Storybooks that reflect diversity

 

      Art teachers should include stories that reflect diversity among people in their art lesson plans. Children need to learn that they share a world with many people from different countries, with different skin colors, who practice different politics and religions, and that culture is unique among a wide variety of peoples. 

Storybooks for children in my collections about Native American Legends or Native American Culture:

• "Knots on a Counting Rope" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault and Illustrated by Ted Rand
• "The Lost Boy and the Monster" by Craig Kee Strete, Illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
• "The Indians Knew" by Tillie S. Pine, illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats

Books for children on my bookshelf that are about Afro-American folklore, legends & traditions from Africa, or about African American culture:

• "The Tales of Uncle Remus, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit" by Julius Lester, Illustrated by Jerry Pinkey
• "Miz Fannie Mae's Fine New Easter Hat" by Melissa Milich, Illustrated by Yong Chen
• "Anansi and the Talking Melon" retoldby Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Janet Stevens - "A clever spider tricks Elephant and some other animals into thinking the melonin which he is hiding can talk." publisher
• "Aunt Flossie's Hats and Crab Cakes Later" by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, Illustrations by James Ransome
• "Harriet and The Promised Land" by Jacob Lawrence
• "Chicken Sunday'' by Patricia Polacco
• "Amazing Grace" by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch
• "Tar Beach" by Faith Ringgold
• "Flossie & the Fox" by Patricia C. McKissack, Illustrated by Rachel Isadora
• "Flower Garden" by Eve Bunting, Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
• "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears" by Verna Aardema, Illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon
• "The Village Basket Weaver" by Jonathan London, Illustrated by George Crespo
• "The Talking Eggs" by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

I also have storybooks about children who live in Japan, China and India:

• "The Crane Maiden" by Miyoko Matsutani, Illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki
• "The Boy Who Drew Cats" by Arthur A. Levine, illustrated by Frederic Clement
• "The Sheep Of The Lal Bagh" by David Mark, Illustrated by Lionel Kalish
• "Tikki Tikki Tembo" retold by Arlene Mosel, Illustrated by Blair Lent
• "The Bicycle Man" by Allen Say

I have also begun to collect books about immigrant children from countries like Germany and Poland who have moved to the United States:

• "Up The Hill" collected short stories by Marguerite De Angeli - these chapters are about Polish immigrant children. (Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1942)
• "The Pennsylvania Dutch Craftsmen and Farmers" by Eva Deutsch Costabel