Resources
All Are Welcome
– by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman – a picture book for the pre-school through early reader crowd that acknowledges and celebrates diversity in encouraging ways.
We’re Different, We’re The Same
– by Bobbi Kates (Author), Joe Mathieu (Illustrator) – a picture book featuring the Sesame Street characters talking about the importance of differences and our differences make us – and the world – special.
Sulwe
– by Lupita Nyong’o (Author), Vashti Harrison (Illustrator) – a vibrant picture book for the pre-school and early readers age-group to help young readers understand that real beauty is about who you are inside. #ownvoices
God’s Big Plan
– by Elizabeth F Caldwell (Author), Theodore Hiebert (Author), Katie Yamasaki (Illustrator). For families that want to include a religious book in their library. Talks about how the diversity in our world is part of God’s big plan. For pre-school through early elementary years.
Islandborn
– by Junot Díaz (Author), Leo Espinosa (Illustrator) – A colorful picture book for the preschool through early reader ages that tells a story of diversity and strength. The character’s fantastic imagination weaves a tale that no matter where we go, the place we come from, is in us and with us always.
We Are America: A Tribute from the Heart
– by Walter Dean Myers (Author), Christopher Myers (Illustrator) – this father/son project reads like a love letter to the ideals of “America.” It is a great read for the upper elementary school set. #ownvoices
Another Brooklyn
– by Jacqueline Woodson – A beautiful YA novel (ages 12 to young adult). This is a story of a young girl coming of age while growing up in 1970’s Brooklyn. It covers friendship, boys, parents, and race. #ownvoices
My People
– by Langston Hughes and Charles R. Smith – Langston Hughes’ poem is illustrated with sepia photographs by acclaimed photographer Charles Smith. The book captures the beauty and soul of being a black American today, appropriate for ages: 9 through adulthood. #ownvoices
Where Are You From?
–by Yamile Saied Méndez (Author), Jaime Kim (Illustrator) – it is a question that kids of color have to field often in their interactions with the world. A little girl learns that simple questions have big answers. Perfect for preschool through early elementary kids. #ownvoices
Milo’s Museum
– by Zetta Elliott (Author), Purple Wong (Illustrator) – Written for ages 4-7, this is a bright, colorful picture book about diversity, creativity, ingenuity, and representation. #ownvoices
The Day You Begin
– by Jacqueline Woodson (Author), Rafael López (Illustrator) – a story for the early elementary age range, about feeling like an outsider, looking or living differently than others around you. It encourages kids to be brave and try to make connections anyway. #ownvoices
The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family
– by Ibtihaj Muhammad (Author), S. K. Ali (Author), and Hatem Aly (Illustrator) – Suitable for preschool through early elementary. A story of a young girl and her sister getting ready for their first day of school. She watches her sister struggle with wearing her hijab for the first time and learns valuable lessons about family, faith, strength, valuing differences, and self-love. #ownvoices
Three Balls Of Wool
– by Henriqueta Cristina (Author), Yara Kono (Illustrator), Lyn Miller-Lachmann (Translator) – a fable about a child’s family leaving their homeland due to unrest and oppression. It also includes themes about immigration, uniformity, differences, and diversity in bright graphic colors. Suitable for early elementary readers. #ownvoices
The Other Side
– by Jacqueline Woodson (Author), E. B. Lewis (Illustrator) – For Ages 5-10, this picture book pairs lovely illustrations with Woodson’s beautiful lyrical style to tell a story of friendship and understanding in the midst of segregation. #ownvoices
Momma Did You Hear the News?
– by Sanya Whittaker Gragg MSW (Author), Kim Holt (Illustrator) – a picture book with easy to understand language. It’s meant to open up conversations with preschool through early elementary-aged kids – about racism, encounters with the police, and how to get home alive. #ownvoices
The Story Of Ruby Bridges
– by Robert Coles (Author), George Ford (Illustrator) – The true story of six-year-old Ruby Bridges who became the first black child to attend an all-white school in 1960 – amidst terrible racial tension across the whole country. This book makes hard concepts easy for pre-school through early elementary readers to understand.
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice
– by Marianne Celano, Ph.D., ABPP, Marietta Collins, Ph.D., and Ann Hazzard, Ph.D., ABPP Illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin – Available on Amazon as an audiobook, this is the story of two families – one white, and one black, who discuss a police shooting in their town and what they can do about it. There are also read-aloud videos available on youtube if you search. #ownvoices
Ruth and the Green Book
– by Calvin Alexander Ramsey (Author), Gwen Strauss (Author), Floyd Cooper (Illustrator) – Young Ruth and her family are traveling to Alabama and on the way, she learns about Jim Crow laws and The Green Book for the first time. This is a great book for middle to upper elementary ages about a less frequently told story. *A good chapter book for middle-school aged kids to use with this book is the superb, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963)
The Parker Inheritance
– by Varian Johnson – A letter in the attic leads to a mysterious story of shame and injustice, family secrets, and a town’s forgotten history. Ages 9-12 #ownvoices
Genesis Begins Again
– by Alicia D. Williams – Good storyline for the 9-12 age group. The main character has to face her own ideas of racism and how to overcome them to be true to herself and find her identity. #ownvoices
Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment
– by Parker Curry (Author), Jessica Curry (Author), Brittany Jackson (Illustrator) – The charming story of little Parker and her first glimpse at the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. Appropriate for pre-school through early readers. #ownvoices
Smoky Night
– by Eve Bunting (Author), David Diaz (Illustrator) – Written for the early elementary ages, this story is based on the real-life events of the Los Angeles protests and riots after the Rodney King trials. The child will get a sense of the racism, prejudice, and pain that sparked the protests. #ownvoices
Across the Alley
– by Richard Michelson (Author), E. B. Lewis (Illustrator) – Charming story of two little boys who are quite different and how they navigate their friendship in spite of their differences and their grown-ups. Good for preschool through early elementary ages. #ownvoices
Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness
– by Zetta Elliott (Author), Purple Wong (Illustrator) – Written for ages 4-7, this is a bright, colorful picture book about diversity, creativity, ingenuity, and representation. #ownvoices
Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library
– by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator) – A law clerk who loved the books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and wanted to share his love with the world. His world-renowned collection, at the New York Public Library, is now called Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Inspiring for ages 8-12.
Brown Girl Dreaming
– by Jacqueline Woodson – For the 10-and-up crowd, this memoir is written in verse about growing up black in both South Carolina and Brooklyn, NY in the 1960s and 1970s. The book does not specifically address institutional racism, but evidence of this systemic oppression is evident in every word. #ownvoices
A Kid’s Book About Racism
– by Jelani Memory – Currently only available in Kindle version, this is a quick read that defines racism and can be used to start conversations from elementary ages all the way through young adult ages. #ownvoices
AntiRacist Baby
– by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky – considered to be a groundbreaking new board book for ages 0-3. Includes colorful pictures and easy to access language for anyone who reads to their baby. #ownvoices
A is for Activist
– by Innosanto Nagara (Author) – a board book for baby, but useful to introduce your whole family to conversations about diversity, human rights, equality, and social justice. #ownvoices
We March
– by Shane W. Evans (Author, Illustrator) – Colorful and simple language for kids as young as three, up through early elementary school years about the power and importance of peaceful protests told through the eyes of a young person whose family is getting ready to march to the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will deliver a historic speech. #ownvoices
A Sweet Smell of Roses
– by Angela Johnson (Author), Eric Velazquez (Illustrator) – This book for early elementary-aged kids tells the story of the civil rights movement through the eyes of a young girl, her teddy bear, and her sister. It highlights the role of children in the movement for freedom and equality. #ownvoices
Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers
– by Sarah Warren – For ages 6-10, a story of an amazing civil rights activist who fought for better working conditions for migrant workers and protested for changes to labor laws. Her story will appeal to a young child’s understanding of fairness and justice.
Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez
– by Kathleen Krull (Author), Yuyi Morales (Illustrator) – The moving story of one of America’s most famous civil rights activists, written in language that children in early elementary years can grasp. They will understand his compassion and desire to improve the working and living conditions of the migrant farmers trying to care for their families.
Betty Before X
– by Ilyasah Shabazz – Appropriate for ages 10 and up, this is a fictionalized story of the childhood of Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s wife. Written by their daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and traces the child she was to the civil rights activist she became. #ownvoices
The Boston Tea Party
– by Russell Freedman (Author), Peter Malone (Illustrator) – Ground their understanding in the value of protest in US history. Let’s not forget that the United States was founded in the spirit of protests and civil disobedience. For ages 7-10.
Rise Up! The Art of Protest
– by Jo Rippon (Author), Mari Copeny (Foreword) – Beautiful photography detailing the history of protests in America, to inspire young people to better understand the context and the power of peaceful protest. With Amnesty International. Perfect for upper elementary through middle school students.
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
– edited by Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson – A collection that will appeal to the upper elementary through middle school set with its inspiring poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works about peaceful protest, standing up for oneself, forming identity and other pertinent issues that this age faces in today’s culture.
This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work
– by Tiffany Jewell (Author), Aurelia Durand (Illustrator) – Written for ages 9 through adult, walks you through the definition of racism, how to spot it, where it comes from, and how to do the work of an anti-racist. #ownvoices
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide
–by Yamile Saied Méndez (Author), Jaime Kim (Illustrator) – it is a question that kids of color have to field often in their interactions with the world. A little girl learns that simple questions have big answers. Perfect for preschool through early elementary kids. #ownvoices
