Child Development and Diversity: Multiculturalism Books

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion.

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

A saintly rabbi miraculously brings to life a clay giant who helps him watch over the Jews of sixteenth-century Prague.

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

An American sailor courts a Japanese girl and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating.

A nine-year-old boy receives a plastic Indian, a cupboard, and a little key for his birthday and finds himself involved in adventure when the Indian comes to life in the cupboard and befriends him.

Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.

After the Civil War Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, finds himself caught between the two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.

Describes Tubman's spiritual journey as she hears the voice of God guiding her north to freedom on that very first trip to escape the brutal practice of forced servitude. Tubman would make nineteen subsequent trips back south, never being caught, but none as profound as this first one.

Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife.

After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, her new classmates help her decide what her name should be.

When Samuel's father, the grand vizier, hears Hamza call Samuel names and tells his son to make sure Hamza never speaks an unkind word to him again, Samuel knows he must obey but has a hard time finding the right means to do so. Includes information about Jewish poet Samuel Ha-Nagid and the legend which inspired the story.

Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town.

A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.

In this Algonquin Indian version of the Cinderella story, the Rough-Face Girl and her two beautiful but heartless sisters compete for the affections of the Invisible Being.

Best friends Lily and Salma disagree over their preferred foods (Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus) but after trading sandwiches to see how they taste, the girls change their minds. Not only does it portray a wonderful lesson about friendship, but the book can be used for a variety of other topics: conflict resolution, anger management, diversity.

A little duck finds adventure on the Yangtze River when he is too late to board his master's houseboat one evening.

A collection of traditional tales from Norway, England, China, and many other countries.

Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.

Maria tries on her mother's wedding ring while helping make tamales for a Christmas family get-together. Panic ensues when hours later, she realizes the ring is missing.

Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947. Illustrations from oil paintings by artist Kadir Nelson.

Reveals the meaning of the mosquito's buzz.

Families come in different shapes and sizes, but they are all special when they love and respect each other.

Two very different girls find that the joy of being friends enables them to share their various likes and dislikes.

Describes in verse a family with a brown-skinned mother, white-skinned father, two children, and their various relatives.

The fifth of May -- The celebration -- Parades -- Food -- Games -- Mexico and France -- Puebla -- Fiesta -- The statue in Puebla -- Glossary.

Explores the different colors found in Japan's history, culture, and landscape.

Illustrated story of a young child who questions the significance of skin color.

Seven-year-old Lena and her mother observe the variations in the color of their friends' skin, viewed in terms of foods and things found in nature.

Side-by-side pictures reveal the essential similarities between the lives of two boys, one in a western country, one in a rural African village.

An introduction to the land and people of India accompanied by instructions on how to read and pronounce the numbers one through ten in Hindi.

Presents the numbers one to ten in Spanish, using each number to introduce concepts about Mexico and its culture.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown, twelve-year-old Donald Duk attempts to deal with his comical name and his feelings for his cultural heritage.

A child is sent to find a younger brother at dinnertime and is introduced to a variety of cultures through encountering the many different ways rice is prepared at the different households visited.

Children from diverse families share thoughts about their families and photographs.

Simple text and photographs present families from many cultures.

Family Pictures is the story of Carmen Lomas Garza's girlhood: celebrating birthdays, making tamales, finding a hammerhead shark on the beach, picking cactus, going to a fair in Mexico, and confiding to her sister her dreams of becoming an artist. These day-to-day experiences are told through fourteen vignettes of art and a descriptive narrative, each focusing on a different aspect of traditional Mexican American culture.The author describes, in bilingual text and illustrations, her experiences growing up in a Hispanic community in Texas.

Las palomitas = The doves -- Los mesos del año = The months of the year -- Los tres reyes magos = The three wise men -- El invierno = Wintertime -- Mamá yo quiero = Mama Paquita -- El palomo y la paloma = The love doves -- La bella hortelana = The hardworking farmer -- Viva César Chávez! = Long live Cesar Chavez! -- Este niño lindo = My sweet baby -- Cinco de mayo -- La maestra = My teacher -- Que bonita bandera! = My Puerto Rican flag! -- Viva mi barrio! = Long live my neighborhood! -- Arroz con leche = Rice pudding -- La quinceañera -- Corre, niño = Run, run children -- Día de la raza = Brotherhood day -- Tumbas = Tombs -- Día de los muertos = Day of the dead -- Damos gracias = Thanksgiving -- Mañanitas Guadalupanas = Morning song to Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Las posadas = The shelter.

When Chico starts the third grade after his migrant worker family moves to begin harvesting California grapes, he finds that self confidence and math skills help him cope with the first day of school.

Illustrations and simple text explore ways in which children are alike and some ways they may be different.

Illustrations and simple text explore ways in which children are alike and some ways they may be different.

This book reiterates that it's okay to be however you are: "it's okay to have no hair; it's okay to be a different color; it's okay to need some help; it's okay to be adopted; it's okay to have a different nose; it's okay to talk about your feelings; it's okay to come from a different place; it's okay to be proud of yourself; it's okay to come in last." It ends with "It's okay to be different. You are special and Important just because of being who you are."This book normalizes all of the following: glasses, wheelchairs, adoptive families, "different moms" and "different dads," size differences, variations in physical features, needing help, giving help, emotions, and play activity preferences.

The author introduces the concept of race as only one component in an individual's or nation's "story."

A young boy goes with his best friend to visit the little Caribbean island where he was born.

When Diane behaves unkindly to the new girl from Argentina, not knowing she cannot speak English, she decides to find a way they can communicate and become friends.

The story of a young girl who just immigrated to America from an Arab country and how she discovers that her differences are what makes her special.

Emphasizes the differences among the four billion people on earth. A celebration of diversity, it devotes pages to appearance, homes, food, clothes, pastimes, jobs, pets, feasts and holidays, beliefs, language, a little history, and most of all, throughout it all, to 'People everywhere. And all different.'

Despite a greedy father and lazy brothers who try to conceal her identity as the real cook in their restaurant, Maylin manages to receive the recognition she deserves when a governor from China comes to a New World Chinatown.

Introduces children from around the world and discusses where they live, how they play, and what their schools are like.

Explores the many different shades of human skin, and points out that skin is just a covering that does not reveal what someone is like inside.

Rhyming text and illustrations celebrate being content with the skin in which one lives, whatever that skin might be.

When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality.

A village of mice prepares for Tet, or Vietnamese New Year, as different numbers of mice give gifts, cook food, and celebrate in other traditional ways. Includes an afterword with facts about the holiday.

If the zebras lost their stripes and became different from one another, some white and some black, would they turn and fight each other and stop living life as loving friends?

Portrays everyday situations in which children see themselves as "different" in family life, preferences, and aptitudes, and yet feel that being different is all right.

Reveals in verse that despite outward differences children everywhere are essentially the same and all are lovable.

Erica visits the home of Nancy, a Chinese American girl, and makes many delightful discoveries about her friend's cultural heritage.

A Mixteca Indian from Oaxaca, América Soliz, suffers from the poverty and hopelessness of her Chicago ghetto, made more endurable by a desire and determination to be a poet.

Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

On the first night of Hanukkah, a young bear helps his mother prepare latkes, plays "Spin the Dreidel," and recites a prayer with his father.

A five-year-old Mexican American girl who will not be six until December has a great deal to celebrate when her sister swaps birthdays with her in the summer.

Although the tradition is to present carp kites only to boys on Children's Day, Kimiko's parents find a way to make the day special for her.

Text and photographs depict the celebration of Chinese New Year by Chinese Americans living in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Uses the Portuguese words for the numbers from one to ten to introduce the land, history, and culture of Brazil.

Presents the numbers one to ten in Japanese, using each number to introduce concepts about Japan and its culture.

Presents the numbers one through ten in Russian, using each number to introduce concepts about the Soviet Union and Russian culture.

Marked by Kleven's exuberant art, this bilingual collection of 27 Latin American folk songs features simple arrangements for voice, piano, and guitar as well as suggestions for group sing-alongs and musical games.

A rainy-day errand introduces Carrie to her multicultural neighborhood and to many different kinds of bread. From Barbadian coconut bread to chapatis from India, challah, and papusaa. Recipes included.

In East Africa, a young girl learns that one cannot always judge by appearances as she and her mother visit a market in search of kanga cloth and meet merchants who all claim they have the secret to good chai (tea).

After the end of the war in Vietnam, a young boy's grandfather dreams of restoring the wetlands of the Mekong delta, hoping that the large cranes that once lived there will return.

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

A rhyming celebration of ancestry and of the diversity that flourishes in this country.

After she chooses a cute dog piñata for her birthday party, Clara pretends it is her pet and she doesn't want it to get broken.

When her family moves to New York from Hong Kong, Mei Mei finds it difficult to adjust to school and learn the alien sounds of English.

Lupe, a young Mexican American, must translate for her mother who speaks only Spanish until Mrs. Gomez decides to learn English in order to get a better job.

Davey is dubious about having a new adopted brother from Korea, but when he finds out that his parents still love him, he decides that having a baby brother will be fine.

Eight-year-old Esmeralda is transformed into a superhero and flies off to rescue her mother, who visited Mexico without her green-card and is not being permitted to return to the United States.

Each day Antonio's Mamá tries to get everyone to sit down together to eat, but someone is always busy elsewhere, until the family celebrates a new arrival.

A cumulative rhyme in the style of "The House That Jack Built" describes the traditions connected to a family's celebration of the Passover seder.

When Minnie's birthday falls on Yom Kippur one year, she wonders just what kind of birthday celebration she will have.

Nai-nai tells her granddaughters the story of her outing, as a seven-year-old girl in China, to see the Moon Lady and be granted a secret wish.

A toymaker and his young friends prepare a shadow puppet play for the Moon Festival in Chinatown in Los Angeles.

A south African girl describes her pet chicken, painting special designs on her house, dressing up for school, and her mischievous brother.

A young girl receives a pair of beautiful red shoes from her Tia Rosita and finds different uses for them until she grows enough for them to fit.

A small Eskimo boy discovers that Mother's lap is a very special place with room for everyone.

Sam must decide how to spend the lucky money he's received for Chinese New Year.

Momo eagerly waits for a rainy day so she can use the red boots and umbrella she received on her third birthday.

Children put on a puppet show using the words to the song "What a Wonderful World," made famous by Louis Armstrong. Incluedes bright colorful artwork depicting children of many backgrounds.

A girl and her brother spend their childhood in a small town on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.

Despite the differences between people around the world, there are similarities that join us together, such as pain, joy, and love.