Kindergarten:
The Family Book by Todd Parr: Goes through the detailed lives of individual families and what activities they do that may be different from some of the students in the class.
Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore: The story of a young girl who is finally able to help her mother out in the kitchen. The story goes through all the Filipino dishes they are making.
Grade 1:
Name Jar by Yangsook Chai: About a little girl who is a new student from Korea and is pressured by the American students to pick a new name out of the jar so they can pronounce it.
A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu: A little girl and her grandfather spend the morning together. The grandfather begins practicing and teaching his granddaughter tai chi and the granddaughter introduces him to the yoga they learned at school.
Grade 2:
And Tango makes Three by Peter Parnell: Follows the story of two male penguins who fall in love and then decide to make a family together.
The Water Princess: About a princess in Africa who’s community is struggling to find clean drinking water. Instead of a crown she wears a water jug on her head to carry water to her community. She dreams of being able to have clean water for her village.
Grade 3:
Crazy Horse’s Vision by Joesph Bruchac: Tells the tale of a First Nations hero, Crazy Horse. It begins with him as a boy and follows his story until he becomes a warrior.
I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel: Tells the story of a young boy who wants to become a girl. The book explains what transgender is and pushes the idea that being transgender is just being you.
Grade 4:
The Long and the Short of It: A Tale about Hair by Lydia Mays: The book follows two girls. One is diagnosed with cancer and is forced to shave all of her hair off. The second girl is just worried about wanting to grow out her hair.
Grade 5:
Pink and Say by Patrica Polacco: The story of two soldiers that meet on the battlefield. Say, who is an American solider, gets wounded on the battlefield and is saved by Pink who is an African American solider. Throughout the book it talks about their friendship and the hardships of a mixed racial friendship during the civil war.
Ban this Book by Alan Gratz: About a African American girl who tries to take out a book from the library only to find it is banned because a classmate’s mom has deemed it inappropriate. The main character then decided to run a banned books library out of her locker.
Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky: The story of a boy who is struggling to find his identity and then discovers that he is actually a girl on the inside. He decides the hold it in and suppress it until a caring teacher and a good friend help him discover his true self.
Grade 6:
What would she do? by Kay Woodward: Is written about inspirational scientists, leaders, artists, and modern day pioneers, that are all women. It tells their stories and what they did for women today.
Odd One Out by Nic Stone: The story of three friends and their experiences with LGBQT+.
How can books create a more diverse learning environment for the classroom?