The Diverse Families bookshelf was created and funded through numerous grants. Due to lack of additional grants and the loss of key personnel, the project has come to an end. We have tremendously enjoyed creating this database and hope that it can help bring readers and books together.
Browse by Race & Culture:
Biracial/Multiracial
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Carrie and Carl Play: A Flip-Flap Book
Lois T. Smith
Carl and his sister Carrie play at home with Mommy and Dad.
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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.
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Checkmate (Noughts & Crosses, #3)
Malorie Blackman
Rose has a Cross mother and a nought father in a society where the pale-skinned noughts are treated as inferiors and those with dual heritage face a life-long battle against deep-rooted prejudices. And as Rose takes her first steps away from Sephy and into this world, she finds herself drawn inexorably into more and more danger.
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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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Cilla Lee-Jenkins Future Author Extraordinaire
Susan Tan
A half-Chinese, half-Caucasian girl's "memoir" about a new sibling, being biracial, and her path to literary greatness.
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Cinnamon Baby
Nicola Winstanley
Sebastian falls in love with Miriam after smelling her cinnamon bread. They marry and have a beautiful child who won't stop crying. What will make her stop?
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Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire
Sundee T. Frazier
Fifth-grader Cleo Edison Oliver is full of money-making ideas, and her fifth-grade Passion Project is no different--but things get more complicated when she has to keep her business running, be a good listener when her best friend needs her, and deal with the bully teasing her about being adopted at the same time.
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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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Come Rain or Come Shine: A White Parent's Guide to Adopting and Parenting Black Children
Rachel Garlinghouse
Are you prepared to adopt and parent transracially? Transracial adoption can be a daunting and exhilarating journey. At times you feel incredibly isolated and lost. However, with this conversational and practical guide in hand, you will be able to adopt with confidence and parent with education and enthusiasm.
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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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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.
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Coping as a Biracial / Biethnic Teen
Renea D. Nash
This book discusses questions and issues of interracial marriage, biracial children, and the importance of racial and ethnic identity.
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Court of Fives
Kate Elliott
When a scheming lord tears Jess's family apart, she must rely on her unlikely friendship with Kal, a high-ranking Patron boy, and her skill at Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory, to protect her Commoner mother and mixed-race sisters and save her father's reputation.
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Cupcake Cousins, Book 2 Summer Showers
Kate Hannigan
Cousins Willow and Delia return to the kitchen as their family welcomes a new baby in the second book in the illustrated Cupcake Cousins series.
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Cupcake Cousins, Book 3 Winter Wonders
Kate Hannigan
Cousins Willow and Delia must save the day when a blizzard threatens to ruin Cat and Mr. Henry's wedding in the third book in the illustrated Cupcake Cousins series.
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Dad David, Baba Chris and Me
Ed Merchant
This brightly illustrated book for children aged 5-10 years old tells Ben’s story about his ordinary life. Ben was adopted by his gay parents – Dad David and Baba Chris – when he was four years old, and they live happily together in an ordinary house, on an ordinary street and do ordinary things.
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Dangerous
Shannon Hale
When aspiring astronaut Maisie Danger Brown, who was born without a right hand, and the other space camp students get the opportunity to do something amazing in space, Maisie must prove how dangerous she can be and how far she is willing to go to protect everything she has ever loved.
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Dara Palmer's Major Drama
Emma Shevah
Dara Palmer dreams of being an actress, but when she does not get a part in the school play, she wonders if it is because of her different looks as an adopted girl from Cambodia, so Dara becomes determined not to let prejudice stop her from being in the spotlight.
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Darius the Great is Not Okay
Adib Khorram
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's a Fractional Persian -- half, his mom's side -- and his first ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he's sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn't exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they're spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city's skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush the original Farsi version of his name -- and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Adib Khorram's brilliant debut is for anyone who's ever felt not good enough then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.
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David Blaine: Illusionist and Endurance Artist
Chuck Bednar
A look at the life and career of the famous magician.
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Dear Santa, Please Come to the 19th Floor
Yin .
Willy and Carlos, who is in a wheelchair, receive a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve, even though they live on the nineteenth floor of their building.