What Are Some Good Books Featuring Non-White Characters?

[Amy]

Especially fun books, but any good books appreciated.

[JustOneMoreBook.com]

Here are a couple of good books:

My Best Friend; by Mary Ann Rodman
Not Norman; by Kelly Bennett
Oh, Theodore; by Susan Katz
The Call to Shakabaz; by Amy Wachspress

Ok. 4.

[Lisa]

Faith Ringgold has several that are good :)

[Terry]

Not sure of your audience age, so here are a couple for different age groups. The first three are historical fiction chapter books.

Child Out of Place: A Story of New England by Patricia Walls

Phillis Wheatley: Young Revolutionary Poet by Kathryn Kilby Borland

Red Thunder: Secrets, Spies, and Scoundrels at Yorktown by John Hunter

The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler (rhyming/picture book)

My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls (picture book)

Brown Like Me by Noelle Lamparti (rhyming/picture book)

[Kenneth]

check out
Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.
je chapter book about a young African-American boy's search for his father. great character.

[Amy]

Thanks, everyone!

[Emmie]

I don't know why I think of this one
I Like Myself; by Karen Beaumont

It's an Early Elementary book about self-acceptance and a great read-aloud!

[Deborah]

Books by Ezra Jack Keats.
YO! YES? Chris Raschka (fun)
MRS. KATZ & TUSH, Patricia Polacco

[[deleted user]]

My children's book series, Bur Bur and Friends, uses a cast of multicultural characters who educate kids about sports and outdoor exploration. Take a look at my shelf or visit http://farmershatproductions.com

For kids http://burburandfriends.com

Thanks,
-Kakie

[Shala]

Don't forget Corduroy by Don Freeman.

[Katie]

Picture book: The Snowy Day
Novel: The True Meaning of Smekday - just finished it. It's laugh-out-loud funny. The child's race has nothing to do with the story, which is why I like it.

[babyhippoface]

These are all very good:

PICTURE BOOKS:
A Father LIke That - Charlotte Zolotow (African-American)
Goin' Someplace Special - Patricia McKissack (African-American)
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters - John Steptoe (African)
Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children - Sandra L. Pinkney (African-American)
Amazing Grace (series) - Mary Hoffman (African-American)
I Saw Your Face - Tom Feelings & Kwame Dawes (African)

KIDS' FICTION:
The Year of the Dog - Grace Lin (Chinese)
Esperanza Rising - Pam Munoz Ryan (Hispanic)
Becoming Naomi Leon - Pam Munoz Ryan (Hispanic)
The Jacket - Andrew Clements (African-American)
Locomotion - Jacqueline Woodson (African-American)
Color Me Dark: the Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North (Dear America Series) - Patricia McKissack (African-American)
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series) - Joyce Hansen (African-American)
Sahara Special - Esme Codell (African-American)
Vive La Paris - Esme Codell (African-American)
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (African-American)
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech (Native American)

MIDDLE SCHOOL/YOUNG ADULT:
The Absolutely True Adventures of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (Native American)
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy - Gary Schmidt (African-American)

[Amy]

I'll answer my own question:
Lion Boy Trilogy (Features half black/half white boy)
Picture Books by Donald Crews (African American)
Picture Books by Yoriko Tsutsui (Japanese girls~~very sweet books!)
The Hello Goodbye Window (child with a white granddad and a grandma of color)
Picture Books by Allan Say (Japanese Americans)
Please, Baby, Please (feature African American baby)

Does the Cricket In Times Square count? I can't remember if that portrayed Chinese Americans ina positive light or not.

[Linda]

A few that haven't been mentioned:
More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradbury- Lyrical and beautifully illustrated story (Chris K Soentpiet) of how Booker T Washington learned to read.
I Want to Be by Thylias Moss- stunningly illustrated by Jerry Pinkney- a little girl has some surprising, poetic answers to the question, "what do you want to be be when you grow up?" (African American)
Laughing Tomatoes- really fun poems by Francisco X. Alarcon, gorgeous illustrations by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Latino)
Meet Danitra Brown by Nikki Grimes- the tale of a friendship through poems with outstanding illustrations by Floyd Cooper(noticing a theme yet?)

[Barb]

One picture book I really love to use for storytimes is Yesterday I Had the Blues by
Jeron Ashford Frame. Someone mentioned Spike Lee's Please Baby Please. I also love his Please, Puppy, Please.

[Vanessa]

Smelly Socks by Robert Munsch (the characters are Native American, I believe)
The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
Thirty one brothers and sisters by Reba Paeff Mirsky
Seven grandmothers by Reba Paeff Mirsky
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima

[Amy]

During the last month a title I picked up a few years ago made a big splash in my 5/6 classroom: The Color of My Words, a lovely rich middle grade book set in the Dominican Republic. At least seven of my students have read it, savored it, and passed it along.

Other favorites of mine, that I don't think have been mentioned yet: The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, Speak To Me, by Karen English, (an amazingly spot-on picture poetry book set in a classroom), The Key Collection, by Andrea Cheng, and Thunder Rose, a picture book tall tale.

[Lisa]

The Bluford Series is also very popular. The topics the novels are based on are subjects that alot youth can relate to. They may not be appropriate for 5th grade depending on the child.

[Celeste]

A couple of Newberry winners:

Bud, Not Buddy-about a black boy looking for his father during the depression
Island of the Blue Dolphin-island native children that get left when the tribe leaves.
Chasing Vermeer-mysteries that centers on three children of different ethnic backgrounds.

[Lindsay]

Love Faith Ringgold! Uptown is a great read, cannot for the life of me remember the author (my 3 yo is singing). Pam Munoz Ryan is another of my faves.

[[deleted user]]

Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
~there are several by her
Esperanza Rising
Drita my homegirl

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I like the series by Lensey Namioka about the Yang family. They are warm and funny:

Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear
Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family
Yang the Second and Her Secret Admirers
Yang the Eldest and His Odd Jobs

Laurence Yep writes many good children's books with Chinese-American characters, including a fantasy series:
The Tiger's Apprentice
Tiger's Blood
Tiger Magic

[Val]

don't know if this has been mentioned but for young children all the books by Gyo Fujikawa are wonderful!!

[Michelle]

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor - there are several books in a "series" that use characters that appear in this book, but this is the only one I've read (about African-Americans)

Kim/Kimi by Hadley Irwin (about Japanese-Americans)

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (about Japanese-Americans)

Also:

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (about Alaskan "Eskimos")

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (about Native-Americans)

Sounder by William H. Armstrong and James Barkley (about African-Americans)

Lupita Manana by Patricia Beatty (about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans)

[Tajah6065]

Esprenza Rising and Becoming Naomi Leon both by Pam Ryan. Virginia Hamilton and Christopher Curtis (author of Bud Not Buddy). Also for younger readers the Stories Julian tells series by Ann Cameron or Mary Hoffman (author of Amazing Grace). That's what comes to mind right now.

[Elaine]

I second Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (which is a Cinderella type story, but much better). There are Cinderella stories in all almost every country. We did a "Cinderella Around the World" and my girls loved reading books from all different countries and walks of life. I especially loved Sootface (an Indian tale) and Yen Shen (Chinese).

[Kelsey]

Am I a Color Too? (by Heidi Cole and Nancy Vogl) is a great picture book about a mixed-race boy trying to understand the labels placed on him and others because of their race. It also happens to be illustrated by the same guy who did the cover art for the Bluford Series that was recommended up-thread.

[Deana]

"Nothing but the truth and a few white lies"- Justina Chen Headley
"The Planet of Junior Brown"- and other Virginia Hamilton books
"The Golden Hour" "Hour of the Cobra"- Maiya Williams
"Millicent Min" & "Stanford Wong"- Lisa Yee
"Island of the Blue Dolphins", "Zia", "Carlota"- Scott O'Dell

A healthy mix of characters from various backgrounds. Many of these books are not issue books and that's the way I like 'em.

[Stephanie]

Barefoot Books is an excellent multicultural publisher. I actually sell Barefoot on the side.
www.mybarefootbooks.com/stephaniejoynes - They make a concientious effort to highlight different cultures in their books, including China, Ecuador, and Tanzania. They also offer books in Spanish.

If you want to check out authentic Native American stories, salinabookshelf.com works with Navajo authors and provide books in English and Navajo. They have Baby Books, Storytelling books (with Navajo artists) and language books.

[Amy]

Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles, illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. It's a picture book, but it's an excellent and sensitive way to introduce the child's eye view of the world on the verge of the Civil Rights movement. I can't read it sloud without tearing up, it's so powerful and simple. "I want to see the world through John Henry's eyes." WOW. wow. wow. And Lagarrigue close-up artwork of John Henry's face. Silence falls over the listeners!

[Barbara]

I was going to mention Laurence Yep. I enjoyed Ribbons, and the Star Fisher (which I have reviewed.)

[Barbara]

I've read to the end, but didn't see Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli. It has main characters of different races interacting with each other in friendship.

Another book I didn't see is one of my favorites, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Konigsburg. The main characters, best friends, are white and black. This was my first Konigsburg book, and after reading it I started reading her other books.

Both these books are for upper elementary readers.

[Skylar]

I haven't read through the whole list, so I don't know if I am repeating any, but here's a few my daughter really likes (picture books):

Courduroy - Don Freeman

Last Night - Hyewon Yum (about adoption)

Basho and the River Stones - Tim Myers (Japanese legend)

Why Mosquiotes Buzz in People's Ears - (African legned)

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush - Tomi daPaloa

The Legend of the Bluebonnets - " "

Nino's Mask - Jeanette Winter (she didn't like this one as well as the others)

Dancing the Ring Shout - Kim Siegelson

Summer Sun Rising - W. Nikola-Lisa

Sweet Potato Pie - Kathleen Lindsey

[Barbara]

I just found another one I read so long ago I'd forgotten it, until I saw it on a list of books I reviewed in a newsletter a few years back -- WILL THERE BE A LAP FOR ME? by Dorothy Corey. A young African-American boy, loves to sit in his mother's lap, but she is pregnant, soon has the baby, and Kyle begins to wonder if he-ll ever get to sit in her lap again. Read the full review by searching my books.

[Nell]

http://www.color-bridge-books.com/cre...

The Just for You Series by Scholastic

http://www.color-bridge-books.com/jus...

[Anne]

Here's a blog I like with listings and reviews of fantasy/sci fi books with characters of different backgrounds:
http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com...