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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Brianna Breathes Easy: A story about Asthma
Virginia L. Kroll
Brianna gets the lead in the Thanksgiving school playshell be Hero the Hen! She almost forgets about the coughing and breathing trouble she's been having.Brianna loves practicing her leaping and flapping. But at the dress rehearsal, she has a bad coughing attack and feels a tightness in her chest. The teacher calls 911 and the paramedics take Brianna to the hospital. There, Dr. Anderson diagnoses Brianna with asthma. Brianna begins to learn about her disease and how to manage it. Things are soon under control, and she's back on stage for her debut!
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Brian's Bird
Patricia Anne Davis and Layne Johnson
Eight-year-old Brian, who is blind, learns how to take care of his new parakeet and comes to realize that his older brother, while sometimes careless, is not so bad after all.
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Bright April
Marguerite De Angeli
Bright April is set in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. The story addresses the problem of racial prejudice and how children are able to gain understanding and tolerance through their own natural devices.
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Bringing Asha Home
Uma Krishnaswami
Eight-year-old Arun waits impatiently while international adoption paperwork is completed so that he can meet his new baby sister from India.
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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.
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Bunnybear
Andrea J. Loney
Although Bunnybear was born a bear, he feels more like a bunny. He loves to bounce through the forest, wiggle his nose, and munch on strawberries. The other bears don't understand him, and neither do the bunnies. Will Bunnybear ever find a friend who likes him just the way he is?
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Buster's Sugartime
Marc Brown
When his father takes him to visit Vermont, Buster sends postcards to his friends back home telling them what he is learning about maple syrup and the "mud season."
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By the Dawn's Early Light
Karen Ackerman
A young girl and her brother stay with their grandmother while their mother works at night.
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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.
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Carly: She is Still My Daddy
Mary Boenke
Tommy tells the story of his father's transition from Carl to Carly. He learns about other trans persons -- female to male, intersex, crossdressers, and those who live in the middle. The reactions of playmates, grandparents, and the child's mother are represented. Benchmarks of Carly's full transition are built into the story.
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Carmen Learns English
Judy Cox
Newly-arrived in the United States from Mexico, Carmen is apprehensive about going to school and learning English.
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Catherine's Story
Genevieve Moore
What makes Catherine so special? She can't talk, she can't walk like her cousin Frances can. But Catherine listens very hard (hardly anyone does that), and she can walk in her special shoes, but when Frances tries, she just falls over! And her claps are so quiet that hardly anyone can hear them. These are the things that make Catherine special and, because her family knows how special she is, this makes them feel special too. This is the story of a child born with severe additional needs that focusses on the special nature of her abilities.
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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.
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Celebrating Families
Rosemarie Hausherr
Presents brief descriptions of many different kinds of families, both traditional and non-traditional.
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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.
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Chocolate Me!
Taye Diggs
Relates the experiences of a dark-skinned, curly-haired child who wishes he could look more like the lighter-skinned children in his community until his mother helps him realize how wonderful he is inside and out.
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Circle
Jeannie Baker
Follows the migration of the bar-tailed godwits from Australia and New Zealand to their breeding grounds in the Arctic.
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Clara Hale: Mother to Those Who Needed One
Bob Italia
Presents the life of the New York woman whose love of children led her to establish a foster care program to help babies born addicted to drugs.
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Coat of Many Colors
Dolly Parton
A poor girl delights in her coat of many colors, made by her mother from rags, because despite the ridicule of the other children she knows the coat was made with love.
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Colores que se aman
Paco Abril
When Luca looks at himself in the mirror, he sees a color that reflects the product of his parents' love, but when he is confronted with racial discrimination, he seeks refuge with his loving grandmother.
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Coming Home
Greg Ruth
Follows the emotions of a young boy as he waits at an airport for a family member to return home from serving in the military.
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Coming on Home Soon
Jacqueline Woodson
After Mama takes a job in Chicago during World War II, Ada Ruth stays with Grandma but misses her mother who loves her more than rain and snow.
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Cookies and Cake & the Families we Make
Jennifer L. Egan
A book about exposure and acceptance of the diverse families that are part of our society: single parents, multiracial parents, two moms, two dads, one of each or even an unrelated guardian. Those families who may at first seem different are quite similar, because what really matters is the love and care they give to their children. The author uses the metaphor of the different cakes and cookies we can bake to help young readers respect, accept and welcome diversity.
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Coolies
Yin .
A young boy hears the story of his great-great-great-grandfather and his brother who came to the United States to make a better life for themselves helping to build the transcontinental railroad.
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Cooper's Lesson
Sun Yung Shin
When Cooper, a biracial Korean-American boy, feels uncomfortable trying to speak Korean in Mr. Lee's grocery, his bad behavior eventually leads to a change in his attitude.