Finding Diverse Books 2024 | Picture Books

Updated December 13, 2023
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Ancient night
Bowles, David
Paper Book
Publishers Weekly Best of the Year BookPage Best of the Year Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Evanston Library Best of the Year Horn Book 2023 Summer Reading List "Vivid and vibrant." --NPR...

A beautifully-illustrated folktale combining two stories from Nahua myth, the rabbit in the moon and Lord Opossum who stole fire from the gods. This is a great option for supplementing folklore units and pairs well with Moon Pops by Heena Baek, Papa, Won't You Get the Moon for Me? by Eric Carle, Aesop's Fables and the Greek story of Prometheus. Also available in Spanish as Noche Antigua!

Language | Spanish

The yellow áo dài
Bui, Hanh.
Paper Book
Lovingly illustrated by Minnie Phan, Hanh Bui's debut picture book, The Yellow Áo Dài, is a warm story of family, identity, and remembering those who came before. Naliah is excited to perform a traditional Vietnamese Fan Dance at her school's International Day. When she...

A lovely mirror book for Oregon City's Vietnamese community (fourth most spoken language in OC schools after English, Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian). Many families have special clothes or other treasures they've passed down over generations, along with stories about people who wore, made, or used them. This could generate rich conversations or writing activities about students' personal heritage.

Race & Ethnicity | Asian & Pacific Islander

What you need to be warm
Gaiman, Neil
Paper Book
A fantastic Christmas present for Neil Gaiman super fans ** AS SEEN ON CHANNEL 4 NEWS ** Sometimes it only takes a stranger in a dark place... to say we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season.

A poem about warmth, both literal and metaphorical, crafted by suggestions from Newbery Award-winner Gaiman's Twitter followers and illustrated by 13 different artists--some of them refugees themselves. Use it to highlight the strong use of figurative language and in SEL lessons about kindness. Teachers of older students could invite students to write their own collaborative poem as a class and take turns illustrating each other's work.

Citizenship Status

Remember
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER .AN AMERICAN INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION HONOR BOOK.A BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK HONOR AWARD . NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY School Library Journal . Publishers Weekly . The Horn Book .NPR . The Bulletin . Kirkus Reviews

Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade illustrates a poem by former US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. The emphasis on human connection to the natural world makes this a great choice for Earth Day and other environmental science lessons, as well as Poetry Month and Native American Heritage Month.

Race & Ethnicity | Indigenous

Summer is for cousins
LaRocca, Rajani
Paper Book
Summer is for cousins. Mom and Dad, Two uncles, two aunties, Thatha and Pati, Seven cousins, All of us are together.

Ravi's extended family gathers for the annual family beach trip, but his cousin Dhruv is approaching adolescence and seems a bit too cool and grown up to play with the little kids. Ravi is shy about approaching him until he has an opportunity to make their favorite dessert--banana ice cream--for the whole family. Maintaining relationships with siblings and cousins as they enter different stages of life is a common experience for lots of kids, and I love how sensitively Rajani Larocca handles a topic that can feel like a Big Deal to younger kids.

Race & Ethnicity | Asian & Pacific Islander


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