Book Lists

A study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) that of 3,5000 books published in 2013, only 253 were about people of color, defined by the CCBC as African/African-American, “American Indians” or Native Americans, Asian Pacifics/Asian Pacific Americans, or Latinos. This has inspired me to compile some lists of books whose protagonists come from under-represented groups. These lists are a work in progress and are therefore admittedly incomplete. please leave suggestions for books in the comment section of each list. The lists themselves will include only books I have personally read. The lists include all books that I have read that meet the criteria. They are not recommendations per se. For more selective lists, I recommend the CCBC’s 50 Multicultural Books Every Kid Should Know and 30 Multicultural Books Every Teen Should Know. My conversations with parents indicate that they are hungry for more than 50 recommendations spanning the whole of childhood. My goal is to compile the largest quantity of books I can without passing judgement as to the literary quality of various titles (although I may do that in reviews).

Picture Books

Picture books with Protagonists of Color

Picture Books with Ethnic or Racial Diversity

International Picture Books

Picture books that include children with disabilities

Queer Picture Books

Feminist Picture Books

Early Readers (ages 5-7)

Early Readers with Protagonists of Color

International Early Readers

Early Readers that include Children with Disabilities

Queer Early Readers