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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4.03 avg rating — 102,651 ratings
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2

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4.38 avg rating — 6,343 ratings
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3

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4.35 avg rating — 20,658 ratings
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4

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4.25 avg rating — 4,830 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 — 67,825 ratings
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7

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4.40 avg rating — 12,329 ratings
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8

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3.97 avg rating — 110,282 ratings
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9

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3.87 avg rating — 6,379 ratings
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10

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4.15 avg rating — 16,625 ratings
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11

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4.24 avg rating — 1,114 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 270,312 ratings
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13

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3.89 avg rating — 124,951 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 2,257 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 — 1,662 ratings
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17

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4.16 avg rating — 87,531 ratings
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18

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3.78 avg rating — 15,755 ratings
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19

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4.04 avg rating — 26,206 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 — 1,208 ratings
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22

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4.21 avg rating — 7,250 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 4,792 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 — 42,756 ratings
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27

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4.16 avg rating — 1,831 ratings
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28

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3.77 avg rating — 7,185 ratings
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29

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4.50 avg rating — 16,184 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 7,177 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 — 318 ratings
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33

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 114 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 — 1,070 ratings
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37

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4.01 avg rating — 35,993 ratings
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38

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3.75 avg rating — 3,969 ratings
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38

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4.12 avg rating — 61,565 ratings
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40

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4.51 avg rating — 8,492 ratings
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41

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4.27 avg rating — 3,448 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 — 36,313 ratings
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44

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,994 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 — 5,053 ratings
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47

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4.09 avg rating — 1,401 ratings
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48

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4.26 avg rating — 949 ratings
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49

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4.21 avg rating — 5,906 ratings
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50

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4.11 avg rating — 849 ratings
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51

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4.33 avg rating — 12,769 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 — 2,100 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 — 8,360 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 3,736,288 ratings
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58

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4.10 avg rating — 56,014 ratings
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58

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4.13 avg rating — 2,277 ratings
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60

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3.94 avg rating — 5,552 ratings
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61

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4.36 avg rating — 2,288 ratings
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62

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4.04 avg rating — 11,059 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 — 2,065 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 — 482 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 — 123,702 ratings
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73

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3.73 avg rating — 105 ratings
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75

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4.30 avg rating — 3,208 ratings
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76

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4.15 avg rating — 446 ratings
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76

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4.26 avg rating — 88,278 ratings
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78

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4.50 avg rating — 4,383 ratings
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79

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4.31 avg rating — 270 ratings
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80

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4.36 avg rating — 1,879 ratings
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81

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4.01 avg rating — 163 ratings
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81

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4.31 avg rating — 603 ratings
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83

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3.96 avg rating — 2,226 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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4.14 avg rating — 988 ratings
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86

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4.06 avg rating — 18,211 ratings
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87

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4.46 avg rating — 5,667 ratings
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88

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4.26 avg rating — 4,022 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 — 1,521 ratings
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91

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4.44 avg rating — 12,879 ratings
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92

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3.87 avg rating — 3,731 ratings
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92

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4.26 avg rating — 43 ratings
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92

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4.20 avg rating — 46 ratings
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92

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4.12 avg rating — 75 ratings
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92

by
4.27 avg rating — 33 ratings
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92

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4.10 avg rating — 125 ratings
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98

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3.92 avg rating — 652 ratings
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98

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4.60 avg rating — 73 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 1305 books
141 friends
Donna-Lee 517 books
40 friends
Susan 3983 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 979 books
390 friends
Dolly 15706 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 228 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2190 books
29 friends
Rebecca 3708 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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