Multicultural Children’s Books to Read with Your Child
Teach your child about diversity and inclusion with these multicultural children’s books, perfect for toddlers, preschool, and elementary students!
The first school my kids attended celebrated the different cultures and people of color that made up its population. They held concerts for Black History Month, featured dances from Native Americans, and sponsored international events on campus.
The demographic was just as diverse, from the kids’ classmates to the people you see in the neighborhood. You’d even notice the delicious smell of their home-cooked food.
That’s why I’m adamant that my kids are exposed to different cultures and develop empathy toward others.
Cultural diversity teaches them to include—not fear—others, even if they look or act differently. That people are often the same in many ways. Plus, it’s fun to celebrate the many traditions and customs that aren’t our own.
Multicultural children’s books
One of my favorite ways to expose young children to different cultures of the world is through multicultural books.
Young readers can “travel” on adventures to just about any place in the world and learn how diverse characters live. They can see that beyond our differences are the similarities that bind us. And that all people deserve respect, compassion, and acceptance, just as we would of others.
Now more than ever do we need to feature the true makeup of our world. One where we can see a diverse representation and learn—not fear—one another’s differences. Take a look at my recommendations for multicultural picture books below and select a few to read with your child:
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I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne and Julia Kuo
We Are a Garden by Lisa Westberg Peters and Victoria Tentler-Krylov
Kitchen Dance by Maurie J. Manning
Coquí in the City by Nomar Perez
Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi and Juana Martinez-Neal
Our Class Is a Family by Shannon Olsen
The Cot in the Living Room by Hilda Eunice Burgos and Gaby D’Alessandro
The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson
Remarkably You by Pat Zietlow Miller
Hannah and the Ramadan Gift by Qasim Rashid and Aaliya Jaleel
Our Favorite Day of the Year by A. E. Ali and Rahele Jomepour Bell
Mama Miti by by Donna Jo Napoli and Kadir Nelson
Related: Get tips on how to plan a multicultural night.
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe
This Is the Way We Go to School by Edith Baer
Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
My Pet Star by Corrinne Averiss and Ros Beardshaw
Like the Moon Loves the Sky by Hena Khan and Saffa Khan
Grandmother School by Rina Singh and Ellen Rooney
The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin
How to expose your child to different cultures
Whether you live in a multicultural community or not, there are plenty of ways to teach your kids about the different cultures of the world (including yours!), like:
- Eating from ethnic restaurants or cooking cultural meals (like finding a recipe for latkes)
- Celebrating or learning about holidays, like Diwali in India
- Watching educational shows about how other people in the world live
- Diving deep into a culture’s history during commemorative months, such as Hispanic Heritage Month
- Attending festivals like Bastille Day or Lotus Festival
- Learning another language, like common Spanish words
- Traveling
Free resources: Want even more diverse books? Join my newsletter and grab your copy of the Read Aloud BookList! You’ll get hundreds of favorite selections to read aloud with your kids. Get it below—at no cost to you: