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

by
4.05 avg rating — 117,103 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.35 avg rating — 21,098 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.39 avg rating — 6,916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.25 avg rating — 4,889 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.72 avg rating — 32 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.01 avg rating — 71,632 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.38 avg rating — 12,771 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.15 avg rating — 17,090 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.98 avg rating — 116,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.88 avg rating — 6,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.88 avg rating — 42 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,146 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.15 avg rating — 94,356 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.05 avg rating — 287,610 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.90 avg rating — 131,267 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,306 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,759 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.04 avg rating — 26,367 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.88 avg rating — 253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.16 avg rating — 43,536 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.12 avg rating — 7,371 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.49 avg rating — 16,785 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.80 avg rating — 17,704 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.15 avg rating — 4,945 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.52 avg rating — 52 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.24 avg rating — 7,739 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.55 avg rating — 73 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.12 avg rating — 25 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,872 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.78 avg rating — 7,324 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.01 avg rating — 2,086 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.12 avg rating — 68,229 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.75 avg rating — 4,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.51 avg rating — 8,583 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.20 avg rating — 4,279,375 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.38 avg rating — 52 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.04 avg rating — 370 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 120 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.15 avg rating — 46 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.98 avg rating — 211 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.84 avg rating — 5,276 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.21 avg rating — 6,028 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.02 avg rating — 38,013 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.06 avg rating — 2,337 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.09 avg rating — 902 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.33 avg rating — 12,889 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.26 avg rating — 3,502 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.76 avg rating — 8,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,540 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.41 avg rating — 29 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.80 avg rating — 38,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.52 avg rating — 33 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.57 avg rating — 10,084 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,494 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,006 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.05 avg rating — 37 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.30 avg rating — 291 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.36 avg rating — 1,942 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.45 avg rating — 4,803 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.09 avg rating — 274 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.98 avg rating — 309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.78 avg rating — 4,886 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.36 avg rating — 6,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.10 avg rating — 59,631 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.20 avg rating — 1,125 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.94 avg rating — 5,884 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.56 avg rating — 9,282 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.38 avg rating — 2,466 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.93 avg rating — 1,804 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.43 avg rating — 12,490 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.27 avg rating — 4,111 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.96 avg rating — 47 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.71 avg rating — 94 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.52 avg rating — 52 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.05 avg rating — 2,193 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.04 avg rating — 115 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.81 avg rating — 507 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.10 avg rating — 92 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.06 avg rating — 31 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.89 avg rating — 134,713 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.80 avg rating — 108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.30 avg rating — 3,336 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.17 avg rating — 477 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.25 avg rating — 106,968 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.34 avg rating — 57,915 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.95 avg rating — 43,244 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.24 avg rating — 13,934 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.03 avg rating — 172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.32 avg rating — 630 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.26 avg rating — 959 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.98 avg rating — 28,423 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.97 avg rating — 2,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,155 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,016 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.71 avg rating — 1,331 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.39 avg rating — 1,653 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.06 avg rating — 18,686 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
470 books · 358 voters · list created December 3rd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
144 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1311 books
138 friends
Donna-Lee 508 books
39 friends
Susan 4398 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 1093 books
382 friends
Dolly 16390 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 215 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2184 books
30 friends
Rebecca 4300 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.


back to top



Related News

Adam Fites reads, writes, and makes his home in Seattle. He works in the library of a public school in nearby Kent, where he was the 2023–2024...

Anyone can add books to this list.