representation of what scenario that text was describing. Given that the author and illustrator are young students who went to school together, it is likely that the illustrations are made to actually look like their school grounds. With the exception of the cover, the entire book’s illustrations are black and white. However, there are various shades from white to black used on the skin of both male and female characters. This suggests that Dylan and his friend were portraying characters of various genders and races.

Summary

This book begins with a 9-year-old boy named Dylan who was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when he was four years old. Dylan describes the condition itself, the process of the diagnosis, and what tics are and how they are uncontrollable movements or noises made by those diagnosed with Tourette’s. He talks about his frustration with them and the stress that comes with starting a new school year because he wanted to keep his diagnosis a secret. The book follows his story from his preschool diagnosis to the third grade where he decided to openly share his secret with the class. More and more people began to notice his tics that he was trying to cover up and he became frustrated, so he talked to his mom who told him that the best thing to do was accept what he cannot change. He then realized that things could be worse and he and his mom presented an explanation to the class where they emphasized that differences make each of us special, resulting in acceptance by his peers.

Reading Strategies

One good strategy for reading this book is guided oral reading. There are quite a few difficult words to pronounce as it does include some medical terms, and may therefore also require some help with both pronunciation and definitions. The book does provide definitions for the specific terms used, however some students may need further clarification. Another strategy that can be useful in understanding this book could be direct instruction of terms. Prior to reading the book, it is possible that teachers can incorporate some of the terms into vocabulary lessons or spelling tests. This may allow for future understanding when the words and pronunciation are already known or are going to be explained afterwards.

Adam McAteer

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Author: Eric Kimmel

Illustrator: Trina Schart Hyman

Published by Holiday House (September 1, 1994)

Target Audience: Any child kindergarten age or up, could easily be read to a younger child or a slightly older child could read on their own.

Diversity Focus: The biggest diversity focus in Hershel is on Jewish people, as it highlights Jewish folklore and portrays Jewish people in a positive light.

Potential Curricular Themes: A teacher could take this book in two different directions. One could discuss Jewish folklore, which an ethnic group whose folk tales is often ignored. The main character is one that features in many Jewish folk tales. One could also use the book to spin into a conversation about Anti-semitism. The thing oppressing the Jewish people in this town might be ghoulish fantastical creatures, but the idea of people not being allowed to practice their religion could easily spin into lessons about Jewish persecution or general religious persecution.

The illustrations are very dark and ominous, which sets the tone for the story in general. The author and Illustrator were inspired by A Christmas Carol, and set out to make this book a "spooky Jewish story", just like Christmas Carol is a scary Christian story. The monsters could be genuinely frightening to some small children, although some are more cartoonish. Herschel himself is portrayed as a very warm and inviting figure. Light and shadow are used very creatively throughout the book.

The story of this picture book is relatively simple. Herschel of Ostropol comes across a small village during Hanukkah. Herschel is very surprised to see that everyone is very glum during the Festival of Lights and quickly learns that a group of Goblins prohibit any sort of celebration of the holiday. The only way to break the curse is to light the Hanukkah candles every night in the old Synagogue on the hill. Herschel manages to trick a goblin each night and save the town.

The book itself is relatively silly. Herschel manages to fool each goblin with various tricks, which are very clever and amusing to read. However, what this book excels in culturally is normalizing Jewish culture. Judaism is very much a minority religion, despite what the incredible Jewish community at Tulane would make it seem. The headlines in the news lately have been more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bomb threats to JCC than positive messages about Judaisim. This book allows those who are not Jewish to see a more positive/normalized view of Jewish culture, and allows Jewish children to see their religion in a fictional story, just like their are tons of books about Christmas or other holidays. Whether a teacher has a high Jewish population in their class or not, this book is a great addition to any classroom in order to bring up conversations children might have about Judaism, especially around the holiday season when a majority of children will be getting ready to celebrate Christmas.

- Noah Shapiro

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Author: Yangsook cho

Author/illustrator: Yangsook choi

The target audience is children in Pre K, 1st, and 2nd grade, particularly those that have come to the United States from other countries.

The Name Jar focuses on the struggles children from other countries can face entering into schools in the United States. In particular this book addresses the stress of having a perceived “different” name than everyone else.

Themes of The name Jar include: confidence, diversity, self-esteem, immigration, and assimilation.

The illustrations depict at times how ostracized Unhei feels due to her name. In particular there is a moment where she is looking into the jar with all the potential names she could acquire. This picture offers great insight into how difficult this adjustment has been.

Yangsook Cho’s Name Jar is a book about the struggles children often face moving to America. In particular a little girl name Unhei finds herself ostracized from her fellow classmates due to her name. In order to correct this disparity she decides with her classmates to put American names in jar, and select her new name and identity. At the end however she chooses to stay with her name that meant so much to her in Korea.

The Name Jar offers great insight into the struggles children often face immigrating to America and attending school in the US. While this book largely focused on the strife stemming her name, ultimately it offers insight in to a plethora of other struggles children face. In particular, this book emphasizes the importance of ones past and identity. A child reading this book would have a better understanding of not only how to cope with immigrating to a new place, but also how to embrace owns one identity.

I believe that this book would be most effective read aloud using the illustrations to help the children understand the content.

Scout Eisenberg

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The Story Of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles 

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The Story Of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles 

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The target audience for this book is young children that deal with segregated learning environments. The story of Ruby Bridges teaches kids about the foul  nature of racism and segregation within the world while maintaining a heavy emphasis on the importance of education.

Diversity focus: The story of Ruby Bridges mainly focuses on the Black/African American status of inferiority in the  working class and  educational system .

Curricular theme/Topic: The curricular theme of this book is the importance of moving forward. The story does a great job of showing how this young black girl dealt with the challenge of progressing through racial boarders. Ruby teaches children to fight through adversity and believe in the greater picture. Ruby also shows us through religion that everyone and anyone no matter how lost deserves favor.

Summary: The story of Ruby Bridges starts off with a Black/African American family struggling financially. Due to these financial problems and low paying jobs they are forced to move to the deep south where her parents slave in fields and scrubbing floors over night to provide for their family. The family keeps a positive spirit through Sunday service  every week, which has been a routine since the children were babies. The children were all placed in segregated schools until there was a court order paced to allow 3 young girls to attend white elementary schools. Ruby Bridges was one of those girls. Ruby dealt with an angry mob of white parents at the school steps everyday for an entire school year, so bad that she had to be escorted by marshals keeping her out of harms way. These parents would throw things at Ruby, call her bad names, and even went as far as taking all of their children out of the school for an entire year. Ruby was the only child in school everyday with one white teacher that didn't mind teaching Ruby. One day the teacher was observing Ruby walking through the mob like she does everyday and noticed her stop to talk, she advised Ruby not to do that because she could get hurt. Ruby went on to tell her that a few blocks before she prays that god forgives the people that torment her everyday like he forgave those who tormented him for they know not what they are doing. Eventually parents grew tired of this and started realizing how they were depriving their own children of education, so by second grade more and more white students started joining Ruby at school.

Larry Bryant

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Families, Families, Families! By Suzanne Lang

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Families, Families, Families! By Suzanne Lang

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The target audiences are children in preschool to second grade who need to understand that there are many different types of families but they are all, nonetheless, families if you love one another.

The book focuses on many elements of diversity within a family, including: single parent households, LGBTQ parent households, adopted children households, Step mother/Step father households and Grandparent based households.

The curricular theme in this book is that everyone has a different type of family and we should accept them all as valid.

“Families, Families, Families,” is a picture book that celebrates all types of different kinds of families. The book uses illustrations that portray animals instead of people; making the book more approachable for children who were probably eager to pick which family they were most like.

Roderic Teamer, Jr.

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Author: Norma Simon
Illustrator: Teresa Flavin
Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company

The target audience for this book would be young children who are learning about diversity and learning about their peers and their families. They may be observing different family systems and setups, and it is important to understand that all families are special in their own ways. This book is important for children who need to be showed that it is okay if their family is different than everybody else’s, and that all families have ups and downs.

This book focuses on a teacher named Mrs. Mack, who encourages her students to share about their families and how they are different. The students in her classroom come from all different kinds of families, including divorced families, families with step-parents and step siblings, single-parent families, families of different cultures, and more. The diversity of the students shown in the book- especially through the illustrations, show families engaging in different activities, families of different skin colors and cultures, and families of different sizes. In addition, the illustrations show the differences in the families’ ways of life. The message of this book as that every family is different and special in their own way, regardless of size, culture, or socioeconomic status.

The main curricular theme in this book is that all families are special in their own unique ways, regardless of how many members a family has or the activities that they engage in. The message of the story shows that even though all families are different, all families experience good times and bad times. The way that Mrs. Mack encourages her students to share creates an environment where diversity and learning about different ways of life are encouraged. It is important for children to feel comfortable talking about their families around their peers. Sharing and learning about each others’ families allows children in the classroom to become more comfortable and to feel accepted. In addition, learning about other families gives students cultural perspective and allows them to see how their families are different than others. No matter what your family is like, it is special in its own way.

The illustrations in this story do a great job of showing the reader the different kinds of families and the things that they do as a family in their everyday lives. They show differing interactions between family members, showing the reader the diversity of family systems and setups that exist in the world.

In this book, Mrs. Mack, an elementary school teacher, tells the students about her family, and encourages her students to share about their families. The story details students’ different accounts of their family lives and the makeup of their families. In addition, the story details the fact that good and bad things can happen in all families, and that ultimately, all families are special and unique in their own ways.

Although the story focuses more on the diversity among families and family setups, cultural diversity is included in some of the students’ families. Ultimately, a students’ family situation, depending on their culture, their race, or who they live with, would affect their behavior and personality, especially in school when interacting with others; therefore, it is important for the readers of this book to recognize that all families are different, and come with different challenges and expectations. In addition, the teacher takes into account the diversity of her students when she encourages them to share with their classmates, which encourages support and acceptance in the classroom. The students in the classroom learn about their classmates while gaining a cultural perspective about how others’ families are different from their own.

Marlee Michaels

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Written by J.J. Austrian

Illustrated by Mike Curato

The target audience is young children who need to learn the concept of acceptance.

This book focuses on diversity in a very broad sense. Worm Loves Worm addresses the issue of same sex marriage, but it goes beyond that in that it expresses how anyone can love anyone and there are no rules.

The theme of acceptance is incorporating daily in elementary school classes as teachers help to encourage students to work together and use their differences and different perspectives to their advantage. Teachers and faculty are also constantly stressing the importance of accepting people for who they are.

Worm Loves Worm is the story of two worms that are not gendered and who love each other and wish to be married. The other insects in the book are confused because they don’t understand how this marriage can happen even though it doesn’t follow the traditional format of what they think a wedding should be.

The point of the story is to show that not everything is what people think it is supposed to be. It intends to show children how to accept people for their differences. While the story is based around two creatures who are the same wanting to be married it can be translated to acceptance in general as you see all the characters move from confusion about the worms’ situation to acceptance. Overall this book helps children have an open mind about new experiences and/or situations that are new or different to them.

Hannah Rubinstein

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It’s Okay to be Different by Todd ParrPublisher: Little, Brown and Company

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It’s Okay to be Different by Todd ParrPublisher: Little, Brown and Company

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The target audience for this book is young children who are facing diversity issues with their physical appearance or for children whose parents simply want to instill their children with that the idea that being different is more than okay.

This book does not focus on one main character. Instead, the book jumps around exploring different types of people on each page with a unique picture on each page. For example, on one page the book states that, “It’s okay to have a different nose,” accompanied with an elephant with a very long nose and on the next page the book says, “It’s okay to have no hair,” with a girl who has no hair. The illustrations on many of the pages are meant to make the reader laugh since they are odd and funny. This book promotes the idea that not only is everyone different in some sort of way, but also that just because you do look different does not mean that it’s “wrong”. Everyone comes in all shapes and sizes.

At the end, Todd Parr summarizes his point with one sentence, “You are special and important just because of being who you are.” Mr. Parr expresses that you are special because you are different and that you should never let anyone put you down just because of who you are. The book encourages children to be who they are rather than hiding from the world. A few key themes/ideas that reappear throughout the book are that everyone must celebrate multiculturalism, diversity is a part of the human experience, and that it is okay to be yourself because you are good enough just the way you are.

Aaron Rabinovich

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written by Sharlie Zinniger

Illustrated by
Tiffany Cunliffe

The target audience for this book is young adopted kids who may struggle with being adopted and need to know that adoption is love and its ok to be different.

Yes, I'm Adopted tends to focus on the life of a adopted child with great parents who show them love everyday. It also says that kids are adopted from all across the world.

The theme of this book is its love that you are adopted.

This book is about a adopted kid who is loved by his adopted parents.  He understand that he is different because he does not look like his mom are dad but he is happy to be adopted.

De'Andre Williams

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Malala Yousafzai Warrior with Words by Karen Leggett Abouraya and illustrated by L.C. Wheatley

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Malala Yousafzai Warrior with Words by Karen Leggett Abouraya and illustrated by L.C. Wheatley

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The target audience of this book is American children who do not realize every child does not have an education available to them. Additionally the audience is children who need to be taught to stand up for what they believe.

Throughout the book, diversity is shown through the Muslim, hijab-wearing characters. Additional diversity is depicted through the discussion of the Taliban and United Nations, opening the word to children. This story also opens up discussions about moving, even if the reason was not the rule of the Taliban. This book can create conversations about what people's basic rights are as well as how to stand up for what you believe.

Overall this story is a short biography of Malala Yousafzai's life so far. She was told she was no longer allowed to attend school because the Taliban did not believe women should be educated or work outside the home. Malala did not agree and kept a blog about her experiences. One day on her way home from school, she and two friends were shot by Taliban members. She had to go to a hospital in England to recover. After she was feeling better, she went to speak in front of the United Nations to show them just how important she believes an education is fork each and every individual.

Amanda Gaughan

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Wonder by R.J. Palacio

The target audience of this novel ranges from young children to adults. The purpose of the book is to provide comfort and acceptance to those that are different from the majority. Auggie, the main character of Wonder, was born with a facial deformity that makes him the target of bullying and discrimination. This book is intended to teach people that superficial differences should not be the determining factor of how we treat one another.

The primary curricular theme in Wonder is recognizing that people are valuable and worthy of respect despite how they appear physically. At first, Auggie’s facial abnormality prevents him from being socially accepted. The students in Auggie’s class harshly judge him for his looks, interfering with him from forming quality friendships. In society, people are often unfairly judged for their race, ethnicity, gender, etc. People’s response to Auggie’s diverse appearance is not uncommon. Often times people are likely to classify others by their external looks, not giving them a fair chance regarding who they are internally.

Wonder is about a boy named August (Auggie) who has been primarily home schooled because his facial deformity. Upon entering middle school, Auggie’s physical appearance greatly interferes with how people view him. Eventually, Auggie’s peers accept him for being the unique, lovable person he is despite his appearance.

Brooke Levy

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Story by Monica Brown, illustrations by Sara Palacios

Published by Children's Book Press

Target Audience: English and/or Spanish readers, grades 1-3

Diversity Focus: The diversity focus of Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match is on multiracial children. In this case, the main character is Peruvian and Scottish, and though her tan skin and orange hair may not conventionally "match" she learns to love how different she is.

Potential Curricular Themes/topics: The book is written in both English and Spanish, which allows for readers of both languages to enjoy. The ability for Spanish speaking students to learn English, or vice-versa, could be helpful in the classroom. Research shows that reading comprehension in ELL students improves when kids are exposed to culturally relevant books.

Illustrations: The illustrations correspond to the English and Spanish text on each page. They include the main character, Marisol McDonald, and are important to showing how she doesn't "match."

Summary: The book begins by introducing Marisol McDonald, who "doesn't match." She's a girl with brown skin but hair the "color of fire," she eats peanut butter and jelly burritos, and wears polka dots with stripes. Other people are confused by Marisol and pressure her to conform, and she goes to school "matching," but it is unenjoyable. Her teacher notices her creativity is gone and gives her a note that tells her that she is creative, unique, and "simply marvelous." Marisol realizes that she doesn't want to match, and her family is happy that she is back to her old self. At the end of the book, she adopts a dog who also doesn't match, and she names him "Kitty."

Analysis: Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match is an important book for all young readers, but especially for multiracial, bilingual, or "different" students. It explores the main character's journey in realizing that she does not want to be like everyone else, because being different makes her unique and special. It is an uplifting book that can show students that creativity is essential in being your own person. In 2010, 15 percent of marriages were inter-racial, so books about kids like Marisol are more important than ever. The English and Spanish side by side, on top of beautiful illustrations, allow cues for understanding.

Julia Leibowitz

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The target audience of this book is young children learning about what racism is and how it can manifest in different ways. It teaches children what racism can look like and sound like and the reasons why they should not judge someone else based on his or her appearance.

The book portrays people from all different places and focuses on the reasons why diversity is a positive aspect of society and not something to be scared of or a means by which to judge someone else. The book focuses on why diversity is an important part of every community and why it should be embraced.

The curricular theme of this book focuses on educating children about how being racist can damage an individual as well as a community, how to identify racism, and how to react if someone is ever racist towards him or her. The book also contains questions for the readers to ask themselves, forcing young children to reflect on their own lives to see if they can identify a time in which they were made to feel inferior on the basis of race.

The Skin I’m In is about the fundamentals of racism. It teaches children how to identify racism and why it is detrimental to individuals and the community. The book also focuses on the reasons why diversity is a crucial part of all flourishing communities.

Lauren Cheifetz

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Written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells, Yoko is published by Disney with Text copyright.

The target audience for the book is young children, in elementary school, who understand that there are differences between individuals. Specifically, the book targets children who are either teased for their differences, and or tease others for being different than them.

The book focuses on how even an everyday act such as eating lunch can illustrate the differences amongst people, and how those differences can cause bullying and ostracization. Rosemary Wells focuses on a simple item: food, and explains the underlying complexities of the item. The book highlights the differences between cultures with regards to food, and how even the same simple ingredients can be used in different ways depending on the culture.

Yoko illustrates the importance of being who you are, and enjoying things that you like, even if they are different than others. Furthermore, the book teaches us to not judge something until we have experienced it, or in this case, tried it. The children criticized Yoko for bringing sushi for lunch, however many, if not all, of the students had never eaten sushi before, and thus had no idea as to whether they liked it or not. Additionally, a theme that arises in the book is that just because something or someone is different than you, that does not make it or them less than. In the book, the children tease Yoko for having brought something different than them for lunch, however, to Yoko, the food the other children brought could have been seen as different or weird in her eyes. It is a matter of viewpoints, and thus it is not for you to judge others on their actions and or likes/dislikes.

It’s lunchtime at school, and Yoko has brought sushi. She’s soon picked on for her meal as it’s “ick. It’s green! It’s seaweed!” However, her teacher, Mrs. Jenkins saves the day by organizing an international food day. The day might not go as planned, but in the end Yoko learns the meaning of true friendship.

Ellie Kurensky

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King & King is written and illustrated by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland. It is published by Tricycle Press Berkeley.

The target audience of this book is for children ages 6-9, however it has lessons that are suitable for readers of all ages. This book is for anyone who doesn’t relate to the heteronormative literature that exists that normalizes stories of princes and princesses.

Diversity Focus: The diversity focus of this book is to deviate from the traditional prince and princess fairytales and tell the story of a prince who falls in love with a prince.

Curricular Theme/ Topic The goal of this is to diversify the landscape of the stories that are being told to young children to in hopes of breeding acceptance, tolerance and empathy, and also to provide representation for children who may one day grow up to find out they too are gay. At it’s core it’s just about being true to yourself and that being yourself, whomever that is, is not only okay, in fact it’s encouraged.

This book is about an older prince who has yet to marry. His mother, the Queen is tired of being the Queen so she asks that the Prince once and for all finds a princess to marry. After the prince rejects all the princesses that the Queen has chosen for him he falls in love with a prince. They get married and they live happily ever after.

Asha Wafer

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Written by Karen Katz

Published by Henry Holt and Company

The targeted audience for this book is to all the children in the world. The main purpose of this book is to show children that there are different shades of brown skin color. She compares the different shades of brown skin color to desserts and sweets such as dark chocolate, peanut butter and many others. She also talks about different colors of paint that will make a shade of brown.

Thakarius Keyes

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By Arnold Adoff
Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
Published by Harper Collins Publishers

The Target audience of Black is Brown is Tan is young children, particularly those who are apart of interracial families, or those children who are confused of the role they or others play within their family, and how race, skin color, and gender differences play into that.

The diversity focus of Black is Brown is Tan is on Interracial relationships and families, as well as racial/gender roles in family and society.

Black is Brown is Tan is a children’s book centering around an interracial family of a white father, a black mother, and their two children.  The book consists of different descriptions of the mother, the father, the sister, the aunt, the uncle, and the two grandmothers, each description having at least partially to due with the skin color of each family member, which is then compared other things such as milk, sugar, snow, foods, etc. The family members are introduced through the parents speaking to the children in poetic descriptions of each person in a way that acknowledges, but puts no importance or significance on each person’s skin color other than the fact that it is just the way they are.

The main curricular themes and topics of this book actually line up with a lot of what we’ve been doing in class. I have identified three main themes addressed in the books to be moving away from the idea of being “color blind” and moving towards the idea of accepting everyone for who they are, the idea of equality vs. equity and how being equal is not necessarily being equitable, and the broad theme of gender and racial equality. On a smaller more specific scale, the book emphasizes the theme of equality within a diverse social group, or in this case a family. The family in this book is made up of two interracial parents and their mixed race children, through similar actions, seemingly equal relationships with each family member, and no hierarchal structure within the family, these topics are addressed.

The illustrations in Black is Brown is Tan are beautiful. They are each slightly abstract, with many blended bright and dark colors, somewhat blurry lines, and no distinct facial features on the people which I believe was done on purpose to get across the idea that it is unimportant exactly how one looks, and that the story could apply to any interracial family or child out there.

The books purpose was to provide cultural perspective into the dynamics of an interracial family as well as dynamics between different races and gender in general. By emphasizing the equality between each character, male or female, white or black, the book demonstrates that while not everyone is the same, everyone should be treated equitably. The book shows through the layout of its words, through the equally energetic and uplifting actions of each individual, and through the equally love and compassion everyone seems to have for each other; that loves transcends color, that it doesn’t matter what the color of one’s skin is because they are all apart of the same loving family. It can be hard understanding what each person’s role is as a child of an interracial family, a family that has visible physical differences within itself, and so the book strives to appease a child of this confusion by showing them that just because the differences are there and they are visible, doesn’t mean the differences will effect who each person is, their place in their family, and their role in life.

There are two particular reading strategies that I have found can be used to understand the ideas in the text, both of which were set up by the author purposely. This book is laid out in a very different way than most books. The spacing of the words differ from page to page, as does the spacing between letters. This is done to create an effect in which one word can be read as applying to multiple lines and so each line starts and ends with the words lining up with the words above it to make all the lines look equal in length. For example, on the first page, the way “black” is lined up with the rest of the lines makes the word “black” applicable to lines other than just the one that it is part of. This way of laying out the words not only shows how one word can be used to describe many things, such as in this case black describes brown, tan, girl, boy, nose, face, and all the colors of the race, but also emphasizes the idea of equality as the lengths of each different line looks equal. Another reading strategy to understand the ideas in the text comes from the line “this is the way it is for us this is the way we are.” This line is repeated after describing the mom and then the dad. The descriptions of each person are different but the lines after are the same. This implies that while differences are there and apparent, they do not matter because the different skin colors are “just the way they are” and not any more important than that.

William Galant

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By: Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
Published By: Cartwheel Books

The target audience is children that have confidence issues because they are different or have a disability.

The message of the book is that everyone is different and unique in his or her own way and need to realize that. Just because they are different then someone else or have a deformity doesn't mean they can't succeed and need to try too.  It shows how the main character a Giraffe named Gerald who can't dance correctly to a certain song because he has bad knees overcomes adversity and criticism and finds a song inside him that allows him to find dance moves he didn't know he had.

The Illustrations in the book are colorful. They show vibrant images of the animals dancing and communicating with one another and sets a positive
tone on the story.

This book is about Gerald the Giraffe. Gerald was born with knees and his legs are pretty thin. In his jungle there is the jungle dance where all the animals dance to a certain song. All the animals thrive but Gerald can't and they make fun of him and he leaves. A cricket watches him and goes up to him after and says when you're different sometimes you just need a different song and picked up a violin and played Gerald a song and he started dancing and everyone was so impressed that they praised him and he knew that he could do it.

I believe that their is a cultural perspective by incorporating the different forms of dance moves but I don't think that there is a message to get across from a certain culture. The book has the Waltz and the tango but those are the only cultural backgrounds I came away with from this book. Overall you can make a point that the animals are all different cultures which is true because they are all different types of animals performing different dance moves. But no matter how different each animal is they are all special in their own way and there is no reason for them to be mean and a bully to Gerald just because he couldn't dance a certain way. He ended up proving them wrong and that goes to show them.

Jack Statfeld

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The target audience of this book are young children who need to know that being an activist is okay. And that people all around the world are different and its okay to be proud to be different.

This books tends to focus on each of the different aspects of diversity individually. From being an activist, to equal rights, to LGBTQ, and beyond.

The curricular theme in this short novel is that we should all embrace our differences and not be afraid to wear our true colors.

This book is really and truly about letting yourself be whomever it is you really are. Not being afraid of what anybody thinks about you. No matter if its something as big as your sexual identity or as small as the way you dress.

Tre Jackson

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I Like Myself! is written by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow, and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

It’s target audience is young children, around ages 2-6, who either suffer from a lack of self-esteem or struggle with self-acceptance. The book encourages them to embrace who they are and accept other people no matter what.

This book focuses on how a young girl accepts every aspect of herself, inside and out. She does not care whether she is different or the same compared to others, or what other people think or say about her, because at the end of the day these unique aspects make her who she is.

The key curricular theme is to not judge a book by it’s cover. Throughout the book, the illustrations depict the various unique, silly characteristics that the protagonist actually or hypothetically possesses. Whether she has messy hair, knobby knees, or purple polka-dotted lips, she still holds onto the important concept that “no matter if they stop and stare, no person ever anywhere, can make me feel that what they see is all there really is to me.” From an early age, children begin to judge things by what they see on the outside, specifically with regards to people. This is only natural because for the most part, people see things first and instantly make judgements before they actually get the opportunity to find out more information. However, if teachers can incorporate lessons that will teach their students not to “judge a book by it’s cover,” they can ultimately instill in their students that initial perceptions are not always accurate.

The book begins with the protagonist, a small African-American girl, expressing that she’s glad she is who she is because there's no one else she’d rather be. She goes on to describe all the different things that she likes about herself, such as her various body parts and the way she thinks and acts. This little girl recognizes that it’s not just what’s on the outside that matters, but what’s on the inside as well. She does not let what other people say or do dictate how she feels about herself, but instead accepts every aspect of her being and ends by saying, “I like myself because I’m ME!”

Molly Bookoff

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Written by: Norah Dooley
Illustrated by: Peter J. Thornton
Published by: First Avenue Editions

The target audience is young children who are learning about diversity and who may realize that though people are different, they also may have things in common - in this case - rice.

Diversity: This book focuses on how different cultures prepare a common staple: rice. Before presenting how each household prepared the rice, the author gave some background information about where the family came from and also included different names of ingredients or greetings of the culture or names of foods that were in the culture.

The main curricular theme is focusing on the diversity of how people of different cultures prepare rice while still learning a small bit about their culture. This could be incorporated into the classroom by posing a question: what does your family make for dinner often? More often than not, most of the students will have overlapping answers, whether it just be a simple ingredient, like meat or fish, or dishes like spaghetti. Then, the classroom could transition into reading the book and further discussing what else each of the different families and cultures of the students may have in common.

This book begins with a girl named Carrie who's told to look for her younger brother Anthony so he could come back for dinner. In her quest to look for her brother, she goes to different neighbors and tastes each of the ways that they prepare their rice while talking about their cultures. When she at last found her brother, she was full because of all the dishes she was able to sample and when they got home that night, her brother noted that "Everybody cooks rice."

This book explores food and the way it changes with different cultures. A common staple, rice, is shown prepared in seven different ways. In a way, this could be used to talk about attitudes in cultures and how it changes from culture to culture. This simple aspect of food could be extended to concepts such as respect for example and how different cultures approach how to show respect differently. It can also allow students of different cultures to be able to share about their own food/practices and get them excited about it while also helping other students relate, in a way that is like "We make pasta too, but we do it in this way" or "the way we show respect is this way, which is unlike yours". Though it may be difficult for young students to understand to do that at first, teachers could help facilitate the discussion.

Nina Son.

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by Michael Tyler

illustrated by
David Lee Csicsko

Published by  Chicago Children's Museum, 2005

Targeted audience of this book is young kids who need to learn to love every race and to feel comfortable in their own skin, as well as accept people that are "different" that they are and learn that we are all equal.

This book, trough rimes, talks about equality of every race and skin color. It has very nice illustration and next to every picture there is rhyme that talk about every skin color being beautiful and how no one should feel less because of their ski color.

The main theme of this book is just equality and feeling comfortable with each other even if our skin colors might be different.

The message that this book gives is that no matter how you look or what skin color you are that we are all beautiful and equal.  Another message is just acceptance and how everyone are equal everyone should accept each other no matter what race or skin color they are. There is a lot of nice illustration that makes this book easy to read and fun to look at.

Ksenija Madzarevic

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Written by Matt de la Pena

Illustrated by Christian Robinson

Published by G.P. Putnam’s Son

Target Audience: Last Stop on Market Street was likely written with a target audience of young minority children who are feeling discouraged, alone, and or different’ due to their living situations or socio-economic status.

Diversity Focus/Summary/Curricular Theme or Topic: Throughout the book diversity is shown in both negative and positive lights through a series of comparisons made by a child of his own life to those of others living in more fortunate circumstances. We begin with a young boy named CJ and his grandmother leaving church to begin their journey home. Along their journey, the young black protagonist begins to question his circumstances, wondering aloud about things like having to ride the bus while others get to drive and having to live in a ‘dirty’ part of town while his friends are able to live in nicer areas of the city. His ‘Nana,’ however, is able to put a positive spin to each and every one of CJ’s negative observations, “finding beautiful things where he [CJ] never even thought to look.” The main curricular themes in this book could be interpreted in a few ways, depending on the age group being taught. For younger children it could be “looking on the bright side,” encouraging students to make the most out of difficult situations in and out of the classroom. By validating the feelings of children in similar situations to CJ while also giving each negative aspect of their lives a positive spin, our author effectively gives a voice and sense of positivity to a group of children that are generally ignored in traditional youth's literature.  For older children, teenagers, or even adults learning about the development of young children, the book could be used to teach about the relevance of socioeconomic inequality in the lives of even some of our youngest members of society.

Haley Goodrich

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Whoever You Are is written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Leslie Staub. It is published by Voyager Books.

The target audience for this book is young children, most likely early elementary school students, who are beginning to grasp the concept that not all people are the same, and that diversity is a crucial and prevalent aspect of life.

The message of this book is that no matter who you are, what color your skin is, where you live, or what language you speak, all people have feelings. Everyone cries, everyone laughs, everyone smiles, and everyone loves. This book stresses the importance of internal characteristics and emphasizes the fact that external appearance is irrelevant regarding the treatment of others, since everyone should be treated with kindness.

The key curricular theme in this book is the golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated. This book also contains vibrant illustrations of different types of people, as well as different areas of the world. Though not very long, this book teaches an important lesson to children who are beginning to understand that differences are not solely okay, but also important in society. This book promotes social inclusion in the classroom as well as encourages fair treatment of everybody, despite insignificant physical differences.

Anna Chapin

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Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy

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Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy

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The target audience of this book is young children who need encouragement and reassurance that being themselves is okay, that kindness is always beneficial, and that there is no stereotype they need to conform to.

This book focuses on a young Italian girl who gets teased especially for her huge head of hair, and the boy that teases her; the diversity focuses are on family and topic. For example, Lucy has positive interactions with her grandfather, and her other friend of her same age, Harriet. There are many diverse schoolmates shown around Lucy -- students of color, students with glasses, students that are injured. Most appear to be well dressed, possibly indicating relatively okay socioeconomic status. Lucy lives with her grandpa, and there are no mention of her parents, though she mentions that her friend Harriet lives with her parents, in a seemingly more traditional household setting. Thus, by showing different different ways of living, and different people in Lucy’s town, the reader should be able to find themself; and, of course, the topic is one not usually found in children’s literature.

The main curricular theme in this novel is that one should embrace their unique aspects -- Lucy is bullied specifically for being different, and by the end of the novel she realizes that her differences are something to celebrate. This novel also deals with bullying, treating others as you wish to be treated, and the importance of spreading kindness. Overall, it has a plethora of good messages for children’s developments.

Lucy enjoys being unique, especially after prompting from her grandfather, though she begins to question herself when a classmate starts bullying her. By the end of the novel, Lucy has realized that kindness is the most important tool in interacting with humans -- even her bully has a heart, she realizes -- and she embraces the special things about her that make her unique.

Dani Levie

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Target audience, Diversity Focus, Curricular theme/topic,
2-4 sentence summary of book
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