Highlighted Books
Are you looking for books on a specific topic? Though Our Collection is comprehensive, we regularly highlight quality books related to popular topics — see the Recommended Books & Blog links below.
Recommended Books
| Activism | Immigrant/Refuge Experiences | New Baby |
| Adoption | Mindfulness | New Sibling |
| Clean Water | MLK Day | School & Learning |
| Diverse Families | Multiracial Families | Skin Tone |
| Holidays & Celebrations | Muslim Life |
DBF Blogs
Check out the following blog categories & tags for even more high quality recommended books & creators.
| For Seasonal Book Lists: Diverse Books for Every Season |
| For Great Posts on Timely Topics: Diversity Headlines |
| For Author/Illustrator Interviews: Author Interview |
| For Great Posts by Guest Contributors: Guest Contributor |
| For Great Ideas on Using Diverse Books: DBF In The Library or DBF in The Classroom |
How to Evaluate the Quality of Racially/Culturally Diverse Books
Since Our Collection is large and continually growing, you might be wondering how to ensure that the books you’re selecting are quality reads. The resources below can help you evaluate books you discover at Diverse BookFinder.
- Cynsations: Celebrating Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Blog by Cynthia Leitich Smith, author & faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults
- How to Choose Excellent Children’s and Young Adult Books By and About American Indians, Dr. Debbie Reese, Founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature, published on EmbraceRace
- APALA Rubric to Evaluate Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature, Created for APALA by Amy Breslin, Sarah Park Dahlen, Kristen Kwisnek, and Becky Leathersich
- Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books, Louise Derman-Sparks, on Social Justice Books
- Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Sexism and Racism, Louise Derman-Sparks & the ABC Task Force, on Teaching for Change
- How Culturally Responsive and Diverse is Your Classroom Library?, questionnaire designed by Lee & Low Books
- Reading Picture Books with Children Through a Race-Conscious Lens, EmbraceRace webinar featuring Sarah Hannah Gómez and Megan Dowd Lambert
- A Guide to Selecting Multicultural Literature, by Dr. Barbara B. Brown
- A Checklist for Evaluating Diverse Children’s Media, by Claudia Haines
- The Diverse Bookshelf, from Reading Rockets a national public media literacy initiative
- Assessing Children’s Literature, checklist developed by the Anti-Defamation League
The Importance of Racially/Culturally Diverse Books
As you discover great new books at Diverse BookFinder, you may start to ask yourself; why is it important to read diverse books? Why should diverse books be an integral part of a library or classroom? Maybe you know the answers to these questions but need help explaining them to a parent or administrator. Explore the articles below.
- Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors (1990), Rudine Sims Bishop, in Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom
- The Danger of a Single Story (2009), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, on TedGlobal
- As Demographics Shift, Kids’ Books Stay Stubbornly White (2013), Elizabeth Blair, on NPR’s Code Switch/Morning Edition
- Children’s Books: Still an All-White World? (2014), Kathleen T. Horning, in the School Library Journal
- Where are the People of Color in Children’s Books? (2014), Walter Dean Myers, in The New York Times
- The Apartheid of Children’s Literature (2014), Christopher Myers, in The New York Times
- The Diversity Gap in Children’s Publishing (2015), Hannah Ehrlich, on Lee & Low Books’ The Open Book blog
- I Read Books By Only Minority Authors For a Year. It Showed Me Just How White Our Reading World Is (2015), Sunmili Govinnage, in The Washington Post
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Diversity (2016), Kyo Maclear, on Kyo Maclear Kids blog
- 5 Reasons Why You Should Read a Diverse Book for Your Next Community Read (2019), Danielle Yadao on We Need Diverse Book’s blog
- Kids & Family Reading Report: Finding Their Story Books & Characters To Reflect Our Diverse World (2019), Scholastic
- Why We Need Diverse Books (2020), Mary Ellen Flannery, on NEAToday
- The Importance of Queer Representation in Middle Grade Fiction (2021), by Greg Howard, on Brightly
- Why Diversity Needs to Be at the Heart of Children’s Literature (2022), by Jerie Blintt, on the International Literacy Association blog
- The Importance of Representation in Books (2023) Krystal Jagoo, on VeryWellMind
- Unlocking Potential: Innovative Library Programs Enhancing the Lives of Autistic Individuals (2024) Kelly Davis, on Library Science Degrees Online.
