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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 — 111,973 ratings
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2

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4.35 avg rating — 20,945 ratings
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3

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4.38 avg rating — 6,723 ratings
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4

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4.25 avg rating — 4,866 ratings
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5

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4.72 avg rating — 32 ratings
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6

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 70,309 ratings
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7

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4.38 avg rating — 12,627 ratings
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8

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3.97 avg rating — 114,297 ratings
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9

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3.88 avg rating — 6,614 ratings
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10

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4.24 avg rating — 1,135 ratings
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11

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4.15 avg rating — 16,937 ratings
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12

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4.06 avg rating — 282,287 ratings
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13

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4.46 avg rating — 145 ratings
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14

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3.90 avg rating — 129,181 ratings
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15

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4.12 avg rating — 2,321 ratings
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16

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3.89 avg rating — 254 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 1,268 ratings
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18

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4.11 avg rating — 1,717 ratings
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19

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4.15 avg rating — 92,153 ratings
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20

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3.79 avg rating — 17,035 ratings
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21

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4.15 avg rating — 4,881 ratings
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22

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4.04 avg rating — 26,315 ratings
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23

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4.51 avg rating — 51 ratings
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24

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4.49 avg rating — 16,587 ratings
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25

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4.12 avg rating — 7,297 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 7,558 ratings
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27

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4.53 avg rating — 73 ratings
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28

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4.12 avg rating — 25 ratings
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29

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4.16 avg rating — 43,272 ratings
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30

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4.17 avg rating — 1,862 ratings
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31

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3.78 avg rating — 7,288 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 65,930 ratings
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33

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4.37 avg rating — 51 ratings
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33

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4.02 avg rating — 356 ratings
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35

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 117 ratings
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36

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4.15 avg rating — 46 ratings
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37

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3.97 avg rating — 201 ratings
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38

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4.16 avg rating — 1,087 ratings
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39

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3.84 avg rating — 5,201 ratings
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40

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,062 ratings
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41

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4.02 avg rating — 37,369 ratings
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42

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3.75 avg rating — 4,030 ratings
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43

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4.51 avg rating — 8,555 ratings
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44

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4.06 avg rating — 2,262 ratings
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45

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4.26 avg rating — 3,481 ratings
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46

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4.20 avg rating — 4,101,472 ratings
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47

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4.41 avg rating — 29 ratings
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48

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3.79 avg rating — 37,963 ratings
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49

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3.47 avg rating — 32 ratings
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50

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4.11 avg rating — 1,461 ratings
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51

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4.27 avg rating — 991 ratings
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52

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4.21 avg rating — 5,976 ratings
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53

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4.10 avg rating — 883 ratings
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54

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4.33 avg rating — 12,855 ratings
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55

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4.06 avg rating — 36 ratings
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56

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4.09 avg rating — 276 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 308 ratings
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58

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3.76 avg rating — 8,769 ratings
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59

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4.10 avg rating — 58,344 ratings
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59

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4.13 avg rating — 2,379 ratings
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61

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3.94 avg rating — 5,775 ratings
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62

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4.37 avg rating — 2,400 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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4.74 avg rating — 89 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 — 2,150 ratings
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66

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4.03 avg rating — 111 ratings
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68

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3.80 avg rating — 498 ratings
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68

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4.41 avg rating — 27 ratings
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68

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4.11 avg rating — 90 ratings
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71

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4.06 avg rating — 31 ratings
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72

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3.90 avg rating — 131,189 ratings
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72

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3.77 avg rating — 107 ratings
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74

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4.31 avg rating — 3,279 ratings
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75

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4.16 avg rating — 473 ratings
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75

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4.25 avg rating — 100,405 ratings
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77

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4.46 avg rating — 4,675 ratings
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77

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3.95 avg rating — 42,169 ratings
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77

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4.72 avg rating — 71 ratings
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80

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4.28 avg rating — 286 ratings
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80

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4.25 avg rating — 13,443 ratings
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82

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4.36 avg rating — 1,920 ratings
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83

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4.02 avg rating — 166 ratings
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83

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4.31 avg rating — 627 ratings
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85

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3.77 avg rating — 4,816 ratings
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86

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3.97 avg rating — 27,937 ratings
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87

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3.97 avg rating — 2,417 ratings
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88

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4.20 avg rating — 1,109 ratings
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89

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4.14 avg rating — 1,004 ratings
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90

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4.06 avg rating — 18,486 ratings
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91

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4.36 avg rating — 6,005 ratings
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91

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4.47 avg rating — 5,979 ratings
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93

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4.15 avg rating — 1,641 ratings
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94

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4.08 avg rating — 41,054 ratings
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95

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4.15 avg rating — 177 ratings
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96

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4.04 avg rating — 12,523 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 4,074 ratings
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98

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3.68 avg rating — 411 ratings
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99

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3.93 avg rating — 346 ratings
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100

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3.87 avg rating — 1,635 ratings
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466 books · 352 voters · list created December 3rd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
143 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1314 books
139 friends
Donna-Lee 508 books
39 friends
Susan 4286 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 1049 books
384 friends
Dolly 16088 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 220 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2168 books
29 friends
Rebecca 3940 books
72 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp 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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