Best Multicultural Books for Children

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.
1

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4.04 avg rating — 103,198 ratings
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2

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4.38 avg rating — 6,366 ratings
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3

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4.35 avg rating — 20,670 ratings
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4

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4.25 avg rating — 4,834 ratings
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5

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4.74 avg rating — 31 ratings
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6

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 67,983 ratings
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7

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4.39 avg rating — 12,347 ratings
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8

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3.97 avg rating — 110,509 ratings
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9

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3.87 avg rating — 6,396 ratings
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10

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4.15 avg rating — 16,650 ratings
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11

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4.24 avg rating — 1,116 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 271,084 ratings
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13

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3.89 avg rating — 125,266 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 2,261 ratings
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15

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3.88 avg rating — 252 ratings
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16

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4.10 avg rating — 1,669 ratings
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17

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4.16 avg rating — 87,856 ratings
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18

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3.78 avg rating — 15,827 ratings
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19

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4.04 avg rating — 26,220 ratings
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20

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4.56 avg rating — 50 ratings
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21

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4.10 avg rating — 1,209 ratings
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22

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4.21 avg rating — 7,280 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 4,794 ratings
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24

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4.49 avg rating — 69 ratings
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25

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4.12 avg rating — 25 ratings
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26

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4.16 avg rating — 42,773 ratings
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27

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4.16 avg rating — 1,837 ratings
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28

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3.77 avg rating — 7,189 ratings
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29

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4.50 avg rating — 16,200 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 7,187 ratings
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31

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4.44 avg rating — 50 ratings
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31

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4.03 avg rating — 322 ratings
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33

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3.99 avg rating — 115 ratings
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34

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4.16 avg rating — 45 ratings
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35

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3.94 avg rating — 189 ratings
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36

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4.16 avg rating — 1,072 ratings
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37

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4.01 avg rating — 36,052 ratings
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38

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3.75 avg rating — 3,975 ratings
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38

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4.12 avg rating — 61,845 ratings
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40

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4.51 avg rating — 8,500 ratings
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41

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4.27 avg rating — 3,451 ratings
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42

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4.39 avg rating — 28 ratings
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43

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3.79 avg rating — 36,396 ratings
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44

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,999 ratings
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44

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3.48 avg rating — 33 ratings
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46

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3.84 avg rating — 5,067 ratings
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47

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4.09 avg rating — 1,405 ratings
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48

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4.26 avg rating — 951 ratings
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49

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4.21 avg rating — 5,910 ratings
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50

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4.11 avg rating — 851 ratings
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51

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4.33 avg rating — 12,774 ratings
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52

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4.03 avg rating — 35 ratings
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53

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4.07 avg rating — 2,110 ratings
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54

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4.08 avg rating — 271 ratings
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54

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3.97 avg rating — 299 ratings
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56

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3.76 avg rating — 8,373 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 3,754,425 ratings
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58

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4.10 avg rating — 56,173 ratings
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58

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4.13 avg rating — 2,283 ratings
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60

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3.94 avg rating — 5,572 ratings
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61

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4.36 avg rating — 2,301 ratings
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62

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4.04 avg rating — 11,126 ratings
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63

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4.96 avg rating — 46 ratings
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63

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4.77 avg rating — 84 ratings
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63

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4.56 avg rating — 50 ratings
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66

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4.05 avg rating — 21 ratings
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67

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4.07 avg rating — 2,066 ratings
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67

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 106 ratings
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69

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3.81 avg rating — 484 ratings
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69

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4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings
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69

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4.13 avg rating — 86 ratings
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72

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4.06 avg rating — 31 ratings
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73

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3.90 avg rating — 124,120 ratings
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73

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3.76 avg rating — 107 ratings
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75

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4.30 avg rating — 3,221 ratings
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76

by
4.15 avg rating — 455 ratings
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76

by
4.26 avg rating — 88,979 ratings
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78

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4.50 avg rating — 4,392 ratings
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79

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4.31 avg rating — 269 ratings
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80

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4.36 avg rating — 1,880 ratings
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81

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4.01 avg rating — 165 ratings
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81

by
4.31 avg rating — 604 ratings
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83

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3.96 avg rating — 2,236 ratings
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84

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4.20 avg rating — 1,088 ratings
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85

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4.13 avg rating — 992 ratings
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86

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4.06 avg rating — 18,223 ratings
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87

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4.46 avg rating — 5,683 ratings
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88

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4.26 avg rating — 4,025 ratings
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89

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3.68 avg rating — 393 ratings
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90

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3.86 avg rating — 1,531 ratings
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91

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4.44 avg rating — 12,885 ratings
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92

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3.87 avg rating — 3,743 ratings
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92

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4.27 avg rating — 44 ratings
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92

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4.20 avg rating — 46 ratings
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92

by
4.12 avg rating — 75 ratings
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92

by
4.27 avg rating — 33 ratings
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92

by
4.06 avg rating — 129 ratings
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98

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3.92 avg rating — 657 ratings
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98

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4.60 avg rating — 72 ratings
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98

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
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450 books · 355 voters · list created December 3rd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1307 books
141 friends
Donna-Lee 517 books
40 friends
Susan 4000 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 982 books
390 friends
Dolly 15707 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 230 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2190 books
29 friends
Rebecca 3736 books
69 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Donna (last edited Feb 08, 2013 05:41PM) (new)

Donna Davis To what age are you headed here? Do you want primary/picture books only, or are books for young adults also considered? Also, I don't know who added the Amityville Horror, but it should be removed.


message 2: by Thaddeus (new)

Thaddeus Are you kidding me? FIVE CHINESE BROTHERS on a "multicultural" list of children's books?

This list is "multicultural" in the way that White Castle hamburgers are "beef": Barely, and not in a way that anyone should be exceedingly proud of.


message 3: by Denise (new)

Denise Tad, you forgot to talk about the ballad to sensitivity that is Tikki Tikki Tembo.


message 4: by Kate (new)

Kate A lot of these books don't really meet what I'd hope a quality list of multicultural books would be. I'm going to be adding a description and removing books that are straight-up racist as opposed to good books featuring characters of color. Bear with me while I work on this!


message 5: by Ellena (last edited Jan 28, 2015 12:46PM) (new)

Ellena Thaddeus wrote: "Are you kidding me? FIVE CHINESE BROTHERS on a "multicultural" list of children's books?

This list is "multicultural" in the way that White Castle hamburgers are "beef": Barely, and not in a way t..."


Yes thank you for that response. As a child my teacher read the Five Chinese Brothers to our class and I enjoyed it. I was innocent and didn't realize how wrong this book was. Fast forward years later as an adult I thought I would pick up a book I enjoyed as a child and was disgusted at how racist it was. It reminds me of Mickey Rooney's foul portrayal of an Chinese man in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I wonder if my teacher didn't realize how insensitive this book was for Asian children. I want to become a teacher one day and I will introduce my students to books on diversity. This book will NOT be on my list.


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