3-5 Books | University of Central Florida

This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by Grades 3-5.

DIVerse Families is a comprehensive bibliography that demonstrates the growing diversity of families in the United States. This type of bibliography provides teachers, librarians, counselors, adoption agencies, children/young adults, and especially parents and grandparents needing to empower their children with materials that reflect their families.

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Bird

Zetta Elliott

Young Mekhai, better known as Bird, loves to draw. With drawings, he can erase the things that don't turn out right. In real life, problems aren’t so easily fixed. As Bird struggles to understand the death of his beloved grandfather and his older brother’s drug addiction, he escapes into his art. Drawing is an outlet for Bird’s emotions and imagination, and provides a path to making sense of his world. In time, with the help of his grandfather’s friend, Bird finds his own special somethin’ and wings to fly. Told with spare grace, Bird is a touching look at a young boy coping with real-life troubles. Readers will be heartened by Bird’s quiet resilience, and moved by the healing power of putting pencil to paper.
Bird Lake Moon

Kevin Henkes

Twelve-year-old Mitch and his mother are spending the summer with his grandparents at Bird Lake after his parents separate, and ten-year-old Spencer and his family have returned to the lake where Spencer's little brother drowned long ago, and as the boys become friends and spend time together, each of them begins to heal.
Blabber Mouth

Morris Gleitzman

Rowena Batts is hiding in a cupboard after having stuffed a frog into Darryn Peck's mouth. But she has a bigger problem that involves her dad, his shirts, and his habit of singing in public. How can she tell him these things are wrecking her life?
Black, White and Tan

Nicole C. Mullen

Nicole C. Mullen’s book reminds children “Together we are beautiful!” God loves all the kids in his family―no matter what color they are.
Blended

Sharon M. Draper

Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.
Bo at Ballard Creek

Kirkpatrick Hill

It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.
Bobby the Brave (Sometimes)

Lisa Yee

Fourth-grader Bobby is hurt when he hears his father, a former professional football player, say that the two of them are nothing alike, but finally summons the courage to talk about it after he suffers a public asthma attack.
Bonjour, Lonnie

Faith Ringgold

An African-American Jewish boy traces his ancestry with the help of the Love Bird of Paris.
Breadcrumbs

Anne Ursu

Hazel and Jack are best friends until an accident with a magical mirror and a run-in with a villainous queen find Hazel on her own, entering an enchanted wood in the hopes of saving Jack's life.
Breakfast for Dinner

Cynthia DiLaura and M. D. Devore

Meg's world is turned upside-down when her parents separate but she comes to realize that they are divorcing each other, not her. Includes discussion questions.
Breaking Out

Barthe DeClements

As thirteen-year-old Jerry enters junior high school, he continues to adjust to the fact that his father is in prison for theft. Sequel to "Five Finger Discount" and "Monkey See Monkey Do."
Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It

Sundee Tucker Frazier

Brendan Buckley, a biracial ten-year-old, applies his scientific problem-solving ability and newfound interest in rocks and minerals to connect with his white grandfather, the president of Puyallup Rock Club, and to learn why he and Brendan's mother are estranged.
Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan

Mary Williams and R. Gregory Christie

Eight-year-old Garang is tending cattle far from his family's home in southern Sudan when war comes to his village. Frightened but unharmed, he returns to find everything has been destroyed. Soon Garang meets other boys whose villages have been attacked. Before long they become a moving band of thousands, walking hundreds of miles seeking safety — first in Ethiopia and then in Kenya. The boys face numerous hardships and dangers along the way, but their faith and mutual support help keep the hope of finding a new home alive in their hearts. Based on heartbreaking yet inspirational true events in the lives of the Lost Boys of Sudan, Brothers in Hope is a story of remarkable and enduring courage, and an amazing testament to the unyielding power of the human spirit.
Brown Girl Dreaming

Jacqueline Woodson

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
Bruises

Anke de Vries and Stacey Knecht

While living in Holland, Michael meets Judith, who is frightened, bullied, and beaten by her mother and blames herself for the abuse she is enduring.
Calling the Water Drum

LaTisha Redding

A young boy loses both parents as they attempt to flee Haiti for a better life, and afterward is only able to process his grief and communicate with the outside world through playing the drums.
Camo Girl

Kekla Magoon

Ella, a biracial girl with a patchy and uneven skin tone, and her friend Z, a boy who is very different, have been on the bottom of the social order at Caldera Junior High School in Las Vegas, but when the only other African-American student enters their sixth grade class, Ella longs to be friends with him and join the popular group, but does not want to leave Z all alone.
Camp Confidential: Jenna's Dilemma

Melissa J. Morgan

Eleven-year-old Jenna, contending with the separation of her parents and the unwanted presence of her twin brother and older sister at Camp Lakeview, is determined to make a name for herself by pulling the ultimate prank.
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship

Irene Latham and Charles Waters

How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don't know each other... and they're not sure they want to. Irene Latham, who is white, and Charles Waters, who is black, use this fictional setup to delve into different experiences of race in a relatable way, exploring such topics as hair, hobbies, and family dinners.
Can We Get Along? Dealing with Differences

John Burstein

Learning to tolerate different opinions, perspectives, and beliefs is vital to a healthy society. Slim Goodbody's Can't We Get Along? helps students understand the need and importance for tolerance, and the steps they can take to increase peace in their lives and in the world.
Caterpillar Summer

Gillian McDunn

Since her father's death, Cat has taken care of her brother, Chicken, for their hardworking mother but while spending time with grandparents they never knew, Cat has the chance to be a child again.
Cathy Williams, Buffalo Soldier

Sharon K. Solomon

Cathy Williams was the first documented woman to enlist in the United States Army. By disguising herself as a man after the Civil War, she joined the Buffalo Soldiers in protecting the expanding Western states. Cathy's efforts as a soldier earned her an adequate salary and a small place in history.
Chang and the Bamboo Flute

Elizabeth Starr Hill

Chang, a mute Chinese boy whose father uses cormorants to fish, becomes a hero when a heavy rain strands his father's fishing raft.
Changing Places: A Kid's View of Shelter Living

Judy Wallace, Glen Finland, and Margie Chalofsky

Eight children briefly tell about their experiences living with their mothers in a homeless shelter.
Charlie's Run

Valerie Hobbs

Hoping to stop his parents' impending separation and keep them from getting a divorce, eleven-year-old Charlie runs away from their home in inland California and finds a ride to the coast.