A Late and Rough Start

OK, here we go. If you're reading this, I probably sent you-or someone you know-an email about diversity in chapter books, focusing on 2nd-4th grade readers. I probably solicited recommendations from you. And, if I didn't, consider this a solicitation.

I'm looking for good chapter books that reflect diversity. My focus right now is on racial and ethnic diversity and diverse family structures (adoptions, grandparents, single parents, gay parents etc.).

So please start posting books and thoughts in the comments section, and I will begin to log, err, blog short reviews of books I've found and eventually your recommendations as well!

Why ONLY Chapter Books?

Picture books that reflect racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and religious diversity are plentiful and used throughout the school I teach in. Most children, however, read chapter books in the classroom and at home. These books tend to be much less diverse. Children’s classics are rich with white, middle class protagonists with nary a person of color mentioned–some even reinforce racist stereotypes like, The Cricket in Times Square. Some of the most popular new series (Series of Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, etc) are similarly homogenous. Yet, it is these books that our children interact with daily: they are in our classroom libraries, they are read to our students in class, they are assigned for reading groups and literature circles. Clearly, these books shouldn’t be tossed out, but they need to be accompanied by similar quality books that reflect the diversity of our schools, our cities, our country and the world.

Let's get to it!