If you haven't already watched Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's powerful 2009 TED talk 'The Danger of a Single Story', do yourself a favour and watch it as soon as possible. She outlines the problem we all face as human beings when we only read, see and hear one story of a culture or race of people. It becomes all that we know and we can subsequently make damaging assumptions and neglect to understand the rich complexity of experiences that make up cultural and racial identity.
Luckily, with campaigns such as #weneeddiversebooks and hashtags like #ownvoices, publishing houses are recognizing the need for more books with diverse characters and settings. Ideally, our libraries will one day be filled with books that reflect all aspects of diversity in race, religion, culture, abilities, sexuality and gender. Despite the numerous challenges in world today, I believe we are moving in the right direction.
Given the broad scope of diverse children's literature, this list of recommendations focuses on books that reflect diversity in race, religion and culture. I chose books that didn't just represent the struggle and hardships that different groups can face but also the joyful and everyday experiences as well.
Picture Books
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| The Last Stop on Market Street By Matt De La Pena |
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| Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall |
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| Super Satya Saves the Day By Raakhee Mirchandani |
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| Dreamers By Yuyi Morales |
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| Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors By Hena Khan |
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| The Most Magnificent Mosque By Ann Tungman |
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| Sonam and the Silence By Eddie Ayres |
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| Thank You, Omu! By Oge Mora |
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| Mirror By Jeannie Baker |
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| King for a Day By Rukhsana Khan |
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| Abuela By Arthur Dorros |
Children's Fiction
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| Book Uncle and Me By Uma Krishnaswarmi |
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| Amina's Voice By Hena Khan |
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| Anna Hibiscus (series) By Atinuke (See also The No. 1 Car Spotter series by Atinuke) |
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| GRAPHIC NOVEL Azzi in Between by Sarah Garland |
Young Adult Fiction
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| Love, Hate and Other Filters By Samira Ahmed |
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| Saints and Misfits By S.K. Ali |
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| The Hate U Give By Angie Thomas (See also: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas) |
You may have noticed that books with Indigenous characters and settings are missing from this list. I plan to create another post with a list of recommendations for these titles. Stay tuned!
Do you have any other favourites? Please recommend in the comments section below :)
Book Cover Image Credits:
Super Satya Saves the Day (bharatbabies.com)
Book Uncle and Me, Anna Hibiscus, Amina's Voice, Love, Hate and other Filters, Saints and Misfits, Mirror, Jabari Jumps, Thank You, Omu, King for a Day, Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors, The Most Magnificent Mosque, Abuela, Dreamers (Amazon.com)
The Hate U Give, The Last Stop on Market street (Wikipedia.org)
Mommy's Khimar (Simonandschuster.com)
Azzi in between (goodreads.com)
Sonam and the Silence (Allenandunwin.com)
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