Diversity books for kids including authors and characters of color and diversity themes.
This novel is a thing of beauty; three parts: poetry, prose and letters to mami who remains in Puerto Rico. Short chapters, each a vignette or snippet of poetic prose or, actual poetry. Told from Maria’s perspective, we, the reader, watch Maria blossom in her barrio neighborhood of New York City to become a poet. I suspect this is Judith Ortiz Cofer’s own story as she, too, immigrated from San Juan and is now a creative writing professor.
Happy Birthday United States on this 4th of July! To celebrate with picture books, I hope you enjoy two picks with an Asian twist. Both families are immigrants from China. The children in each book , like all children of immigrants, straddle between two worlds trying to be “more-American-like-their-friends” while immersed in the culture and traditions from their home country. But what is lovely in both these books is an acceptance that there is no one correct way to celebrate being an American. This is a homage to the United States of America, the great melting pot nation. Happy Birthday!
In my neighborhood, interfaith Jewish families are not unusual and yet there is a real scarcity of books on this topic. I searched online and then asked my local librarians when my original list wasn’t at my library to come up with this list. I hope you enjoy it as much I did. And I hope children of all faiths can read and discuss some of these books.
Paul Neruda’s childhood is the focal point of Ryan’s fictionalized novel. With regard to passion, Paul’s interest and gift for words was not embraced by his domineering and controlling father. His brother’s gift for classical voice was also rejected by their father in an effort to steer his sons into careers in engineering or medicine.
Journey Home is an important Japanese American story about what happened after the Japanese Americans were released from internment camp and this is also Yoshiko Uchida’s own family story about overcoming barriers, perseverance, and ultimately, of forgiveness.
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord is the story of Shirley Temple Wong as she immigrates to America at age 8 and discovers that American is the land of opportunity by learning about baseball, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the great Jackie Robinson. Four other immigrant stories are listed and all books are approrpriate for grades 3-5.
A thumbs up for the entire Percy Jackson series! I’ve added the classic Mythology by Edith Hamilton which I read and loved as a child. You may as well capitalize on an interest in Greek Mythology and even Roman Mythology that this series will instill in your child. The Usborne is great for younger readers but Edith Hamilton is THE expert and her Mythology book has greater detail.