,

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.
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4.72 avg rating — 32 ratings
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4.38 avg rating — 12,728 ratings
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4.15 avg rating — 93,504 ratings
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17

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4.11 avg rating — 1,746 ratings
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18

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4.04 avg rating — 26,330 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 — 43,429 ratings
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21

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4.12 avg rating — 7,335 ratings
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22

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4.49 avg rating — 16,735 ratings
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23

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3.80 avg rating — 17,449 ratings
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24

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4.15 avg rating — 4,930 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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4.23 avg rating — 7,672 ratings
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27

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4.55 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 — 1,871 ratings
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30

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3.77 avg rating — 7,300 ratings
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31

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4.01 avg rating — 2,082 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 67,342 ratings
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33

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3.75 avg rating — 4,052 ratings
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34

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4.51 avg rating — 8,580 ratings
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35

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4.20 avg rating — 4,219,257 ratings
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36

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4.38 avg rating — 52 ratings
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36

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4.03 avg rating — 361 ratings
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38

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4.01 avg rating — 118 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 — 212 ratings
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41

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4.16 avg rating — 1,100 ratings
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42

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3.84 avg rating — 5,249 ratings
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43

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4.21 avg rating — 6,013 ratings
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44

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4.02 avg rating — 37,731 ratings
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45

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4.06 avg rating — 2,305 ratings
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45

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4.09 avg rating — 898 ratings
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47

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4.33 avg rating — 12,882 ratings
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48

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4.26 avg rating — 3,500 ratings
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49

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3.76 avg rating — 8,861 ratings
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50

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4.12 avg rating — 2,516 ratings
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51

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4.41 avg rating — 29 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 38,459 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 — 9,960 ratings
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55

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4.11 avg rating — 1,487 ratings
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56

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4.27 avg rating — 1,000 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 — 291 ratings
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59

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4.36 avg rating — 1,933 ratings
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59

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4.45 avg rating — 4,775 ratings
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61

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4.08 avg rating — 276 ratings
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61

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3.98 avg rating — 310 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 4,873 ratings
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64

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4.36 avg rating — 6,014 ratings
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65

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4.10 avg rating — 59,111 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 1,119 ratings
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67

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3.94 avg rating — 5,837 ratings
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68

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4.56 avg rating — 9,169 ratings
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69

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4.37 avg rating — 2,445 ratings
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70

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3.93 avg rating — 1,799 ratings
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71

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4.43 avg rating — 12,372 ratings
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72

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4.27 avg rating — 4,090 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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4.73 avg rating — 92 ratings
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73

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4.52 avg rating — 52 ratings
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76

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4.05 avg rating — 2,183 ratings
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76

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4.04 avg rating — 112 ratings
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78

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3.80 avg rating — 506 ratings
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78

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4.41 avg rating — 27 ratings
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78

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4.10 avg rating — 92 ratings
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81

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4.06 avg rating — 31 ratings
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82

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3.89 avg rating — 133,475 ratings
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82

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3.78 avg rating — 108 ratings
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84

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4.31 avg rating — 3,326 ratings
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85

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4.16 avg rating — 475 ratings
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85

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4.25 avg rating — 104,584 ratings
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87

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4.35 avg rating — 57,537 ratings
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88

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3.95 avg rating — 42,736 ratings
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89

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4.25 avg rating — 13,740 ratings
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90

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4.02 avg rating — 168 ratings
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90

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4.32 avg rating — 629 ratings
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92

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4.26 avg rating — 948 ratings
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93

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3.98 avg rating — 28,255 ratings
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94

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3.97 avg rating — 2,503 ratings
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95

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4.32 avg rating — 2,147 ratings
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95

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4.14 avg rating — 1,011 ratings
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97

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3.70 avg rating — 1,329 ratings
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97

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4.39 avg rating — 1,653 ratings
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99

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4.06 avg rating — 18,615 ratings
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100

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4.47 avg rating — 6,131 ratings
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468 books · 345 voters · list created December 3rd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
144 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1306 books
138 friends
Donna-Lee 508 books
39 friends
Susan 4362 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 1078 books
382 friends
Dolly 16290 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 216 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2183 books
29 friends
Rebecca 4184 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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