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 — 103,741 ratings
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2

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4.38 avg rating — 6,379 ratings
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3

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4.35 avg rating — 20,680 ratings
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4

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4.25 avg rating — 4,840 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 — 68,137 ratings
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7

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4.39 avg rating — 12,362 ratings
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8

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3.97 avg rating — 110,736 ratings
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9

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3.87 avg rating — 6,411 ratings
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10

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4.15 avg rating — 16,659 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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4.06 avg rating — 271,780 ratings
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13

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3.89 avg rating — 125,516 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 2,265 ratings
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15

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3.89 avg rating — 253 ratings
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16

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4.11 avg rating — 1,672 ratings
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17

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4.15 avg rating — 88,121 ratings
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18

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3.79 avg rating — 15,885 ratings
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19

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4.04 avg rating — 26,226 ratings
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20

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4.51 avg rating — 51 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 — 7,298 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 4,797 ratings
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24

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4.50 avg rating — 70 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 — 42,802 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 — 7,199 ratings
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29

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4.50 avg rating — 16,217 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 7,196 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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4.02 avg rating — 325 ratings
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33

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 116 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 — 36,144 ratings
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38

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3.75 avg rating — 3,977 ratings
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38

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4.12 avg rating — 62,090 ratings
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40

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4.51 avg rating — 8,505 ratings
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41

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4.26 avg rating — 3,453 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 — 36,468 ratings
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44

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,005 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 — 5,066 ratings
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47

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4.09 avg rating — 1,412 ratings
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48

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4.26 avg rating — 952 ratings
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49

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4.21 avg rating — 5,914 ratings
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50

by
4.11 avg rating — 850 ratings
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51

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4.33 avg rating — 12,775 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 — 2,113 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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3.98 avg rating — 300 ratings
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56

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3.76 avg rating — 8,399 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 3,771,251 ratings
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58

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4.10 avg rating — 56,324 ratings
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58

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4.13 avg rating — 2,291 ratings
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60

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3.94 avg rating — 5,585 ratings
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61

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4.36 avg rating — 2,309 ratings
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62

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4.04 avg rating — 11,184 ratings
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63

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4.96 avg rating — 46 ratings
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63

by
4.77 avg rating — 84 ratings
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63

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4.51 avg rating — 51 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 — 2,069 ratings
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67

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 108 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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4.11 avg rating — 87 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 — 124,512 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 — 457 ratings
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76

by
4.26 avg rating — 89,600 ratings
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78

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4.50 avg rating — 4,401 ratings
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79

by
4.30 avg rating — 270 ratings
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80

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4.35 avg rating — 1,885 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 — 605 ratings
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83

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3.96 avg rating — 2,248 ratings
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84

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4.20 avg rating — 1,090 ratings
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85

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4.13 avg rating — 993 ratings
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86

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4.06 avg rating — 18,237 ratings
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87

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4.46 avg rating — 5,692 ratings
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88

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4.27 avg rating — 4,034 ratings
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89

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3.68 avg rating — 395 ratings
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90

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3.86 avg rating — 1,537 ratings
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91

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4.44 avg rating — 12,891 ratings
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92

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3.87 avg rating — 3,753 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 — 76 ratings
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92

by
4.27 avg rating — 33 ratings
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92

by
4.06 avg rating — 131 ratings
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98

by
3.92 avg rating — 663 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 1310 books
141 friends
Donna-Lee 517 books
40 friends
Susan 4013 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 987 books
389 friends
Dolly 15712 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 231 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2190 books
29 friends
Rebecca 3653 books
70 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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