Sure, the temperature tells me that summer is here, but my kids have a few more weeks of school. It’s hard to think about summer activities when we’re still packing lunches and making sure they go to bed on time.
For some of your families, you’ve already started your summer vacation! To get myself in summer mode and help you plan, I’ve pulled together the ultimate list of diverse book lists. Some of lists from this site and some from my favorite book sites. Perfect for summer reading!
Ultimate List of Diverse Book Lists for Summer Reading
I’ve divided these up into age/grade range. But you know your kids the best, so just use that as a guideline. Some lists cover more than one age range. Not sure where to start? I have a few tips on building your diverse library.
Diverse Book Lists for Baby-PreK
- 8 Picture Books to Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- Multicultural Books for Babies and Toddlers
- 9 Picture Books That Celebrate Mixed Race Families
- 10 Multicultural Children’s Books About Love
- Lunar New Year Books for Babies and Toddlers
- Best Children’s Books About Indian Culture
- More Multicultural Books For Babies and Toddlers
Diverse Book Lists for Ages 5-9
- 9 Multicultural Children’s Books About Fathers
- 10 Biographies for Kids About Women Scientists and Explorers
- 10 Picture Books About Gratitude and Giving (also titles for younger kids)
- Celebrate Black History Month with 29 Fabulous Picture Books
- 19 Cinderella Stories From Around the World
- Latino Children’s Titles For Girls
- 14 Chapter Books For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- 11 Inspiring Multicultural Biographies for Kids
- 18 Diverse Chapter Book Series for Summer Reading
Diverse Book Lists for Ages 10+
- 10 Diverse Graphic Novels for Kids
- 11 Middle Grade Books with Mixed Race Girls
- 12 Amazing YA Books By Latino Authors You Wont Be Able To Put Down
- Diverse Chapter Books About Growing Up in the South
- Books I Wish I’d Read as an LGBTQ Teenager
- Diverse Series and Chapter Books for Boys (and girls too!)
- Middle Grade Fantasy Books with Strong Female Characters
- 29 Books that Affirm Black Boys (Also has book for other ages)
- Transgender Titles For Young Readers
- 10 YA Books That Celebrate Diversity
- 9 Diverse Sci-Fi Fantasy Books to Read After a Wrinkle In Time
More resources for all ages
These lists cover a wide age range, so you might even find one to read together as a family.
- 10 Children’s Books to Read After Seeing Hidden Figures
- Lee & Low has several fantastic lists for grades PreK-8 with printable PDFs and printable reading log
- We Need Diverse Books Summer Reading Series shares book recommendations every week this summer
- Smithsonian Book Dragon has reviews for diverse books for both children and adults
- Fifteen LGBTQ-Themed Books For Readers of Every Age
- Check out Epic!–the buffet of ebooks for kids.
- 1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide
This is not a comprehensive list, but it’s a good starting point for your family. I’ll update it periodically. Feel free to share more lists in the comments.
Find some of the best books for specific ethnic groups in award lists:
Children’s Africana Book Awards – http://africaaccessreview.org/africana-awards/
Middle East Book Award http://www.meoc.us/book-awards/meoc-book-award-listing-by-category
Arab American National Museum Book Awards – http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/bookaward
Pura Belpre Awards – http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=102627
Coretta Scott King Awards – http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?wid=8&a=1
Wow, what a great resource! Saw this via MKB and hoping you’d consider sharing it with our #diversekidlit linkup: http://www.thelogonauts.com/2016/06/diversekidlit.html. Great stuff!
Oh wow, this is indeed a comprehensive list. Thank you so much for sharing. Definitely bookmarking this for future use.
Yes, I too can only say Wow – a great resource! I will add it to my Reading Lists links page… Thank you for sharing it with #diversekidlit.
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