Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children's Literature

Dr. Robert F. Smith, Professor Emeritus, Towson University, Towson, MD

African American

Chinese American

Japanese American

Jewish American

Korean  American

Latino/Hispanic American

Native American

NEW!!! Middle Eastern

NEW!!! Vietnamese Americans

Welcome to the wonderfully diverse world of children's multicultural literature, "literature that represents any distinct cultural group through accurate portrayal and rich detail" (Yokota, 1993, p. 157). Such literature appears in different genre which together present a multitude of perspectives about the lives, culture, and contributions of each cultural group to American society. This web site contains links to annotated bibliographies of children's multicultural books appropriate for the elementary grades (kindergarten through grade six). Cultural groups currently listed include: African Americans, Chinese Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish Americans,  Native Americans, and Korean Americans. Books are categorized by genre: realistic fiction, information (non-fiction), traditional literature, biography, historical fiction, poetry, and fantasy. Each annotation includes an approximate grade level designation, e.g., K-3, 4-6. Each link above contains related links for elementary school teachers. No attempt has been made to evaluate the literary quality of each work nor its appropriateness in terms of cultural content. It is left to teachers to determine each book's appropriateness/relevance to his/her children and curriculum. Yokota, J. (1993). Issues in selecting multicultural children's literature. Language Arts, 70, 156-167.

Being updated, Summer 2006

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