Stories Matter: Books with diverse themes and characters

The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler and David Lee Csicsko
1. Experiment with all the rhyming and silly sounding words with your youngest child.
2. Ask your older child “What do you think they are doing? How do you think she feels?”
3. As you read stories or watch videos featuring people of different skin tones look for common feelings your child may have with the character.
4. Write the names of two or three of your child’s closest playmates or family members. Make a list of three things they both like and three things they feel differently about. Talk about how we may look the same but not always have the same likes and feelings.

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
1. Have your child put his hands on the illustration. Ask if his hands are bigger or smaller.
2. Count fingers and toes . . . over and over.
3. Look for pictures of babies from around the world in magazines or online. Make your own “baby book.” Try to find images showing ten little fingers and ten little toes.


Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
1. Point out the bold bright colors and detailed images of the illustrations. Ask your child what she thinks is going on, or how does the picture tell the story.
2. Do what the author asks his readers to do by letting your child press various parts of your body to feel your bones.
3. Encourage your child to ask questions like those early in the book of a playmate or acquaintance to help build a story about each other based on what each learns from the other.
4. Talk about what your older child may have heard from other adults, or electronic media about various racial groups. How is this similar to what the author says about discovering each other’s stories?
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
1. The artist used watercolor and collage to create the illustrations for this book. It received the Caldecott Honor in 2006 for illustrations in a children’s picture book. Talk about the pictures and how they help to tell the story.
2. What do you know about Rosa Parks, Emmett Till and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.? Read more about them and the Montgomery Bus Boycott through resources from your school, public library, or online.

Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Dean Robbins
1. Look at the illustrations. How are the two character’s speeches part of the art?
2. Invite a friend to tea. Talk about what each of you feels is unjust in the world and how you might improve it, even just a small part.
3. Read more about the two characters from the bibliography in the back of this book.
More Stories Matter picture books:
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“More More More” Said the Baby by Vera Williams
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Skin Again by Bell Hooks
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I Could Do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda Arms White
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From Far Away by Robert Munsch
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The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
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Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman
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Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match = Marisol McDonald no combina by Monica Brown
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The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
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Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace by Jen Cullerton Johnson
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Tough Boris by Mem Fox
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Salam Alaikum: A Message of Peace by Harris J.
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The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman
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Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel
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Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino
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The Barefoot Book of Children by Tessa Strickland
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Annie’s Plaid Shirt by Stacy B. Davids
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I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel
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Nabeel’s New Pants by Fawzia Gilani-Williams
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Lala Salama by Patrica MacLachlan
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Peanut-Free Tea for Three by Heather Mehra
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Sports-tastic Birthday Party by Heather Mehra
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We All Sing with the Same Voice by J. Philip Miller
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Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman
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All Kinds of Friends by Shelley Rotner
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Diego Rivera by Duncan Tonatiuh
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The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantah Vamos
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Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Superpowers by Melanie Walsh
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Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers by Gloria Whelan
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Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter
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Midday Meals Around the World by Michele Zurakowski
Books for Middle Grades:
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Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
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Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
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The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
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Booked by Kwame Alexander
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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
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The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly
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Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
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Caminar by Skila Brown
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Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
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Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan
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The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore
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Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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Silent Days, Silent Dreams by Allen Say
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The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez
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Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
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I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín
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Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
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If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
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The Warriors by Joseph Bruchac
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The Heart of a Chief by Joseph Bruchac
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A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
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The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy
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This Would Make a Good Story Someday by Dana Alison Levy
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Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
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George by Alex Gino
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One True Way by Shannon Hitchcock
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Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
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Refugee by Alan Gratz
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I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
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Hidden Figures: the true story of four black women and the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly
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Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961 by Larry Dane Brimner
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Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States by Lori Marie Carlson
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The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang
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Yes! We Are Latinos by Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy
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Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz
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March Trilogy by John Lewis
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Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers edited by Arigon Starr
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The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
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Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxane Gay and Ta-Nahisi Coates
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Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, by Ta-Nahisi Coates
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Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
Books for Young Adults:
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
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Dear Martin by Nic Stone
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The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
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American Street by Ibi Zoboi
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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
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Girls Like Us by Gail Giles
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All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
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The Summer I Wasn’t Me by Jessica Verdi
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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
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