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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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4.05 avg rating — 119,006 ratings
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2

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4.35 avg rating — 21,126 ratings
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3

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4.39 avg rating — 6,976 ratings
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4

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4.25 avg rating — 4,905 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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4.01 avg rating — 72,154 ratings
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7

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4.38 avg rating — 12,804 ratings
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8

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4.15 avg rating — 17,136 ratings
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9

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3.98 avg rating — 117,329 ratings
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10

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3.88 avg rating — 6,816 ratings
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11

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4.24 avg rating — 1,150 ratings
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12

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4.15 avg rating — 95,388 ratings
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13

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4.05 avg rating — 289,717 ratings
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14

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3.91 avg rating — 133,094 ratings
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15

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4.11 avg rating — 1,312 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 2,366 ratings
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17

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4.11 avg rating — 1,773 ratings
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18

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4.05 avg rating — 26,405 ratings
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19

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3.88 avg rating — 253 ratings
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20

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4.16 avg rating — 43,580 ratings
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21

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4.12 avg rating — 7,400 ratings
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22

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4.49 avg rating — 16,839 ratings
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23

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3.80 avg rating — 18,024 ratings
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24

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4.15 avg rating — 4,955 ratings
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25

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4.52 avg rating — 52 ratings
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26

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4.24 avg rating — 7,832 ratings
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27

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4.54 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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4.17 avg rating — 1,877 ratings
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30

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3.78 avg rating — 7,342 ratings
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31

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4.01 avg rating — 2,096 ratings
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32

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4.21 avg rating — 4,354,949 ratings
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33

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4.12 avg rating — 69,196 ratings
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34

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3.75 avg rating — 4,084 ratings
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35

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4.51 avg rating — 8,623 ratings
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36

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4.38 avg rating — 52 ratings
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36

by
4.04 avg rating — 371 ratings
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38

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 120 ratings
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39

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4.15 avg rating — 46 ratings
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40

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3.98 avg rating — 211 ratings
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41

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4.16 avg rating — 1,115 ratings
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42

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3.84 avg rating — 5,302 ratings
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43

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4.21 avg rating — 6,041 ratings
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44

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4.02 avg rating — 38,321 ratings
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45

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4.06 avg rating — 2,362 ratings
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45

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4.09 avg rating — 907 ratings
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47

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4.33 avg rating — 12,949 ratings
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48

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4.27 avg rating — 3,513 ratings
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49

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3.76 avg rating — 9,018 ratings
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50

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4.13 avg rating — 2,570 ratings
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51

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4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 39,081 ratings
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53

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3.52 avg rating — 33 ratings
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54

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4.57 avg rating — 10,202 ratings
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55

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4.11 avg rating — 1,509 ratings
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56

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4.27 avg rating — 1,008 ratings
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57

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4.05 avg rating — 37 ratings
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58

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4.30 avg rating — 294 ratings
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59

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4.36 avg rating — 1,944 ratings
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59

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4.45 avg rating — 4,830 ratings
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61

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4.09 avg rating — 275 ratings
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61

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3.98 avg rating — 311 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 4,916 ratings
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64

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4.36 avg rating — 6,026 ratings
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65

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4.10 avg rating — 60,099 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 1,126 ratings
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67

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3.94 avg rating — 5,922 ratings
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68

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4.56 avg rating — 9,384 ratings
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69

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4.38 avg rating — 2,486 ratings
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70

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3.93 avg rating — 1,808 ratings
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71

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4.42 avg rating — 12,612 ratings
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72

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4.27 avg rating — 4,122 ratings
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73

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4.23 avg rating — 74 ratings
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73

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4.96 avg rating — 47 ratings
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73

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4.71 avg rating — 93 ratings
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73

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4.52 avg rating — 52 ratings
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73

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4.89 avg rating — 27 ratings
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78

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3.88 avg rating — 3,979 ratings
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79

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4.17 avg rating — 52 ratings
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80

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4.22 avg rating — 50 ratings
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81

by
4.13 avg rating — 82 ratings
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81

by
4.05 avg rating — 2,201 ratings
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81

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4.04 avg rating — 114 ratings
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84

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4.25 avg rating — 32 ratings
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84

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3.80 avg rating — 507 ratings
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84

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4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings
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84

by
4.11 avg rating — 91 ratings
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88

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4.06 avg rating — 31 ratings
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88

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4.02 avg rating — 162 ratings
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90

by
3.74 avg rating — 495 ratings
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91

by
3.89 avg rating — 136,247 ratings
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91

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3.92 avg rating — 716 ratings
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91

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3.80 avg rating — 108 ratings
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94

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4.31 avg rating — 3,346 ratings
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94

by
3.64 avg rating — 207 ratings
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96

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
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97

by
4.17 avg rating — 479 ratings
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97

by
4.25 avg rating — 109,810 ratings
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97

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4.33 avg rating — 305 ratings
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100

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4.34 avg rating — 58,504 ratings
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488 books · 362 voters · list created December 2nd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
144 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1459 books
138 friends
Donna-Lee 545 books
39 friends
Susan 4428 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 1113 books
382 friends
Dolly 16475 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 263 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2180 books
30 friends
Rebecca 4415 books
70 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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