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Multicultural literature is defined as literature about people who are considered out of the mainstream of society and have in some manner been marginalized. Multicultural literature is literature that depicts the experiences of underrepresented sociocultural groups. This could be race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, disability, or language.

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African American Middle Grade Readers-To be Added

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African American Middle Grade Readers-To be Added

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Five books to be added to the collection of Central Virginia Regional Library before the end of the year. More titles will be added in the new year.

"Ghost Boys"-Jewel Parker Rhodes

"Ninth Ward"-Jewel Parker Rhodes

"The Parker Inheritance"- Varian Johnson

"Something to Say"-Lisa Moore Ramee

"Hurricane Child"-Kacen Callender

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Asian Pacific Islander Middle Grade Readers To Be Added

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Asian Pacific Islander Middle Grade Readers To Be Added

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Five books centering around Asian Pacific Islander characters at Central Virginia Regional Library System. They will be added before the end of the year and more will be added in the new year.

"Dragon Peal"- Yoon Ha Lee

"Stargazing"- Jen Wang

"Front Desk"- Kelly Yang

"When you Trap a Tiger"- Tae Keller

"Cannonball"- Sacha Cotter

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A strategic diversity manifesto for public libraries in the twenty first century

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A strategic diversity manifesto for public libraries in the twenty first century

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The purpose of this research-based philosophical piece is to present a progressive manifesto for public libraries in the 21st century to address gaps in embracing diversity in its holistic dimensions and representing such information in their strategic planning and web documentations. And to provide a guided pathway for libraries to diversify their collections to cater to those who are not within the realm of mainstream society

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A strategic diversity manifesto for public libraries in the 21st century | Emerald Insight

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A strategic diversity manifesto for public libraries in the 21st century - Author: Bharat Mehra, Rebecca Davis

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Building for Diversity: How Public Libraries Can Create Great Multilingual Collections

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Building for Diversity: How Public Libraries Can Create Great Multilingual Collections

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In a multicultural and multilingual country like Canada, building quality multilingual collections in public libraries is an important part of providing equitable library service to all community members. Taking examples here from this article can help libraries in American model what they are achieving in Canada to build multilingual and multicultural collections.

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The BookDragon is the Smithsonian's blog related to the Asian-Pacific American Center. It is run by Terry Hong, and was debuted in 2009. The blog centers around books for the diverse reader. They are an equal opportunity reviewer, giving all books with diverse characters a review but they do focus heavily on Asian-Pacific Americans.

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Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature.

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center produces national exhibitions and exciting public programs about the Asian Pacific American experience. We are not a company, but a non-profit national museum center that shares how Asian Pacific American history, art and culture reflect the American spirit, are universal lenses for learning, and sparks that learning in everyone.

BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong, and officially debuted on March 16, 2009. You'll also find much older postings because the blog is populated backwards with book and author-related pieces Terry has published in various newspapers, magazines, online journals, and even other books, over the last few decades.

While the majority of the titles throughout BookDragon are by and about Asians and Asian Pacific Americans, you'll find books and authors from around the world. Terry is an equal opportunity reader.

To make this blog work for you, be sure to use "Categories" or "Tags" to search for titles that might interest you most. Thanks for visiting BookDragon, and do check back often!

Book Review Policy
As an equal opportunity reader, BookDragon reviews an eclectic array of books from writers of all ethnic backgrounds, for all ages, of most genres. Since BookDragon is a project of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, preference is given to titles by and about Asians and Asian Pacific Americans.

BookDragon does not review self-published titles. At this time, BookDragon does not review e-books; the BookDragon is a Luddite who cannot read anything but the printed page. BookDragon regularly cross-posts Terry Hong's book reviews, author interviews, and other book-related pieces originally published elsewhere (newspapers, magazines, websites, books, etc.).

Comment Moderation
Comments are welcome and encouraged. Comments are strictly moderated. Comments will not appear until approved by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. The Smithsonian reserves the right not to post any comments that are unlawful, threatening, offensive, defamatory, invasive of a person's privacy, inappropriate, confidential or proprietary, political messages, product endorsements, or other content that might otherwise violate any laws or policies.

Disclaimer
BookDragon may contain the personal opinions of Smithsonian Institution staff, volunteers, or interns, and does not necessarily represent the official Smithsonian Institution (SI) position on these matters. Links to external internet sites from SI web pages do not constitute SI's endorsement of the content of their websites or of their policies or products. The Smithsonian does not willingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13.

For more guidelines on the use of content in this blog, please review the Smithsonian's Terms of Use.

Contact
To capture the BookDragon, please email: SIBookDragon@gmail.com

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BookDragon reviews books for the diverse reader.

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A blog started by Dallon Robinette, a grad student at Grand Canyon University. He started this blog to represent his biggest passion; travelling. And his appreciation for the cultures he experienced and the differences in their literature.

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The Brown Bookshelf is a blog designed to bring and push awareness for black voices in literature to young readers. This is a great blog to reference to find new African American titles for your collection.

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About the Brown Bookshelf - The Brown Bookshelf

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

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Latinxs in Kid Lit is a great blog managed by eleven amazing people who come from all different latin cultures! This resource is great to review to find new books to grow your Latinx collection!

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Cindy L. Rodriguez is a former journalist turned teacher and children's author. She is a middle school reading specialist in Connecticut, where she lives with her family. Cindy is a U.S.-born Latina of Puerto Rican and Brazilian descent. Her debut contemporary YA novel is When Reason Breaks (Bloomsbury 2015). She also has an essay in Life Inside My Mind (Simon Pulse 2018) and wrote the text for three Jake Maddox books: Volleyball Ace (2020), Drill Team Determination (2021), and Gymnastics Payback (2021). Her debut picture book will be published by Cardinal Rule Press in summer 2022. She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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Sujei Lugo was born in New Jersey and raised in her parents' rural hometown in Puerto Rico. She earned her Master's in Library and Information Science degree from the Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies at the University of Puerto Rico and is a doctoral candidate in Library and Information Science at Simmons College, focusing her research on anti-racist children's librarianship. She has worked as a librarian at the Puerto Rican Collection at the University of Puerto Rico, the Nilita Vientós Gastón House-Library in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the University of Puerto Rico Elementary School Library. Sujei currently works as a children's librarian at the Boston Public Library. She is a member of REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking), American Library Association, and Association of Library Service to Children. Sujei can also be found on Twitter, Letterboxd and Goodreads.

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Cecilia Cackley is a Mexican-American playwright and puppeteer based in Washington, DC. A longtime bookseller, she is currently the Children's/YA buyer and event coordinator for East City Bookshop on Capitol Hill. Find out more about her art at www.ceciliacackley.com or follow her on Twitter @citymousedc

Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez is an Assistant Professor of English (Children's Literature) at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her teaching and research are in the areas of children's literature (particularly Latinx literature), girlhood studies, and children's cultures. Her published work has focused on girlhood as represented in literature and Puerto Rican girls' identity formation with Barbie dolls. She has presented research on Latinx children's books at various conferences and has served on children's book award committees such as the 2017 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the 2018 Pura Belpré Award. Currently, she is part of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's "A Baker's Dozen" committee.

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Elena Foulis has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Arkansas. Her research and teaching interests include U.S. Latina/o literature, and Digital Oral History. She is working on a digital oral history project about Latin@s in Ohio; some of these narratives can be found in her eBook titled, Latin@ Stories Across Ohio. She is also the host and creator of , a podcast that seeks to amplify the Latin@ experience with interviews in Spanish, English and Spanglish. Elena was born in El Salvador, grew up in the U.S.-Mexico border, and moved to Ohio in 1992.

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Dora Guzmán is a bilingual reading specialist for grades K-5 and also teaches college courses in Children's Literature and Teaching Beginning Literacy. She is currently a doctoral student with a major in Reading, Language, and Literacy. When she is not sharing her love of reading with her students, you can find her in the nearest library, bookstore, or online, finding more great reads to add to her never-ending "to read" pile!

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Katrina Ortega (M.L.I.S.) is the manager of the New York Public Library's College and Career Pathways program. Originally from El Paso, Texas, she has lived in New York City for six years. She is a strong advocate of continuing education (in all of its forms) and is very interested in learning new ways that public libraries can provide higher education to all. She is also very interested in working with non-traditional communities in the library, particularly incarcerated and homeless populations. While pursuing her own higher education, she received two Bachelors of Arts degrees (in English and in History), a Masters of Arts in English, and a Masters of Library and Information Sciences. Katrina loves reading most anything, but particularly loves literary fiction, YA novels, and any type of graphic novel or comic. In her free time, if she's not reading, Katrina loves to walk around New York, looking for good places to eat.

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Maria Ramos-Chertok is the author of The Butterfly Series: Fifty-two weeks of Inquiries for Transformation and a contributor to three anthologies: All the Women in My Family Sing: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom (FEB 2018) edited by Deborah Santana, She's Got This! Essays on Standing Strong and Moving On (FEB 2019), and What We Didn't Expect: Personal Stories About Premature Birth edited by Melody Schreiber (NOV 2020). For more information and/or to receive her monthly blogs posts visit www.mariaramoschertok.com

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Cris Rhodes is an assistant professor of English at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. She teaches courses of writing, culturally diverse literature, and ethnic literatures. In addition to teaching, Cris's scholarship focuses on Latinx youth and their literature or related media. She also has a particular scholarly interest in activism and the ways that young Latinxs advocate for themselves and their communities.

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Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, PhD is an Associate Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) where she teaches composition, literature, and creative writing. Her academic research focuses on decolonial healing in Latinx children's and young adult literature. Sonia is a Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader.

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Sanjuana C. Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor of Literacy and Reading Education in the Elementary and Early Childhood Department at Kennesaw State University. Her research interests include the early literacy development of culturally and linguistically diverse students, early writing development, literacy development of students who are emergent bilinguals, and Latinx children's literature. She has published in journals such as Journal of Language and Literacy Education, Language Arts, and Language Arts Journal of Michigan.

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Cindy L. Rodriguez is a former journalist turned teacher and children's author. She is a middle school reading specialist in Connecticut, where she lives with her family. Cindy is a U.S.-born Latina of Puerto Rican and Brazilian descent. Her debut contemporary YA novel is When Reason Breaks (Bloomsbury 2015).

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We Are Kid Lit Collective describes themselves as follows in their purpose statement "works to create materials and opportunities to recognize the humanity of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in youth literature. Our work is premised upon the principles of social justice, equity, and inclusion and centers BIPOC voices in children’s literature in order to identify, challenge and dismantle white supremacy and both internalized and systematic racism." and they are a great resource when you get stuck on suggesting a book for someone who wants a BIPOC book!

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Diverse BookFinder | Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books

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

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This is a list of multicultural books for children - picture books through elementary chapter books. A good multicultural book should:
- present the character's culture accurately and sensitively;
- feature marginalized protagonists or protagonists of color;
- empower children of different ethnic backgrounds;
- have strong literary merit.

Books that do not meet these criteria are subject to removal from this list, as there are many books out there that feature characters of ethnicity, but are not respectful toward their culture.

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451 books based on 353 votes: Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John St...

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30 Children's Books with LGBTQ Characters

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30 Children's Books with LGBTQ Characters

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In honor of Pride Month and the wonderfully diverse students and families who come through our classrooms, here are 30 of our favorite children's books with LGBTQ+ characters.
Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!
Books With LGBTQ+ Characters for Grades Pre-K-3

Two male penguins, desperate to start a family of their own, adopt an egg to hatch. This joyful, true story of the "only penguin in the Central Park Zoo with two daddies" will remind kids of the true meaning of family.

The love and support is palpable in this portrait of family diversity with multiracial adopted kids and same-sex parents. Use this joyful and moving book as a model of inclusiveness for children in same-sex households.

Children will recognize their own families and discover many ways of being a family in this rhyming picture book. Charmingly illustrated animals represent and celebrate all the different forms a family can take.

Same-sex marriage is approached in a gentle way from the perspective of a young boy participating in his mothers' wedding. Any child curious about weddings and marriage will learn from this universal story.

This 2015 winner of the Stonewall Book Award captures the exuberance of a Pride Parade from a child's perspective. The Reading Guide at the end of the book gives context to the struggle for LGBT rights while the whimsical illustrations make this a joyful tribute to gender diversity and expression.

6. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jenning

This true story of Jazz Jenning depicts her early childhood as a girl in a "boy body." Kids struggling with gender identity questions will find a role model, and the rest of the class will gain understanding and compassion for her experience.

This treasury depicts a wide range of traditional and non-traditional families in their daily lives. Charming text and vibrant, humorous illustrations celebrate our human diversity while reinforcing the universality of family love no matter what it looks like.

This picture book biography of the man who commissioned the rainbow flag to be a symbol of the 1970s gay rights movement addresses the ugly antagonism against homosexuals, but still resonates with hope for equality. Biographical notes include more information, time lines, suggested resources, and photographs.

Stella has two fathers but no mother, so the school Mother's Day party creates a worrying problem for her. Her loving, extended family helps her find a solution, proving that mothering happens in many ways by many people in the family.

In this rhyming fairy tale, the prince does not want to marry any of the princesses his parents choose for him. Fairy tale fans will enjoy the adventure, while the alternative ending expands the traditional genre to include non-heterosexual love.

Books With LGBTQ+ Characters for Grades 4-7

11. George by Alex Gino

George has no doubt that she is a girl but she can't get the rest of the world to accept her as she is. She hopes that playing Charlotte in the school's production of Charlotte's Web will help her cause. This personal look at one kid's struggle to be herself will resonate with anyone who has ever felt different.

Four interracial brothers, two dads, and various pets make up the realistic, loving, and sometimes hectic family Fletcher. Their family celebrations, trips,and daily adventures are laugh-out-loud funny and show readers that all families are alike in fundamental ways.

Seventh grader Joe Bunch knows he is gay, and this sequel to The Misfits optimistically chronicles his coming-out to his friends. Joe is refreshingly comfortable with himself and can help guide readers in their own journeys to self acceptance.

An introverted sixth grader courageously comes into her own as a girl, although her classmates perceive her as a boy. This is a sensitive look at the young transgender experience, and readers will be inspired by Grayson's bravery.

June just wants to hang out with her friends this summer, but a backlash against Vermont's civil union law threatens her family's security. Use this book to start a conversation about marriage equality and what it is like to be the innocent child of same-sex parents who are discriminated against.

When her mother dies, the courts don't allow Fella to remain with her "other mother," so she is sent away to live with her biological grandmother instead. This thought-provoking story will make readers question what truly constitutes a family.

Eighth grader Nate desperately wants to leave his small town to perform on Broadway, and will let nothing get in the way of his stardom. Young readers will find a hilarious, lighthearted hero in Nate.

18. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

This entertaining graphic novel portrays the questions and confusion of middle school relationships in a realistic but cheerful way, presenting a positive experience of coming out to friends.

This relatable and engaging story depicts 12-year-old Ivy's confusing feelings about her first crush. It's a moving portrait of a girl learning to accept and express her true self.

Thirteen-year-old Charlie experiences isolation resulting from racist and homophobic bullying while at an all-girls' Christian camp. This 2018 Stonewall Award Honor-winning graphic novel sensitively explores issues around race, faith, feminism, and girls' friendships.

Books With LGBTQ+ Characters for Grades 8 and Up

This detailed account of the history of LGBTQ+ culture and rights includes historical photos, documents, personal stories, and facts. Informative and useful to a general audience but essential to those looking for validation, this book reinforces the idea of pride in a positive way.

A diverse cast of characters rounds out this fast-paced superhero adventure where the protagonist happens to be an Asian-American lesbian teen.

A high school boy falls in love with an undocumented immigrant in this timely and thought-provoking novel. Sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity are all portrayed against a backdrop of police violence and social injustice in an inner-city Oakland setting.

Plus-sized 15-year-old Abby is obsessed with fashion and is thrilled to get the summer internship of her dreams. Sharing the internship with artsy Jordi Perez turns out to be complicated and exciting in this sweet, teen lesbian rom-com.

Longlisted for the National Book Award and made into a feature film, this coming-of-age, coming-out story has many fans. Without being a stereotype, 16-year-old Simon is a funny, real, and relatable teen that everyone will cheer for.

Simon and Baz, two wizards at the Watford School of Magicks, fall in love in spite of themselves in this tongue-in-cheek homage to Harry Potter. Teen fantasy fans will love this wizarding mystery adventure with a gay vampire romance twist.

27. Like Water by Rebecca Podos

Loyal, dependable Vanni questions her sexual identity when she becomes friends with mischievous and daring Leigh. Winner of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award, this book explores self-discovery in the context of Hispanic family culture.

Elizabeth knows he is a boy, and uses a gig as radio DJ to try on his new identity as Gabe. His show becomes an underground hit, but when a girl at school outs him, things become difficult and dangerous for him.

Carlos is fabulous and wants to make it as a makeup artist, but he is not just a gay stereotype. Readers will admire him for his inner strength, his loyalty to his friends and family, and for his dedication to reaching his goal.

Using details gleaned from interviews, social media, surveillance video, and public records, this Stonewall Book Award winner documents a teen hate crime and its aftermath in a complex way that inspires empathy for both victim and perpetrator.

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30 Children's Books With LGBTQ+ Characters

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In honor of Pride Month and the wonderfully diverse students in our classrooms, here are 30 of our favorite children's books with LGBTQ+ characters.

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

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Middle Grade Readers featuring Asian Pacific American Characters

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Middle Grade Readers featuring Asian Pacific American Characters

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Middle Grade Books featuring Asian and Pacific Islander characters - Arapahoe Libraries

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Middle Grade Books featuring Asian and Pacific Islander characters by ArapahoeKids - a staff-created list : Check out some fantastic middle grade books by and about Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Looking for more personal recommendations? Let us help! https://arapahoelibraries.org/need-suggestions/

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25 Best Middle-Grade Books About Disability

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25 Best Middle-Grade Books About Disability