Multicultural Board Books: Top 10 Picks

These multicultural board books for kids are perfect for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers! A fantastic selection of diverse books for storytime.

Valarie from Jump Into a Book and I are starting a series of book lists to highlight our favorite multicultural children’s books. We plan to turn this into an eBook which we will give away next January for Multicultural Children’s Book Day and sell the rest of the year to raise money for our non-profit so that we can donate more books to kids.

I’m kicking off my lists with my favorite multicultural board books for babies and toddlers. I’ve always loved board books; they are full-body entertainment for babies who might explore them with their teeth and virtually indestructible for toddlers!

But it was surprisingly hard to find board books with diversity and inclusive themes to help develop empathy skills. I hope you like my first list of 20 Wonderful Multicultural Board Books for Babies and Toddlers.

What are your favorite multicultural board books? Please share!

29 Wonderful Multicultural Board Books

Foodie Detectives: A Book of Clues by Lacey Benard, illustrated by Lulu Cheng

Readers will feel like they are in a restaurant ordering dim sum as they follow the bilingual clues to guess what is inside the steamer basket! This is a clever, fun, and delicious way to introduce readers to Mandarin Chinese! This series also includes Lucky Lunar Animals which describes the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac and Boba Emotions, which using faces on boba drinks to describe emotions. [bilingual Mandarin Chinese board book, ages baby and up]

We Share This Neighborhood: A Community Book by Dan Saks, illustrated by Brooke Smart

This is a celebration of diverse communities all across America, including urban centers, rural areas, suburban neighborhoods, and trailer parks. [board book, ages baby and up]

Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia by Juana Martinez-Neal

Learn Spanish words with Alma, the star of Alma and How She Got Her Name, and get to know more members of her extended family in this charming board book. This series includes Alma: Where is Pajarito? about searching for her pet bird and Alma at Home about her morning routine at home. [bilingual Spanish board book, ages baby and up]

Teeny Tiendas: The Flower Shop/La florería by Lourdes Heuer, illustrated by Zara González Hoang

Mrs. Rosario’s flower shop is full of beautiful flowers that make a beautiful bouquet for the Senior Center brunch! [bilingual Spanish board book, ages baby and up]

We All Play // kimêtawânaw by Julie Flett

This gentle board book showcases how animals native to Canada frolic and play. A glossary of Cree words in the back reinforce the Cree language structure. [bilingual Cree board book, ages 4 and up]

Our World: India by Meera Sriram, illustrated by Neethi

This lovely board book series celebrates the day in the life of a child in India. Readers are introduced to Hindi words, Indian food, and culture. [board book, ages 1 and up]

Our World: Brazil by Ana Siqueira, illustrated by Ana Matsusaki

This board book series packs a lot of information in a very playful way. A day in Brazil is packed with fun from playing at the beach to observing the monkeys to practicing a Brazilian martial art. The board book includes Portuguese words, food, and culture![board book, ages 1 and up]

Our World: Italy by Francesca Di Marzo, illustrated by Naida Mazzenga

Each of these three board books is illustrated in a way that showcases the rich diversity of each country’s people. The illustrations have a happy cartoon-like quality. Similar to the other books in this charming series, readers learn about the language, food, culture, and family life in each country. The children in this book enjoy panini, pasta, and gelato, and play soccer in the park. [board book, ages 1 and up]

My Amazing Day by Karin Fisher-Golton, photos by Lori A. Cheung

A little girl has an amazing day doing a normal day of simple pleasures. Written from her point of view, readers will also look at the world with a new-found sense of wonder and gratitude. [board book, ages 1 and up]

Masha and Her Sisters by Suzy Ultman

This is such a cute board book modeled after Russian nesting dolls, also known as matryoshka. The perfect multicultural board book to introduce babies and toddlers to Russian folk art.

(The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo.) [board book, ages 1 and up]

Little Chickens/Los Pollitos by Susie Jaramillo

Both Little Chickens/Los Pollitos and Little Elephants/Elefantitos are bilingual Spanish pull-out interactive books. Read one side in Spanish; flip over and read the story again in English. The words are also meant to be sung as songs. There are flaps to lift and tabs to pull too.

This is a delightful board book series to read in both English and Spanish! [board book, ages 2 and up]

Little Elephants/Elefantitos by Susie Jaramillo

Padmini is Powerful by Amy Maranville, illustrated by Tim Palin

Learn about Hindu gods who share traits with Padmini. She’s wise like Ganesh, creative like Sarasvati, and full of energy like Parvati.

This is a wonderful way for Hindi children to see themselves in books — literally, there’s a mirror page in the back — and for those who are not Hindu, to learn about world religion in a really fun way. [board book, ages 1 and up]

Cuauhtémoc Shapes/Formas: A Bilingual Book of Shapes by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein

I’m so impressed with the Lil’Libros series of bilingual Spanish board books for kids. They are a beautiful multicultural addition to any home library! In this book, shapes are reflected in images inspired by the last Aztec emperor of Tenochtitlan.

This is a nice introduction to Aztec culture that will be a warm memory to recall in late elementary school when kids study the Aztecs and Mayans. My kids learned about it in 5th grade. [board book, ages 1 and up]

The Tiny Traveler: Japan by Misti Kenison

This book of nature teaches colors by referencing iconic images of Japan like Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms, and bonsai. Armchair travel with your toddler or preschooler! This great series covers other countries including Egypt, France, and Italy. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Grace Lin

I love that this first book of shapes uses rhyming text and Asian objects like inkstones, rice bowls, and name chop as well as familiar household objects to identify circles, squares, and rectangles.

Grace Lin’s brightly colored illustrations draw the reader in and a glossary of terms at the end of the book fills in the blanks for anything that isn’t familiar. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Ten Tiny Babies by Karen Katz

It’s not easy to create a counting-to-ten book that isn’t monotonous reading, especially for the 22nd time! It’s the ingenious layout that makes this book a page-turner.

The text is not only rhyming but the page spreads are split 80/20 so that the punchline for each baby is revealed after the reader turns the page in the 20% space… and the next baby is introduced in larger space.

It’s the bright happy babies of all colors that make this a wonderfully inclusive board book. By the time all 10 babies are fast asleep, we see babies of all shades as well as mixed-race parents! [board books, ages 1 and up]

Reach: A board book about curiosity by Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisovkis

Part of the Happy Healthy Baby Series, Reach shows babies of different ethnicities discovering the world around them. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by John Parra

Roseanne Thong has a Latino-themed book of colors filled with the same vibrancy as Round is a Mooncake. With Spanish words sprinkled throughout, Thong’s rhyming text and John Parra’s illustrations make this book crackle with the energy of a fiesta.

Like Round is a Mooncake, there is a glossary of terms at the back of the book. Green is a Chile Pepper is a multi-tasking miracle teaching kids colors, Spanish words, and Latino culture. [board books, ages 1 and up]

More More More Said the Baby: 3 Love Stories by Vera B. Williams

Three toddlers are beloved by the adults in their lives and Vera B. Williams shows by telling the story of each of these three little ones, how families can be different but very much the same when it comes to love. Little Guy is Caucasian with a Caucasian daddy who tosses him high and kisses his belly button.

Little Pumpkin is an African-American with a Caucasian grandmother who swings him about and nibbles his toes. Little Bird is an Asian American with an Asian mother who rocks her back and forth and kisses her eyes. I love that Vera B. Williams included a multi-racial family! [board books, ages 1 and up]

Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse

The Inuit culture and Arctic wildlife are highlighted in this board book as the familiar questions that children like to pose to their parents.

The little girl probes her mother’s love for her with different scenarios to test her: breaking Ptarmigan eggs, putting lemmings in her mukluks, running away, or turning into a polar bear. No matter what, the mama assures her daughter that she will love her, no matter what, forever and always. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, illustrated by Leslie Staub

Understanding our differences begins with starting with how we are the same. Mem Fox takes us through differences in skin color, homes, schools, and languages to find our similarities. We all smile, laugh, hurt, and cry just the same, whoever we are, wherever we are, all over the world.

This is a board book to bring the world a little closer together. Leslie Staub’s illustrations lovingly depict the diversity in our world that can also bring us together. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger

My kids have been going to dim sum for years but they didn’t like it at first. A few years ago, there was an unexpected turnaround — I’m not sure why — and now going to dim sum is accompanied by a joyful chant of “yum yum dim sum”.

It has nothing to do with this book because I failed to read it to my kids when they were young.

But I suspect if I had the wherewithal to read Yum Yum Dim Sum to them very young, there might not have been any resistance to dim sum in the first place. The collage art makes it fun to figure out how the food is depicted and the rhyming text will get you hungry for your own trip to dim sum! [board books, ages 1 and up]

Our trip to Dim Sum includes several of the items in the board book: ha gau (shrimp dumpling) is at the top, sui mai (pork dumpling) is the middle one with the red dot, cha siu bao (barbequed pork steamed bun) is at the bottom. These are all my kids’ favorites!

Global Babies by The Global Fund for Kids

I’ve read that photographs of people, particularly babies, fascinate babies. Adorable babies from around the world are shown in native costumes — I love how the Spanish baby is sporting an FC Barcelona shirt. The text is both rhyming and bilingual in Spanish.

My favorite detail is the different ways babies are “worn” and transported in a hands-free way by their parents.

The U.S.A. baby is in a cradleboard, the Malian baby is wrapped in cloth at her mother’s back, and the Rwandan and Malawian babies are wrapped in gorgeous African cloth carriers and tied to their moms with just their heads peeking out.

The countries represented include Guatemala, Thailand, Greenland, Mali, USA, India, South Africa, Fiji, Peru, Afghanistan, Malawi, Spain, Iraq, Rwanda, and Bhutan. [board books, ages 1 and up]

Hanukkah Hippity-Hop by Barbara Kimmel, illustrated by Ana Zurita

Learn about Hanukkah while getting the wiggles out in the rollicking board book that encourages movement. [board book, ages baby and up]

Whistle For Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

Ezra Jack Keats takes us on another gentle adventure with Peter and his dog Willie. Peter wants desperately to whistle so that Willie will run right to him, but it’s so hard to do! So instead, he spins in circles, hides in a box, and plays with chalk.

It might have been his dad’s old hat or his persistent practicing but he hid a second time in the carton, and he suddenly was able to whistle! And everyone loved it! [board books, ages 1 and up]

p.s. More Multicultural Book Lists for Kids

Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists

African American Book Lists for Kids

Hispanic American Book Lists for Kids

Arab American Book Lists for Kids

Jewish Book Lists for Kids

Native American Book Lists For Kids

Asian American Book Lists for Kids

Asian American
Korean American
Japanese American
Chinese American
South Asian American

12 thoughts on “29 Wonderful Multicultural Board Books for Babies and Toddlers”

Jeanette Nyberg says:
March 25, 2015 at 8:24 am
I love Global Babies! I forgot about that book. It seems like so long ago that we were reading that.. and thanks for making me completely drooly over the dim sum. I need to take a trip to Chinatown soon.
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  April 13, 2015 at 6:45 pm
  Hi Jeanette,
  We don’t get to go to dim sum nearly enough either! I just discovered Global Babies for the first time; missed it with all my kids when they were little. Glad you got to rediscover it!
Carolyn says:
March 25, 2015 at 1:29 pm
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is another great one! I think it’s also by Mem Fox.
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  April 13, 2015 at 7:49 pm
  Thanks so much for your great recommendation Carolyn! I’ll add it to my list to track down! I love Mem Fox!!
maryanne @ mama smiles says:
March 26, 2015 at 12:15 am
We love several of these!
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  April 13, 2015 at 7:50 pm
  Hi Maryanne,
  Yay! I’m glad you like the list!
Patricia Tilton says:
March 26, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Didn’t realize there were some really great board books for children. I’ve read some of the books. Couple I want to get for my young grandson. I love Karen Katz’ and Ezra Jack Keats’ books. Thanks for the list.
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  April 13, 2015 at 7:52 pm
  Hi Patricia,
  I am sorry I missed many of these as board books when my kids were little! But great idea to give to grandkids. I’ll do that when I eventually get some!
Ben says:
October 22, 2015 at 7:25 am
Thanks for this list. I notice you have a Mem Fox book on the list. Frankly this is the one Mem Fox book I dislike (and I adore Mem Fox books). Have you read ’10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes’? Here Mem Fox shows babies from diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds playing together. And the words and message are flawlessly executed. Quite unlike the book of hers you list above which in my opinion is rather a ‘forced’ message.
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  November 21, 2015 at 8:49 am
  Hi Ben,
  Thanks for your great recommendation! I’ll go find a copy!
Gayle H Swift says:
July 2, 2016 at 9:45 am
Global BAbies is one of my eleven=month-old-grandson’s absolute favs. Mem Fox’s “Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes” is a close second.
1. Pragmatic Mom says:
  July 11, 2016 at 9:11 pm
  Love those two books too Gayle!! Great picks!

29 Wonderful Multicultural Board Books for Babies and Toddlers