This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by Picture Books format.
This collection contains materials from the DIVerse Families bibliography organized by format.
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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The Adventures of Tulip Birthday Wish Fairy
S. Bear Berman
Have you ever wondered what happens to your birthday wishes? Funny or serious, sad or wonderful, every wish gets read by a birthday wish fairy. This year, David wished for something that his wish fairy had never read before: to turn into a girl.
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The Alphabet War: A Story about Dyslexia
Diane Robb
When Adam started kindergarten, the teacher wanted him to learn about letters. But "p" looked like "q," and "b" looked like "d." Adam would rather color or mold clay. In first grade, his teacher wanted him to put the letters into words so he could read. That was the beginning of the Alphabet War. "Was" looked like "saw," and "there" looked like "then." Almost everyone else in his class was learning to read, but Adam was fighting a war against letters. In second grade, he had to learn to spell, which was also impossible. Now he was so frustrated he got into trouble and had to go to the principal's office. At last, in third grade, he got the right kind of help. Slowly he began to do better. During fourth grade, he learned that he could excel in other things. That gave him the confidence to take chances with reading. One day he found himself reading a book all by himself.
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The Amazing Erik
Mike Huber
Playing at the water table is fun. But Erik thinks getting splashed is not fun. When his sleeve gets wet, Erik gets sad, and he can't imagine ever being happy again. Then, with a classmate by his side, Erik becomes absorbed by a new idea: making the water disappear. As it does, Erik discovers his sadness has vanished and happiness has reappeared, like magic. Airdah-taroo!
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The American Wei
Marion Hess Pomeranc
When Wei Fong loses his first tooth while going to his family's naturalization ceremony, many soon-to-be Americans join in the search.
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The Art of Miss Chew
Patricia Polacco
Describes how a teacher named Miss Chew encouraged individuality, and accepted learning differences, and helped a young student with academic difficulties get extra time to take tests and permission to be in advanced art classes. Inspired by the author's memories of her art teacher.
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The Aunt in Our House
Angela Johnson
When The Aunt comes to live with them, the entire family enjoys her company and helps her forget about the home she has lost.
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The Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt
Carmen Martinez Jover
Two kangaroos: Jack and Sam, a gay couple, have their own baby by means of an egg donor and surrogacy. This story enables children to easily understand how they were conceived and it helps gay parents explain in an easy and loving how how their family was formed.
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The Barefoot Book of Children
David Dean, Tessa Strickland, and Kate DePalma
The Barefoot Book of Children takes its readers on a visual trek across the globe, where they discover that -- despite our different clothes and homes and languages -- we are more alike than different.
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The Best of Both Nests
Jane Clarke
One day, Mrs. Stork tells Stanley that Dad is going to fly off and build his own nest. At school, Stanley worries about Dad missing Fathers' Flyday Friday. But his friend Stella tells him, "Two nests are better than one."
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The Best Single Mom in the World
Mary Zisk
A girl tells how her mother decided to become a single parent and traveled overseas to adopt her and describes their happy life as a family.
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The Boy and the Bindi
Vivek Shraya
A playful story about a young boy's fascination with the dot on his mother's forehead.
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The Can Man
Laura E. Williams
After watching a homeless man collect empty soft drink cans for the redemption money, a young boy decides to collect cans himself to earn money for a skateboard until he has a change of heart.
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The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage
Selina Alko
Imagine not being able to marry the person you loved, just because they were of a race different from your own. This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard Perry Loving, and their three children. It is the story of how Mildred and Richard fell in love, and got married in Washington D.C. When they moved back to their hometown in Virginia, they were arrested for violating that state's law against interracial marriage. The Lovings refused to allow their children to get the message that their parents' love was wrong and so they fought the unfair law, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
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The Chalk Rainbow
Deborah Kelly
Zane is different to other kids. He has his own made-up language. He likes to line things up. And he is frightened of things that don’t seem to bother other people — like the colour black. His father gets frustrated and angry with Zane. His mother tries hard to explain things to him. But nothing seems to work. Zane just scrunches himself up into a ball and screams. Things are looking pretty bleak for Zane and his family; that is, until Zane’s big sister starts to draw a chalk rainbow at the top of the front steps … The Chalk Rainbow explores difference and diversity through a family living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It’s also a story of unconditional love, of trust and of learning to look at the world through the eyes of others. The story is told by Zane’s older sister in a way that young children can easily relate to. The ending is uplifting as all members of the family learn to look at things differently and find a way to move forward together.
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The Child in the Fathers' Hearts: A Story of Adoption
Paul Janson
A picture book designed to be read to adopted children of gay parents. The child is adopted by two fathers. The opening comments are about the author's own philosophy of children, that all children begin in the heart of their parents however they come to be a part of a family.
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The Christmas Truck
J. B. Blankenship
When celebrating a special Christmas tradition things go awry. Papa, Dad, their amazing kid, and one fabulous grandmother work together and implement a plan to save Christmas for a child they have never met.
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The Colors of Us
Karen Katz
Seven-year-old Lena and her mother observe the variations in the color of their friends' skin, viewed in terms of foods and things found in nature.
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The Crayon Box that Talked
Shane DeRolf
Although they are many different colors, the crayons in a box discover that when they get together they can appreciate each other and make a complete picture.
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The Daddy Machine
Johnny Valentine
Two children who have two mothers dream of what it would be like to have a father and pretend to invent a daddy machine.
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The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold
Maureen Fergus
Santa Claus stops believing that Harold, a small child, exists, and comes up with a plan to find out once and for all if Harold is real.
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The Days of Summer
Eve Bunting
As summer ends and they get ready to go back to school, two young girls try to deal with the news that the grandparents they love are getting a divorce.
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The Day They Put a Tax on Rainbows
Johnny Valentine
Three original stories combining elements of traditional tales with characters that are members of nontraditional families.
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The Day War Came
Nicola Davies
The day war came there were flowers on the windowsill and my father sang my baby brother back to sleep. Imagine if, on an ordinary day, after a morning of studying tadpoles and drawing birds at school, war came to your town and turned it to rubble. Imagine if you lost everything and everyone, and you had to make a dangerous journey all alone. Imagine that there was no welcome at the end, and no room for you to even take a seat at school. And then a child, just like you, gave you something ordinary but so very, very precious. In lyrical, deeply affecting language, Nicola Davies’s text combines with Rebecca Cobb’s expressive illustrations to evoke the experience of a child who sees war take away all that she knows.
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The Day We Met You
Phoebe Koehler
Mom and Dad recount the exciting day when they adopted their baby.
