Diversity Resources

 

Online Resources 

Africa Access - a website expanding perspectives on Africa, book by book

American Indians in Children's Literature Blog - a blog providing critical perspective and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society

The Brown Bookshelf - A blog discussing and promoting children's literature written by African Americans

Disability in Kidlit - Reviews, guests posts, and discussion about the portrayal of disabilityes in Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction. This blog is no longer updated, but the previous posts are beneficial

Latin@s in KidLit - A blog discussing and promoting children's literature written "about, for, and/or by Latin@s"

Lee & Low Books - The largest multicultural children's book publisher in the United States  

We Need Diverse Books: Where to Find Diverse Books - The We Need Diverse Books campaign maintains this resource and links to sites that highlight children's literature about African-Americans, American Indians, Latinos, persons with disabilities, Muslims, LGBTQIA persons, and more

 

U-46 Multicultural Shelf on African-American History and Culture

Retired teachers and school librarians have worked together with Gail Borden staff to create the U-46 Multicultural Shelf on African-American History and Culture. This list includes books for elementary-school readers that:

  • are written by African or African-American authors

OR

  • touch on aspects of African or African-American history and culture

Individual books have been mapped to specific grade levels and essential questions. Fountas and Pinnell levels are also listed when available. You can view the entire Multicultural Bookshelf online or select a specific grade level to view: 

Book covers of titles on multicultural bookshelf

Book covers of titles on multicultural bookshelf

Cover images for books on Multicultural Bookshelf

To find more books for all ages, try doing an advanced search with the term African as a subject. Once you get a list of results, you can use the options on the left side to narrow down your search results to DVDs, puppets, books in Spanish, books in the teen section, or other types of materials.

Questions? Comments?

If you would like more assistance in locating materials for use in your classroom, please contact the Youth Help Desk at (847) 429-4685.