We have come a long way since the publication of Nancy Larrick's article, The All White World of Children's Books in 1965, in which she found that less than one percent of children's books published in the United States during the previous three years included any mention of contemporary African Americans. Thanks to the important work of librarians, teachers, and others who have cared about the world represented in books read by children, today we have a great array of multicultural children's books available. With this in mind, here is a brief highlight of the many multicultural books available in the United States (and, as a disclaimer, in some cases books on which I worked).

Picture books offer a wonderful opportunity to combine illustrations and story, and reflect the colorful world in which we live. Big Jabe, written by Jerdine Nolan, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (HarperCollins, 2000, African American), is an original and evocative tall tale set during the time of slavery, concluding with a powerful ending. A more light-hearted book is Chato's Kitchen, written by Gary Soto and illustrated by Susan Guevara (Putnam, 1995, Latin American), in which a family of mice new to the barrio outsmart their feline neighbor. Allen Say creates the moving story of a man torn between the United States and Japan in Grandfather's Journey (Houghton Mifflin, 1993, Asian American), while What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?, by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by George Littlechild (Children's Book Press, 1999, Native American) provides a delightful romp through the life of a boy and his family in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Tony Medina and illustrator R. Gregory Christie collaborate on the biography in poems, Love to Langston (Lee & Low, 2002, African American), while Carmen Lomas Garza's Family Pictures (Children's Book Press, 1990, Latin American) was groundbreaking in illustrating the daily life of a Mexican American family in Texas. The Good Luck Cat by Joy Harjo, illustrated by Paul Lee (Harcourt, 2000, Native American) shows the trials of a family cat in a contemporary Native American community. Finally, Where On Earth Is My Bagel? by Frances Park and Ginger Park, and illustrated by Grace Lin (Lee & Low, 2001, Asian) is a whimsical original tale in which a Korean boy discovers the recipe for a New York bagel with the help of his friends.

Moving to books for older readers, The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte, 1995, African American) is both funny and powerful as it chronicles a family's journey from Detroit to the segregated South of the 1960s. In Naomi Shihab Nye's Habibi (Simon & Schuster, 1997, Arab American), a teenage Palestinian American girl moves with her family to Israel where she falls in love with a Jewish boy.

A beautifully written story of immigration from Korea to the United States, An Na's A Step from Heaven (Front Street, 2001, Asian American) shows a girl and her family struggling to adapt. Joseph Bruchac tells of how he was raised without knowledge of his Native American heritage in the autobiographical Bowman's Store (Dial, 1997, Native American). Judith Ortiz Cofer's collection of stories, An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio (Orchard, 1995, Latin American) weaves a complex portrait of a community in New York City.

While not written with young readers in mind, Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993, Native American) is a simultaneously hilarious and tragic glimpse into life on a contemporary Spokane reservation, excellent for young adult readers. And for something completely different, Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion (Atheneum, 2002, Latin American) is a futuristic sci-fi saga featuring a beleaguered teenage clone who lives in the border between the US and Mexico, now a country run by drug lords.

Additional Resources

We are especially indebted to publishers who have dedicated their work to publishing multicultural children's books. Children's Book Press, Lee & Low Books, Just Us Books, Cinco Puntos Press, and Polychrome Publishing are a few of the companies in the United States that play a critical role in finding new authors and artists, and diversifying the books available. Anyone interested in finding new books would do well to regularly visit their websites. Many, such as Lee & Low and Children's Book Press have teacher's guides available, or send out newsletters to update new book publication.

There are also booksellers and distributors dedicated to selling multicultural children's books, such as Shen's Warehouse and Mariuccia Iaconi Book Imports. These are handy if you find that your local bookstore doesn't provide a good range - though if this is the case, tell them and it may make a difference!

posted: February 2004