Multicultural Books for Children and Youth
Compiled by Dr. Linda Akanbi
E = Elementary level
I = Intermediate level
African
Africa is Good 2: A Collection of Stories About the African Market Woman & the African School by Lawrence Nyong and Obi Chidebelu-Eze, illustrated by David Newborne (I)
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott (E)
Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier, illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter (E)
E is for Ethiopia by Ashenafi Gudeta (E)
Emeka’s Gift: An African Counting Story by Ifeoma Onyefulu (E)
Halala Means Welcome!: A Book of Zulu Words by Ken Wilson-Max (E)
Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings, illustrated by Tom Feelings (E)
My Grandfather is a Magician: Work and Wisdom in An African Village by Ifeoma Onyefulu(E)
One Big Family: Sharing Life in An African Village by Ifeoma Onyelu (E)
Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis, illustrated by Daniel Minter (E)
Soul Name by Naana Kyerboah, illustrated by Lonnie Carmon (E)
The Dancing Palm Tree and Other Nigerian Folktales retold by Barbara K. Walker, woodcuts by Helen Siegl (E)
The Tales of Tortoise: Inspirational Stories of Wisdom by Obi Chidebelu-Eze, illustrated by David Newborne (E)
We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey through Tanzania by Laurie Krebs, illustrated by Julia Cairns (Picture Book)(E)
African American
Aunt Flossie’s Hats by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, illustrated by James Ransome (E)
Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes (E)
Circle Unbroken: The Story of a Basket and Its People by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (E)
D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet by Nancy I. Sanders, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (I)
Daniel A. Payne: Great Black Leader by Rudine Sims Bishop (I)
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales, written and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (I)
Honey I Love and Other Poems by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist (E)
Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Larry Johnson (Picture Book) (E)
Leola and the Honeybears: An African-American Retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Melodye Benson Rosales (E)
Little Muddy Waters: A Gullah Folk Tale by Ronald Daise, illustrated by Barbara McArtor (E)
Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins (E)b
Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (I)
My Brother Martin by Christine Farris, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet (E)
No Mirrors in My Nana’s House by Ysaye Barnwell, illustrated by Synthia Saint James (Picture Book with CD) (E)
One Dark and Scary Night by Bill Cosby, illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood (E)
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier (E)
Sugar Plum Ballerinas by Whoopi Goldberg (E)
Sunday Best by Juwanda G. Ford, illustrated by Colin Bootman (E)
The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (E)
The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (E)
Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell, illustrated by James Ransome (E)
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz (E)
Zeely by Virginia Hamilton (I)
Asian
Brother Rabbit: A Cambodian Tale by Minfong Ho and Saphan Ross, illustrated by Jennifer Hewitson (E)
Kongi and Potgi: a Cinderella Story from Korea by Oki Han and Haboush Plunkett(E)
Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year by Madeline Slovenz-low, photographs by Martha Cooper (E)
My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvitz, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska (Picture Book) (E)
Sachiko Means Happiness by Kimika Sakai, illustrated by Tomie Arai (Picture Book) (E)
Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Picture Book) (E)
Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World by Paul Yee (I)
The Beggar’s Magic: A Chinese Tale by Margaret Chang and Raymond Chang, illustrated by David Johnson (E)
The Best Older Sister by Sook Nyul Choi, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Picture Book) (E)
The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep, illustrated by Kam Mak (E)
The Gold-Threaded Dress by Carolyn Marsden (E)
The Last Dragon by Susan Miho Nunes, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet (Picture Book) (E)
The Wise Old Woman by Yoshiko Uchida, illustrated by Martin Springett (E)
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie, illustrated by Ed Young (E)
Latino
A Kid’s Guide to Latino History: More than 50 Activities by V. Petrillo (E)
Dona Blanca and Other Hispanic Nursery Rhymes and Games by Isabel Schon (E)
Dora (in English and Spanish) by Phoebe Beinstein, illustrated by Tom Mangano (E)
Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English by Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Simon Silva (E)
Juan Bobo: Four Folktales from Puerto Rico by Carmen Bernier-Grand, illustrated by Ernesto Ramos Nieves (E)
The Bossy Gallito/El Gallo de Bodas: A Traditional Cuban Folktale by Lucia Gonzales, illustrated by Lulu Delacre (E)
The Song of el Coqui and Other Tales of Puerto Rico by Nicholasa Mohr (Picture Book) (E)
We’ll Never Forget You, Roberto Clemente by Trudie Engel (E)
Native American
Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac, illuatrated by Thomas Locker (I)
Four Ancestors: Stories, Songs and Poems from Native America by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by S.S. Burrus, Murv Jacob, Jeffrey Chapman, and Duke Sine (E)
Grandmother’s Pigeon by Louise Erdrich, illustrated by Jim LaMarche (Picture Book) (E)
How Rabbit Tricked Otter and Other Cherokee Tales by Gayle Ross, illustrated by Murv Jacob (I)
If You Lived with the Hopi by Anne Kamma, illustrated by Linda Gardner (I)
Little Coyote Runs Away by Craig Kee Strete, illustrated by Harvey Stevenson (Picture Book) (E)
The Deetkatoo: Native American Stories about Little People by John Bierhost (I)
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble (I)
The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman by Paul Goble (I)
The Path of Quiet Elk: A Native American Alphabet Book by Virginia Stroud (Picture Book) (E)
The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale by Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross, illustrated by Virginia A. Stroud (E)
When the Moon is Full: A Lunar Year by Penny Pollack, illustrated by Mary Azarian (Picture Book) (E)
International
Bruges Told to Children by Carla Fontes Salinas and Yves Hanosset, illustrated by Pilarin Bayes de Luna (I)
Coconut Mon by Linda Milstein, illustrated by Cheryl Munro (Picture Book) (E)
Praten Met God (written in Dutch) by Su Box, illustrated by Jo Brown (Picture Book) (E)