,

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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4.06 avg rating — 285,132 ratings
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3.90 avg rating — 130,096 ratings
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17

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4.15 avg rating — 93,104 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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3.89 avg rating — 255 ratings
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20

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4.16 avg rating — 43,407 ratings
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21

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4.12 avg rating — 7,330 ratings
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22

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4.49 avg rating — 16,702 ratings
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23

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3.79 avg rating — 17,381 ratings
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24

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25

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26

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4.23 avg rating — 7,641 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 — 1,867 ratings
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30

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3.77 avg rating — 7,306 ratings
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31

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4.01 avg rating — 2,078 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 67,057 ratings
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33

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3.75 avg rating — 4,042 ratings
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34

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4.51 avg rating — 8,576 ratings
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35

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4.20 avg rating — 4,199,481 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 — 360 ratings
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38

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39

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4.15 avg rating — 46 ratings
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40

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3.97 avg rating — 211 ratings
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41

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4.15 avg rating — 1,093 ratings
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42

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3.84 avg rating — 5,246 ratings
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43

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4.21 avg rating — 6,004 ratings
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44

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4.02 avg rating — 37,663 ratings
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45

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4.06 avg rating — 2,290 ratings
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45

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4.09 avg rating — 897 ratings
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47

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4.33 avg rating — 12,867 ratings
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48

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4.26 avg rating — 3,492 ratings
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49

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3.76 avg rating — 8,843 ratings
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50

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4.13 avg rating — 2,391 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 — 38,358 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 — 9,902 ratings
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55

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4.11 avg rating — 1,482 ratings
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56

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4.27 avg rating — 995 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 — 288 ratings
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59

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4.36 avg rating — 1,929 ratings
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59

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4.45 avg rating — 4,760 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 — 309 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 4,864 ratings
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64

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4.36 avg rating — 6,007 ratings
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65

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4.10 avg rating — 58,940 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 — 5,829 ratings
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68

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4.56 avg rating — 9,138 ratings
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69

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4.37 avg rating — 2,429 ratings
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70

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3.92 avg rating — 1,797 ratings
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71

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4.43 avg rating — 12,344 ratings
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72

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4.27 avg rating — 4,086 ratings
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73

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4.96 avg rating — 46 ratings
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73

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4.73 avg rating — 91 ratings
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73

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4.51 avg rating — 51 ratings
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76

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4.05 avg rating — 2,178 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 — 505 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 — 91 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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3.90 avg rating — 133,030 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 — 3,315 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 — 103,772 ratings
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87

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4.35 avg rating — 57,322 ratings
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88

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3.95 avg rating — 42,623 ratings
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89

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4.25 avg rating — 13,695 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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4.27 avg rating — 947 ratings
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93

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3.98 avg rating — 28,205 ratings
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94

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3.97 avg rating — 2,486 ratings
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95

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4.32 avg rating — 2,146 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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3.71 avg rating — 1,329 ratings
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97

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4.39 avg rating — 1,652 ratings
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99

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4.06 avg rating — 18,594 ratings
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100

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4.47 avg rating — 6,067 ratings
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467 books · 343 voters · list created December 3rd, 2009 by Liz (votes) .
144 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Liz 1304 books
138 friends
Donna-Lee 508 books
39 friends
Susan 4368 books
50 friends
Jacqueline 1074 books
382 friends
Dolly 16271 books
66 friends
Dori Jones 214 books
31 friends
Xenophon 2183 books
29 friends
Rebecca 4162 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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