KIDS' BOOKS YOU WANT TO READ (updated 12.12.12)

We make sure at 50% of the books we check out from the library or buy depict characters with non-Caucasian skin and from different cultures or countries. A lot of these made me cry at some point, and so if my kids had to say "C'mon Mom, just keep reading!" it definitely makes it to this list. I continually update, so come on back!

*Book titles are links my Goodreads reviews and some Amazon links. Also, let's be friends on Goodreads scoopingitup at gmail.com 

Chocolate Me by Taye Diggs
Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman  (Christmas book!)
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa: Talking Drum Rhythms by Uzo Unobagha
Amal and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti   (Christmas book!)
Under the Christmas Tree by Nikki Grimes, Kadir Nelson 
A Stork in a Boaboab Tree: An African 12 Days of Christmas
Breathe in, Breathe Out by Pamela Hill (non-fiction science book depicting AA kids)
Bearskin by Howard Pyle (the first fairy tale princess I've ever seen with brown skin, corn rows and naturally kinky hair!)

Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni and Slade Morrison
Little Night by Yuyi Morales
Rolling Along:  The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair [AA brothers, one with Cerebral Palsy, one not]
My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete [AA + special needs autism]
Brianna, Jamaica and the Dance of Spring by Juanita Havill [AA and Asian]
Let's Talk about It:  Extraordinary Friends [Several races depicted; a sob fest book about special needs children]

Phillis's Big Test by Catherine Clinton [African American]
Hats Off to Hair! by Virginia Kroll Almost Zero: A Dyamonde Daniel Book  by Nikki Grimes  [African American]
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales (Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner)
Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers    [Japan]
I'm Adopted  By Shelly Rotner 
The Jones Family Express  by Javaka Steptoe    
Yuko-Chan: The Adventures of a Blind Japanese Girl Who Saves Her Village  by Sunny Seki
 Drum City by Thea Guidone

Flossie and the Fox  by Patricia C McKissak
Sukey and the Mermaid  by Robert San Souci
Superhero  by Marc Tauss [AA]

Sam and the Tigers: A Retelling of 'Little Black Sambo' by Julius Lester, Jerry Pinkney
The Girl Who Spun Gold by Virginia Hamilton
The Storyteller's Beads: An Ethiopian Tale
The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa
Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree by William Miller
Read for Me, Mama by Vashani Rahaman
Grandma's Humongous Suitcase: A tale of Ethiopian history and culture in a child voice...

The Lion's Whiskers: An Ethiopian Folktale

Hope for Haiti by Jesse Watson
In the Small, Small Night by Jane Kurtz

It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen Fletcher
 

My Family Plays Music
Being with you this way by W. Nikola-lisa
Hello World! Greetings in 42 Languages Around the Globe!
 David's Drawings
Namaste! by Diana Cohn
Lola Reads to Leo by Anna McQuinn
Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale
Mama Rocks, Papa Sings by nancy van laan
The Perfect Orange: A Tale from Ethiopia
Girls A to Z by Eve Bunting  - Depicts girls with all colors skin, hair and eyes being amazing and achieving. Carrying - Small World Publication by Gwenyth Swain
To Be an Artist (Shatki for Children) by Maya Ajmera
Shades of People by Shelley Rotner
What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Christmas for 10 (Holiday book depicting a Black family. So hard to find.) by Cathryn Falwell
An Angel Just Like Me by Mary Hoffman
Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman
The 12 Days of Christmas set in Africa  by Rachel Isadora
Christmas Around the World by Mary Lankford


Joy to the World!: Christmas Around the Globe
Goggles! by Ezra Jack Keats
Joha Makes a Wish: A Middle Eastern Tale
Catch That Goat! by Polly Akajika

My Friend Jamal by Anna McQuinn
Angkak: The Cambodian Cinderella by Jewell Coburn  
Under the Sunday Tree by Eloise Greenfield
Hair Dance! by Kelly Johnson
 
 Amazing Faces - Diversity Poety Anthology
Goal! by Minda Javaherbin
Rain Feet by Angela Johhnson
Michael's Golden Rules by Deloris M. Jordan
Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis
Do Like Kyla by Angela Johnson
Play Ball! by Jorge Posada
Mary Had a Little Lamb by Jonas Sickler (This is a picture baby book that cannot be ripped or ruined by drool! Washable but feels like paper! And depicts the popular nursery rhyme set in Africa)
Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame
Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life by Jerdine Nolen
My Best Friend by Mary Ann Rodman
Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki
 
14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy
The Hallelujah Flight by Phil Binder
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove
The Magic Tree: A Folktale from Nigeria
Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B Williams
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Sugar Plums to the Rescue!
Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter
Masai and I by Virginia Kroll
Elizabeti's Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
You Can Do It! by Tony Dungy
The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePoala
Hip Hop Speaks to Children (with CD): A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat
King Pom and the Fox by Jessica Souhami
The Story Of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Galimoto (Reading Rainbow Book) by Karen Lynn Williams
Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell
Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa by Niki Daly
What's Cooking, Jamela? by Niki Daly
Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
Counting Addis Ababa : A Counting Book of English, Amharic and Oromiffa, Ethiopian
Fire on the Mountain by Jane Kurtz
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson
Whoever You Are (Reading Rainbow Books) by Mem Fox
Almost Anything by Helen Oxenbury
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Caldecott Honor Book) by
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Loebel
Any Fairy Tale illustrated by Rachel Isadora
Mama Says: A Book of Love for Mothers and Sons by Rob D. Walker
Whose Knees are These? by Jabari Asim
The Great Dog Wash by Shellie Braeuner
Three Names of Me by Mari Cummings
Hannah is My Name by Belle Yang
How I Was Adopted by Joanna Cole
Eating the Rainbow by Rena Grossman
Yafi's Family: an Ethiopian boy's journey of love, loss and adoption by
One Hen by Katie Smith Milway

Mama Panya's Pancakes by Mary Chamberlin

Africa Is Not A Country

Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
My Name Is Yoon by Ezra Jack Keats
Ellington Was Not a Street
Please, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee
E Is for Ethiopia by Ashenai Gudeta
Kofi and His Magic by Maya AngelouOh, What a Busy Day by Gyo Fujikawa

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Williams

Beatrice's Goat by Page McBriar

Something Beautiful by Sharon Denis Wyeth

Global Babies

The Fortune-Tellers by Lloys Alexander

Mightier Than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys by Jane Yolen

Black is Brown is Tan by Arnold Adoff

We're Different, We're the Same (Sesame Street)