This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by Grades K-3.
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.
Browse by Grade Level:
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Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel
Leslie Connor
Miss Bridie immigrates to America in 1856 and chooses to bring a shovel, which proves to be a useful tool throughout her life.
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Mitzi Tulane: What's That Smell?
Lauren MacLaughlin
Mitzi Tulane uses her detective skills to discover her own birthday cake.
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Mixed Blessing: A Children's Book About a Multi-Racial Family
Marsha Cosman
A young son discovers he does not have exactly the same skin colour as either parent. He questions this revelation and his parents explain using animals during a visit to the zoo. A candid look at children of mixed race and multiculturalism learning about their identity for the first time through a colourful illustrative story.
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Mixed Me!
Taye Diggs
Mom and Dad say I'm a blend of dark and light: "We mixed you perfectly, and got you just right." Mike has awesome hair. He has LOTS of energy! His parents love him. And Mike is a PERFECT blend of the two of them. Still, Mike has to answer LOTS of questions about being mixed. And he does, with LOTS of energy and joy in this charming story about a day in the life of a mixed-race child.
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Mixed Me: A Tale of a Girl Who is Both Black and White
Tiffany Catledge
Little Mixie wonders why everyone wants to know WHAT she is. Isn't it obvious? She is clearly a human being. And anyway, isn't WHO she is what matters most? Coming from a family with a black dad and a white mom makes her extra special, and maybe a little different too. But different is good. Mixie embraces her uniqueness and determines to be the best "Me" she can be.
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Molly Bannaky
Alice McGill
Relates how Benjamin Banneker's grandmother journeyed from England to Maryland in the late seventeenth century, worked as an indentured servant, began a farm of her own, and married a freed slave.
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Mom and Mum are Getting Married
Ken Setterington
When Rosie finds out that her two mothers are planning to get married, she has only one worry-- will she get to be a flower girl?
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Mommy Far, Mommy Near: An Adoption Story
Carol Antoinette Peacock
Elizabeth, who was born in China, describes the family who has adopted her and tries to sort out her feelings for her unknown mother.
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Mommy's Heart went Pop: An Adoption Story
Christina Kyllonen and Peter Greer
International adoptions have steadily increased over the past decade, yet there is a surprising lack of resources to introduce the beauty of adoption to children. Adopted children want to know their story. Siblings want to know what to expect. Parents want to know how to convey the deep love they feel. Mommy's Heart Went POP! is a children's book that brings the beauty of international adoption to the entire family through a simple story of love for a child.
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Monday with Maxim: The Amazing Maltese
Phylliss DelGreco, Jaclyn Roth, and Kathryn Silverio
In "Monday with Maxim, The Amazing Maltese," Jessie is intent on training her neighbor’s dog, Maxim, to sit. She enthusiastically starts off the day using her imagined powers to transform an ordinary handkerchief into a magic scarf. Wrapping the scarf around Maxim’s neck, she begins the challenging—and sometimes futile—task of getting him to sit, with uproarious and surprising results. "Monday with Maxim, The Amazing Maltese" is the first book in The Jessie Books series, which offers an inspiring story for each day of the week, featuring a precocious little girl who lives with her two moms in Queens, New York.
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More More More Said the Baby
Vera B. Williams
Three babies are caught up in the air and given loving attention by a father, grandmother, and mother.
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Moses Goes to a Concert
Isaac Millman
When Moses and his class of hearing-impaired students go on a field trip to a concert, they meet the orchestra's deaf percussionist, in a story that includes signed phrases and the manual alphabet.
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Moses Goes to School
Isaac Millman
A day at a school for the deaf is like a day at any school. Moses goes to a special school, a public school for the deaf. He and all of his classmates are deaf or hard-of-hearing, but that doesn't mean they don't have a lot to say to each other! They communicate in American Sign Language (ASL), using visual signs and facial expressions. Isaac Millman follows Moses through a school day, telling the story in pictures and written English, and in ASL, introducing hearing children to the signs for some of the key words and ideas. At the end is a favorite song -- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" -- in sign!
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Moses Goes to the Circus
Isaac Millman
Moses, who is deaf, has a good time with his family at the circus, where they communicate using sign language. Includes illustrations of some of the signs they use.
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Moses Sees a Play
Isaac Millman
Moses and his classmates, who are deaf or hard of hearing, attend a play at their school, and Moses makes a new friend from another class.
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Motherbridge of Love
Xinran .
Featured in Time Magazine's Top Ten Children's Books of 2007, this beautiful poem celebrates the bond between parent and adopted child in a special way. Through the exchanges, between a little girl born in China and her adoptive parent, this title offers a poignant and inspiring message to adoptive parents and children all over the world.
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Mountains to Climb
Richard M. Wainwright
Roberto spends two years in the U.S. with his one-eyed llama and overcomes prejudice against him and two physically disabled students.
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Muktar and the Camels
Janet Graber
Muktar lives in an orphanage on the border of Kenya and Somalia. He daydreams about his old life with his family and especially tending to camels. One day, visitors arrive bearing books, and Muktar's friend Ismail is excited; so is Muktar, but for a different reason—the visitors are riding on camels. Muktar quickly discovers that one of the animals is injured and realizes this is his chance to prove himself. If there is anything Muktar knows, it is camels. Through the eyes of an endearing protagonist whose love and respect for animals shines, this beautifully told story introduces young readers to another part of the world and way of life.
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Mustafa
Marie-Loise Gay
After leaving his war-torn country with his family, Mustafa visits a park near his new home and finds beautiful flowers, lady bugs, fall leaves, and finally, a friend.
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My Adopted Child, There's No One like You
Kevin Leman and Kevin Leman II
When Panda has to make a family tree for school, his mother explains how he came to be adopted, and how very special that makes him.
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My Beautiful Birds
Suzanne Del Rizzo
A moving story about one boy's refugee experience in the Syrian Civil War and the birds who help him on the road to emotional healing. Behind Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his neighbours in a long line, as they trudge through the sands and hills to escape the bombs that have destroyed their homes. But all Sami can think of is his pet pigeons - will they escape too? When they reach a refugee camp and are safe at last, everyone settles into the tent city. But though the children start to play and go to school again, Sami can't join in. When he is given paper and paint, all he can do is smear his painting with black. He can't forget his birds and what his family has left behind. One day a canary, a dove, and a rose finch fly into the camp. They flutter around Sami and settle on his outstretched arms. For Sami it is one step in a long healing process at last.
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My Best Buddy
YeShil Kim
Two students attend the same school and become friends. One is eighty-five years old, but he is committed to going to school and learning how to read, write, and study so that he can fulfill his dream of being a veterinarian. Kamau is a second grader, and learns from his older friend that if you put your mind to it, you can make your dreams come true.
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My Body Belongs to Me
Jill Starishevsky
Presented in story format and narrated by a young child in rhyming couplets, this short book encourages children who have been sexually abused to talk to someone they trust.
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My Brother Bernadette
Jacqueline Wilson
Sara tries to take care of her younger brother when he is teased and called Bernadette at summer camp, but he finds an activity that he enjoys and that gives him the chance to shed his new nickname for good.
