Multicultural and Diversity Books

Picture Books

The Matzah that Papa Brought Home by Fran Manushkin (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: The book was about a family that works together to make food during the Passover celebration. Papa brought the matzah and mama made the feast to go with the matzah that papa brought home. It repeats like that and the beginning of each sentence starts with “This is the.” Each page builds onto the sentence. It goes on to tell about the seder and then the girl who asks the “Four Questions.” It also talks about the ten plagues and the “Dayenu” song and the bitter herbs and matzah ball soup that were eaten.  It also shows the girl finding the afikomen and how she opens the door for the prophet Elijah.  And, finally it tells how next year we want to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.  The last three pages are really not part of the story, they give a lot of background on the holiday of Passover. The three pages are full text pages and they not only tell the basic story of Passover but also explain all of the symbols of Passover that are talked about in the story. This brings an understanding to the story that one may not have otherwise, especially if one has never celebrated the holiday before. Theme is family, culture and history.  I liked this story because it will teach people about their religion or something they didn’t know.

I Hate English by Ellen Levine (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: This is a touching story of Mei Mei, a young immigrant girl from Hong Kong, who arrives in New York's Chinatown.  She is frustrated with English, because in Hong Kong she was a great student.  In English, Mei Mei has problems understanding at school.  With the help of her teacher, Mei Mei learns that she can have the best of two worlds by learning to communicate in two languages. She loves New York City's Chinatown, where she feels comfortable.  In NY Chinatowns, everyone speaks Chinese just like her. In school everyone speaks English, and though Mei Mei can learn it, she doesn't want to. She is afraid that she will forget Chinese and dreams about it. So Mei Mei resists, until a caring teacher shows her she can be bilingual, and know both English and Chinese while still being herself. Theme is learning about other cultures and self-confidence. I like this book because it shows how you can be yourself and learn about other people and what they do. 

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: A girl named Unhei who has recently come from Korea and starts school in America. On the bus the kids ask her name and she spells and pronounces it but they make fun of her and call her You-Hey instead. When she gets to class the teacher asks the class to welcome the new girl and a student asks her name and she says she hasn't picked one yet, thinking back to the incident on the bus that morning.  Unhei talks with her mother about the name situation, and her mother says that even though her name is hard to say it is hers, and makes her unique and she should keep it. Her mother takes her to a Korean market to do some shopping and when the man checking them out asks her name, he comments that is means grace and what a pretty name it is.  The next day in school there is a glass jar on her desk with bits of paper in it. The papers each have a name written on it, to help her pick, say the students.  One student, Joey, tries to be her friend and she shows him her Korean name, with a name stamp she has of it.  He is impressed and tells her so.  The name jar gets fuller and fuller and Unhei has narrowed down the names to a few choices.  She tries to practice being called Suzy, Laura or Amanda, but her classmate finds out the meaning to her real name and she teaches everyone how to pronounce it. Theme is other cultures and self-confidence. I liked this book because it sends a great message to children that having a difference to others is okay, unique and interesting in good ways. 

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: Farah feels alone, even when surrounded by her classmates. She listens and nods but doesn’t speak. It’s hard being the new kid in school, especially when you’re from another country and don’t know the language. Then, on a field trip to an apple orchard, Farah discovers there are lots of things that sound the same as they did at home, from dogs crunching their food to the ripple of friendly laughter. As she helps the class make apple cider, Farah connects with the other students and begins to feel that she belongs. Theme is learning about other cultures/languages. I liked this story because it shows that with different backgrounds and languages that many people have the same things. 

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Multicultural/Diversity) 

Summary: A woman lived alone with her three daughters, Shang, Tao, and Paotze. She went away for the grandmother’s birthday and told the children to make sure to lock up the house at sunset because she will not be coming back that night. A wolf saw the mother leave and walked up to the door pretending to by their grandmother. The children were wondering how she didn’t see there mother and why she came so late, but she had excuses. The wolf said his voice was low because of a cold and it was freezing outside so the younger children, Tao and Paotze, lit him in. Once the “Po Po” (Grandmother in Chinese), was inside, he turned blew out the candle and didn’t say anything. As they were in the house the wolf examined all the children and yawned and wanted to go to bed. While in the bed the children found his hairy tail and sharp teeth, but he made excuses for all of them, until Shang light a candle and saw his face before he blew it out. Being the clever one, Shang asked the wolf if he would want some ginco nuts, saying that they would make him live forever but they are on the top of the tree and he would have to climb. He said he was too old for climbing trees and the children would have to do it. So the raced to the tree and climbed it and stayed there for a long time until the wolf yelled trying to find them. He wanted the nuts but the children said he would have to get them himself. They said that he could get the rope and bucket she he could sit in it and they will bring in up in the bucket. But Shang wasn’t strong enough and dropped him half way. Next Tao and Shang tried, but they said they weren’t strong enough and next they all tried. All of them pulled higher than any time before but right before he got to the top, Shang coughed and let go of the rope. The wolf broke his heart to pieces and hit his head. They didn’t hear an answer from the wolf while calling his name and they ran back into the house and locked the door. They told their mother what happened the morning after. Theme is about family and sticking together against the enemy.  I think this book had beautiful illustrations and it was an interesting version of the first story.

In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco (Multicultural/Diversity) 

Summary: Narrator talks about how her mothers had to bring her home through bad weather. Three years after she was born, she got a brother named Will, then a sister named Milly when she was two months old. The mothers: Mema was short, loved to sew on a machine and helped everyone get better when they were sick because she was a pediatrician.  Marme was tall and thin and could fix and organize everything. Marme was a paramedic who always remained calm during emergencies and took charge. Their mothers loved to laugh and listen to music. Lived in a house in Berkley, California. The living room was the heart of the home where they ate snacks and shared stories. Milly was an artist. The sunroom was the children’s favorite place where they played dress up. There were no store-bought costumes for halloween because Marme and Milly designed them and Mema would help sew them. One year they went as wild animals and no one recognized them, expect for Mrs. Lockner. She opened the door while her children ran outside to see the others and she shut the door. The mothers didn’t say anything when their children asked what was wrong. When the children were sick, the moms gave them a present to make them feel better, two puppies. They name them Meso and Wasabi. The best part of the house was the tree house in the backyard which was built by Marme and Will how loved to build. After it was finished, they invited the Lockner children to come and sleepover, but the parents wouldn’t let them and they didn’t understand why they were disliked because they were always nice like they were taught by their mothers’. NoNo was the Granddad that came over and helped cook meals and talk about anything by speaking through their hearts. Marme organized a block party and everyone was invited. Once again Mrs. Lockner was giving them looks and their moms didn’t tell them why she didn’t like them. Everyone on the street made different foods for different cultures. Mrs. Lockner came down to the mothers and said they didn’t appreciate how they are. The moms explained that she didn’t understand what the moms were. For the tea party, they made everyone dresses. The mom’s were never seen in a dress until know. The girl narrating was the first to go away for medical school, Will was next and went to study engineering and Milly went to school to be a fashion designer. In the end, the children always stayed to together has a family with the memories of their mom in the house that Will and his wife now own.  Theme is learning about the difference kinds of people and expecting their interests. I liked this book but I think it was missing something. I was thinking it was going to end differently, but it was the only ending that was appropriate for a children’s book. 

Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco (Multicultural/Diversity) 

Summary: In the end of the summer, she asked her dad to say with him and grandma instead of going back to California and living with mom. She was aloud to stay for one year in Michigan with her dad and grandma. At this school everyone knew that she was able to read now and no one would tease her and call her dumb because she was in special classes. She made a new friend named Kay, but when she waved, Kay didn’t wave back. Some girls told her that she was in Mrs. Peterson’s class upstairs, room 206. A boy with glasses named Tom asked for her to sit next to him. The teacher was short and big, she was forward and started off with the definition of genius. She said the definition describes the students. The classroom is called the JunkYard because all of the children are different and weird. They call Tom ‘sissy boy’ because he likes ballet. She told her dad that she was in the JunkYard class and she didn’t want to be, but her dad said stay in there for a month and if you still don’t like it, then you will go back to California. The next day in school the class were paired up by the scent on their wrists. Thom, Gibby, Jody(Tom’s Body Guard, and a shy girl named Raven were together.  Raven never talked but was good at math, and Gibby had random ticks and would burst out now and then, but love to build things, Jody loved to read and write poems, Tom was funny and the narrator girl was an artist. The day the junkyard students got badges to be proud of who they were, bullies came up to them and called them names like ‘weirdos and retards’. Jody came up and scared them off. Their teacher took them to a real junkyard to show them that it is a place of wonder, not trash. She made them go around and collect things that could be remade into something new. Gibby found a old and broken plane that was just what they needed. For the next few weeks in class they worked on their projects while Mrs. Peterson said that people look at broken things saying ‘WHY?’ when they should look at them in a different light and ask “why not?”. Gibby and his group presented the plane and the classed laughed and thought it wasn’t going to fly, but they needed a motor. The moms made things for a bake sale and the dads held car washes for the perfect motor for the plane. The plane was named by Jody, The Junkyard Wonder. The next day, Mrs. Peterson announced to the children that Jody has passed away. Raven spoke up and said that she wanted the plane to be called Junkyard Wonder too. They were all ready to go to the roof and let the plane fly, but Burton Poole, the bully, told the principal and he didn’t let them because it was too dangerous. The morning of the fair, Mrs. McDonald, Gibby’s dad, stayed at the school and was there for protection. They let the plane go and watched it until the plane was so far that they couldn’t see it. Thom became a ballet producer, Raven became a textile maker for fashion and Gibby became a designer for NASA. The narrator became a writer of books for children, the author, Patricia. Gibby and her saw each other after awhile and Gibby told her that he put a picture of them from that plane launching day on the Apollo 11 and they all really did make it to the moon. Theme is doing your best will get you far and trying to succeed. I loved this book because it was wonderfully written and was incredibly sweet. 

and Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: In the middle of NY, there is a park called Central Park that children love to play at. There is a lot in the park, including a zoo. There are animal families all over the zoo. There are red panda families and penguin families. Roy and Silo were both boys, but they did everything together. They didn’t spend much time with the girl penguins and the caretaker thought they were in love. They made their own nest together, but realized they couldn’t have a baby together. One day, Roy found a rock that looked like an egg. They traded places sitting on it, but nothing happened. Mr. Gram found an egg that needed to be cared for and put it in Roy and Silo’s nest for them to take care of it like they did with the rock. One day they heard a PEEP PEEP coming from the egg and suddenly a baby came from the egg and they were fathers. They called the baby Tango, because it takes two to tango. Tango and all of the other families played and swam together. Like all the other animals in the zoo, they went to sleep. Theme is to learn about others and their interests and to expect them for who they are.  I like this story because it was true, cute, and had a great message. 

The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story by Joseph Bruchac (Multicultural/Diversity) 

Summary: A man and a woman were made a long time ago and lived together and were happy. One afternoon, the man come home from hunting and realized the woman had not made the meal, but was picking flowers. The man was hungry and angry because he can’t eat the flowers, this also made the woman angry. She was hurt by his words and turned away and walked towards the sun.  The husband tried to catch up but his wife was too fast. The sun watched him follow her and felt bad and tried to help him. The sun shined his rays in front of her and showed the raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries but she was too mad to pay attention, until he shined on the strawberries and bent down and ate one. The berries reminded her of her love for the husband and she picked some for him while the man caught up from behind her. He asked for forgiveness and she answered him by sharing the strawberries with him. To this day, the Cherokee people are reminded to be nice to each other when they see/eat the strawberries. Theme is to listen and forgive. I like this book because it was really sweet and I love strawberries. 

Mr. Lincoln’s Way by Patricia Polacco (Multicultural/Diversity)

Summary: All of the children of Jefferson Elementary thought Mr. Lincoln was the coolest principal ever, expect for one bully named Mean Gene. After pushing a girl down, stealing her backpack and almost calling Mr. Lincoln names, Mr. Lincoln needed to do something to stop him. Mr. Lincoln noticed Gene loved to watch birds from the teachings of his grandfather and tried to read a bird book with him but while Gene seemed interested, he walked out of the room. A week later, Mr. Lincoln walked up to Gene trying to get him to help get the birds back in the atrium, but he putting out they have the wrong plants and no food in there and then bolted down the hall. The next day Mr. Lincoln and Gene helped replenish the atrium. Many different kinds of birds showed up and Gene stopped bullying all the kids anymore. A couple days later, Gene was spotted making fun of a couple of Mexican kids for their race and was called down to the principal’s office. Gene was calling people racist names because of his father, but Mr. Lincoln told him that just like the birds we can all get along with our differences, without name calling and bullying. Gene kept his word and helped the baby ducks move to the pond outside of the atrium. After freeing the ducks, Mr. Lincoln got to meet Gene’s Grandfather. Mr. Lincoln helped Eugene find a way out of bullying and Gene tried to make him proud.  Theme is anti-bullying. I think this book is really cute and a great lesson for anti-bullying.